A clown holds an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe during a pilgrimage to the Virgin’s Basilica in Mexico City.
AP Photo
2 of 19
The fountain Lumia lights up the entrance to Aria Hotel and Casino a few hours before its opening at CityCenter in Las Vegas.
AP Photo
3 of 19
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gestures during a press briefing at the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Clinton announced that the United States is prepared to join other rich countries in raising $100 billion in yearly climate financing for poor countries by 2020.
AP Photo
4 of 19
Members of Korea’s accordion orchestra wearing Santa Claus costumes perform their accordions during a concert to celebrate upcoming Christmas at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Christmas is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in South Korea with over half the population being Christians.
AP Photo
5 of 19
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi waves from his car as he arrives at his home in Arcore, Italy. A grim-looking Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi waved weakly to photographers Thursday as he left a Milan hospital with his face covered in bandages four days after an attack by a mentally ill man at a political rally. A large bandage covered part of the left side of Berlusconi’s face including his nose, which was broken when the man hurled a souvenir statue of Milan’s cathedral into the premier’s face. Berlusconi, 73, also broke two teeth in the attack.
AP Photo
6 of 19
A woman on a ski tour crosses the Aelpli towards the Stelli, 2052 meters above sea level, above Untervaz in the Rhinevalley, Switzerland, during a frosty day.
AP Photo
7 of 19
A United States Marine from the 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines searches a building during an operation in the Garmsir district of the volatile Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.
AP Photo
8 of 19
Mexican soldiers detain an unidentified man during a navy operation in Cuernavaca, in the Mexican state of Morelos. Arturo Beltran Leyva, one of Mexico’s most wanted drug traffickers, was killed in a shoot out with state security forces during the same operation on Wednesday.
REUTERS
9 of 19
People pass by globes in Copenhagen. Copenhagen is the host city for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009.
REUTERS
10 of 19
Policemen detain a pro-Telangana supporter during a demonstration in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. India’s Congress-ruled government distanced itself on Tuesday from a move to carve a new state out of Andhra Pradesh and asked the leaders of the southern state to instead build a consensus as protests continued. Last week, the government in a surprise move announced it would push for the formation of a Telangana state after violent protests and a hunger strike by a leading politician shut down business in Andhra Pradesh’s high-tech Hyderabad city.
REUTERS
11 of 19
Workers handle an ancient Egyptian granite tower that was retrieved from the Mediterranean Sea, at Alexandria’s eastern harbour. The tower is a part of a pylon of the temple to Isis, and was found next to Cleopatra’s submerged mausoleum on the murky seabed.
REUTERS
12 of 19
Church visitors stand under 300 golden angels attached to scaffolding during an exhibition in the Holy Cross church in Munich. The installation known as ‘Guardian angel over Munich’ by German artist Ottmar Hoerl runs until February 2, 2010.
REUTERS
13 of 19
The base of the Eiffel Tower is still visible through the snowfall as a couple walk in heavy snowfall near in Paris, France. Parisians woke up to the rare sight of a snow-covered city as winter weather hit Paris.
EPA
14 of 19
A Chinese man pushes his motorcycle past a Greenpeace activist, dressed up as an orangutan pretending to forage for food in Shanghai, China.
EPA
15 of 19
A supporter of FC Copenhagen reacts after his team defeated Sparta in their Europa League Group K soccer match in Prague. Copenhagen won the match 3-0.
AP Photo
16 of 19
A NASA satellite image shows the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines. A major eruption of a volatile Philippine volcano could be just weeks away, scientists warned as thousands of residents faced the prospect of four months in temporary shelters. “We saw the formation of two lava domes at the crater of Mayon during an aerial survey yesterday,” government volcanologist July Sabit told AFP. “This indicates pressure is building up from the inside and the rising magma had accumulated at the mouth to form the domes,” he said. He said it was likely that the domes would collapse if the pressure continued to build, causing a major eruption or fast-moving avalanches of hot volcanic ash, rock and gases, known as pyroclastic flows.
AFP/Getty Images
17 of 19
A linesman repairs electric cables on the banks of the river Ganges in preparation for the upcoming ‘Magh Mela’ festival in Allahabad, India.
AP Photo
18 of 19
Financier R. Allen Stanford is escorted into the federal courthouse in shackles for a hearing in Houston, Texas. Stanford was indicted by a federal grand jury along with five others including a former Antiguan regulator on charges they directed a 7 billion US dollar fraud involving sales of certificates of deposit through his Antiguan bank.
EPA
19 of 19
Afghan boys carry dried twigs while walking in a desert near Herat.
REUTERS
