Testa00sempre



Testa00solo

Testa01sempre


Voice of America
Novembre 2011
(240 foto)


Saudi special forces display some of their skills and equipment during a ceremony as they prepare for the influx of people to participate in the annual Hajj, in Arafat, 15 kms outside of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. (AP)

Anti-G20 demonstrators hold up signs near a sphere decorated as the planet with the message, "Hello, the G20?" during a protest march against globalization in Nice, southeastern France. (Reuters)

Nepal police detain a Tibetan woman, who is shouting anti-China slogans in tribute to the Tibetans, who died in the recent self-immolation, in Katmandu. Police has detained more than 100 Tibetans exiles who were protesting against Chinese rule over their homeland. (AP)

An Indian Hindu woman offers prayers to the setting sun during the festival of Chhath at the Arabian Sea, in Mumbai. During this ancient Hindu festival, rituals are performed to thank the Sun god for sustaining life on earth. (AP)

A Pakistani man sells toys in Peshawar. (AP)

Aerial view of crops destroyed by the floodwaters are seen in the outskirts of northern Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)

A dog stands next to crosses recreating an animal cemetery during a protest by animal rights activists marking World Vegan Day in Madrid, Spain. The crosses bear images of animals that have been killed or died in labs, slaughterhouses or farms, according to the animal rights organization "Animal Equality". (Reuters)

Horses stand in the shadows of a gigantic wooden table and two chairs during nice autumnal weather at a meadow near Doellstaedt, central Germany. (AP)

Autumnal leaves are reflected in Loch Dunmore in Perthshire, Scotland. (Reuters)

A model presents a creation for MGPIN make-up styling show during China Fashion Week in Beijing. (Reuters)

A hippo cub touches its mother Nicole during the first public presentation at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany. (AP)

Artists Yuda Braun, front, and Jonathan Pelleg, walk in Jerusalem as a part of a performance titled "The White Soldier". Artists symbolically patrolled along the 1967 'Green Line' which separated Israel from the Jordanian-controlled East Jerusalem which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day-War. (AP)

Visitors to the Tokyo Stock Exchange look at a monitor displaying Japan's Nikkei share average (top R) and various market indices in Tokyo, Japan. The Nikkei share average fell as much as 2 percent after overseas shares skidded on Greece's surprise call for a referendum on an European bailout plan. (Reuters)

A Tibetan activist is hanging on the front entrance of the railway station in Cannes ahead of the G20 summit in Cannes, France. The slogan reads "Stop ! International intervention to save Tibetan lives". (Reuters)

The Hotel das Nacoes collapses during a controlled implosion in Brasilia, Brazil. (Reuters)

Afghan women buy bangles for the upcoming Eid al Adha festival in Jalalabad east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

Jolene Neill holds an umbrella as she knocks the heavy snow from the branches of trees in her front yard after last night's snow storm in Louisville, Colorado, USA. (Reuters)

Deer stay on higher ground of a partially flooded wildlife park Safari World in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)

A zookeeper holds a leopard cat kitten during a feeding session in the wildlife rescue center at the Phnom Tamao zoo near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Local media reported that three female leopard cat kittens were discovered by a fisherman in a flooded area of Kandal province three weeks ago. (Reuters)

A woman takes a photo with her mobile phone during The Optics Valley of China International Optoelectrical Expo at an exhibition center in Wuhan, Hubei province. (Reuters)

A participant takes part in the Hong Kong round of the Santa Claus Winter Games at a shopping mall in Hong Kong. (Reuters)

A crescent moon over the Parthenon atop Athens' ancient Acropolis, November 1, 2011 (Reuters)

Occupy LA protesters march through the downtown financial district, to show solidarity with Occupy Oakland protesters, in Los Angeles, California. (AP)

Activists of the Occupy Frankfurt movement have set up a fireplace near the Euro sculpture in front of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. (AP))

Russian servicemen in historical uniforms take part in a military parade rehearsal in Moscow's Red Square. The parade will take place on November 7 to mark the 70th anniversary of a historical parade in 1941 when Soviet soldiers marched through Red Square, towards the front lines during World War II. (Reuters)

A fireman holds a flare during a protest against the reform notably changing the methods of recruitment in Paris, France. (AFP)

Britain's Duchess of Cornwall tries on a Zulu hat during a tour of Soweto, South Africa, with her husband, Prince Charles. (AP)

A man and his decorated horse on Clifton beach in Karachi, Pakistan (Reuters)

A laborer installs an attachment to an electricity pylon in Anqing, Anhui province, China. (Reuters)

Officials survey damage at the site of a freight train derailment in Bartlett, Illinois, USA. Bartlett police say three derailed freight cars that caught fire in the western Chicago suburb were carrying fiberboard and scrap metal. (AP)

Dogs take refuge atop a motorcycle next to a flooded street at Don Muang district in Bangkok, Thailand. Authorities in the Thai capital repaired a damaged flood gate that has become the focus of anger, fear and rivalry between arms of government battling the country's worst floods in decades. (Reuters)

Workers walk near a lantern in the shape of traditional Korean warrior on display as part of the Seoul Lantern Festival, which will be held from November 4-20, in Seoul, South Korea. (AP)

Ken Unsworth's sculpture, "Look This Way", overlooks Bondi Beach at Sculptures By The Sea in Sydney, Australia. Sculptures By The Sea is is the largest free-to-public outdoor sculpture exhibition spread out over a 2km coastal walk from Bondi to Tamarama beach in Sydney, featuring over 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and across the world. (AP)

A camel silhouetted against the setting sun at the Pushkar fair, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Pushkar, located on the banks of Pushkar Lake, is a popular Hindu pilgrimage spot that is also frequented by foreign tourists for its annual cattle fair and camel races. (AP)

Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims pray at the Grand Mosque, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. (AP)

Somali fishermen carry a Hammerhead shark from the shores of the Indian Ocean in Hamarweyne district, Somalia's capital Mogadishu. (Reuters)

The coffins carrying the remains of 77 unknown German soldiers from WWII are seen during a reburial ceremony at Germany's largest military cemetery in the town of Halbe. (AFP)

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko waves to supporters from a prison window in Kyiv. (AP)

An Israeli soldier fires a gas canister towards protesting Palestinians during clashes following a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlement expansion, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh. (AFP)

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch of Canada compete during the pairs short program at the Cup of China ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Shanghai. (Reuters)

A murmuration of starlings is seen in the sky as the sunset sets above Gretna, Scotland. (AP)

The sun rises over Lake Walchensee in southern Germany. (AP)

Thousands of sparkling young stars nestled within the giant nebula NGC 3603. This stellar "jewel box" is one of the most massive young star clusters in the Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 3603 is a prominent star-forming region in the Carina spiral arm of the Milky Way, about 20,000 light-years away. This image shows a young star cluster surrounded by a vast region of dust and gas. The image reveals stages in the life cycle of stars. The nebula was first discovered by Sir John Herschel in 1834. The image spans roughly 17 light-years. (NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage)

A Muslim boy attends a prayer session in celebration of the Eid al-Adha festival or Feast of Sacrifice inside the Golden Mosque in Manila, Philippines. (Reuters)

Muslim women attend prayer at the slopes of Mount Merapi in the village of Kalitengah Lor outside city of Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Adha. (Reuters)

Men riding on a motorcycle, lead a recently purchased camel ahead of Eid al-Adha celebrations in Lahore, Pakistan. (Reuters)

A laborer rests on piles of plastic bottles at a recycling center in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China. (Reuters)

Tightrope walkers perform on Brussels's Grand Place during an event marking the 30th birthday of the circus school of Brussels, Belgium. (Reuters)

Italian Carabinieri, paramilitary policemen, detain an activist of the Ukrainian female rights organization "Femen" after she brandished a placard reading: "Freedom for women" and wearing diaphanous top, at the end of Pope Benedict XVI's Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. (AP)

People look at a car submerged in flood water near Cagnes-sur-Mer in southern France. Torrential rains have caused heavy flooding and damage to property throughout the southern coastal region of France. (Reuters)

A troubled 1904 Lacoste et Battmann veteran car, right, is passed by a 1904 Cadillac on Westminster Bridge in London during the London to Brighton veteran car run. (AP)

A Buddha head in the trunk of a Bodhi tree is partially submerged by flood waters in the ruins of Wat Mahathat temple in Thailand's ancient capital Ayutthaya. (Reuters)

A Kenyan boy pops out of the entry hole of a giant inflatable rolling ball located in the children's play area of a music festival held in Karen on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. (AP)

The Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova reacts after winning a point against Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova during their Fed Cup World Group final tennis match in Moscow, Russia. (Reuters)

MotoGP riders Ducati's Randy De Puniet (14), Ducati's Nicky Hayden (69), Ducati's Valentino Rosssi (46) and Suzuki's rider Alvaro Bautista (19) lose control during the first lap of the Valencia Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo racetrack in Cheste, near Valencia, Spain. (Reuters)

Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri (L) and Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong talk under a statue of late Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh at the party's office in Hanoi. (Reuters)

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, wearing rubber boots, speaks to officials on a truck during her visit to a flooded area in Bangkok. (Reuters)

Russian servicemen in historical uniforms take part in a military parade in Moscow's Red Square to mark the 70th anniversary of a historical parade in 1941 when Soviet soldiers marched through Red Square towards the front lines during World War II. (Reuters)

Naga tribesman perform a traditional folk dance during the Tokhu Emong, a post harvest festival of the Lotha tribe in Dimapur, India's northeastern state of Nagaland. (AFP)

Hundreds of Muslims around the country visit Dar al-hajar, a rock palace built in the 1930s, near Sana'a, Yemen, during Eid al-Adha. (Reuters)

Men change a flat tire of their car on Havana's seafront boulevard as a wave crashes. (Reuters)

A baby Persian leopard enjoys the autumn sun at the Bio Park in Rome, Italy, where he was born on September 1, 2011. The Persian leopard, the largest leopard subspecies, is an endangered species. (AP/Rome Bioparco press office)

Lady Gaga performs at the MTV Europe Music Awards show in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Reuters)

Miss Venezuela Ivian Sarcos reacts as she is crowned winner at the Miss World competition held at Earls Court in London, Britain, November 6, 2011. (AP)

A Royal British Legion volunteer plants remembrance crosses in the grounds of Westminster Abbey in London. Each November since 1928 The Royal British Legion invites individuals from across the country to honor and remember those who have lost their lives serving in the Armed Forces. (AP)

A man walks as high waves hit the beach and the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, southeastern France as heavy rain and flooding continue to hit southern France. (Reuters)

A woman and child pick up discarded fruit and vegetables, as food vendors pack up their stalls after a street market in Milan, Italy. (AP)

Student demonstrators clash with riot police during the occupation of the University of Sao Paulo's rectorate, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Reuters)

5Volunteers make kimchi, traditional pungent vegetable dish, to donate them to the needy neighbors for winter preparation in front of Seoul City Hall, South Korea. (AP)

A herd of cows graze on a hill near the Black Forest village of St. Peter, southern Germany as fog covers the valley. (AFP)

An Indian Sikh pilgrim looks out from a train coach at the Wagah railway station upon his arrival from India, in Wagah, on the Indian-Pakistani border. Thousands of Sikh pilgrims are expected to arrive in Pakistan from all over the world to celebrate the 542nd birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev which falls on November 10. (AFP)

A woman looks at Rene Magritte's painting 'The Great Family' during the opening of an art exhibition at Albertina museum in Vienna, Austria. (Reuters)

Students protesting against tuition fee increases march towards the business district in the City of London, Britain. (Reuters)

Workers recover goods from a flooded factory in Bangkok's suburbs, Thailand. (Reuters)

Police prepare to serve as a guard of honor to Indian Jammu-Kashmir state chief minister Omar Abdullah during the reopening of the state's winter capital at the civil secretariat in Jammu, India. (AP)

A pedestrian and the Alexander Nevski Cathedral are reflected in a puddle on a warm autumn day, in Sofia, Bulgaria. (AP)

Pius Heinz of Germany poses with stacks of cash after beating Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic to win the championship bracelet and $8.7 million in prize money during the World Series of Poker main event at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. (Reuters)

Saint Peter's Basilica is reflected in the tuba of a musician during Pope Benedict XVI's weekly general audience at the Vatican. (Reuters)

A model poses with "The Sun-Drop Diamond" during a press preview of Sotheby's auction in Geneva, Switzerland. One of the world's largest diamonds, a pear-shaped 110.3-carat yellow rock discovered in South Africa last year, will go under the hammer in Geneva on November 15, 2011 expecting to fetch about $15 million. (AFP)

A duck moves through the waters along the Esplanade on an unusually warm fall day in Boston, Massachusetts. (Reuters)

African penguins Pedro (R) and Buddy interact with each other at the Toronto Zoo, Canada, November 8, 2011. The Toronto Zoo announced they will separate the penguins after zookeepers noticed behavior denoting a gay relationship between the two. (Reuters)

Thai mahouts ride on top of their elephants during celebrations for the annual Loy Krathong festival in Ayutthaya province, Thailand. Believers float krathongs in rivers, canals or ponds during the festival, which is held as a symbolic apology to the goddess of the river. (Reuters)

A devotee takes a ritual bath at the water tank of the illuminated Bangla Sahib Sikh temple on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in New Delhi, India. (AP)

South Korean protesters are sprayed with water by riot police during a rally near the National Assembly in Seoul, against a Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and the United States. (AP)

Anti-government protesters shout slogans demanding the ouster of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh during a rally against immunity for him in a deal, in Sana'a. (Reuters)

An Afghan refugee child looks out of a window in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

A man walks in a bus lane next to a morning rush hour traffic jam in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Reuters)

Campaigners for change of media regulation, with one in a puppet of James Murdoch, Chief executive of News Corporation Europe and Asia, protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London. James Murdoch is due to appear at the House of Commons Select Committee for the second time for questioning on phone hacking. (AP)

Stalactites hanging in the upper cave of the Jeita Grotto in north of Beirut, Lebanon. Jeita Grotto, a compound of caves located 20 km north of Beirut in the Valley of Nahr al-Kalb (Dog River), is a finalist candidate representing Lebanon in the New Seven Wonders of the World campaign. (AP)

The moon shines in the night sky above the Dead Sea, November 9, 2011. The Dead Sea, a salty desert lake some 422 meters below sea level, is just one of 28 natural landmarks vying for the title of one of the "New Seven Wonders of Nature", an online competition which ends November 11. (Reuters)

A man dressed as Father Christmas collects wish lists from children at a special Christmas post office in the village of Himmelpfort (Heaven's Gate), north of Berlin, Germany. (Reuters)

A creation by designer Jean-Paul Goude and used in 1989 for the French Revolution bicentennial is seen at the Arts Decoratifs museum in Paris, France. (AP)

A U.S. Marine salutes the colors during a wreath-laying ceremony at the American Cemetery and Memorial at suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines, as they pay tribute to U.S. veterans and their families on Veterans Day. (AP)

A poppy balances in the hand of a statue on the Armed Forces Memorial during Armistice Day commemorations at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, central England. (Reuters)

Presidential guards perform a change of shift in front of the parliament in Athens as Greeks lauded the nomination of their new Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos. (Reuters)

Israeli soldiers detain Palestinian cameraman Bilal Tamimi during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators at a weekly protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. (Reuters)

Riot policemen face demonstrators in Naples during a rally called "Occupy Napoli" (Occupy Naples), referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, to protest against banks and international financial power. (AFP)

A reveler holds a mask during a so-called "Karnival der Empoerten" (Carnival of the Outraged) street demonstration by the Occupy movement in Berlin, Germany. (Reuters)

Red Bull driver Mark Webber of Australia steers his car during the second free practice at the Yas Marina racetrack in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP)

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, right, former British Prime Minister John Major, second from right, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, fourth from right, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, fourth from left, leader of the Labor Party Ed Miliband, second from left, and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, left, attend a service of remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, to honor the nation's war dead. (AP)

An "indignant" protester demonstrates at the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid against spending cuts, high unemployment and political corruption, a week before a general election. (AFP)

A Buddhist monk paddles a small boat past stupas in a flooded neighborhood in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)

A policeman patrols the Rocinha slum during the "Shock of Peace" operation to install Peacekeeping Unit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Reuters)

Downfallen leaves are covered by white frost on a meadow near central Bohemian town of Benesov, Czech Republic. (Reuters)

A rainbow over Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece (Reuters)

Planes perform during the Dubai airshow in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai's fast-growing airline Emirates kicked off the Middle East's biggest airshow Sunday with a huge order for 50 Boeing 777s, marking the U.S. aircraft maker's biggest-ever single order in dollar terms. (AP)

Two large swans follow US golfer Tiger woods on the 11th fairway during the fourth round of the Australian Open golf tournament in Sydney, Australia. (AP)

Cape Penguins, wearing colorful ribbons, take a walk at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Japan. (AP)

A graffiti reading: "Berlusconi Gone!!!" is seen near a bar in Rome, Italy. (AP)

Patrouille de France planes perform at the Dubai Airshow in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)

The Russian Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft, carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew of U.S. astronaut Daniel Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, blasts off in a snowfall at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (Reuters)

Palestinian fire fighters try to extinguish a fire at a workshop for woodwork in Gaza City. (Reuters)

Syrians splash around in a pond during a rally in support of their President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, November 13, 2011, a day after the Arab League suspended Syria's membership. (AFP)

Vehicles are submerged at the Honda factory in Ayutthaya province, Thailand. (Reuters)

A fragment of a map of the USSR studded with semiprecious stones at a geological exploring museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Reuters)

Zlatan Ibrahimovich of Sweden catches a ball during a team training session ahead of his country's friendly soccer match against England at Wembley on Tuesday in London. (Reuters)

North Korean supporters cheer their team during the 2014 World Cup qualifying match against Japan in Pyongyang. (Reuters/Kyodo)

A Thai policeman fights a strong current as he repairs part of the broken sandbag barriers in Don Muang district in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP)

Doctors and health workers hold banners during a protest in Barcelona, Spain. Doctors in the Catalonia region called a mass strike at hospitals and outpatient departments to protest against planned cutbacks. (AP)

Members of the Occupy Wall Street movement clash with New York police after being removed from Zuccotti Park in New York, USA. (Reuters)

A model adjusts a surgical lamp on display at the international Medica 2011 fair in Duesseldorf, Germany. The Medica fair is open from November 16-19, 2011 and shows new developments for medical treatments. (AP)

A spider in its web at Godavari Botanical gardens on the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. (AFP)

Artist Liu Bolin demonstrates an art installation by blending in with vegetables at a supermarket in Beijing, China, November 14, 2011. Liu, also known as the 'Vanishing Artist', started practicing being "invisible" by means of optical illusions more than six years ago. (Reuters)

Teams from Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) collect unexploded ordnance buried underground by the Gadhafi regime at a military base in Tajura, about 30 km (19 miles) east of Tripoli. (Reuters)

US President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard hold a joint press conference in Canberra, Australia. President Barack Obama announced an agreement to expand the US military presence in Australia, underscoring growing concern over an increasingly assertive China. (AP)

Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck inspects an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan. Bhutan's royal couple are in Japan for a six-day visit. (Reuters)

An honor guard carries the remains of three WWII Army Airman during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. The remains representing the entire crew were buried in a single casket. They are 2nd Lt. Wilson C. Cater of Jackson, Miss., Master Sgt. Donald A. Mackey of Chambersburg, Pa., and Staff Sgt. Glenn E. Webb of Wetumpka, Okla. (AP)

Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny and German Chancellor Angela Merkel listen to their national anthems during a welcoming ceremony at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Kenny is on his first official visit to Germany. (AFP)

An ethnic Miao minority man shaves another villager's head with a sickle in the village of Basha in Congjiang county, Guizhou province, China. The village of about 2,100 is believed to be the last village in China authorized by the government to keep guns. (Reuters)

US soldiers of 2nd Platoon C Company 9th Engineer Battalion COP Dash Towp stand around a fire during an overall security and disruption insurgency mission in Wardak province, eastern Afghanistan. (Reuters)

A man looks at the painting 'The World Self' by US artist and architect Paul Laffoley at Hamburger Bahnhof exhibition hall in Berlin, Germany. (Reuters)

A surfer rides a wave in the Mediterranean Sea at Israel's southern city of Ashkelon. (Reuters)

A model wears a creation by Abang Saufi from Malaysia during the Islamic Fashion Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP)

An Occupy Wall Street demonstrator is arrested by New York City police during what protest organizers called a "Day of Action" in New York. (Reuters)

Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to crowd as she visits Mother's Home Free Education Center in outskirts of Rangoon along with Andrew John Bower Mitchell, unseen, member of parliament and secretary of state for International Development of Britain. (AP)

Merina Begum tries to salvage her belongings after a fire in a slum at Rayerbazar in Dhaka, Bangladesh. More than 250 shanties have been burned down as a blaze swept through the slum, the local fire department said. (Reuters)

A customer leaves a shop advertising its closing sale in the center of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch economy contracted for the first time in more than a year in the third quarter as export growth slowed and investment declined. (AP)

Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (C) and Queen Jetsun Pema (L) are greeted by Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito (R) upon their arrival at the Imperial Palace for the state dinner in Tokyo, November 16, 2011. (AP)

Lawmakers of the opposition LMP party wear gas masks as they protest outside the parliament against high levels of air pollution in Budapest, Hungary. The city council issued a smog alert and blocked high-emission cars from central Budapest due to high levels of dust in the air after a lack of wind over the past few days. (Reuters)

A photographer looks for a different angle while photographing the 'Secret Postcard' exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London. Around 3000 postcard size artworks have been created and donated by artists and designers. (AFP)

Students use a banner to shield themselves from a police water canon during a march demanding education reform in Valparaiso, Chile. (AP)

Gnats, or small biting flies, gather on a bridge over the East Lake in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. (Reuters)

A Thai supporter wears a dual face headgear to amplify his cheer during a Southeast Asian (SEA) Games Group A soccer match between Thailand and Singapore at Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP)

Emus look on at a farm in Amching village, east of Gauhati, India. This large bird native to Australia is farmed for its meat, oil, leather and various other uses. (AP)

A Great Egret in the Gringo lake of the Serere Natural Reserve at the Madidi region some 600 km (373 miles) north of La Paz, Bolivia, November 16, 2011 (Reuters)

Catholic faithful pray toward a statue of the Virgin Mary at St. Michel Church in Cotonou, Benin. (AP)

Residents walk on makeshift steps to a tollway at a flooded area in Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)

Anti-government protesters perform Friday prayers during a rally demanding the trial of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh and opposing the proposed immunity for Saleh, Sanaa. (Reuters)

School students pose for pictures during celebrations for the 83rd birthday of cartoon character Mickey Mouse at a school in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. (Reuters)

A construction laborer carries bricks on her head at the construction site of a residential estate on the outskirts of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. (Reuters)

Anyavarin Supateeralert of Thailand performs during the Rhythmic gymnastics final at the 26th Southeast Asian Games (SEAGAMES) in Palembang, Sumatra province. (AFP)

A Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) flies over the Rapati River in Chitwan National Park, southwest of Kathmandu, Nepal. (AFP)

Pope Benedict (2nd L) leads a mass at the Stade de l'Amitie (Friendship Stadium) in Benin's economic capital Cotonou during his three-day pastoral trip to the country. (Reuters)

A protester throws a tear gas canister, which had earlier been thrown by riot police, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)

Children look for salvageable materials among debris and rubbish after an overnight fire blazed through a slum area in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines. (AFP)

A woman cries during a ceremony at a memorial stupa of the Khmer Rouge regime at Choeung Ek, a "Killing Fields" site located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Hundreds gathered at the site to pay respects for victims of genocide during the Khmer Rouge regimes. (Reuters)

An anti-nuclear scarecrow stands next to mock barrels piled up in order to protest against the castor container transport of nuclear waste to an interim storage facility in Gorleben, northern Germany in Metzingen near Gorleben. (AFP)

Brides wait for the start of their mass marriage ceremony in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, India. A total of 41 couples from the city took their wedding vows during the ceremony. (Reuters)

Mist almost covers the Houses of Parliament in central London, Britain. (Reuters)

Dancers of the Folkloric Ballet of the University of Guadalajara (Mexico) perform during the Bogota Dance Festival at the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Theatre in Bogota, Colombia. (AFP)

A protester screams in pain as he gets hit during clashes with riot police in a side street near Tahrir Square in Cairo. (Reuters)

Lebanese workers are hoisted aloft by a crane to decorate a Christmas tree with "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" in three languages, English, French and Arabic, in preparation for upcoming Christmas in Beirut. (AP)

French Provence region hand-painted figurines called "Santons" showing Pope John Paul II are displayed on a stall during the yearly Santon Fair (Foire des santonniers) in the French southern town of Marseille. Santons which usually are nativity scene figurines, are a southern France 18th century Christmas tradition. (AFP)

A Thai worker cleans a lion statue in flooded Bang Khae district of Bangkok. (AP)

Students from St Andrews University participate in traditional Raisin Monday celebrations in St Andrews, Scotland. The tradition dates back to the early days of the university when new students would give senior students a pound of raisins in gratitude for their help in adapting to university life, in exchange for a receipt written in Latin. Failure to produce a receipt could result in a dousing in the local fountain. Nowadays the raisins have been replaced with a bottle of wine and dousing with foam. (Reuters)

Indian wrestler Sutandar Singh (R) gets hold of his Pakistani counterpart Shahid Khoyawala during a friendly bout in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP)

A pony grazes in a meadow at sunset above Lausanne, Western Switzerland. (AFP)

A Nihang or Sikh warrior performs "Gatkha", a traditional form of martial arts, along a road during a religious procession ahead of the martyrdom day of their ninth guru Guru Tegh Bahadur on Thursday, in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. (Reuters)

International Space Station crew member Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov smiles after landing in a Soyuz capsule near the town of Arkalyk, northern Kazakhstan. (Reuters)

A mourner attends a candlelight prayer ceremony for nun Valsha John at the India Gate in New Delhi. John, 52, was beaten and hacked with an axe last week by unknown assailants in India's eastern Jharkhand state where she had led a campaign for five years against alleged exploitation of villagers by private coal miners. (Reuters)

A protester wearing swimming goggles crouches as tear gas is fired by Egyptian riot police during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. (AP)

Sarah Christian greets her husband for the first time in six months, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jonathon Christian as he comes home for the Thanksgiving holiday from his deployment in Korea, at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. (AP)

Glassmakers work on a handcrafted Christmas tree decoration at the International Glass Art Center in Meisenthal, northeastern France. A local tradition says Christmas tree glass ball craftsmanship was invented in the 19th century at the Vergo glass factory in the nearby village of Goetzenbruck. (Reuters)

South Korea's Kim Kyung Ah (L) serves during her women's doubles table tennis match at the Qatar Peace and Sport Cup in Doha. Kim and her playing partner North Korea's Kim Hye Song beat Japan's Natsumi Miyake and France's Carole Grundisch. (Reuters)

Cast members Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek pose to promote their animated film "Puss In Boots" in Berlin. (Reuters)

South Korean school girls from the Little Angels Folk Ballet perform in New Delhi. The schoolchildren are Korea's ambassadors of peace and goodwill and commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War by touring the 16 U.N.-member nations who sent troops and medical units to the conflict. (AFP)

Supporters of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, or Indian Workers Group, participate in a protest rally in New Delhi. The supporters demanded that the government protect workers rights in the ongoing economic reform process as well as the financial crisis. (AP)

A boy joins journalists and students in lighting candles on the pavement near the Presidential Palace in Manila to mark the second anniversary of the massacre of at least 57 people, including 32 journalists and staff, in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines. (AP)

A worker carries bricks by balancing them on the head at a brick factory in Bhaktapur, Nepal. (Reuters)

A boy with a face mask stands with his father in Cairo's Tahrir Square as clashes take place nearby with Egyptian riot police. Police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day. (AP)

Riot police officers secure the railway tracks in Lieusaint, Normandy, France, as environmental activists try to block the tracks in an effort to stop a train loaded with nuclear waste headed for Gorleben, Germany. (AP)

Andalusian horsemen wait with horses before competing in a contest during the Sicab International P.R.E. Horse Fair in Seville, Spain. The show runs till November 27 and is dedicated exclusively to Spanish thoroughbreds. (Reuters)

Residents watch a bushfire from the top of their cars in Margaret River, Western Australia. At least 20 homes have been destroyed by the fire according to local authorities. (Reuters)

Pigeons fly next to the Georges Pompidou art center, left, in Paris. (AP)

A man pays silent tribute in front of sculptures of two dead marines during a memorial service on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. South Korea marked the first anniversary of North Korea's deadly artillery attack on the front-line island Wednesday. (AP)

Vehicles at a Honda auto factory are submerged in floodwaters at the Rojana industrial district in Ayutthaya, central Thailand. The factory remains closed because of the flooding. (AP)

A boy controls his kite in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Reuters)

The Snoopy the Flying Ace balloon floats down Central Park West during the 85th Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. (Reuters)

Indian Sikh schoolgirls laugh during a religious procession in New Delhi. The procession was held to mark the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru, who was executed in 1675 in Delhi. (AP)

A young man stops by the closed the gate of a subway station in Lisbon, during a general strike as trade unions protest austerity measures linked to a euro78 billion international bailout. The subway is to close all day while government offices, school classes, mail deliveries, trash collection and other public services are likely to be severely affected. (AP)

A woman walks past electoral paintings representing political parties in Casablanca. Moroccans head to polls to elect a new parliament Friday after the king brought forward elections in response to Arab Spring demonstrations over the past nine months. (AP)

U.S. Army soldiers serve Thanksgiving meals to their comrades in Forward Operating Base (FOB) Shank in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan. (Reuters)

A Buddhist monk wades through a flooded temple in Bangkok. Thailand's worst floods in 50 years have killed 610 people and devastated industry, but the situation is slowly improving, with water receding in many affected areas. (Reuters)

A member of the Israeli Ethiopian community reads a holy book during a ceremony marking the Ethiopian Jewish holiday of Sigd in Jerusalem. The holiday symbolizes the community's connection to Jerusalem. (Reuters)

Workers attach an election poster featuring Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, appealing to people to vote for the United Russia political party, onto an office building in the southern city of Krasnodar. Russians will vote in parliamentary elections December 4. (Reuters)

Artwork titled "Between Earth and Clouds" by Nigerian artist Bright Ugochukwu Eke is displayed as part of the "DON'T/PANIC" exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery. The exhibition, commissioned on the occasion of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting, houses works of renowned African artists dealing with the topic of climate change and global warming. The work is made up of hundreds of small packets of water, some filled with carbon. (Reuters)

A Pakistani boy is reflected in a street barber's mirror while having a haircut, in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP)

The Hawaii All-State Marching Band make its way through Times Square during the 85th Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. (Reuters)

Magellanic penguins interact at the Punta Tombo fauna reservation in the southern Argentinian province of Chubut. Hundreds of penguins arrived in Chubut in September and stayed until their babies were born in November. (Reuters)

A dove has a flag of Yemen and a badge of President Ali Abdullah Saleh attached to its body at a rally during Friday prayers in Sanaa. (Reuters)

Hundreds of Palestinian children joined an UNRWA activity to send out a message of peace by lining up in a shape of a peace dove and the words "Love All" both in English and "Love" in Arabic, designed by international environmental artist John Quigley, near the West Bank city of Jericho. (AP)

Anti-government protesters pass a graffiti-covered wall that reads: "Peaceful Bahrain" and "We will never forget the hostages in the jails" at a rally and march that drew tens of thousands to Maqsha, outside the capital of Manama. (AP)

Masked members of Iran's Basij militia attend a military parade to mark Basij week in front of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran. (Reuters)

An Egyptian demonstrator holds up a cartridge with the words "Made in the USA" during a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir square. (AFP)

A woman takes a break from shopping on Black Friday at Dadeland Mall in Miami, Florida. (AP)

A Thai flood victim sits under a mosquito at a relief center in Bangkok. (AP)

Cross country skiers use an artificial snow track in the western Austrian village of Seefeld. (Reuters)

Rachael Flatt of the U.S. performs during the ladies short program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, Russia. (Reuters)

A museum employee passes an installation entitled "Forever Bicycles" during the “Ai Weiwei, Absent” exhibition by Chinese outspoken artist Ai Weiwei at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan. (AP)

A Christie's auction house worker poses for photographers sitting in front of a 1887 painting by Vasily Vereshchagin, entitled ''Crucifixion by the Romans' in London, Britain. The painting will be part of Christie's Russian Art Sale on November 28, 2011. (AP)

A Pakistani Christian man beats his chest while taking part in an anti-American rally in Lahore to protest a weekend NATO cross-border attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. (Reuters)

An Egyptian army soldier outside a polling station helps a woman to cast her vote during parliamentary elections in Alexandria. (Reuters)

Kosovo Serbs clash with German army soldiers serving in the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo on a roadblock near the village of Jagnjenica. (AP)

A pre-election poster of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and PM Vladimir Putin, appealing to people to vote for their political party United Russia in the upcoming December 4 election, is seen with the "Cruiser Aurora" Museum ship in St. Petersburg. (Reuters)

Anti-nuclear protesters sit in a tent on the street near Gorleben, northern Germany, along the route of the so-called Castor transport. The train arrived at Dannenberg for unloading after leaving nuclear giant Areva's rail yard at Valognes, northwestern France on November 23, 2011 and negotiating obstacles set by anti-nuclear activists. The train is due to unload its cargo of nuclear waste onto trucks to continue the final leg of the journey to the Gorleben storage facility on the River Elbe. (AFP)

A man rides his bicycle near Augsburg, southern Germany. (AP)

A visitor takes a photograph in the Monument Gallery room of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The gallery is open to the public after a two and a half year year 17.6 million pounds ($27.4 million) restoration project. (Reuters)

An cricket team supporter waves his county's flag prior to the first one-day international cricket match against West Indies in Cuttack, India. (AP)

A newborn, endangered Eld's deer fawn stands in a cage at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province, east of Bangkok, Thailand. (Reuters)

Protesters in Seoul hold candles with placards which read "Invalidity, FTA between South Korea and the U.S." during a rally denouncing the passing of a bill on ratification of a free trade agreement. South Korea's parliament ratified the long-stalled deal Tuesday. (AP)

Lights on a tree are powered by people cycling and generating electricity that form part of exhibit for the climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. (AP)

Romanian volunteers hold hands forming a red ribbon, the anti-AIDS symbol, during an awareness rally in central Bucharest, two days before World AIDS Day. (Reuters)

Local residents watch supporters of South Ossetia's presidential hopeful Alla Dzhioyeva marching in Tskhinvali, the regional capital of Georgia's breakaway province. Dzhioyeva, an anti-corruption crusader and ex-education minister, has danced before hundreds of supporters to claim victory over her Kremlin-anointed rival. (AP)

A visitor looks at badges of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong at a "red museum" in Xincun community center in China's southwestern Yunnan province. The museum showcases more than 35,000 badges and memorabilia of communist party leaders. The owner of the items has been collecting souvenirs since 1988 to inform a younger generation about the history of the Chinese Communist Party. (Reuters)

Argentina's David Nalbandian serves during a training session for the upcoming Davis Cup final in Seville, Spain. Argentina will play against Spain in the Davis Cup final, December 2-4. (Reuters)

A child watches a Greenpeace hot air balloon during a protest against changes to the Brazilian Forest Code in in Brasília. The demonstration was comprised of nearly 200 civil society organizations, students and non-government organizations. The words read: "Senate, stop the chainsaw." (Reuters)

A Kashmiri man rides a horse-drawn cart past a frost-covered field on the outskirts of Srinagar, India. (AP)

A girl looks from inside a school as she waits for her parents to pick her up in the old part of Rangoon, Burma. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will test Burma's tentative democratic reforms this week in a high-stakes visit that could mark the Asian nation's return to the world stage after more than 50 years of political isolation. (Reuters)

Seattle-based glass sculptor Dale Chihuly poses for a portrait with his work Mille Fiori at the Halycon Gallery on New Bond Street in London. (Reuters)

A member of the general trade union GMB stands outside The Houses of Parliament in London as public sector staff strike over pensions. Up to two million workers in Britain went on strike over changes to their pensions, after the government responded to slashed growth forecasts with fresh spending cuts. (AFP)

Nimrod plays on the swings at the Nyumbani Children's Home for children with HIV, in Karen on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. The orphanage, which is heavily reliant on foreign donations, cares for over 100 children with HIV whose parents died of the disease and provides them with housing, care, and anti-retroviral medicine. (AP)

Retiring paramilitary policemen bid farewell to their comrades inside a train at a station in Dandong, Liaoning province, China. (Reuters)

People wave Vatican flags during a general audience with Pope Benedict XVI in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican. (AP)

A volunteer lines up 25-Centavo coins in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record currently being held by the U. S. at Rizal Park in Manila, Philippines. More than three million pieces are lined up for hours to stretch 70 kilometers to break the 64.8-kilometer record. (AP)

Workers hold iron rods at the construction site of a bridge on the river Tawi in Jammu. India's economy grew at its weakest pace in more than two years in the quarter that ended in September, revealing the heavy toll that stubbornly high inflation, rising interest rates and crisis-hit global capital markets are having on Asia's third-biggest economy. (Reuters)

A ferret looks out of the jacket of an activist of the Frankfurt Occupy movement at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. (AP)

A woman prepares snacks to sell near the railway line in Rangoon, Burma. (Reuters)

The sun rises above an Orthodox Church in the town of Novogrudok, 150 km west of the Belarussian capital Minsk. (Reuters)

Toyota Boshoku Corp.'s concept vehicle T-Brain is displayed during the press preview of the Tokyo Motor Show. The show opens to the public this weekend. (AP)

Primary school students present giant and small red ribbons during an event on the eve of World AIDS Day in Wuyuan, in southern China's Jiangxi province. China will have about 780,000 people infected with the AIDS virus by the end of this year, state media reported, with most having contracted it through heterosexual sex. (AP)