A supporter of FC Copenhagen reacts after his team defeated Sparta in their Europa League Group K soccer match in Prague, Czech Republic, on Dec. 16. Copenhagen won the match 3-0. Petr David Josek/AP
A Japanese Macaque, or Snow Monkey, soaks in a hot spring in Yamanouchi town, Japan, on Thursday. Pablo Sanchez/Reuters
This photo provided by UNICEF on Dec. 17 shows a 10-year-old albino girl, Selima, watching her classmate Mwanaidi at the Mintindo Elementary School in Tanzania. Taken by photographer Johan Baevman from Sweden, the photo was chosen as UNICEF's Picture of the Year 2009 in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday. Johan Baevman/UNICEF/AP
A woman on skis crosses The Aelpli towards the Stelli in the Rhinevalley, Switzerland during a freezing day when the temperature was 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday. Arno Balzarini/Keystone/AP
Evacuees cook their meals amidst lava cascading down the slopes of the Mayon volcano in Legazpi City, Philippines. Security forces are evacuating thousands of residents who are reluctant to leave their farms near the smoldering volcano. Dan Amaranto/AP
A meerkat tries to eat meal worms stuffed inside a Christmas cracker at the London Zoo on Thursday. Matt Dunham/AP
A man leads two donkeys to shelter near the village of Pajares, Spain, as the northern region of the nation is blanketed with snow on Thursday. Eloy Alonso/Reuters
A police officer walks past damage caused by huge fallen rocks on the main highway south of Tessaloniki, Greece, on Thursday. An Italian engineer was crushed to death by a falling boulder while inspecting damage to the highway, but two more people with him escaped by diving into a ditch. The rockfalls, which started late Wednesday after heavy rains, forced authorities to close the road indefinitely. Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP
A sunken red granite tower, part of a pylon from the Isis temple, is lifted out of the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria, Egypt, on Thursday. Egyptian archeologists lifted the large artifact out of the water in an elaborate effort to highlight ancient treasures buried under water off the harbor. Nasser Nasser/AP
Families evacuate children through a canal after the main road to the nearby school was flooded with rain water in Ghaziyeh, Lebanon, on Thursday. Mohammed Zaatari/AP
An Afghan National Army soldier hands a cup of tea to a German Bundeswehr Army solder (l.) as a Belgian soldier (c.) looks on, of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) during a mission in Chahar Dara in Kunduz, Afghanistan. German Bundeswehr Army soldiers and Afghan National Army soldiers began an operation in the area against insurgents on Wednesday. Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Tourists from Sao Paulo build a snowman in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Thursday as winter weather hit the French capital. Charles Platiau/Reuters
Children and artists dance around a New Year's tree during a contest for the best Father Frost and Snow Maiden in Minsk, Belarus, on Dec. 17. Yulia Darashkevich/Reuters
Freedom for Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was a cause célèbre among dissidents and human rights groups critical of the Chávez regime. Venezuela conditionally released her after three years in detention.
Jailed Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, often referred to as “Hugo Chávez’s political prisoner,” was freed on Friday after spending more than three years in detention. Following petitions from international bodies and human rights groups, the court decision immediately ignited social media networks, with many celebrating the release as a victory for human rights and Venezuela's political opposition.
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