Dressed as Santa Claus, Valery Kokoulin, rings a bell on his homemade yacht to mark the ending of the sailboat season, as the air temperature dropped to 9.4 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, on the Yenisei River, outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Ilya Naymushin/Reuters
Vendors are transported to the countryside through early morning traffic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in a vehicle called a 'tap-tap.' Dieu Nalio Chery/AP
Participants of 'Strut the Streets', an annual swimwear parade, look at a man pole-dancing in central Sydney. 'Strut the Streets' raises money to help aboriginal Australians to finish school at the same rate as every Australian child. Daniel Munoz/Reuters
Workers put up a steel bar railing at an elevated highway construction site in Jakarta, Indonesia. The highway is planned to be fully operational by mid 2013. Dita Alangkara/AP
A bison stands in an outside enclosure during snow fall at Les Plaines de Rosiere bison breeding farm, in Colovrex near Geneva. Denis Balibouse/Reuters
A specialist sits next to inflated space suits prepared for the International Space Station (ISS) prime and back up crew members during a training at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and US astronaut Thomas Marshburn are scheduled to fly to the International Space Station on December 19. Sergei Remezov/Reuters
A poll worker uses biometric technology to check a voter's identity at a polling station in Accra, Ghana. With its coup era over and five peaceful elections under its belt, Ghana is expected to hold a peaceful poll as voters decide which candidate will ensure that the country's newfound wealth reaches the poor and middle class. Gabriela Barnuevo/AP
Rescuers and residents look for missing victims among toppled tree trunks and coconut shells after flash floods caused by a powerful typhoon hit Compostela Valley, southern Philippines. The death toll from the storm has surpassed 500, with more than 400 people missing. Malacanang Photo Bureau/AP
A barber shaves a customer's beard at a roadside shop in Peshawar, Pakistan. Fayaz Aziz/Reuters
Employees of Greece's biggest pension fund, IKA-ETAM protest in Athens against their imminent layoffs. Unemployment in Greece climbed to a new record of 26 percent in September, topping that of Spain to become the highest in the euro area, data by Greece's statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday. John Kolesidis/Reuters
Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan performs during the men's short program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Sochi, Russia. Grigory Dukor/Reuters
An Indian man bathes his young child on the 20th anniversary of the Babri mosque demolition in Ayodhya, India, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. In 1992, tens of thousands of Hindu extremists ripped apart the 16th century mosque as security forces watched. Hindus say it is the birthplace of their god Rama and contend a temple to him stood on the site before the mosque. Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP
Canadian astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) crew member Chris Hadfield appears through a window as he attends a training at Baikonur cosmodrome. Sergei Remezov/Reuters
A woman walks along La Concha, a beach in San Sebastian, northern Spain. Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP
Rabbis Schmuel Segal (l.) and Yehuda Teichtal of the Orthodox Jewish Chabad Lubawitsch community bless a menorah after erecting it in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin ahead of upcoming Hanukkah celebrations. Thomas Peter/Reuters
A woman leaves a shop displaying Union flag posters in the window, in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Northern Ireland on Friday to lend her support to the British province's fragile peace, the frailty of which was underlined by overnight rioting on the eve of her visit and the seizure of a bomb. Cathal McNaughton/Reuters
A young Indian student yawns as he stands with others during an assembly before classes at the Central Baptist Church School in New Delhi, India. Built in 1814, the church is one of Delhi's oldest and stands on the historic Chadni Chowk Road. Kevin Frayer/AP
A man walks inside the damaged Tazreen garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaha, Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi garment factory that was producing clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney, and other major Western companies had lost its fire safety certification in June, five months before a blaze in the facility killed 112 workers, a fire official said. A.M. Ahad/AP
A German Bundeswehr army soldier (r.) with the Alpha company of the Quick Reaction Unit (QRU) scans the area as a local commander of the Afghan police gestures at a checkpoint in the village of Qeysar Kheyl, during a mission near Baghlan, northern Afghanistan. Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
A hippo looks out of the water at the Zoo on a sunny day in Berlin, Germany. Markus Schreiber/AP
A worker stands atop a metal frame as he attaches small lights to the branches of trees in front of the National Grand Theater, nicknamed 'The Egg,' at sunset in Beijing. The theater, which stands next to the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square, has three main halls, including a 2,416-seat opera house, a 2,017-seat concert hall with a pipe organ, and a 1,040-seat theatre for plays. David Gray/Reuters
Switzerland's Roger Federer signs autographs after his match against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in an exhibition tour in Sao Paulo, on December 6, 2012. Nacho Doce/Reuters
Great Tit birds feed on nuts and seeds left by visitors in a bird feeder in a park in central Minsk, Belarus. /Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters
A Japanese woman films a laser show that illuminates the India Gate war memorial, unseen, in New Delhi, India. The event marked the culmination of the various Japanese cultural events held in India to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Altaf Qadri/AP
A lobster boat heads out to sea at dawn in South Portland, Maine. A red sky in the morning often indicates a storm system is moving east. Robert F. Bukaty/AP
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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