Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond for the 50th week of 2012. (43 PHOTOS)
Photos Of The Week #50
1
People gather at a makeshift memorial outside a firehouse which was used as a staging area for families following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the United States. (Getty Images/Mario Tama)
3
An Egyptian woman prays in a heavily guarded street outside the presidential palace in Cairo on December 15. (AFP/Patrick Baz)
4
An opposition supporter plays football next to a Republican Guard tank deployed outside the presidential palace in Cairo. Egypt's 51 million voters are being called on to vote over the next two weekends in a referendum on a draft constitution backed by Islamists, including President Muhammad Morsi, but denounced by the secular opposition. (AFP/Patrick Baz)
5
North Korean soldiers attend a rally to celebrate the launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which successfully placed a satellite into polar orbit. (Reuters/Kyodo)
6
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smokes a cigarette while monitoring events at the General Satellite Control and Command Center after the launch of the Unha-3 rocket that carried a satellite into polar orbit on December 12. (Reuters/KCNA News Agency)
7
Afghan children play near a lake on the outskirts of the western city of Herat. (AFP/Aref Karimi)
8
Members of Hamas security forces prepare to destroy a missile that witnesses said was fired by an Israeli plane during the eight-day conflict in the Gaza Strip. Eight days of Israeli air strikes on Gaza and crossborder Palestinian rocket attacks ended in an Egyptian-brokered truce agreement last month, calling on Israel to ease restrictions on the territory. (Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
9
Two men fish on a lake after a snowfall near the Albanian city of Kukes, some 160 kilometers north of the capital, Tirana. (Reuters/Arben Celi)
10
St. Pauli's Christopher Buchtmann slides into a heap of snow during a Bundesliga match between FC St. Pauli and Erzgebirge Aue at Millerntor-Stadion in Hamburg, Germany. (AFP/Angelika Warmuth)
11
Britain's Queen Elizabeth tours a gold vault during a visit to the Bank of England in London's financial district. (Reuters/Eddie Mulholland)
12
Sikh Scots Guards soldier Jatenderpal Singh Bhullar (center) marches past during a changing-of-the-guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace in London. Bhullar became the first guardsman to parade outside Buckingham Palace wearing a turban instead of the traditional bearskin hat. (AFP/Carl Court)
13
A street performer walks with his trained monkey and goat during a heavy rain in Lahore, Pakistan. (AFP/Arif Ali)
14
An Indian holy man smokes a "chillum" as he prepares for the upcoming Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad, India. The Hindu festival is the largest gathering of people for a religious purpose in the world. Tens of millions of people gather for the multiweek occasion. (AFP/Sanjay Kanojia)
15
Ukrainian police officers detain a topless Femen activist protesting against the untenability of the newly elected parliament in Kyiv. (ITAR-TASS/Maria Frolova)
17
A worker holds a spare doll's eye at a workshop in Duesseldorf, Germany. (AFP/Martin Gerten)
18
A Free Syrian Army fighter uses a mirror to locate the position of a pro-government sniper in Aleppo's al-Amereya district. (Reuters/Aaref Hretani)
19
Toys are seen among the rubble of damaged shops in the Syrian city of Aleppo's al-Amereya district. (Reuters/Aaref Hretani)
20
Icelandic philantropist Einar Sveinsson, dressed as Santa Claus, speaks with a patient at the oncology ward during a visit to the Benjamin Bloom National Children Hospital in San Salvador, El Salvador. Sveinsson has visited the hospital prior to Christmas every year since 2001 to give gifts to the patients. (AFP/Jose Cabezas)
21
A man harvests cabbages in his field before sending them to market in the village of Komorane near Pristina, Kosovo. (Reuters/Hazir Reka)
22
The traces of skiiers are seen on the slopes at Val d'Isere in the French Alps. Recent snowfalls have encouraged skiers to hit the trails and the Val d'Isere authorities have opened certain slopes early. (AFP/Franck Fif)
23
A combo photo shows Pope Benedict XVI posting his first tweet (@pontifex) using an iPad after his general audience in Paul VI's Hall at the Vatican. "Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," the tweet said.
24
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives to deliver the annual state-of-the-nation address at the Kremlin in Moscow. (ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Klimentyev)
25
A watch on a person's wrist reading the time "12:12" and the date "12-12-12" for December 12, 2012, in front of a digital clock reading "December 12, 2012" in Paris. It's the 21st century's last sequential date. (AFP/Thomas Coex)
26
An illegal miner smokes a cigarrette during a break from digging in a coal mine in the village of Stranjani, near Zenica. There are about 20 illegal mines in the area, where Bosnians dig for coal with their bare hands and use makeshift tools, such as bathtubs, to transport the coal. One bag of their coal is sold for 3 euros ($4), which is popular with the locals as it is cheaper than the coal sold at the city mine. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic)
27
Members of the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) bloc, wearing shirts with a portrait of their leader, imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, listen to the state anthem before the first session of the newly elected parliament in Kyiv. (Reuters/Anatolii Stepanov)