Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's coverage area and beyond for the 52nd week of 2019. For more photo galleries, see our photo gallery archive.
Photos Of The Week #52
1
Youngsters jump into the sea from a diving platform in Saint-Malo, northwestern France. (AFP/Valery Hache)
2
Women scatter flower petals in the waters of the Bay of Bengal during a prayer ceremony for the victims of the 2004 tsunami on the 15th anniversary of the disaster, at Marina beach in Chennai, India, on December 26. (Reuters/P. Ravikumar)
3
A Palestinian fighter from the Ezz-Al Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, checks debris at the site of an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip December 26. (AFP/Said Khatib)
4
Iraqi anti-government protesters stand next to a burning roadblock in the southern city of Basra late on December 26. (AFP/Hussein Faleh)
5
Serbian Orthodox Church clergy and believers stand in front of police on a bridge near parliament, ahead of the vote on a controversial law on religious freedom, in Podgorica, Montenegro, on December 26. (AFP/Savo Prelevic)
6
Russian firemen and rescuers dressed in costumes of Father Frost descend along a wall from the roof of the Morozovskaya Children's Hospital during a charity party for seriously ill children in Moscow. (epa-EFE/Sergei Ilnitsky)
7
Rescuers work at the site of an airplane crash near Almaty airport in Kazakhstan on December 27. The crash killed 12 of the 98 passengers and crew aboard. The exact cause of the crash is not yet known. (epa-EFE/Vladimir Zaikin)
8
An Iraqi anti-government protester is pictured at a roadblock in the southern city of Basra with burning tires in the background. (AFP/Hussein Faleh)
9
A woman in Sevastopol writes the word "Crimea" in lipstick on a railway carriage upon the arrival of the first direct train from Saint Petersburg via the Kerch Strait Bridge on December 25. (Reuters/Alexey Pavlishak)
10
A Pakistani soldier stands guard during a ceremony for the nation's founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the southern port city of Karachi on the anniversary of his birth on December 25. (epa-EFE/Rehan Khan)
11
Christmas decorations adorn the streets of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, late on December 24. (AFP/Vano Shlamov)
12
Children sing carols during a Christmas charity event as they gather to deliver gifts for the poor in Seoul, South Korea. (AP/Ahn Young-joon)
13
A Christmas tree stands outside a Stalin-era building, now a Radisson hotel, in the Russian capital, Moscow. (AP/Alexander Zemlianchenko)
14
Residents react to tear gas as police and protesters confront each other on Christmas Eve in Hong Kong on December 24. (AP/Kin Cheung)
15
Two Iranians look out at Tehran's smoggy skyline on December 23. (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)
16
A young girl takes a selfie during a seasonal cadets' ball in Minsk, Belarus. (TASS/Natalia Fedosenko)