World News in Pictures

[misskit]

Indian dovernment forces stand guard during a battle with suspected militants in Srinagar, Dec. 5.




A festival in Jarandilla de la Vera, Spain, Dec. 7.




A dance on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Sacatepequez, Guatemala, Dec. 7.

[misskit]

Members of the public stand behind floral tributes near the cafe where hostages were held in central Sydney. Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker were killed.





A priest blesses servicemen during a farewell ceremony at the Vaziani military base outside Tbilisi, Georgia.





The uncle and cousin of injured student Mohammad Baqair, center, comfort him as he mourns the death of his mother who was a teacher at the school in Peshawar, Pakistan. Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern city, killing more than 100, officials said.





A spectacular light and sound show is staged at the ancient Khmer city of Phimai in Nakhon Ratchasima province as part of an annual festival, Nov. 7, 2014. The event is held within the grounds of a temple at Phimai Historical Park, Thailand, which marks one end of the former Khmer highway from Angkor.

[misskit]

People stand in the mist as they look at a replica of the casino along the Promenade jetty as part of the Christmas holiday illuminations in Nice, France.





Acid attack survivors participate in a candlelight vigil protesting violence against women as they mark the second anniversary of the deadly gang rape of a student on a bus, in New Delhi, India.





A swan glides across the waters of Eastchester Bay as the sun sets behind Manhattan, New York, Dec. 15, 2014.

[misskit]

A northern rockhopper penguin stands in its enclosure at Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo, Germany.

[misskit]

Indian villagers participate in community fishing as part of the Bhogali Bihu celebrations at the Goroimari Lake in Panbari village, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of Gauhati. “Bhogali Bihu” marks the end of the harvesting season in the north eastern state of Assam.

[misskit]

A cat wears a "Tsunagaru Col" gadget next to a smart phone displaying the connected app, at the Anicall Corp booth during the Wearable Device Technology Expo in Tokyo, Japan. The gadget (Tsunagaru means connection) for animals information about pets, such as the location and other animals the pet might be interacting with, for the purpose of providing "social networking" for animals.

[misskit]

A man walks through a tunnel that connects two buildings of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, USA. The tunnel, titled The Light Inside, is a work by American artist James Turrell.

[misskit]

Men dressed as "Chlaeuse" figures that scare away evil spirits, carry round bells and cowbells as they stand on a partially snow-covered meadow during the traditional "Syvesterchlausen" near the northeastern village of Urnaesch, Switzerland, Jan. 13, 2015.

[misskit]

Second Chance, a four-year-old boxer, wears sunglasses due to sensitive eyes greets another dog during a walk with its owner along the beach in Oceanside, California, Jan. 13, 2015.

[misskit]

A boy yawns as schoolchildren dressed as Vatican Swiss guards rehearse outside the Manila Cathedral for the upcoming visit of Pope Francis in Manila, Philippines.

[Necron99]

A church made entirely of ice on a remote Romanian mountaintop.





Sydney University Of Technology opens a new Frank Gehry building





Clouds form around Dubai’s Burj Khalifa sparking a fire scare

[thaimeme]

Just wanted to extend congrats to this thread for reaching the 2 million view plateau - first in TD history, as it was to reach the 1 million mark.

In remembrance of Mr. Lick.

[BaitongBoy]

Indeed...RIP Mr Lick...Good to see the fine tradition continue...

And that happened quickly, too...

Here's to the next million...

[misskit]

Children wearing orange suits depicting victims of the Islamic State carry banners inside a cage during a protest against forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in Douma Eastern Al-Ghouta, near Damascus.

[misskit]

Kim Taylor, right, shovels snow in front of her home in Norwood, Massachusetts. A storm brought a new round of wind-whipped snow to New England, threatening white-out conditions in coastal areas and forcing people to contend with a fourth winter onslaught in less than a month.





Investigative personnel work at the scene of a cafe shooting in Oesterbro, in Copenhagen. Danish police shot and killed the man they believe was responsible for two deadly attacks at an event promoting freedom of speech and on a synagogue.





Foster Glore twirls a sign advertising Lennar Homes at the entrance to a new housing development west of Denver with a giant lenticular cloud in the background, Feb. 14, 2015. The clouds form just east of the Colorado foothills when strong jet stream winds shoot over the Rocky Mountains.





Protesters restrain a man (R) who allegedly beat other protesters during a demonstration inside a shopping mall in Hong Kong. Anti-mainland Chinese demonstrators protested against parallel traders and confronted police, government radio reported.

[misskit]

Polina Edmunds of the U.S. performs during the ladies free skating program competition at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul, South Korea.





Bordeaux's fans throw colored powders in the air during the French L1 football match between Girondins de Bordeaux (FCGB) and Saint-Etienne (ASSE) at the Chaban-Delmas stadium in Bordeaux, southwestern France.





A member of a rival team is hit by an orange during an annual carnival battle in the northern Italian town of Ivrea.





Backdropped by Britain's National Gallery in central London, protesters hold placards during a rally to show solidarity with Greece.

[misskit]

Revelers of the X9 Paulistana samba school perform during the first night of the carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo, Brazil.





Men holding their partners stumble and fall during a Valentine's Day event in Mogosoaia, Romania, Feb. 14, 2015. Never celebrated before the 1989 fall of the communist rule in Romania, Valentine's Day became ever more popular in the following years and is now widely adopted by Romanian youngsters.





An Indian Muslim bride smiles as she sits with other brides during a mass wedding organized by a social organization in Ahmadabad.

[misskit]

A relative of one of the Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly behaded by Islamic State (IS) group militants in Libya reacts after hearing the news in the village of Al-Awar in Egypt's southern province of Minya. The Islamic State group in Libya released a video purportedly showing the mass killing of 21 Coptic Christians.





Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian man as they clear a protest on the land that Palestinians said was confiscated by Israel for Jewish settlements, near the West Bank town of Abu Dis near Jerusalem.




Bulgarian Muslims Azim Liumankov and his bride Fikrie Bindzheva pose in front of their house during their wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, Feb. 15, 2015.




Children walk on the debris of a damaged building in al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria.





Townswomen dressed as Lamia, with their faces painted white and eyes darkened, sing and dance in the Basque coastal town of Mundaka on Carnival, Spain, Feb. 15, 2015. The Lamia are Basque mythological creatures whose lower extremities are those of a duck or fish depending on their proximity to the sea.

[misskit]

Firefighters work at the scene of an overnight blaze in west Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as icicles hang from where the water from their hoses froze.





Revelers of the Vila Isabel samba school perform during the first day of carnival parade at the Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.





Chefs prepare tacos of cochinita pibil, a popular dish from Yucatan, in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the world's longest taco in Guadalajara, Mexico, Feb. 15, 2015. Guadalajara broke the Guinness record for the longest taco, with a length of 2.5 kilometers, as part of the COME gastronomy festival, local media reported. The chefs used 4 tons of pork, 36,000 tortillas and spices for 325 taco servings.





Men in fancy costumes chat during the Carnival of Cadiz in southern Spain.

[misskit]

A clergyman stands near photos of people, killed in anti-government protests in 2014, during a commemoration near Independence Square in Kyiv. Ukraine will mark the first anniversary of the ousting of the pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovich next weekend, honoring the memory of the 100 or so civilians killed in protests against him.





Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (R) speaks during a gathering in Caracas in support of arrested Mayor Antonio Ledezma. Opposition leaders demanded the release of Ledezma, who was arrested on accusations of plotting violence against President Nicolas Maduro's government.





An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man prays at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem's old city. A heavy winter storm descended on parts of the Middle East on Friday, with snow forcing the closure of all roads leading in and out of Jerusalem and sprinkling Israel's desert with a rare layer of white.





A man makes patterns in the snow after a heavy snowstorm in Amman. The Jordan Meteorological Department forecasted thunderstorms and rain on Friday with snowfall in areas 600 meters above sea level and higher.

[misskit]

Residents who fled from conflict areas near the Myanmar-Chinese border arrive at a temporary refugee camp at a monastery in Lashio, northern Myanmar. Myanmar's army continued an offensive to flush out rebels from areas around a flashpoint town on the northeastern border with China, state media said, in 11 days of fighting that have displaced tens of thousands of people.





Migrants wait at the port of Lampedusa to board a ferry bound for Porto Empedocle in Sicily. Authorities on the Italian island of Lampedusa struggled to cope with a huge influx of newly-arrived migrants as aid organizations warned the Libya crisis means thousands more could be on their way.





Residents make their way through rain from Tropical Cyclone Marcia in downtown Brisbane. Two powerful cyclones further north pounded Australia and left a trail of destruction with houses ripped apart, trees uprooted and power lines torn down, cutting electricity to thousands of people.





A security guard stands near a tree decorated with red lanterns at Ditan Park during a temple fair for a Lunar New Year celebration in Beijing.

[misskit]

The snow-covered U.S. Marine Corp Memorial is framed through the trees at sunrise in Arlington, Virginia, after a winter storm blanketed the Washington D.C.-area with several inches of snow Thursday.





Myanmar Buddhist monks hold fans as sunshades during a protest march by students and Buddhist monks in Letpadan, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Myanmar's main city of Yangon. Students have rallied for months over a controversial education bill that they say is undemocratic.





A woman looks at a photo exhibition of murdered women staged as a protest in Ankara, Turkey, ahead of International Women's Day on March 8, 2015.





Schoolchildren walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they visit historic sites from the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. Selma is preparing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the famed march on March 7.

[misskit]

South Korean conservative activists hold candles during a rally to wish U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert a speedy recovery, in front of Severance Hospital where he is hospitalized, in Seoul. Police on Friday investigated the motive of the anti-U.S. activist they say slashed Lippert, as questions turned to whether security was neglected.





A man takes a picture of a ship that ran aground after a storm near the Adriatic city of Split, Croatia. Winds in the coastal city roared at a speed of 240 kilometers (150 miles) an hour, forcing the suspension of most ferry lines between the port and the islands.





The mother of a miner killed in an explosion on Wednesday at more than 1,000 meters (3,200 feet) underground at the Zasyadko mine, is supported by relatives during a funeral for the victims of the accident in Donetsk, Ukraine. At least 33 miners have been confirmed dead.





Ultra-Orthodox Jewish youths walk next to a girl in costume during Purim celebrations in Jerusalem. The festival commemorates the rescue of Jews from genocide in ancient Persia recorded in the biblical Book of Esther.

[misskit]

A Dogue de Bordeaux rests during the second day of the Crufts Dog Show in Birmingham, central England.





Pope Francis strokes a crying child's face as he arrives for a meeting in Aula Paolo VI at the Vatican.





Joburg Ballet senior soloist Kitty Phetla performs in front of an audience of schoolchildren as part of a dance awareness event by the City Ballet at Park Senior School in Johannesburg, South Africa.





An Indian girl smears colored powder on the face of another as they celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Ahmadabad. The streets and lanes across most of the country turn into a large playground where people of all faiths throw colored powder and water at each other.

[misskit]

A total solar eclipse can be seen in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway. A partial eclipse of varying degrees was visible, depending on weather conditions, across most of Europe, North Africa, northwest Asia and the Middle East, before finishing its show close at the North Pole.





People look up to view a partial solar eclipse around the Giza Pyramids, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. The total eclipse of the sun was only visable in the Faroe Islands and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean.





Tunisians wave banners and their national flag during a demonstration in Midoun, northeast of Djerba, two days after gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum. The attack which killed 21 people, was the country's worst since the 2011 uprising that toppled leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. German writting on placard reads: "We don't want any terrorists in Tunisia."





Belgian lawyers, judges and employees at the Justice ministry protest inside the Brussels Justice Palace. Demonstrators protested against the lack of resources and personnel in the country's justice institutions.