Nigerian bombings, Turkish air strike, Russian protests, and a surfing Santa
Photos Of The Week -- December 24-31
![Surfing Santa Michael Pless, 61, catches a wave at Seal Beach, south of Los Angeles on December 24. (AFP/Frederic J. Brown)](https://gdb.rferl.org/c4eee317-87a6-47c6-b509-8a7b8add1315_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
1
Surfing Santa Michael Pless, 61, catches a wave at Seal Beach, south of Los Angeles on December 24. (AFP/Frederic J. Brown)
![Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle in his private window at the end of a ceremony unveiling the crib on St Peter's Square in the Vatican on December 24. (AFP/Andreas Solaro)](https://gdb.rferl.org/75adc727-9057-4e87-ad87-8ea8070fc71f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
2
Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle in his private window at the end of a ceremony unveiling the crib on St Peter's Square in the Vatican on December 24. (AFP/Andreas Solaro)
![Eight-month-old Cooper Wall Wagner reaches out to touch U.S. President Barack Obama as he poses for a photo with Cooper's parents, Captain Greg Wagner and Meredith Wagner, while greeting military personnel in Hawaii on December 25. (AFP/ Mandel Ngan)](https://gdb.rferl.org/81e52a2a-4694-4b1c-8c79-de9f78be933f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
3
Eight-month-old Cooper Wall Wagner reaches out to touch U.S. President Barack Obama as he poses for a photo with Cooper's parents, Captain Greg Wagner and Meredith Wagner, while greeting military personnel in Hawaii on December 25. (AFP/ Mandel Ngan)
![Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St Theresa's Catholic Church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja on Christmas Day. A radical Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack. (AFP/Sunday Aghaeze)](https://gdb.rferl.org/a149db0b-c304-4fe3-a1e1-aaac17257b81_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
4
Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St Theresa's Catholic Church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja on Christmas Day. A radical Islamist group claimed responsibility for the attack. (AFP/Sunday Aghaeze)
![Church spires shrouded in fog at St. Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest, Germany, on December 27. (AFP/Rolf Haid)](https://gdb.rferl.org/48ef4cf9-8f8b-40e2-8270-2357d2302591_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
5
Church spires shrouded in fog at St. Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest, Germany, on December 27. (AFP/Rolf Haid)
![At the cemetery of Gulyazi village on December 30, Kurdish people mourn for victims of a Turkish air raid near the Iraqi border. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)](https://gdb.rferl.org/df2847cc-445f-4364-ac3e-779cfe4edd5d_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
6
At the cemetery of Gulyazi village on December 30, Kurdish people mourn for victims of a Turkish air raid near the Iraqi border. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
![Kurds carry the coffins of victims of a Turkish air raid outside the district hospital in Uludere, Sirnak province, on December 30. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)](https://gdb.rferl.org/28f5efb3-8c70-4cc9-9ae7-c10a33d175a2_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
7
Kurds carry the coffins of victims of a Turkish air raid outside the district hospital in Uludere, Sirnak province, on December 30. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
![A man transports bricks on donkeys at a brickyard on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on December 28. (Reuters/Faisal Mahmood)](https://gdb.rferl.org/7cafb0b6-c8f5-454c-982d-e38809503207_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
8
A man transports bricks on donkeys at a brickyard on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on December 28. (Reuters/Faisal Mahmood)
![A boy selling homemade biscuits waits for customers on a sidewalk in Quetta, Pakistan, on December 30. (Reuters/Naseer Ahmed)](https://gdb.rferl.org/f1781be5-8d3d-4ba6-8b1b-9fa26932906a_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
9
A boy selling homemade biscuits waits for customers on a sidewalk in Quetta, Pakistan, on December 30. (Reuters/Naseer Ahmed)
![People are silhouetted against the sun while feeding birds in Karachi, Pakistan on December 30. (Reuters/Athar Hussain)](https://gdb.rferl.org/8f346d91-3308-4e5e-b496-2ce382e945b5_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
10
People are silhouetted against the sun while feeding birds in Karachi, Pakistan on December 30. (Reuters/Athar Hussain)
![Ethnic Albanians walk past a store selling wedding dresses in Pristina, Kosovo, on December 26. (AFP/Armend Nimani)](https://gdb.rferl.org/58cb3d86-5db3-431b-a8eb-2881384fccb7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
11
Ethnic Albanians walk past a store selling wedding dresses in Pristina, Kosovo, on December 26. (AFP/Armend Nimani)
![A member of the former Kosovo Liberation Army looks through an ice-covered window as he smokes a cigarette while taking part in a peaceful protest dedicated to Kosovo war veterans in Pristina on December 30. (AFP/Armend Nimani)](https://gdb.rferl.org/48148d2b-5f51-438f-9b9c-8fc4d1c865e1_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
12
A member of the former Kosovo Liberation Army looks through an ice-covered window as he smokes a cigarette while taking part in a peaceful protest dedicated to Kosovo war veterans in Pristina on December 30. (AFP/Armend Nimani)
![An opposition activist takes part in a Moscow rally on December 29 in support of Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement who has been detained by the authorities. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)](https://gdb.rferl.org/cbd8c927-2091-4f2e-81de-00e6e80be815_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
13
An opposition activist takes part in a Moscow rally on December 29 in support of Sergei Udaltsov, the leader of the Left Front movement who has been detained by the authorities. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)
![An Egyptian woman walks past new year's greetings in Cairo on December 29. (AFP/Filippo Monteforte)](https://gdb.rferl.org/381a54bc-2751-454e-a7f9-2c63888374f8_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
14
An Egyptian woman walks past new year's greetings in Cairo on December 29. (AFP/Filippo Monteforte)