People visit an illuminated walk-through trail featuring lantern illuminated sculptures, light installations, and light projections which have been set up for the Christmas season at Verdala Palace, in Siggiewi, Malta, on December 21, 2024. (Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)




A demonstrator shows her hands reading “Stop the War” as relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza gather in front of the Ministry of Defense to hold demonstration demanding a ceasefire and a hostage swap agreement in Gaza, on December 28, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)




This handout photograph taken on December 15, 2024 and released by the Gendarmerie Nationale on December 16, 2024 shows French gendarmes next to an armored vehicle Berliet VXB-170 (or VBRG) as they clear vegetation and debris blocking a road during a rescue an emergency operation at an undisclosed location on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, after the cyclone Chido hit the archipelago. Rescuers raced against time on December 16, 2024 to reach survivors after a devastating cyclone ripped through the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, destroying homes across the islands, with hundreds feared dead. (Photo by Gendarmerie Nationale/Reuters)




Romanian young people, dressed in traditional peasant suites, parades while performing ancient Christmas Carols during a traditional Christmas show named “Florile Dalbe” (The White Flowers), held at the “Dimitrie Gusti” National Village Museum in Bucharest, Romania, 14 December 2024. Romanians will celebrate Orthodox Christmas on 25 December 2024. (Photo by Robert Ghement/EPA/EFE)




Newly elected Miss France 2025 Angelique Angarni-Filopon celebrates winning the Miss France 2025 beauty pageant at the Arena Futuroscope in Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, central-western France, on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Romain Perrocheau/AFP Photo)




Revelers perform during the Festival of Light in San Jose, Costa Rica on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Ezequiel Becerra/AFP Photo)




Salma Safadi waves a shirt to her sister Sawsan Safadi, who lives inside the buffer zone near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams, Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)




People hold up their smartphones as they watch lamplighter Jan Tater (C), wearing a 19th-century historical uniform, as he lights a historic gas lamp on Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic, 17 December 2024. Every day at dusk during Advent, lamplighter Jan Tater and his colleague manually light the 46 historic gas lanterns along Prague's iconic Charles Bridge and its surroundings as an attraction for tourists. The first gas lamps in Prague were ceremonially lit in 1847. (Photo by Martin Divíšek/EPA/EFE)




Alida Freding wears a crown of candles symbolising St Lucy as she leads the celebration of Sankta Lucia: Festival of Light at York Minster, based on the bravery and martyrdom of a young Sicilian girl St Lucy who died in the early fourth century. The service is run as a partnership between York Minster and York Anglo-Scandinavian Society (YASS) on Monday, December 16, 2024. In Sweden, Lucia is one of the most significant traditions in the calendar, a symbol and celebration of light and a part of the Advent season. Her name and story reached Sweden along with Christianity and she remained popular even after the Reformation as the bringer of light during the long darkness of winter. (Photo by Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)




Members of the Syrian National Army which is backed by Turkey hold weapons, after fighters of the ruling Syrian body ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo, Syria on December 13, 2024. (Photo by Karam al-Masri/Reuters)




Locals and tourists prepare to celebrate Christmas and walk past shop windows decorated with Christmas decorations in Amsterdam, Netherlands on December 13, 2024. (Photo by Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)




Men prepare kites during an event at a park on the outskirt of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 15 December 2024. A two-day event featuring national and international kite flying was held in Cambodia. (Photo by Kith Serey/EPA)




People visit a Christmas fair in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, December 14, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)




Avaz Twist Tower building, 172 meters high, peaks through a dense layer of fog and smog in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Thursday, December 19, 2024. (Photo by Armin Durgut/AP Photo)




Fireworks illuminate the St. Nicholas church after the Christmas mass in the Croatian minority town, in Janjevo, Kosovo, on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Valdrin Xhemaj/Reuters)




People in costumes from Charles Dickens' 19th-century English era take part in a Dickens Festival, in Deventer, Netherlands, Saturday, December 14, 2024. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)




Competitors dressed in Santa Claus suits stretch in preparation for the annual Santa Run, in Mexico City, December 15, 2024. (Photo by Ginnette Riquelme/AP Photo)




Fighters of the ruling Syrian body search for land mines using a T-62 tank with a mine clearing attachment, seized from Syria’s Bashar al-Assad army, on a road side in rural Aleppo, Syria on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)