A picture of Asma, wife of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, inside one of the rooms of the Presidential Palace known as Qasr al-Shaab “People's Palace”, in Damascus, Syria on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)




A rose is placed at the tip of the barrel of an assault rifle held by a Syrian rebel fighter before the first weekly Muslim Friday prayers since the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad at the Umayyad mosque in the old city of Damascus on December 13, 2024. Islamist-led rebels took Damascus in a lightning offensive on December 8, ousting president Bashar al-Assad and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)




Cinthia Falcon leaves the house where she dressed up as Santa Claus to gift presents to children at a pre-Christmas celebration organized by “Los Chicos de la Via” soup kitchen in Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 14, 2024. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)




The gusty winds blow off the cap of of one of the members of the SWFPAC Marine Detachment as they perform a rifle volley during the Wreaths Across America ceremony at Ivy Green Cemetery in Bremerton, Wash. on Saturday, December 14, 2024. (Photo by USA Today)




Municipal police and traffic agents dressed as Santa Claus ride through the streets of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP Photo)




People take photographs in front of the Martin Place Christmas Tree on December 17, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Each year Sydney's landmarks and streets are adorned with festive lights and projections for Christmas. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)




Visitors stand before an illuminated animal fantasy figure installation, one of many displayed across the Cologne Zoo as part of the China Lights Art Festival, in Cologne, Germany, Friday, December 20, 2024. (Photo by Martin Meissner/AP Photo)




A pilgrim holds religious icons representing Our Lady of Guadalupe during one of the world's largest religious pilgrimages to Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica, marking the feast day of the patroness of Latin America in Mexico City, Thursday, December 12, 2024. (Photo by Fernando Llano/AP Photo)




A person dressed as a reindeer sings for children being treated at the Children's Hospital during a Christmas event in Brasilia, Brazil, December 16, 2024. (Photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo)




A member of the extremist ultra-orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor shouts for freedom to fellow members from a bus that takes her and other women and children members to a welfare center after they were taken into protective custody by police last week following reports of abuse in Guatemala City, Monday, December 23, 2024. (Photo by Santiago Billy/AP Photo)




This aerial view shows thousands of students and citizens attending a protest over the collapse of a train station roof that killed 15 people last month, amid a widespread blockade of higher education institutions in downtown Belgrade on December 22, 2024. For over seven weeks, the Serbian government has been under pressure from nation-wide demonstrations following the deaths in the northern city of Novi Sad, with many protesters accusing authorities of corruption and inadequate oversight. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)




People watch a drone show depicting a dancer in Bluewaters Island near Dubai Marina in Dubai late on December 13, 2024. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP Photo)




Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, departs for his long Christmas journey from the Santa's Village at the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Jouni Porsanger/Lehtikuva via AFP Photo)




A Russian soldier rides on an infantry fighting vehicle, part of a Russian military convoy heading towards Hmeimim air base in Latakia, on the coast of Syria, on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)




The Holy Crown of Thorns is reserved and exhibited in a remainder after a procession for its return at the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, five-and-a-half years after a fire ravaged the Gothic masterpiece, as part of ceremonies to mark the Cathedral's reopening after its restoration, in Paris, France, on December 13, 2024. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters)




Police officers detain a demonstrator as Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road in protest against attempts to recruit men from their community to Israel's military, on the outskirts of Bnei Brak, Israel on December 24, 2024. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)




A man gestures as people loot the Najha military housing complex in southeast Damascus on December 16, 2024. Islamist-led rebels took Damascus in a lightning offensive on December 8, ousting president Bashar al-Assad and ending five decades of Baath rule in Syria. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)




A woman takes a photograph of the Martin Place Christmas Tree on December 17, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. Each year Sydney's landmarks and streets are adorned with festive lights and projections for the Christmas festive period. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)




Visitors walk through a light tunnel during the “Lumieres-en-Seine” holiday lights show, at the National Estate of Saint-Cloud in Saint-Cloud, near Paris on December 12, 2024. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)