Best pictures from December 18
An Orthodox priest conducts a blessing service in front of the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft, with U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station on Wednesday, December 19.Dmitry Lovetsky/The Associated Press
Britain's Queen Elizabeth is greeted by Prime Minister David Cameron on her arrival at Number 10 Downing Street in London. The Queen attended cabinet on Tuesday to mark her Diamond Jubilee, the first monarch to do so since Queen Victoria.TOBY MELVILLE/Reuters
A street vendor sells mushrooms to a customer at Ashon, one of the busiest market places, in central Kathmandu, Nepal.NAVESH CHITRAKAR/Reuters
Residents stand near a Christmas tree in front of the Al-Amin mosque in downtown Beirut.JAMAL SAIDI/Reuters
Two women play in the snow in temperature of about minus 30 degrees Celcius in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. At minus 30 degrees Celcius temperatures are around 10-20 degrees Celcius lower than average across Siberia.ILYA NAYMUSHIN/Reuters
Female Afghan National Police trainees fire their weapons at the shooting range of a training centre near the German Bundeswehr army camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif, northern Afghanistan. German police are mentoring the training program for ANP, as part of an ongoing International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission.FABRIZIO BENSCH/Reuters
A fisherman carries a swordfish on his back from the Indian Ocean to the market in Somalia's capital Mogadishu.ISMAIL TAXTA/Reuters
A chimpanzee eats a pineapple after receiving a Christmas basket at Rio de Janeiro's zoo.RICARDO MORAES/Reuters
Guns cover tables in front of New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, centre at podium, in Camden, N.J., as he announces last weekend's gun buyback event brought in more than 1,100 guns. He says it appears that the mass killing at a school in Newtown, Conn., may have motivated some to turn in their weapons for up to $250 each.Mel Evans/The Associated Press
Associate Bonnie Joswick fills an order in her automated lift truck in the vast shoe section at the Macy's-Bloomingdale's fulfillment centre in Martinsburg, West Virginia.GARY CAMERON/Reuters
Angel figurines rest near a Christmas tree at a makeshift memorial for victims who died in the December 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut.SHANNON STAPLETON/Reuters
Friends and co-workers hold a sign as the hearse and funeral procession for James Mattioli, 6, who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, approaches the St. John's Cemetery in Darien, Connecticut.Craig Ruttle/The Associated Press
Teachers were out early at the Mowat Block which houses the Ministry of Education at Queen’s Park. Toronto public elementary teachers staged a one-day strike Tuesday to continue sending the government a message that Bill 115 is severely impeding local collective bargaining.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
Grade 4 student Cooper Markou, 9, and Grade 5 student Armin Simo, 10, uncover molds of dinosaur bones at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Cooper’s father Craig had to take the day off because of the Teachers strike in Mississauga and brought the boys to the museum for the day.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Mourners wait in the rain at a crosswalk on their way to visit a memorial dedicated to the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook Village in Newtown, Connecticut.LUCAS JACKSON/Reuters
Girls light candles at a memorial set up to honour the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook Village in Newtown, Connecticut.ERIC THAYER/Reuters
A tree covered in Christmas lights frames the UBC skating rink in downtown Vancouver, B.C.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press