The best images from around the world for Dec. 18
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow.Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters
Afghan schoolchildren study at an open-air classroom in the Mohmand Dara district in eastern Nangarhar province .Noorullah Shirzada/AFP / Getty Images
Andrew Foxworthy and his girlfriend Francesca Moscardini take a ride on the star flyer in Edinburgh,Scotland. The star flyer is one of a number of rides situated in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh along with a ice rink carousel and Big Wheel.Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
A small group of protesters against the new security law, who managed to get past heavy police cordons are beaten with wooden clubs and arrested by riot police after shouting against the new law, outside the Parliament building in Nairobi, Kenya.Ben Curtis/The Associated Press
Jumia delivery men dressed as Santa Claus drive their motorcycles to deliver goods to customers in Abidjan.Luc Gnago/Reuters
Ivan Bogdanovich, a Belarussian ornithologist, carries a mute swan to ring, weigh and make measurements of it, at a lake on the outskirts of Minsk .Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron briefs the media as he arrives at a European Union leaders summit in Brussels .Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
A woman takes a photo in front of the illuminated Christmas decorations at the Wilanow Palace in Warsaw, Poland.Czarek Sokolowski/The Associated Press
Hundreds of Cubans wait in line to apply for tourist visas to visit the U.S. at the American Interests Building in Havana.Meridith Kohut/The New York Times
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man lights candles during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, Israel.Oded Balilty/The Associated Press