Best pictures from December 17
Participants launch sky lanterns during an event in Puebla, near Mexico City. Organizers hope to break a Guinness world record by launching 16,000 lanterns, all of which were made by people with disabilities, according to local authorities.STRINGER/MEXICO/Reuters
A herd of adult and baby elephants walks in the dawn light as the highest mountain in Africa Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, is seen in the background, in Amboseli National Park, southern Kenya.Ben Curtis/The Associated Press
An Afghan security personnel keeps watch at the site of an explosion in Kabu. A bombing in the Afghan capital Kabul killed one person and wounded 15 on Monday, Kabul's police chief said.OMAR SOBHANI/Reuters
An upset CeeJay Julian speaks directly to Wally Oppal while he gives his report into the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry in Vancouver.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
A Syrian woman stands near fire to warm herself at a refugee camp in Azaz, Syria. Thousands of Syrian refugees who fled their homes due to fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces, face cold weather as temperatures dropped to 2 degrees Celsius in Azaz.Manu Brabo/The Associated Press
Jacintha Saldanha's widower Ben Barboza (C) and her children Lisha (2nd L) and Junal (2nd R) mourn during her funeral at a cemetery in Shirva, about 52 km north of Mangalore. The body of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who committed suicide in London after a prank call by two Australian radio presenters was buried at her husband's native village on Monday.DANISH SIDDIQUI/Reuters
Taxis are reflected in a window in Times Square in New York.CARLO ALLEGRI/Reuters
Children play at a kindergarten in Ruzhou county in China's central Henan province. The majority of the 24 children aged between two to five who attend the village's kindergarten spend most of their childhood living with their grandparents as their parents seek better working opportunities in big cities like Beijing and Hangzhou.ALY SONG/Reuters
A freerider dressed in Santa Claus costume, ski teacher Alberto Ronchi jumps in Madonna di Campiglio in northern Italy.STEFANO RELLANDINI/Reuters
Skaters enjoy the ice at the Tower of London ice rink in London.TOBY MELVILLE/Reuters
Veronique Pozner, centre with back to camera is comforted by friends and family following a funeral service for her son, 6-year-old Noah Pozner in Fairfield, Connecticut. Pozner was one of 20 children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
A North Korean traffic coordinator stands on a roadside near portraits of the late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il during a foggy morning on Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea marked the first death anniversary of the former leader Kim Jong Il on Monday.Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press