Pictures of the Week, December 2–December 9

December 4, 2011. After members of a local electoral commission brought a mobile ballot box into her home in the Russian village of Shestaki, a woman casts her ballot. Vladimir Putin’s ruling party won a reduced majority in the elections amid charges of fraud.

December 5, 2011. Kaibiles, members of Guatemala’s special‑operations forces, take part in a ceremony to mark their graduation from a harsh training course. The controversial counterinsurgency unit within the Guatemalan army was founded in 1974; just nine soldiers successfully completed the course.

December 4, 2011. Paramilitary policemen practice drills inside the Forbidden City during a heavy haze and smog night in central Beijing, China.

December 5, 2011. Catholic nuns hold booklets with pictures of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej as they sing outside the Royal Palace in Bangkok to mark his 84th birthday.

December 2, 2011. A worker in scuba gear dressed as Santa Claus greets spectators during an aquarium show in Bangkok. Though most of its people are Buddhists, Thailand celebrates Christmas as a festival—often with Santa.

December 6, 2011. A young Indian Shiite Muslim cries as an elder makes a cut on his forehead with a knife during a procession to mark Ashura in Hyderabad, India. Ashura is the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, observed around the world in remembrance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed.

December 2, 2011. U.S. President Barack Obama tours a "trophy" office space building and speaks about job creation and energy efficiency in Washington, DC.

 

December 6, 2011. A protester hurls a petrol bomb toward riot police in Athens’ Syntagma Square, the center of months of demonstrations in Greece. Activists were marking the anniversary of the 2008 shooting of a student by police.

December 2, 2011. A worker in scuba gear dressed as Santa Claus greets spectators during an aquarium show in Bangkok. Though most of its people are Buddhists, Thailand celebrates Christmas as a festival—often with Santa.

 

 

ΠΗΓΗ: TIME Light Box