Dec. 9 Photo Brief: Stars in Afghanistan, International Animal Rights Day, Ice wine, winter swimming, rebel armored vehicles
Stars in Afghanistan, International Animal Rights Day, Ice wine from the Czech, winter swimming in China, Syrian rebel armored vehicles and more in today’s daily brief.
- Carmine Barboza, mother-in-law of Jacintha Saldanha, the Indian-origin nurse who died after being hoaxed by an Australian radio show trying to reach Prince William’s wife in London, looks on outside her residence in Shirva town, some 250 miles from the southern Indian city of Bangalore, on December 8, 2012. The family of Saldanha said they were shocked to hear the “horrible news.” (AFP/Getty Images)
- A worker is seen at Radio Shabelle, one of the most popular radio stations in Mogadishu December 8, 2012. The station has exposed itself to considerable danger in the past for actively taking a stance against the terrorist organiztion Al-Shabab, local media reported. Picture taken December 8, 2012. (Tobin Jones/Handout via Reuters)
- An anti-Mursi protester walks in front of graffiti on the wall at the presidential palace in Cairo, December 8, 2012. Egypt’s military, stepping into a crisis pitting Islamist President Mohamed Mursi against opponents who accuse him of grabbing excessive power, said on Saturday only dialogue could avert “catastrophe.” (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
- An activist holds a dead rabbit during the International Animal Rights Day downtown in Rome, December 9, 2012. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)
- View of a cabin on a pond on land that will become the new airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, western France December 9, 2012. The new airport, about 19 miles from Nantes, is scheduled to be constructed for 2017. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters)
- The stars are pictured in this long exposure photograph, in the sky over the German Bundeswehr army combat outpost OP North, near Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, December 9, 2012. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)
- A Romanian Roma woman exits a vote cabin at a polling station in Pantelimon village, near Bucharest, on December 9, 2012 as Romanians head to the polls to elect a new parliament. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)
- A thousand people take part in the annual Glasgow Santa Dash on December 9, 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
- Belgian Lievin Pauwels, 72, dresses as Saint Nicholas while waiting for children at the 25th guides company in Brussels December 9, 2012. In Belgium, children traditionally wait for Saint Nicholas to bring them sweets and presents on the night of December 5. Lievin has been playing the patron saint of children for more than 40 years. (Yves Herman/Reuters)
- A woman collects frozen wine grapes as temperatures show -12 degrees Celsius at Mikulov, near Brno, Czech on December 9, 2012. The Ice wine, which is produced out of the grapes, contains over 30 percent sugar and is an exceptional and expensive specialty. (Radek Mica/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Chinese ice swimmer floats on his back in minus 3 Centigrade temperatures (28 F) in the frozen Houhai Lake of Beijing on December 9, 2012. Winter swimming is especially popular amongst the elderly and retired as it is believed to improve circulation and benefit health, and also said to increase the level of mental awareness, release stress, remove aches and pains, increase vitality and keep skin looking younger – and of course, an overall feeling of well-being. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pakistani Islamists roll a tire as they block a street during a protest in Islamabad on December 9, 2012, against Iftikhar Ahmed, the author of an alleged anti-Islamic book. Some four hundred religious students held a protest to pressure police to register a case in a blasphemy row against Ahmed. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images)
- From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals the latest achievement of Syrian rebels: a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed. Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels’ Al-Ansar brigade as “100 percent made in Syria.” Here it is seen in Bishqatin, 4 kms west of Aleppo, on December 8, 2012. (Herve Bar/AFP/Getty Images)
- Indian brides and grooms hold their voter identity cards as they pledge to cast their vote in the forthcoming Gujarat Assembly elections after the marriage ceremony in Ahmedabad on December 9, 2012. Some 51 couples were married and pledged to vote along with their relatives in an event organized by Balkeshwar Mahadev Trust. Gujarat state goes to the polls in two phases, December 13 and 17, 2012. (Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images)
- Victims of devastating Typhoon Bopha jostle for position as they beg for relief food being distributed by members of a private company in New Bataan in Compostela Valley province on December 9, 2012, five days after the storm hit the southern Philippines. Desperate families begged for food on December 9 days after the typhoon brought death and destruction to parts of a southern Philippine island, as the storm returned to the north of the country. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty IMages)
- Vintage Volkswagen Beetle cars are parked for an all Volkswagen car show in suburban Manila on December 9, 2012. Clubs all over the country gather every December for the event, with more than 200 Volkswagens on display. (Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images)
- Ukrainian virtuoso violinist Oleksandr Bozhyk plays four violins at the same time as he performs ”Requiem for a Dream” by Clint Mansell during his solo concert in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on December 8, 2012. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images)
- Thousands of Nicaraguan Catholics celebrate the Virgin Mary, a tradition that dates back to some 450 years when her image first came to Nicaragua from Spain, according to believers. Pictured are boats carrying an image of the Virgin Mary (Purisima) on the Xolotlan Lake in Managua City December 8, 2012. (Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)