The Best Pictures of the Week: Dec. 5 – Dec. 12

Dec. 8, 2014. A massive fire engulfs an apartment building construction site near downtown Los Angeles. The fire closed portions of two major freeways and blanketed the area in ash and heavy smoke.

Dec. 09, 2014. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Catherine lay flowers in memory of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks during a visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. The royal couple, who is traveling without their son Prince George, is on a three-day U.S. east coast visit.

Dec. 9, 2014. A woman dances in front of riot police during a demonstration in the Kadikoy neighborhood of Istanbul against the eviction of a squatted building. The building was converted into a social meeting center by activists following last year's Gezi Park protests that led to supporting protests across Turkey.

Dec. 8, 2014. Protesters rallying against police violence block both directions of Interstate 80 in Berkeley, Calif.

Nov. 10, 2014. A statue of Santa Claus, part of Christmas decorations for a pub in Sydney, can be seen placed at the back of the building before being put on display.

Dec. 8, 2014. U.S. troops stand at attention for the arrival of U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel during his visit at Camp Buehring in Kuwait.

Dec. 5, 2014. The sight of a green cat on the streets of Varna, Bulgaria has caused an uproar in the Black Sea resort town. The cat turned green because it sleeps on an abandoned heap of synthetic green paint in a garage.

Dec. 10, 2014. Nobel Peace Prize laureates Malala Yousafzai, second right, and Kailash Satyarthi, right, arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo. 17-year-old Malala shares the 2014 peace prize with the Indian campaigner Satyarthi, 60, who has fought for 35 years to free thousands of children from virtual slave labour.

Dec. 9, 2014. The world's only live panda triplets play together at Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province.

Dec. 8, 2014. Pope Francis leaves after he prayed in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Immaculate Conception feast in Rome.

Dec. 5, 2014. Men carry the coffin of Akai Gurley into the Brown Memorial Baptist Church before his wake in Brooklyn, New York. Gurley, 28, was an unarmed black man shot and killed by a New York police officer in the stairwell of a public housing project.

Dec. 10, 2014. Swiss tightrope artist Freddy Nock walks on a rope towards the Schilthorn in the Bernaise alps, Switzerland.

Dec. 9, 2014. Thick and hot smoke spews from Mount Sinabung in Karo, Indonesia. The volcano has been active since September 2013. The local government relocated residents who lived in danger zones following deadly eruptions in early February that killed about 17 people.

Dec. 8, 2014. A man falls from the top of a residential building in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Witnesses said that the man, who did not survive, slipped off from the edge of the building as he was shouting and stepping back from people trying to persuade him to leave the roof top.

Dec. 7, 2014. A man and a child walk in the snow near the World War II memorial of the fallen Red Army soldiers at Savur-Mohyla, a hill east of the city of Donetsk. The memorial was destroyed after enduring heavy shelling during the conflict between the Ukraine Army and pro-Russian rebels.

Dec. 10, 2014. Copies of the French Civil Code are placed among a frieze depicting the Tennis Court Oath on the Republic statue in Paris. French lawyers, notaries and bailiffs attend a national protest against a government reform plan, presented as the Macron bill, to deregulate their profession. The bill aims to stimulate competition, leading to cheaper services in areas where these groups currently have virtual monopolies.

Dec. 11, 2014. A woman reads a book at the side of the road as Hong Kong police stand guard during the dismantling of the main pro-democracy protest camp in Hong Kong.

Dec. 11, 2014. A view of a main road after police cleared barricades and tents outside government headquarters in Hong Kong. Police took away demonstrators who refused to leave the main pro-democracy protest camp and tore down their tents in a final push to retake streets occupied by activists for two and a half months.

Dec. 11, 2014. A demonstrator is taken away by police from an area previously blocked by pro-democracy supporters, outside the government headquarters in Hong Kong.

Dec. 10, 2014. An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man peeks through fence around a new construction site in downtown Jerusalem. Hundreds of Ultra-Orthodox Jews protested against the construction of new housing units, believing that they would be built at the site of ancient Jewish graves.

Dec. 10, 2014. Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein, left, scuffles with an Israeli border policeman in the village of Turmus Aya near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abu Ein died shortly after being hit by Israeli soldiers during a protest in West Bank.

Dec. 7, 2014. Children play at a wharf in Legazpi, Philippines. As Typhoon Hagupit churned across the Philippines, residents of the eastern part of the island nation expressed relief that they had joined the hundreds of thousands who evacuated to safer ground.

A street performer dressed as the Statue of Liberty stands among light snow in Times Square in New York, Dec. 10, 2014.