December 15, 2011. A U.S. military soldier walks past cables for media use before the start of a casing ceremony where the United States Forces - Iraq flag was retired, signifying the departure of United States troops from Iraq, at the former Sather Air Base in Baghdad, Iraq. United States forces are scheduled to entirely depart Iraq by December 31, there are currently around 4,000 troops remaining in Iraq.Mario Tama—Getty Images
From a shooting in Belgium and Congo protests to the lunar eclipse, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.
December 15, 2011. A U.S. military soldier walks past cables for media use before the start of a casing ceremony where the United States Forces - Iraq flag was retired, signifying the departure of United States troops from Iraq, at the former Sather Air Base in Baghdad, Iraq. United States forces are scheduled to entirely depart Iraq by December 31, there are currently around 4,000 troops remaining in Iraq. Mario Tama—Getty ImagesDecember 14, 2011. Shattered glass in a window after the shooting and grenades attack in Place Saint-Lambert, Liege, Belgium. A wounded child died late Dec. 13 after a shooting and grenade attack on a Belgian Christmas market, raising the death toll to five. The dead consisted of four victims and the perpetrator, a man who hurled grenades and fired into a crowd Dec. 13 in Liege before taking his own life. Robin Utrecht—EPADecember 12, 2011. School boys stand near fuel trucks which were set ablaze in the Bolan district of Pakistan's Baluchistan province. Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire to nine fuel trucks in the Bolan area of southwestern Baluchistan province, setting them on fire and killing one of the drivers.Amir Hussain—ReutersDecember 9, 2011. Pakistani fire fighters tries to extinguish burning NATO oil tankers after they were allegedly torched by militants at a terminal on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan. Assailants torched more than 20 tankers in Pakistan carrying fuel for U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, the first reported attack since Islamabad closed the border to protest coalition airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last month. Arshad Butt—AP PhotoDecember 9, 2011. People help carry a patient out of a hospital after it caught fire in Kolkata, India. The fire swept through the multistory hospital in eastern India early Friday, trapping many elderly patients in the smoke-filled building.Bikas Das—AP PhotoDecember 11, 2011. Bulgarian Muslim bride Fatme Kichukova (C) has her make-up applied during her wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, some 210km (130 miles) south of Sofia. The remote mountain village of Ribnovo in southwest Bulgaria has kept its traditional winter marriage ceremony alive despite decades of Communist persecution, followed by poverty that forced many men to seek work abroad. The wedding ritual was resurrected with vigour among the Pomaks -- Slavs who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. The highlight of the ceremony is the painting of the bride's face, where in a private rite open only to female in-laws, her face is covered in thick, chalky white paint and decorated with colourful sequins. Stoyan Nenov—ReutersDecember 15, 2011. A woman shouts anti-government slogans as she stands near tear gas fired by the riot police during a sit-in at a roundabout in Budaiya Highway west of Manama. Hundreds of anti-government protesters tried to enter the highway for a sit-in during an anti-government protest. Riot-police dispersed them by firing tear gas and grenades. Hamad I Mohammed—ReutersDecember 10, 2011. The moon casts a reddish hue over Lake Pend Oreille during a lunar eclipse as it begins to set behind the Selkirk Mountain Range near Sandpoint, Idaho.
Matt Mills McKnight—ReutersDecember 9, 2011. A Congolese riot police officer stands by burning tyres in the pro-Tshisekedi Matete commune in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, after the electoral commission declared Congolese president Joseph Kabila winner of the Nov. 28 election with 48.9 percent of the vote. Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi who was declared the loser of the country's election told French television that he considers himself the new president. In an interview with France 24, a few hours after results were issued, Etienne Tshisekedi said, "I consider myself the elected president."Jerome Delay—AP PhotoDecember 14, 2011. A military aide holds Purple Heart medals that U.S. Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta will award during his visit to the 172nd Infantry Brigade Task Force Blackhawks at a forward operating base in Sharana, Afghanistan.Pablo Martinez Monsivais—AP PhotoDecember 11, 2011. Romanians ride horse-drawn carts loaded with firewood as they cross the Danube river, made possible by an ongoing drought which has caused a drop in water levels, in Calarasi, southern Romania. The waters of the mighty Danube are so low that dozens of cargo ships are stuck, stranded in ghostly fog or wedged into sand banks on what is normally one of eastern Europe's busiest transport routes. Vadim Ghirda—AP PhotoDecember 14, 2011. Memoona, 23, a survivor of an acid attack, poses for a photograph inside her residence in Karachi. The acid attack took place on August 13, 2002, when a boy threw acid on her face and body over an old family feud. Memoona, who is currently enrolled in nursing school, lost her eye but not her spirit. The Pakistan Senate unanimously passed the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill on December 12, recommending a 14-year to lifetime imprisonment sentences and levies fines up to Rs1 million ($11,160) for the perpetrators of the crime. Insiya Syed—ReutersDecember 14, 2011. Kenya Defence Forces and Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers take part in a joint-patrol at a charcoal depository formerly under the control of Al Shabaab militants in Burgabo, south of Kismayu in Somalia.Noor Khamis—ReutersEgyptian army soldiers clash with rock throwing protesters near Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. Activists say the clashes began after soldiers severely beat a young man who was part of a sit-in outside the Cabinet building. Ahmed Ali—APDecember 13, 2011. A Historical reenactment of the events of December 13, 1981, in Warsaw, Poland. Retired Polish military officer Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law as military leader in an effort to crack down on Lech Walesa's growing Solidarity labour movement. Grzegorz Jakubowski—EPADecember 14, 2011. A Palestinian boy appears behind flags of the Islamist movement Hamas during celebrations for the 24th anniversary of its foundation in Gaza City. Said Khatib—AFP/Getty ImagesDecember 10, 2011. A Palestinian mourns the body of Ramadan Bahajat Zaalan, 12, during his funeral in Gaza City. Ramadan died of his injuries later after an Israeli strike. Israeli forces had carried multiple airstrikes against Hamas facilities and suspected militants. It was a sharp escalation after weeks of low-level, but persistent rocket fire by Palestinian militants and Israeli retaliations.Hatem Moussa—AP PhotoDecember 15, 2011. A Jewish settler schoolboy from a nearby settlement runs near ruins from demolished structures during a class outing in the West Bank settler-outpost of Mitzpe Yitzhar, near Nablus. People thought to be Jewish settlers set fire to a mosque, damaging its interior, in the West Bank on Thursday after Israeli forces tore down structures in the settler-outpost built without government approval. Ronen Zvulun—ReutersDecember 13, 2011. A sick boy is held in the arms of a woman as he waits to be seen by a medic from the Kenyan Defence Forces in Ras Kamboni, Southern Somalia. Members of the international media were invited by the Kenyan army to Ras Kamboni as part of the first media opportunity granted to International media since Kenya began military operations in Somalia. Carl de Souza—AFP/Getty Images December 13, 2011. A Chinese paramilitary police officer looks at pigeons during a gathering to mourn for the victims in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre on its 74th anniversary, in Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu province.AP PhotoDecember 14, 2011. Pakistani boys wearing masks, left, look at other children as they play in an alley of a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan. Nathalie Bardou—AP PhotoDecember 14, 2011. A Pakistani girl, plays with a Santa Claus doll in an alley of a Christian neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan.Muhammed Muheisen—AP PhotoDecember 6, 2011. Lit up decorative bears are seen at a country house estate in the village of Grabovnica near Cazma, central Croatia. The seven-hectare estate owned by the Salaj family is lit with 1.2 million Christmas lights and turns into a winter wonderland every December, attracting thousands of visitors.Nikola Solic—ReutersDecember 9, 2011. Tom Hilde of Norway sits on a chair lift on his way to second round of the ski jumping World Cup event in Harrachov. Petr Josek—ReutersDecember 8, 2011. Travis Beard, organizer of "Secret Cinema", screens a film at a secret cinema in Kabul. In a dusty, dimly lit Kabul basement, British cinema fan club "Secret Cinema" launched their first movie event outside Britain, bringing costume, audience participation and light-hearted mystery to the high-security Afghan capital.Ahmad Masood—ReutersDecember 14, 2011. Homeless people rest wrapped in rented quilts on rented cots near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India. India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. Though India is famous for its brutally hot summers, temperatures fall sharply for a few weeks in December and January. Poor people, particularly those living on the streets, are the worst hit with dozens dying each winter. Kevin Frayer—AP PhotoDecember 15, 2011. Nomadic shepherds from Rajasthan herd their sheep at a camp on the outskirts of New Delhi. These shepherds still cling on to pastoral nomadic life, trekking long distances in search of pasture for their sheep. Prakash Singh—Getty ImagesDecember 13, 2011. Copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, sit on a bench as shadows of boys, looking into the Zakariya madrassa, fall onto a classroom wall in Karachi. Police in the Pakistani city of Karachi have rescued 54 students from the basement of an Islamic seminary, or madrassa, where they were kept in chains by clerics, beaten and barely fed. Police raided the Zakariya madrassa on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub. They were now investigating whether it had any links to violent militant groups, which often recruit from hardline religious schools. Athar Hussain—ReutersDecember 11, 2011. Masked Pakistani Taliban militants take part in a training session in an area of Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region along the Afghan border. Associated Press reporter, photographer and videographer Ishtiaq Mahsud spent six days with fighters from the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. His account of their travels through South Waziristan offers a glimpse into an area that the Pakistani military claimed had been brought under control following an army offensive two years ago. Ishtiaq Mahsud—APDecember 9, 2011. Rain clouds move across the sky near Arnsdorf, Germany. Arno Burgi—NewscomDec. 14, 2011. President Barack Obama hugs first lady Michelle Obama before speaking at Fort Braggs, N.C. On Wednesday, the president and his wife visited the base to mark the end of the Iraq war by paying tribute to U.S. troops for their service. Doug Mills—Redux/The New York Times
