From violent protests in Egypt and smugglers tunnels in Gaza to The Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy and the “Black Marble” — Earth photographed at night from space, TIME presents the best images of the week.
Dec. 2, 2012. Palestinian men repair a bombed smuggling tunnel connecting the Gaza Strip and Egypt, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.Ali Ali—EPADec. 1, 2012. Smoke rises from buildings due to heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APDec. 2, 2012. Activists of the animal-rights group AnimaNaturalis protest naked while covered with fake blood against the use of fur in the textile industry in Madrid.Pierre-Philippe Marcou—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 3, 2012. Two men walk through the Stirling Castle graveyard in Stirling, Scotland.Jeff J. Mitchell—Getty ImagesDec. 4, 2012. Internally displaced Afghan children play inside a mud shelter at a makeshift camp as winter approaches in Kabul.Shah Marai—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 4, 2012. A worker checks mushroom beds at a private farm, workshops of which are located inside hangars of a former Soviet missile military base, in the village of Minoity, Belarus.Vasily Fedosenko—ReutersDec. 5, 2012. A man walks past a protest against the level of homicide in Brazil by the non-governmental group Rio de Paz in Rio de Janeiro.Ricardo Moraes—ReutersDec. 4, 2012. Wolves play at the 'Schwarze Berge' (black mountains) animal park, south of Hamburg, in Rosengarten, Germany.Axel Heimken—EPADec. 5, 2012. Villagers dry their stuffed toys a day after typhoon Bopha hit Compostela Valley in the southern Philippines.Erik De Castro—ReutersNov. 30, 2012. HIV positive women make red ribbons, the universal symbol of awareness and support for those living with HIV, at a support center in Bangalore.Manjunath Kiran—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 30, 2012. Tahera Begum, 25, who survived a devastating fire in a garment factory, lies inside her slum room in Savar Begum, an operator of Tazreen Fashions garment factory, escaped the fire which killed more than 100 workers on November 24. Andrew Biraj—ReutersDec. 2, 2012. Syrian refugees and local residents carry the bodies of Syrian refugees, Emara al-Zoabi, 7 months old, Moath al-Rawashdeh, 30, and Ahmed al-Natoor, 62, during a funeral service in Ramtha, near the Syrian border.Muhammad Hamed—ReutersNov. 30, 2012. Syrian women watch a demonstration after Friday prayers in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APNov. 30, 2012. M23 rebels withdraw from the Masisi and Sake areas in the eastern Congo town of Sake, some 27 kms west of Goma.Jerome Delay—APNov. 30, 2012. M23 rebels withdraw through the hills having left their position in the village of Karuba, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.Phil Moore—AFP/Getty ImagesNov. 28, 2012. The power stations of the Selby area send smoke into the sky as a man carries a sack of feed for pheasants across the flood plains of Ryther and Cawood, United Kingdom.PA Photos/LandovDec. 1, 2012. A Congolese M23 rebels sleeps in the back of a truck as they wait to withdraw from the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Phil Moore—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 1, 2012. Twelve-year-old Osama Hejazi stands at the site of his family's house after it was destroyed during a recent Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.Ali Ali—EPADec. 2, 2012. A Palestinian man emerges from a smuggling tunnel which connects the Gaza Strip and Egypt in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.Ali Ali—EPADec. 1, 2012. A young Palestinian during an anti-Israel rally in Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.Ali Ali—EPADec. 1, 2012. History enthusiasts dressed as soldiers take part in a re-enactment of Napoleon's 1805 Battle of Austerlitz near the South Moravian city of Slavkov.Michal Cizek—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 2, 2012. A group of internally displaced Congolese gather in the Mugunga III IDP camp in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Phil Moore—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 2, 2012. A member of Hamas' national security forces demonstrates his skills during a graduation ceremony at the site of a destroyed security compound in Gaza City.Suhaib Salem—ReutersDec. 2, 2012. An internally displaced Congolese boy takes shelter from the rain under a truck in the Mugunga III IDP camp in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Phil Moore—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 2, 2012. A damaged kitchen inside a residential house after heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APDec. 3, 2012. The lifeless body of a Syrian child lays on the floor of a makeshift hospital located in a secret location in Aleppo, Syria. The child was killed after a mortar shell land in a bakery, killing four and injuring another two.Nariciso Contreras—PolarisDec. 3, 2012. Blood stains are seen on the pavement after artillery mortar shells landed on the opposite side of a bread shop operated by the civilian arm of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, Syria.Javier Manzano—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 3, 2012. A life-size representation of the west wall in the 'Painted Gallery' is pulled into position to hide scaffolding ahead of a conservation project at the Old Royal Naval College in London.Dan Kitwood—Getty ImagesDec. 3, 2012. A Bedouin camp is seen in the E1 area, between Jerusalem and the Israeli West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.Menahem Kahana—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 3, 2012. A boy dances to celebrate government army FARDC soldiers returning to Goma in the DRC.Goran Tomasevic—ReutersDec. 3, 2012. Bahraini Shiite Muslim women protestors flash the sign for victory near a cloud of tear gas fired by riot police during clashes following an anti-government demonstration and in solidarity with political prisoners in the village of Abu Saiba, West of Manama, Bahrain.Mohammed Al-Shaik—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 4, 2012. A woman runs from a burning barricade during a strike by farm workers in the wine producing valley of Franschoek, outside Cape Town, South Africa.Nic Bothma—EPADec. 5, 2012. Indian wrestlers play with a young girl at an akhada, a traditional gymnasium, in Mumbai, India. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended India's national Olympic committee because of government interference in its election process.Rafiq Maqbool—APDec. 5, 2012. Hassan Mekki, a 32-year-old Sudanese migrant, shows scars on his back in Athens, Greece. Mekki, who fled conflict in his country in hopes of a better life in Europe, said he was attacked by a group of men holding Greek flags and left with the deep wounds on his back, throat and neck in August 2012, about five months after he illegally entered Greece.Yannis Behrakis—ReutersDec. 5, 2012. The extent of devastation brought about by a flash-flood at the height of typhoon Bopha is seen in the village of Andap in the southern Philippines.Bullit Marquez—APDec. 5, 2012. A lone mourner sits in a ray of sunlight during the memorial service for former South African Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, in Johannesburg, South Africa.Kim Ludbrook—EPADec. 5, 2012. Free Syrian Army fighters aim their weapons inside an abandoned building during heavy clashes with government forces in Aleppo, Syria.Narciso Contreras—APDec. 5, 2012. A resident hangs clothing amid fallen trees and debris a day after Typhoon Bopha made landfall in the village of Andap, the southern Philippines.Bullit Marquez—APDec. 6, 2012. An Indian girl holding a balancing pole walks on a tight rope as she performs in a street to seek alms from onlookers in Mumbai, India.Rafiq Maqbool—APDec. 6, 2012. Afghan horse riders try to get the goat during a friendly "buzkashi" game in Kabul, Afghanistan. Buzkashi is the national sport of Afghanistan, in which players fight to place a goat carcass into a circle goal.Musadeq Sadeq—APA view of Earth's city lights as a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. The data was acquired over nine days in April 2012 and 13 days in October 2012. It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every view of Earth's land surface and islands.Barcroft Media/LandovDec. 6, 2012. Allister Adams smokes marijuana just after midnight at the Space Needle in Seattle, Wash. Possession of marijuana became legal in Washington state at midnight, and several hundred people gathered at the Space Needle to smoke and celebrate the occasion, even though the new law does prohibit public use of marijuana.Ted S. Warren—APDec. 6, 2012. An isolated tomb is left standing in the middle of a construction site in Taiyuan, China.ChinaFotoPress/Getty ImagesDec. 6, 2012. An injured protester who has been detained eats with his hands bound in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt.Mohamed Abd El Ghany—ReutersDec. 6, 2012. Protesters who were injured during overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, are pictured with their hands bound while being detained in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt.Mohamed Abd El Ghany—ReutersDec. 6, 2012. German Bundeswehr army soldiers walk in front of an armored personnel carrier in their combat outpost OP North, near Baghlan, in northern Afghanistan.Fabrizio Bensch—ReutersDec. 6, 2012. Relatives cross a river to bury their loved one who died in a flash flood caused by Typhoon Bopha, in New Bataan township, the southern Philippines.Bullit Marquez—APDec. 6, 2012. Lebanese clergymen pay their respects to the lifeless body of the Patriarch of Antioch and the East, Ignatius Hazim IV, during a mass service to pray on his soul at the Saint Nicolas Church in Beirut, Lebanon.Hussein Malla—APDec. 6, 2012. A Palestinian girl dressed as a Ezzedine al-Qassam brigade member is seen holding the barrel of a gun during a march by a Hamas armed wing in Beit Hanun.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 7, 2012. Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniya wave from the rooftop of a vehicle during a parade following Meshaal's arrival in Rafah, southern Gaza.Marco Longari—AFP/Getty ImagesDec. 6, 2012. A bird flies over pieces of wood in an area near Jerusalem known as E1, where there are plans for construction of some 3,000 settler homes.Baz Ratner—ReutersDec. 6, 2012 . The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leave King Edward VII Private Hospital in London. The Duchess of Cambridge spent three nights in the hospital after Monday's announcement of her pregnancy and the fact she was suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum (acute morning sickness).Ki Price—Eyevine/Zuma PressDec. 7, 2012. Dancer Matty Shields entertains the crowd prior to the 'AIME Strut the Streets' attempt to break the Guinness record for the world's largest swimwear parade on in Sydney, Australia. Lisa Maree Williams—Getty Images
