The death of Nelson Mandela prompted many public gatherings, including outside his home in Soweto, South Africa.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: TJ LEMON / EPA  A man reads the Sowetan daily newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Dean Hutton / Bloomberg  A woman cries at a gathering to honor Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALEXANDER JOE / AFP/Getty Images  An Atlas V rocket successfully launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Thursday evening. The 19-story-tall rocket carried a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the nation's system of intelligence-gathering satellites.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Matthew C. Hartman / Matthew C. Hartman  A pedestrian walks past posted bills on Western Avenue that advertise a feature film about South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who died Thursday.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times  Richard Pecantte signs the football jersey of his slain son at Gonzales Park in Compton. Taalib Pecantte, 7, was shot and killed while sitting in a car.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times  Kenneth Reyes, left, and Jocelyn Beltran, both 4, walk the picket line with L.A. County children's social workers in Los Angeles.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times  Veronica Cadrer, 7, right, throws a snowball at Tanyia Roberson, 7, outside Mattel's headquarters in El Segundo.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times  Firefighters stream water into the shell of the Prairie Creek First Baptist Church in southwest Vigo County, Ind.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jim Avelis / Tribune-Star  Heavy snow falls in Berlin.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Britta Pedersen / Associated Press  A street is covered with fresh snow in Warsaw, Poland.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: JAKUB KAMINSKI / EPA  A woman wearing a folk costume takes part in a welcome ceremony for the Olympic torch relay in Novosibirsk, Russia.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ilnar Salakhiev / Associated Press  Police detain protesters in Athens during a demonstration commemorating the fatal police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, five years ago.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: LOUISA GOULIAMAKI / AFP/Getty Images  A Palestinian holds portraits of Nelson Mandela and Yasser Arafat in front of an Israeli soldier during a weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of Bilin.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Majdi Mohammed / Associated Press  College students wearing masks perform to raise awareness of air pollution in Xian, China.  Typhoon survivors rebuild in Tacloban, Philippines.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: NOEL CELIS / AFP/Getty Images  The sun sets on a uniquely decorated Christmas tree in Costa do Sauipe, Brazil.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: VANDERLEI ALMEIDA / AFP/Getty Images  Lt. Christopher Blasnek, right, who lost 50 pounds in 10 weeks, leads Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officers at a ceremony in Monterey Park. The officers received Lean for Life Healthy Heroes Awards for losing weight.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times  Michelle Obama holds back Sunny, whose enthusiastic greeting prompted Ashtyn Gardner, 2, from Mobile, Ala., to lose her balance at the White House.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Charles Dharapak / Associated Press  Xing Bao, a 3-month-old panda, is ready for his close-up at the Madrid Zoo in Spain.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: JAVIER SORIANO / AFP  A young girl reaches out to Pope Francis for a hug in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP  China Disabled Peoples Performing Art Troupe entertains at the "My Dream Gala Performance" at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet of Albania in Tirana.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: GENT SHKULLAKU / AFP  A plane leaves a vapor trail visible from Lahore, Pakistan.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: RAHAT DAR / EPA  Israel Electric, the main supplier of electrical power in Israel, creates a menorah using cranes in Tel Aviv.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: JACK GUEZ / AFP  Window washers descend the 36-story Centennial Tower in Atlanta.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: David Goldman / Associated Press  A Palestinian man is stranded in flood waters in Gaza City.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Adel Hana / Associated Press  Men cling to a railing as waves lash the ferry pier in Dagebuell, Germany.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: CARSTEN REHDER / DPA  A rower makes his way through fog on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Matt Rourke / Associated Press  Thai military personnel and civilians hold candles as a mark of respect during Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday celebrations in Bangkok.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Manish Swarup / Associated Press  The Vechthoeve, better known as the Pippi Langkous (Pippi Longstocking) house because of its similarity to the fictional character's home, stands on a pontoon in the Vecht, the Netherlands. The monumental wooden building is being moved to make way for a new bridge.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN / ANP  Emergency workers attend the scene of a fatal truck accident near Bathgate, Scotland.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Andrew Milligan / Press Association  Iraqi security forces inspect the aftermath of a gun battle in Kirkuk.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Emad Matti / Associated Press  A Falcon 9 rocket is launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket's maker, SpaceX, reports that the mission is its first commercial launch from its central Florida launch pad and the first commercial flight from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in over four years.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Null / EPA  Ben Stiller poses for a fan picture amid a crowd gathered to see the star leave his handprints and footprints outside the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times  A young protester with the EU flag painted on his face attends an opposition rally in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Ukraine's prime minister Wednesday warned the opposition to end mass protests over a rejected deal with the EU, saying the reasons for demonstrating were now exhausted and protesters could be held criminally responsible.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: YURIY DYACHYSHYN / AFP/Getty Images  Protesters warm themselves by a fire in Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine. Opposition forces failed to oust the government in a parliamentary no-confidence vote Tuesday, leaving political tensions and a standoff between protesters and the country's leaders unresolved.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Sergei Grits / Associated Press  Damascus bike shop owner Ali Jumaa is a happy man despite the civil war raging across Syria: With checkpoint-weary locals in the capital increasingly swapping their cars for bicycles, business has never been better. "Bike sales are exploding," he said with a big smile.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: LOUAI BESHARA / AFP/Getty Images  Lebanese soldiers patrol the streets of Tripoli. Lebanon decided to put the northern port city under the direct command of the Lebanese army in a bid to contain clashes linked to the war raging in Syria.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: ADEL KARROUM / EPA  A member of a veterinary team shouts to others to clear the area as they prepare to revive a tranquilized elephant during a collaring operation near Kajiado, in southern Kenya. Kenya Wildlife Service and the International Fund for Animal Welfare are fitting elephants with GPS-tracking collars, enabling the monitoring of migration routes and to help prevent poaching.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Ben Curtis / Associated Press  Santa Claus from Lapland watches as Hungarian Roma dancers perform in Kaposmero, Hungary. The Finnish Santa Claus visited the locality inhabited 94% by Roma in one of the country's poorest regions. The visit was organized by government.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: FERENC ISZA / AFP/Getty Images  Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev takes part in a training session in a pool at the Gagarin Cosmonauts' Training Center in Star City outside Moscow. Artemyev is scheduled to blast off to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome in March.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: - / AFP/Getty Images  Rabbis and prisoners mark Hanukkah at the notorious Butyrka remand prison in Moscow.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP/Getty Images  People walk past a polar bear sculpture in central Moscow. The sculpture was mounted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare to mark the start of an international polar bear forum in Moscow.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALEXANDER NEMENOV / AFP/Getty Images  The mother of a man, who was injured early Wednesday after protesters threw a petrol bomb inside a bus, cries as the man is treated at a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bangladesh's opposition for the fifth consecutive day blocked roads, railways and waterways to protest government plans to hold a general election on Jan. 5, the latest turn in a violent political crisis that has paralyzed the country.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: A.M. Ahad / Associated Press  Anti-government protesters remove chains on a gate as they attempt to enter the Royal Thai Police headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: HOW HWEE YOUNG / EPA  In this Friday photo released by the National Park Service, visitors to Mather Point at Grand Canyon National Park look out over a rare total cloud inversion. The phenomenon, caused by cold and warm air masses interacting, left the Grand Canyon peaking above a sea of clouds.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Erin Whittaker / National Park Service  Palestinian men guide a donkey cart loaded with boxes near the northern Gaza refugee camp of Jabalia.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: MOHAMMED ABED / AFP  Members of Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital lead a camel and a donkey in a live Nativity procession on Capitol Hill. The group has been holding such processions for the last few years, with actors portraying Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: JIM WATSON / AFP  Residents of Damara in the Central African Republic head for the city of Bangui. The Central African Republic needs foreign financial assistance as well as troops, its prime minister told AFP on Monday as French forces deployed in a bid to halt spiraling violence. Speaking in Bangui before flying to Paris for a 40-nation France-Africa summit, Nicolas Tiangaye said more than just military help was needed to pull his country back from the brink.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: SIA KAMBOU / AFP  A protester faces riot police as thousands rally outside the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev. The Ukrainian government survived a no-confidence vote after the prime minister apologized for a brutal police crackdown on protests that were sparked by the ex-Soviet state's rejection of a historic EU pact.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: VIKTOR DRACHEV / AFP  Thai anti-government protesters drag away parts of police barricades before entering the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand. The protesters proclaimed their victory after police took down barriers and allowed them to enter key government installations. Thai protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban said the fight against "parliamentary tyranny" was not yet over and urged his followers to continue fighting to rid the country of the influence of fugitive former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: RUNGROJ YONGRIT / EPA  Cranes salvage the last car from a train derailment in the Bronx borough of New York City on Monday. Federal authorities began righting the cars Monday morning as they started an exhaustive investigation into what caused a Metro-North commuter train rounding a curve to derail, killing four people and injuring more than 60 others. A second "event recorder" retrieved from the train may provide information on the speed of the train, how the brakes were applied and the throttle setting, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mark Lennihan / Associated Press  Rescuers prepare to lift a damaged police helicopter from the roof of the Clutha Pub on Monday in Glasgow, Scotland. Nine bodies have been recovered in the wreckage of the pub, which was destroyed when the helicopter crashed onto its roof Friday night.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images Europe  A police officer holds his son's hand outside a church during the funeral for Michael Feeney, 10, in Ridgewood, N.J. Michael was named Ridgewood's honorary police chief for the year before succumbing to cancer last week. He had been struggling for four years with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare, aggressive and often fatal bone cancer that usually develops in children and young adults.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mel Evans / Associated Press  Fans gather at a memorial of flowers, candles and written remembrances to "Fast and Furious" actor Paul Walker and his friend Roger Rodas on Rye Canyon Road on Monday in Santa Clarita. Authorities say speed may have been a factor in the car crash that killed Walker and Rodas. Walker was apparently the passenger in the 2005 red Porsche Carrera GT driven by Rodas.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times  Isabel Cochon is the mother of Arrel Christopher Cochon, who died in September of an Ecstasy and methamphetamine overdose after collapsing at Insomniac Inc.'s Nocturnal Wonderland concert in Devore.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times  Bicycles are stacked on top of each other inside the ECO Cycle system at the Konan Hoshi No Koen park in Tokyo. The underground bicycle parking system was developed by construction solutions company GIKEN. The system is designed to tackle the over-crowded bike parking issues in urban areas of Japan.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Keith Tsuji / Getty Images AsiaPac  Daniel Steele loads merchandise to be shipped out at the Target warehouse in Ontario on Cyber Monday.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times  Fans pay tribute to actor Paul Walker at the fatal car crash crash site in Santa Clarita, Calif.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: David Buchan / Getty Images  A Superman balloon soars above the 82nd Hollywood Christmas Parade in Hollywood.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times  UCLA Bruins celebrate their 35-14 win over USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the second straight cross-town rivalry win.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times  Commuters disembark a Metro North train at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Delays are expected for many commuters Monday morning, due to a train derailment that killed four people Sunday on Metro North's Hudson Line in the Bronx borough of New York.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Andrew Burton / Getty Images  A participant tries on his Krampus creature mask as other participants put on their costumes prior to Krampus night in Neustift im Stubaital, Austria. More than 200 Krampuses participated in the first annual Neustift event. Krampus, in Tyrol also called Tuifl, is a demon-like creature represented by a fearsome, hand-carved wooden mask with animal horns, a suit made from sheep or goat skin and large cow bells attached to the waist that the wearer rings by running or shaking his hips up and down. Krampus has been a part of Central European alpine folklore going back at least a millennium, and since the 17th-century Krampus traditionally accompanies St. Nicholas and angels on the evening of Dec. 5 to visit households to reward children who have been good while reprimanding those who have not.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Sean Gallup / Getty Images  Employees sort goods as they arrive in crates to be processed as customer orders at an Argos goods distribution center, operated by Home Retail Group Plc, in Barton-Under-Needwood, England. Online retailers in the U.K. are anticipating their busiest day as shoppers flush with end-of-month paychecks seek Christmas deals on the Web.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Simon Dawson / Bloomberg  Two people jog at the Alster in Hamburg, Germany.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: MAJA HITIJ / AFP/Getty Images  Choristers take part in Bath Abbey's candlelit Advent Procession in Bath, England. One of the most popular services of the historic Abbey's year, which marks the beginning of Advent and the Christian year, takes the congregation from darkness into light with a mixture of readings and music supported by the Abbey's choirs.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Matt Cardy / Getty Images  A supporter of the Self Determination party twirls firecrackers as they celebrate the victory of their candidate for the mayor of Pristina, Shpend Ahmeti, in the second runoff of local elections in Pristina, Kosovo.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: ARMEND NIMANI / AFP/Getty Images  A protester is enveloped in tear gas fired by riot police to disperse a demonstration in Alexandria, Egypt. Black-clad riot police fired tear gas and chased dozens of rights activists and protesters who held a demonstration in the Mediterranean city demanding abolishment of a new law that extensively restricted the right to hold a protest, imposing fines and jail terms on violators.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: Heba Khamis / Associated Press  A 17-year-old blind student, walking with his stick at the Sudanese Assn. for Disabled People in North Darfur, Sudan. The student studies psychology at El Fasher University and he uses an old audio recorder to review the lessons given by his professor.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN/UNAMID/HA / EPA  A Thai anti-government protester raises up his hands, calling other fellow protesters to stop throwing objects during the second day of street battles with police at the entrance of Government House in Bangkok, Thailand.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: RUNGROJ YONGRIT / EPA  Indian laborers construct a temporary road on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad in preparation for the forthcoming Magh Mela Festival. The Magh Mela is held every year on the banks of Triveni Sangam - the confluence of the three great rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mystical Saraswati - in Prayag near Allahabad during the Hindu month of Magh, which corresponds to mid-January to mid-February.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: SANJAY KANOJIA / AFP/Getty Images  A family waits on a boat for its departure at the harbor near the Adolpho Lisboa market in Manaus, Brazil.  PHOTOGRAPH BY: YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP/Getty Images
Each week we bring you the very best in visual journalism. This week the passing of an icon topped the news. World leaders and human rights activists from around the globe mourned the death of Sout...