A Nepali Buddhist offers prayers under a large bell at Boudhanath Stupa. The stupa, which is one of the largest in the world, is a UNESCO heritage site. (AP)

A photographer waits for the arrival of a big wave to break on the Basque Monument ''El Peine de los Vientos'' during high winds in San Sebastian northern Spain. Authorities has announced gales for this weekend in the north of Spain with winds around 120 kph. (AP)

U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Adam Schuessler, from Michigan, waits to board an Air Force C-130 transport plane to leave Iraq at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center. U.S. forces formally ended their nine-year war in Iraq Thursday with a low-key flag ceremony in Baghdad, while to the north flickering violence highlighted ethnic and sectarian strains threatening the country in years ahead. (Reuters)

A guest takes a photo of terracotta warriors, made of chocolate, displayed at a new chocolate theme park in Shanghai, China. (AP)

Nooses hang in the gallows at the Pretoria Central Prison, South Africa. The government opened the gallows Thursday as a monument to those who were executed before the practice was stopped in 1989 and abolished in 1995. In background are plaques to those political prisoners who were executed. (AP)

An engineer tests the new electronic trading system at the Khartoum Stock Exchange.  Sudan, struggling to restore its economy after years of war and the break-away of newly formed South Sudan, aims to expand its tiny stock market to trade gold and commodities. (Reuters)

Sri Lankan fire dancers perform outside the new Chinese-gifted performing arts theatre, named the Lotus Pond, in Colombo. The 3.08 billion rupee (USD 27 million) theatre, officiated by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, was built with aid from China. (AFP)

Marco Sulllivan, of the United States, is airborne during a training session for the first European downhill race of the World Cup season in Val Gardena, Italy. (AP)

A four-month-old lion cub, which was originally from Africa, is seen inside its cage at Jordan's zoo in Yaduda. (Reuters)

A student attaches her glasses to a Peking Opera facial mask during an event promoting the opera at a university in Liaocheng, Shandong province, China. The event aims at promoting the traditional Chinese art of Peking opera on the university campus. Students taking part in the event designed their own masks. (Reuters)

A large Christmas tree decorates the central ground floor at Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris. (AFP)