English pop-rock balladeer Elton John performs at the International Sport Arena in Guangzhou, in China’s southern Guangdong province. Elton John dedicated his Beijing show to Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei – a controversial move the artist said was unlikely to make the nation’s cultural minders happy. (AFP)

An Indian man walks through a closed market on the 20th anniversary of the Babri mosque demolition in Hyderabad. In 1992, tens of thousands of Hindu extremists ripped apart the 16th century mosque at Ayodhya in northern India as security forces watched. Hindus say it is the birthplace of their god Rama. (AP)

An injured Egyptian protester who has been detained, eats with his hands bound, in front of the presidential palace in Cairo. (Reuters)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) after bilateral talks in Berlin. Merkel and Netanyahu agreed to disagree on Israeli plans to build more Jewish settlements, the chancellor said. (Reuters)

The sun is seen from The Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom monument in Brazilia, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Niemeyer, a towering patriarch of modern architecture who shaped the look of modern Brazil and whose designs left their mark worldwide, died Wednesday at 104. (Reuters)

German Bundeswehr army soldiers walk in front of an armoued personnel carrier in their combat outpost near Baghlan, northern Afghanistan. (Reuters)

Residents, impacted by Tuesday’s storm, line up for relief supplies at an evacuation center, December 6, 2012, in New Bataan township, Compostela Valley in the southern Philippines. The powerful typhoon washed away emergency shelters, a military camp and possibly entire families and left hundreds of people dead or missing. (AP)

The headlight of a Vochol Volkswagen beetle is on display during a presentation at the VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany. The Vochol is decorated with beadwork of Mexico’s Huichol people. The name is a combination of vocho, a popular term for VW Beetles in Mexico and Huichol. The Volkswagen was covered in 2,277,000 beads by eight artisans in an exclusive design based on Huichol culture.

Italy’s Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte skate during the free practice session at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating final in Sochi, Russia. (Reuters)

Minks look out of a cage at a fur farm in the village of Litusovo, northeast of Minsk, Belarus. (AP)