Congolese FARDC government soldiers are cheered as they arrive, in Goma, eastern Congo. Several hundred Congo army soldiers returned to the key eastern city, as rebels remained poised nearby and a possible fight loomed for the city of 1 million. (AP)

Pope Benedict XVI’s Twitter account is pictured on a smart phone in Rome. Benedict’s new handle on Twitter will be @pontifex and the Vatican said the pope will start tweeting on Dec. 12. (Reuters)

Palestinians wait for the return of 10 Fatah movement activists at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip.  Hamas allowed the activists, who fled Gaza in 2007 during internal fighting between the two political rivals, to return home in what the group said was a sign of rapprochement. (Reuters)

Egypt’s most prominent newspapers run front pages that read in Arabic, ‘no to dictatorship, tomorrow free newspapers will obscure to protest the freedom’s restrictions’ and a picture of a man wrapped in newspaper with his feet cuffed. Eleven Egyptian newspapers plan to suspend publication Tuesday to protest Pres. Morsi’s decision to call a constitution referendum on 15 Dec. (AP)

A woman walks with an umbrella during heavy snowfall in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria. (Reuters)

Demonstrators chant Islamic slogans as they carry signs during a protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit in central Istanbul, Turkey. The sign, with pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Putin, reads, ‘Cruel Assad’s accomplice partner Putin, You are not welcome’.  (Reuters)

Presidential guards perform their ceremonial walk near prosthetics placed by Greeks with disabilities in front of the Greek parliament during a protest against new austerity measures on International Day of Persons with Disabilities in Athens. (Reuters)

Afghan National Police officers practice an arrest at a training center near the German Bundeswehr army camp in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan. German and Dutch police are mentoring the training program for ANP, as part of an ongoing International Security Assistance Force mission. (Reuters)

A worker cleans windows of a building in New Delhi, India. (AP)

Multiple dust plumes are seen blowing off the coasts of Iran and Pakistan in this handout image taken Nov. 29, 2012 and released Monday. The image documents movement of the plumes southward over the Arabian Sea. The southern coasts of Pakistan and Iran rank among the world’s leading dust-producing regions. (NASA/Jeff Schmaltz)

A Palestinian worker gathers plastic bottles collected from the northern West Bank and Israel, at a dump site near the West Bank city of Jenin. Workers recycle waste such as plastics and cardboard to sell to factories in the West Bank and Israel, the project is funded by the European Union in an effort to reduce unemployment and poverty in the West Bank. (AP)

A Naga sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man, reflected on a mirror, ties his turban after taking a holy dip in the River Ganges during preparations for the upcoming Mahakumbh fair in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are expected to take part in the religious congregation on the banks of Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during the festival in January 2013. (AP)