Egyptian boys sit in front of graffiti and Arabic, bottom. that reads, ‘regime you are afraid of a paint brush and a pen,’ in Tahrir Square in Cairo. The Egyptian military assumed joint responsibility with police for security and protecting state institutions until the results of a Dec. 15 constitutional referendum are announced. (AP)

Children look out a window of a roofless house, destroyed at the height of Typhoon Bopha in the coastal town of Boston, Davao Oriental in southern Philippines. The most intense storm to hit the country this year wiped out about 90 percent of three coastal towns in Davao Oriental province and buried an entire town in a neighboring province under mud. (Reuters)

Riot police clash with people from the Boeung Kak lake community during a march to celebrate Human Rights Day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Residents who are embroiled in land disputes appealed to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for help in their threatened eviction to make way for development of luxury private property. (Reuters)

A child plays soccer in front of a mural wishing former South African President Nelson Mandela, portrait right on wall, a past happy birthday in Alexander township, Johannesburg. Mandela underwent more unspecified medical tests as the public and journalists continue to ask what, if anything, is wrong with the 94-year-old anti-apartheid icon. (AP)

Members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China gather to march to the central post office to mail a Christmas parcel to China’s jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, in Hong Kong. Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in jail in December 2009 for ‘subversion’ after co-authoring Charter 08, a bold petition calling for political reform in one-party Communist-ruled China. (AFP)

The European Parliament building is decorated with the slogan ‘your peace, your prize, Nobel 2012,’ written in EU country members’ languages in Strasbourg. The European Union received the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo Monday. (Reuters)

A wounded giant sea turtle receives care after it was seized from poachers, at Turtle Park in Serangan, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. Balinese police seized a total of 33 illegal sea turtles. (AP)

A woman takes of a photo of the snow in Nagano, central Japan. (Reuters)

Harry Jackson, 13, the head chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral School sings Christmas carols during a photo call inside the Cathedral in central London. Christmas is a busy time of year for the choir who will sing to over 20,000 people over the holiday period. (Reuters)

Rowers on the Schuylkill River pass near the Strawberry Mansion Bridge on a foggy morning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (AP)

Costumed participants of the annual ‘Best Father Frost’ contest make their way through a courtyard in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Father Frost is the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus. (Reuters)