A Brazilian police sharp-shooter secures a position atop a school building in front of the Rocinha shantytown, where Rio de Janeiro’s government started the installation of the Pacifier Police Unit project. Brazilian authorities stepped up a pacification drive in Rio’s largest shantytown, nearly doubling the police presence in a hillside favela overlooking the city’s most famous beaches. (AFP)

White prayer ribbons festoon a cedar tree on a mountainside in the Altai Republic, Russia. Following shamanistic beliefs of the White Faith, travelers tie white ribbons to tree branches for good luck. (Vera Undritz/VOA)

A large U.S. flag waves in gusty winds and pedestrians cross the street under red streetlights in Newark, New Jersey. A tornado watch has been issued for parts of New Jersey, New York City and New York’s lower Hudson Valley until 7 p.m. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center says lightning, hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph are possible. (AP)

Faithful wave Lebanese and Vatican City flags amidst confetti upon Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival in his pope mobile at the Baabda Presidential Palace near Beirut. (Reuters)

Chinese shaolin monks perform shaolin kung fu martial arts as part of a martial art exhibition at the U.N. headquarters in Vienna, Austria. (AFP)

Yemeni protesters try to break through the U.S. embassy in Sana’a during a protest over a film mocking Islam. Yemeni forces managed to drive out angry protesters while police fired warning shots to disperse thousands of people as they approached the main gate of the embassy. (AFP)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, meets with State Department personnel in the courtyard of the State Department in Washington, after speaking at the White House concerning the recent deaths of Americans in Libya, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. (AP)

Roses and a flag left by mourners adorn the names of victims of 9/11 during a ceremony marking the 11th anniversary of the attacks at the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York. (AP)