Chadian soldiers, who are fighting in support of Central African Republic president Francois Bozize, ride on their trucks in a convoy on the road leading to Damara, about 70km (44 miles) north of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic. (AP)

Pope Benedict XVI leads his Angelus prayer from the window of his private apartment in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican. (Reuters)

A trader wearing ‘Happy New Year’ glasses works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. (AP)

Clouds roil over the White House in Washington, D.C. as the nation’s capital has less than 48 hours to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on January 1, 2013. (AP)

Bangladeshi farmers walk with their cattle through a mustard field at Singair, outskirts of Dhaka. (AP)

An Acehnese woman is seen through an opening on a wall as she attends a prayer commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia. (AP)

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal (2nd R) carries a statuette of baby Jesus during Christmas Midnight Mass at the Church of St. Catherine, which is connected to the Church of Nativity, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (Reuters)