AP Week in Pictures

Dec. 20 - 26, 2024

This photo gallery, curated by photo editor Anita Baca, highlights some of the most compelling images worldwide made or published by The Associated Press in the past week.

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A worshipper holds an electric candle during a Christmas Eve service at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

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Beyoncé performs alongside her daughter Blue Ivy Carter during an NFL halftime show in Houston, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

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Women toss flowers into the waters of Marina Beach in remembrance of the 2004 tsunami victims, marking the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, in Chennai, India, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

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A woman wipes away tears during a prayer marking 20 years of the massive Indian Ocean tsunami, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

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People tour the Bunker-703, a recently declassified nuclear-resistant bomb shelter built in 1961 at a depth of 43 meters (141 feet) for the Soviet Foreign Affairs Ministry archive, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

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A wounded journalist talks on the phone while lying on the floor of the General Hospital, after being shot by armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Jean Feguens Regala)

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Fireworks burst over Saydnaya Convent during the lighting of the Christmas tree, in Saydnaya, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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A mourner cries while she pays her last respects to a relative, one of eight Palestinians killed following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

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Injured Ukrainian servicemen arrive from the battlefield at Medical Service “Ulf” of the 108th Separate Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” on Pokrovsk direction, Ukraine, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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Georges Elia decorates a Christmas tree amid the rubble in St. George Melkite’s Catholic Church, destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Dardghaya, in southern Lebanon, Dec. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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Christians attend Christmas Mass in the Greek Orthodox convent Saint Takla, in Maaloula, Syria, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Dilan Sahin stands on a sofa back to obtain a toy that was out of reach, in her family’s one-room apartment in the Tarlabasi neighborhood in Istanbul, Turkey, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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A person pedals a bike past storefronts decorated with Christmas lighting on Front Street, in Leavenworth, Wash., Nov. 26, 2024, (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

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Flowers and candles blanket the entrance to the Johannis church in tribute to the victims of a Christmas market attack where a car drove into shoppers the day before, in Magdeburg, Germany, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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A building that fell off the wharf floats in the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz, Calif., Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)

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People take part in the Winter Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, England, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Anthony Upton)

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An aerial view of traffic and parked cars during heavy snowfall in the Alipasino Polje neighborhood of Sarajevo, Bosnia, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

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Women smoke a water pipe as they sit on a lookout area at the mount Qasioun in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Julia Lopez Peña, the daughter of slain environmentalist Juan López, poses for a photo with her state-assigned bodyguards at her ninth birthday party in Tocoa, Honduras, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

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A butcher tosses out a turkey to a customer during the annual Christmas Meat Auction at Smithfield Market in London, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

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Ukrainian servicemen of 117th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade pray before a Christmas dinner on Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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A man bows his head in prayer at the Holy Door of St.Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 25, 2024, after it was opened by Pope Francis on Christmas Eve, marking the start of the Catholic 2025 Jubilee. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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Children stand on top of an abandoned Syrian government forces tank in the Alawite neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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An Amazonian resident strikes a ball towards Jorge Barroso, dressed as Santa Claus, who gave the ball to the boy after Barroso arrived on a boat to distribute Christmas gifts to children, in Iranduba, Brazil, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Edmar Barros)