The West Front of the US Capitol is seen on Thursday, December 20, with caution tape draped around a fence. President Donald Trump reversed course this week and signaled he would rather partially shut down the federal government than give up his fight for a spending bill that includes $5 billion needed to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
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Shaima Swileh is reunited with her 2-year-old son, Abdullah Hassan, at a hospital in Oakland, California, on Wednesday, December 19. Abdullah, an American citizen from Cairo, is suffering from a genetic brain condition and has been on a ventilator for more than a month. He and his father came back to the United States in October to seek medical care. His mother, a Yemeni national, had been restricted from traveling to the United States under the White House travel ban that restricts citizens of Yemen and six other countries. But the US State Department granted her a travel waiver earlier this week.
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Former national security adviser Michael Flynn arrives at a federal court in Washington on Tuesday, December 18. Flynn, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to FBI agents about conversations with Russia's ambassador, asked to postpone his sentencing for several months so he can have more of an opportunity to cooperate in federal investigations.
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A woman cries near her child's coffin in Beni, Congo, on Monday, December 17. At least 271 people have died in the country as one of the deadliest Ebola outbreaks in history continues to worsen.
GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS
Jewish headstones are defaced with swastikas at a cemetery in Herrlisheim, France, on Monday, December 17. A Holocaust monument was also desecrated.
SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images
Miniature pigs perform in Balashikha, Russia, on Tuesday, December 11.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in the House of Commons on Wednesday, December 19. May announced this week that she was moving a parliamentary vote on her Brexit plan to early January -- less than 80 days before Britain is due to leave the European Union.
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Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein exits the New York Supreme Court after proceedings on Thursday, December 20. Weinstein is due back in court in March. He has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges, including predatory sexual assault and rape.
EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS
Air travelers wait in the South Terminal of London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday, December 20. Gatwick, the United Kingdom's second-biggest airport, was closed after drones were spotted near the airfield. People due to fly on Thursday evening or Friday were being told not to go to the airport without first checking the status of the flight with the appropriate airline. Police were still on the hunt for the drone operators.
PETER NICHOLLS/REUTERS
Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa attends a news conference in Yokohama, Japan, on Monday, December 17. Nissan's board met on Monday to discuss replacing Carlos Ghosn, who was voted out as Nissan's chairman after being arrested on suspicion of financial misconduct. Ghosn has retained lawyers to represent him but has issued no public statement. Japanese media have reported that he denies any wrongdoing.
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A Maasai warrior in Kimana, Kenya, poses at the site of a sporting event dubbed the Maasai Olympics on Friday, December 14. The Maasai Olympics, an initiative of international conservation groups, offers the ethnic group's warriors an alternative to killing lions as part of their traditional rite of passage.
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Alec Baldwin plays US President Donald Trump in a "Saturday Night Live" skit on December 15. The skit was a takeoff of the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life," and it pretended to show what life was like if Trump were never President. Ben Stiller, left, played Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen. Kenan Thompson, right, played Trump's guardian angel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates actress Galina Volchek on her 85th birthday as they meet in Moscow on Wednesday, December 19. Volchek is the artistic director of Moscow's Sovremennik Theatre.
ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK POOL/EPA
A modified Tesla Model X drives in a tunnel before an event in Hawthorne, California, on Tuesday, December 18. Elon Musk's Boring Company was unveiling underground transportation technology meant to beat traffic congestion.
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Actress Priyanka Chopra and musician Nick Jonas pose for photos during a reception in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, December 19. The two were married earlier this month.
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Workers in Madrid put the finishing touches on Jaume Plensa's statue "Julia" on Wednesday, December 19.
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Migrants wait aboard a Spanish Coast Guard boat after arriving in Malaga, Spain, on Tuesday, December 18. The Coast Guard had rescued 104 migrants from an inflatable boat.
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US President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, pose for their official White House Christmas photo on Saturday, December 15.
White House Photo
King penguins gather in their new enclosure at a zoo in Basel, Switzerland, on Wednesday, December 19.
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A man takes a photo behind fences in Port Talbot, Wales, that were erected to protect new artwork by the elusive street artist Banksy on Thursday, December 20. The art, which appears to pay homage to the town's industrial past, depicts a child playing in what looks like snow. But viewed from another angle, it appears to be embers and smoke from a dumpster fire.
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Whirling Dervishes perform a traditional "sema" ritual during a ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday, December 16. The ceremony marked the death of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the father of the Mevlevi sect the Dervishes belong to.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan delivers his farewell address in Washington on Wednesday, December 19. He is retiring from Congress at the end of his term in January.
JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS
Former FBI Director James Comey talks to the media after testifying before House committees in Washington on Tuesday, December 18. He was questioned on the FBI's handling of both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the Russia investigation.
MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA
Residents of Pyongyang, North Korea, bow before statues of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Monday, December 17. It was the seventh anniversary of the latter's death.
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A search-and-rescue team approaches the Soyuz space capsule that had just landed in a remote area of Kazakhstan on Thursday, December 20. Aboard the capsule were three astronauts returning from the International Space Station.
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A military communication satellite is launched into space from Andhra Pradesh, India, on Wednesday, December 19.
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People hold babies in front of Pope Francis as he arrives at a hall in the Vatican on Wednesday, December 19.
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Two dogs play on a beach as the sun rises in San Sebastian, Spain, on Tuesday, December 18. See last week in 23 photos
