Week in Pictures
The Week in Pictures: Dec. 5 - 12
Tourists caught in a deadly eruption, an asylum-seeker nativity scene, a pet pig in the airport and more.
Surprise eruption
Tourists on a boat look at the eruption of the volcano on White Island, New Zealand on Dec. 9, 2019.
Unstable conditions continued to hamper rescue workers from searching for people missing and feared dead after the volcano off the New Zealand coast erupted in a towering blast of ash and scalding steam while dozens of tourists explored its moon-like surface.
At the border
U.S. Border Patrol agents detain undocumented immigrants caught near a section of privately-built border wall under construction on Dec. 11 near Mission, Texas.
The hard line immigration group We Build The Wall is funding construction of the wall on private land along the Rio Grande, which forms the border with Mexico.
The group, led by former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon claims to have raised tens of millions of dollars in a GoFundMe drive to build sections of wall along stretches of the southwest border with Mexico.
Nativity reimagined
A Christmas nativity scene depicts Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as a family separated at the U.S.-Mexico border, at Claremont United Methodist Church in Claremont, Calif., on Dec. 9.
The church, who has worked to assist asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, hopes the display will prompt viewers to ask themselves what the family would face today if seeking refuge in the U.S. as they did when fleeing Nazareth to Egypt to escape capture by the forces of King Herod.
Opposing voices
Ranking member Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., right, speaks as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., listens during a markup hearing on the Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump on Dec. 12.
The articles of impeachment charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. House Democrats claim that Trump posed a "clear and present danger" to national security and the 2020 election in his dealings with Ukraine over the past year.
Greek migrant camp
A woman talks on her phone with a child sitting on her lap in the Vial refugee camp on the Greek island of Chios on Dec. 10.
The camp has room for only 1,000 people, but nearly 5,000 asylum seekers currently live there in unsanitary conditions.
Shooting victim
Orthodox Jewish men carry Moshe Deutsch's casket outside a Brooklyn synagogue following his funeral in New York on Dec. 11.
Deutsch was killed Tuesday in a shooting inside a Jersey City, N.J. kosher food market, which authorities said Thursday is being investigated as a "potential act of domestic terrorism fueled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs."
Sufi shrine
Muslim devotees offer prayer outside the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Srinagar in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Dec. 9.
Hundreds of devotees have gathered at the shrine for the 11-day festival that marks the anniversary of the death of the Sufi saint.
Weinstein hearing
Harvey Weinstein leaves Manhattan Supreme Court after his new bail hearing in New York on Dec. 6.
New York prosecutors called for Harvey Weinstein's bail to be increased to $5 million, arguing that the disgraced Hollywood mogul had violated the conditions of his release and could try to flee the country.
Therapy pig
Tatyana Danilova walks her pet pig LiLou at the San Francisco International Airport on Dec. 10.
LiLou, a five year-old Juliana pig, is a member of SFO's Wag Brigade that brings therapy animals to airport's departure area to greet passengers as they wait for their flights.
Sydney haze
Liam Hatcher of the Blues stands in the outfield amid the smoke from bush fires during a cricket match between New South Wales and Queensland in Sydney on Dec. 10.
Sydney choked in some of the worst pollution seen in the city on Tuesday as more than 100 fires raged across the east coast, turning the daytime sky orange, obscuring visibility and disrupting public transport services as air quality plunged.
Dry waterfall
Visitors take pictures in front of dry cliffs following a prolonged drought at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, on Dec. 4.
French labor strike
A protester stands in clouds of tear gas as French police clash with demonstrators supporting a national strike near Place de la Republique in Paris on Dec. 5.
Workers across many public sectors — including teachers, doctors, nurses, railway personnel and garbage collectors — are participating in the nationwide general strike over plans to overhaul the pension system.
Polar bear gang
Polar bears gather outside the village of Ryrkaypiy, Russia on Dec. 3.
According to environmentalists and residents, more than 50 polar bears have gathered on the edge of a village in Russia's far north as weak coastal ice leaves them unable to roam.
This image was released on Dec. 6, 2019.
Imperiled by climate change
Suega Apelu bathes a child in the lagoon on Nov. 28 in Funafuti, Tuvalu.
Tuvalu, a tiny island nation with a population of 11,000, is struggling to cope with the impact of climate change.
Some scientists have predicted that Tuvalu, which sits at about 10 feet above sea level, could become inundated and uninhabitable in 50 to 100 years if sea level rise continues.
Image released on Dec. 12.