• RUSSIA
  President Vladimir Putin answers questions during his annual press conference in Moscow on December 18, 2014, where he expressed confidence in the nation’s economic prospects (JIA YUCHEN)
• FRANCE
  Police officers inspect the van a driver used to plough into a market that resulted in the injuries of at least 10 people before the perpetrator stabbed himself in Nantes on December 22, 2014 (XINHUA/AFP)
• SOUTH KOREA
  Workers conduct a drill to ensure the safety of nuclear power plants in the event of cyber attacks at a training center of the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant in Gyeongju on December 22, 2014. South Korea’s nuclear power plant operator launched a two-day drill testing its ability to thwart a cyber attack following a series of online information leaks by suspected hackers (XINHUA/AFP)
• MALAYSIA
  Visitors pose with some of the 1,600 papier-m?ché pandas displayed at Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur on December 21, 2014 as part of an event aimed at raising awareness of the endangered species (XINHUA/AFP)
• TUNISIA
  Veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi, who won Tunisia’s first free presidential election, arrives at his party’s headquarters on December 22, 2014 in Tunis (XINHUA/AFP)
• GUINEA
  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has his temperature read upon arrival at the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response in Conakry on December 20, 2014. Ban called for more global efforts to fight the epidemic (XINHUA/AFP)