Around the world in the past 24 hours

A man stands as pigeons fly during a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre at the Nanjing Massacre Museum, Jiangsu province, on Dec 13, 2012. China marked 75 years since Japan's Nanjing massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, when Japanese troops killed more than 300,000 people, local media reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Free Syrian Army fighters take up positions in Aleppo's al-Amereya district on Dec 12, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Unemployed Henok Mulugeta, 28, (centre), of Ethiopia, plays soccer with his friends in the building where he lives with his girlfriend in Rome on Dec 8, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Juana Madrid (right) is comforted by her daughter Juana during a sit-in protest inside the IVIMA (Madrid Housing Institute) office in Madrid on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrives for a meeting of the European People's Party (EPP), ahead of a two-day European Union leaders summit, in Brussels on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

An Albanian boy cleans snow from his window near the city of Kukes, some 160km north of capital Tirana on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Israeli soldiers take position during clashes with stone-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron on Dec 13, 2012. The clashes broke out before the funeral of Palestinian teenager Mohamad Salaymeh, who was shot dead by Israeli troops on Wednesday after he threatened them with what appeared to be a pistol, but which may not have been a real weapon, according to a police spokesman. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Students protest Bill 115, the Putting Students First Act, during a rally to end the labour dispute between Ontario government and teachers unions at Queens park in Toronto on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Members of Hamas security forces prepare to destroy a missile, which witnesses said was fired by an Israeli plane during an eight-day conflict, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec 13, 2012. Eight days of Israeli air strikes on Gaza and cross-border Palestinian rocket attacks ended in an Egyptian-brokered truce agreement last month, calling on Israel to ease restrictions on the territory. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Members of the Aptitudes Arts and Disability Dance Company take part in a rehearsal of the Nutcracker at the Degollado theater in Guadalajara. Over 70 dancers on stage presented The Nutcracker played by the Aptitude Arts and Disability Dance Company, an organisation that promotes inclusion of people with Down syndrome, delayed neurological or physical disabilities, as a way to raise awareness on the situation of persons with disabilities and the importance of their integration into society and arts. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

People hold flag as they take part in a march organised by PiS (Law and Justice) party commemorating the 31st anniversary of the introduction of Martial law in Poland, near the Belweder Palace in Warsaw on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Eden Hazard (right) of Britain's Chelsea and Jesus Corona of Mexico's Monterrey fight for the ball during their Club World Cup semi-final soccer match in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Seats and screens are seen in the economy class cabin of Qatar Airways new Boeing 787 Dreamliner after it arrived on it's inaugural flight to Heathrow Airport, west London on Dec 13, 2012. Qatar Airways is the first airline to operate scheduled Dreamliner flights to and from the United Kingdom. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

France's President Francois Hollande speaks to the media upon arriving at an European Union leaders summit in Brussels December 13, 2012. European governments reached a landmark deal on Thursday that gives the European Central Bank new powers to supervise banks, boosting confidence in the single currency bloc as it enters the fourth year of its debt crisis. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A Syrian refugee family sit inside the garage where they live in Bar Elias village in the Bekaa valley on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Brazilian actor-dancer Tiago Gambogi (centre) fights with security guards at the entrance to the Norte Energia electric company headquarters during a protest against the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, projected to be the world's third largest, and its impact on the environment, in Altamira on Dec 13, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

A passenger feeds a cat at Domokos railway station, central Greece. Once an unpopular travel option, Greece's slow and creaky trains are winning new fans for the first time in decades as Greeks struggling with soaring fuel prices and high road taxes leave their beloved cars at home. Picture taken on Nov 29, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a government policy statement before the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, on Dec 13, 2012. The red dot is created by the recording light of a TV camera. -- PHOTO: REUTERS