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THE WEEK IN PICTURES

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• Dec. 17: Hampton Hotel employee volunteers pitch in to refurbish the 'World's Largest Rocking Chair' in Gulfport, Miss. The colossal chair was damaged by Hurricane Katrina and is the 35th roadside attraction to be restored as part of Hampton's Save-A-Landmark program.
• A photo provided by the Union County, N.J., Prosecutor's Office shows a hole in the wall, right, of escaped inmate Otis Blunt's cell. Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow on Monday said Blunt, 32, and fellow inmate Jose Espinosa, 20, were able to scrape through the mortar holding the cinder blocks in their cells and escape to the outside on Dec. 15.
• Dec. 18: Muslim pilgrims pray on a rocky hill called the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat near Mecca, Saudi Arabia. More than 2 million pilgrims gathered at the site of Prophet Muhammad's last sermon 14 centuries ago in a ritual that marks the climax of the annual Muslim pilgrimage where most of them spend the night.
• Dec. 18: Two plainclothes police officers, center, detained for allegedly helping British suspect Rashid Rauf to escape, sit beside their uniformed colleagues in a van after they appeared in an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Pakistani officials expressed optimism that they will recapture Rauf, accused in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners, saying they have arrested five people including two police officers on suspicion they helped him escape.
• Dec. 17: Max Weisberg, dressed as Santa Claus, talks with Jean Hwang, left, at the Royal Cleaners store in Cherry Hill, N.J. Last year Weisberg dropped off his Santa suit at Royal Cleaners for cleaning but it was lost. The family-owned business acknowledged the mix-up and offered to pay him half the value of the nearly $400 suit, said Jean Hwang, who said she's the owner's sister. Weisberg, 54, took the business to small claims court and won a $396.50 judgment to cover the suit and court costs. Hwang promised to put the check in the mail to Weisberg on Tuesday.
• Dec. 17: In this undated photo released by Conservation International, mammalogist Martua Sinaga holds a 3-pound giant rat, which probably is a new species, in the Foja mountains in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province, Indonesia. Researchers in the remote jungle in Indonesia discovered a giant rat and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science, underscoring the stunning biodiversity of the Southeast Asian nation, scientists said.
• Dec. 17: Customers wait in a long line at the main post office in Providence, R.I., to mail packages. According to the United States Postal Service, Monday was the busiest day of the season as people rushed to send out last-minute items and cards to friends and family. Officials said they expected nearly 1 billion cards, letters and packages to be mailed on Monday.
• Dec. 17: In this photo provided by the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, The Radio City Rockettes kick it up on Newport Beach, Calif. The Rockettes, celebrating their 75th anniversary, are performing their Radio City Christmas Spectacular in southern California.
• Dec. 17: A car burns after it was hit in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City. The Israeli aircraft hit the car filled with explosives in Gaza City after nightfall Monday, setting off a huge blast heard around the city and killing two militants from Islamic Jihad and critically wounding a third, witnesses and hospital officials said.
• Dec. 17: Jerome Alston, a maintenance worker on Capitol Hill, tries to catch a bird that was trapped in the Senate Radio/Television Studio on Capitol Hill in Washington prior to the start of a news conference. The bird managed to leave the studio and fly into another part of the Capitol.
• Dec. 18: Police Officer Mark Lowery hula-hoops for Amanda Linehand, 6, of Hampton, Fla., while the two shop at the Wal-Mart supercenter in Starke, Fla. The Starke Police Department sponsored its third annual ‘Shop With a Cop’ event, which helps well-behaved kids from needy families.
• Dec. 18: In this image provided by the Norwegian Air Force, a Norwegian air force helicopter from 330 squadron hovers over a Russian freighter in distress in a strong gale off the Arctic port of Murmansk. A Norwegian air force helicopter rescued all 12 crew members of the freighter after Russian rescuers had requested Norway's help after their ship lost engine power during severe weather and ran into rocks off the coast, Norwegian rescue official Oystein Aadde said. The aircraft hoisted the 12 crew members aboard and flew them to the Norwegian border town of Kirkenes, operations leader Sten-Rune Nikolaysen said. 'They are all fine. No one was injured,' Nikolaysen said by telephone.
• Dec. 18: A plane drops ‘Hydromulch’ on Modjeska Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County, Calif., to help protect the soil from erosion. The first wave of storms forecast for California brought much-needed rain to depleted reservoirs this week but raised fears of mudslides in wildfire-scarred Southern California.
• This undated file photo released by Sotheby's shows a copy of the Magna Carta. A 710-year-old copy of the declaration of human rights known as the Magna Carta, the version that became part of English law, was auctioned Tuesday for $21.3 million, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said. The document was bought by David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm.
• Dec. 18: Robert Sawyers, left, father of Riley Ann Sawyers, known as 'Baby Grace' and his mother, Sheryl Sawyers, right, of Mentor, Ohio, talk with Elise Wilson, center, in the Spring neighborhood where Riley Ann was killed. The Sawyers came to the neighborhood to see the house and talk with neighbors.
• Dec. 18: In this photo released by China's official Xinhua news agency, workers put a final touch on a snow sculpture in Harbin, northeast China. The 20th Harbin International Ice-Snow Sculpture Expo is scheduled to open on Dec. 20 in the capital of Heilongjiang province.
• Dec. 18: Christine Levinson, center, her son, Daniel, right, and her sister, Susan, left, address the media shortly after their arrival in Tehran, Iran. Christine Levinson, the wife of a missing American former FBI agent, arrived late Tuesday in Tehran seeking information about her husband, who last was seen in March at the resort island Kish Island in southern Iran. Robert Levinson, of Coral Springs, Fla., had gone to Iran to seek information on cigarette-smuggling for a client of his security firm.
• Dec. 18: Musicians Melissa Kaplan, left, and Asterios Kokkinos perform to express their support for striking members of the Writers Guild of America during a rally to wrap yellow crime scene tape around the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers headquarters in Encino, Calif.
• Dec. 19: A South Korean monk casts his ballot for the presidential election at a polling station in Seoul, South Korea.
• Dec. 19: Pakistani paramilitary troops and rescue workers search for dead bodies and injured persons at the site of a train derailment near Mehrabpur, about 250 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan. An express train crowded with holiday travelers derailed in southern Pakistan early Wednesday, killing at least 56 people and injuring some 150 others, officials said.
• Dec. 19: A camel seller smokes traditional huka as he waits for customers in a livestock market ahead of Muslims' holy festival of Eid-al-Adha in Multan, Pakistan. Muslims all over the world were to celebrate the three-day festival by slaughtering sheep, cows and goats to commemorate the Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son, Ismael, to show obedience to God.
• Dec. 19: A uniformed Secret Service officer stands on the White House grounds in Washington as smoke pours out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
• Dec. 19: Newlyweds Jennifer and Doy Nichols celebrate their nuptials at the Charmin Restrooms in Times Square New York. The intricately detailed dress was hand made using Charmin Ultra Soft and Charmin Ultra Strong.
• Dec. 19: This image supplied by Time magazine shows Russian President Vladimir Putin on the cover after being named Time magazine's 2007 'Person of the Year.'
• Jamie Lynn Spears is shown as she arrives at the 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles in this March 31 file photo. Nickelodeon is considering a special for its young audience about sex and love following the Wednesday announcement that the 16-year-old ‘Zoey 101’ star is pregnant. The television network has made no announcement about the future of ‘Zoey 101,’ its popular program aimed primarily at youngsters aged 9 to 14. Filming for the show's fourth and final season has finished, and episodes were scheduled to begin airing in February.
• This undated photo shows Rose Tani, the 90-year-old mother of astronaut Daniel Tani, who died on Wednesday in the Chicago suburb of Lombard when her vehicle was struck by a train. Daniel Tani was unable to come home for her funeral because he was at the international space station.
• Dec. 19: Joshua Dominguez, second from left, and Alexis Dominguez, third from left, are helped by authorities after they were flown by helicopter to Sterling City, Calif. The Dominguez family vanished on a Christmas tree-cutting trip in the Northern California mountains and were found alive Wednesday after huddling in a culvert for warmth during three days of heavy snow.
• Dec. 20: Volunteer firefighters and residents of the Heucks Retreat community of Lincoln County, about 9 miles northeast of Brookhaven, Miss., begin to sift through debris after a tornado ripped through the county. A powerful storm system, possibly packing a tornado, moved across Mississippi on Thursday, injuring at least three people and damaging homes in two counties.
• Dec. 20: Damage to a clothing store in Gisborne is surveyed by staff member Casana West after a magnitude-6.8 earthquake off New Zealand's east coast rocked much of the country. The quake, centered in the Hikurangi undersea trench off North Island, hit at 8:55 p.m. local time (0755 GMT) at 25 miles below the surface, the GNS Science geological agency reported.
• Dec. 20: The newly released Guantanamo Bay U.S. prison camp detainee Jamil el-Banna leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London. El-Banna flew back to Britain under police guard late Wednesday, five years after he was seized in Gambia and handed over to U.S. authorities. El-Banna will face possible extradition to Spain for alleged terrorism offenses, police said.
• Dec. 20: President Bush shakes hands with Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., left, after signing the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. From left are Stabenow; Rep. Rob Andrews, D-Ohio.; Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La.; Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.; the president; Sen. George Voinovich; Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson; and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio.
• Dec. 20: Protesters scuffle with police before the New Orleans City Council holds a meeting about tearing down public housing buildings in New Orleans. Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall.
• Dec. 20: Stone-carrying masked protesters stand in front of burning debris in Malkiya village, Bahrain. Another day of clashes erupted Friday between angry young Shiite Bahrainis and security forces during the wake for a man who died three days earlier after a confrontation with police.
• In this image released by the U.S. Army on Thursday, a soldier stands next to the site of a torture chamber near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq on Dec. 9. U.S. soldiers found mass graves north of Baghdad next to the torture center where chains were attached to blood-spattered walls and a metal bed frame was still connected to an electrical shock system, the military said on Thursday.
• Dec. 20: Hans Mos, Aruba's chief prosecutor, speaks to the press about the unsolved case of the disappearance of U.S. teen Natalee Holloway in Oranjestad, Aruba. Mos said one of the suspects had posted in an Internet chatroom that Holloway was dead.
• In this photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries, an adult male ribbon seal sits on an ice flow in Russian's Ozernoy Gulf in the summer of 2005, just prior to capture. Frustrated by a lack of regulations limiting global warming, the conservation group The Center for Biological Diversity wants ribbon seals listed as threatened or endangered because their habitat, sea ice, is disappearing because of climate change. The group filed a 91-page petition on Thursday with the National Marine Fisheries Service seeking to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered.
• J. Russell Coffey, one of three oldest living World War I veterans known in the U.S., rests while sitting in a wheelchair during an interview at Blakely Care Center in North Baltimore, Ohio, on April 13. Coffey was the last WWI vet in the state, according to the Veterans Affairs Department. He died on Thursday at the age of 109, said the Smith-Crates Funeral Home in North Baltimore, about 35 miles south of Toledo. The other known surviving American soldiers are Frank Buckles, 106, of Charles Town, W.Va., and Harry Landis, of Sun City Center, Fla., according to the Veterans Affairs Department.
• Dec. 20: People displaying signs with the names of homeless and formerly homeless persons who died in the past year gather to remember them at City Hall in Philadelphia.
• Dec. 21: In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, a Chinese soldier smashes bricks placed on his colleague's head during the Qigong performance, a system of deep-breathing exercises, at the China-India Joint Anti-Terrorism Training code-named 'Hand-in-hand 2007,' the first-ever war games involving Chinese and Indian troops, in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province. About 100 soldiers from each side were participating in the nine-day drill that began on Wednesday.
• Dec. 21: A Sunshine International Aquarium staff member dressed in a Santa Claus costume embraces a moray as he swims with fish inside the aquarium in Tokyo. During the annual month-long seasonal event employees dressed as Santa Claus feed the fish daily until Christmas.
• Dec. 21: A couple checks an oversized shoe during Fashion Fair 2007 at Giang Vo Fair and Exhibition Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam. The shoe, 8.92 feet long, 3.31 feet wide and 3.37 feet high, came from Phu Yen craft village Ha Tay Province in Vietnam. More than 200 local enterprises display clothing, footwear, jewelries, cosmetics, interior decoration and Christmas gifts at the fair.
• Dec. 21: An Indonesian woman rides on a tricycle to cross a flooded street in north Jakarta, Indonesia. High tides flooded parts of the Indonesian capital with seawater and inundated hundreds of homes in the capital.
• Dec. 22: People celebrate outside a lottery office after winning a portion of the main prize of Spain's Christmas lottery with the number 06381 in Vic, near Barcelona, Spain. The top prize in the world's richest lottery, known as El Gordo, or ‘the fat one’ went Saturday to holders of tickets bearing the number 06381. The annual lottery dished out $3.1 billion in prize money and this year each holder of the winning ticket were to receive $430,000. An estimated three out of every four Spaniards and thousands of foreigners buy tickets in the event that dates to 1812. Although other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes, El Gordo is ranked as the world's richest for the total sum paid out. Instead of jackpots, the lottery spreads the wealth with thousands of numbers yielding prizes ranging from the face value of the $28.70 ticket up to more lucrative winnings.
• Dec. 22: South Korean runners wearing Santa Claus costumes take part in the Santa Marathon race in Seoul, South Korea. More than 1,000 people participated in the 6.2-miles charity run to raise money for the poor as Christmas is one of the biggest holidays in South Korea where over half of the population is Christian.
• This photo released by the Ayala-Cornejo family shows Oscar Ayala-Cornejo, right, and his brother Alex in a photo taken April 12, 2004, in Milwaukee, when Oscar was promoted from a police aide to a police officer. Oscar Ayala-Cornejo, who stole his dead cousin's identity to get on the force, was scheduled on Saturday to be deported from the United States.