Inside AFP

Girls, wearing Ukrainian traditional clothes, take part in Christmas celebrations in the village of Pyrogove, near Kyiv on December 25, 2023, amid Russian invasion in Ukraine. Ukraine celebrates Christmas on December 25, 2023 for the first time, after the government changed the date from January 7, when most Orthodox believers celebrate, in a snub to Russia.
© Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

Palestinian journalists attempt to connect to the internet using their phones in Rafah on the southern Gaza Strip on December 27, 2023, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Power cuts have become a fact of life in war-torn Gaza. But thanks to embedded SIM cards, Palestinians can still access the internet and stay in touch with loved ones abroad.
© Said KHATIB / AFP

Worshippers of the Legio Maria African Church Mission gather to pray during the Christmas Eve vigil mass in a church near Ugunja, on December 24, 2023. Legio Maria is an African independent religious movement that developed gradually and eventually separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960s. The religious movement was initiated by repeated appearances of a mystic woman delivering messages about the incarnation of the Son of God as a black man.
© Luis TATO / AFP

A Police officer throws a rock as opposition supporters run into a opposition leader Martin Fayulu’s party house during a demonstration in Kinshasa on December 27, 2023. Police were deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa on December 27, 2023 during a banned demonstration against recent elections in the fragile central African state.Leading opposition politicians in impoverished but mineral-rich DRC have rejected last week's vote, which was marred by severe delays and bureaucratic disarray, and called for a demonstrations.
© John WESSELS / AFP

Residents of the refugee camp of Bureij arrive in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip following an evacuation order, on December 22, 2023, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
© AFP

Christian devotees hold candles during a midnight mass on Christmas Eve at the Bethany church in Surabaya on December 24, 2023.
© Juni KRISWANTO / AFP

Women sit on a bench surrounded by flood water of the River Danube in Budapest on December 28, 2023, as the lower quays of the riverbank are underwater due to flooding. Due to unusually wet and warm weather in recent days, the River Danube burst its banks in Budapest on December 28.
© Ferenc ISZA / AFP

Armed with M16 automatic guns, Ultra-orthodox Jewish men of the Ger Hasidic dynasty and part of the first-response tactical team of their community, stand guard during a wedding event in Jerusalem on December 27, 2023. Amid Israel's war in the Gaza Strip against the Palestinian militant group Hamas following the deadly October 7 attacks the Ultra-Orthodox society crated first-response tactical teams to protect their community in a possible deadly attack.
© Menahem KAHANA / AFP