The Week in Pictures

The Arizona Cardinals’ LaRod Stephens-Howling (36) is stopped short of the end zone by the Green Bay Packers’ Tramon Williams (38), Brandon Chillar (54) and Atari Bigby (20) during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff game on Sunday.  (Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)

A family evacuates their home near Shkodra, 75 miles north of the Albanian capital, Tirana. European countries are sending emergency aid to the country’s northwest, where more than 2,400 houses have been flooded because of heavy rainfall.  (Hektor Pustina / Associated Press)

A convoy of trucks lies pushed to the side of the road by flood water on the outskirts of Bacallek.  (Hektor Pustina / Associated Press)

Travelers crowd the terminal at Geneva’s international airport, which was temporarily closed because of heavy snow.  (Martial Trezzini / EPA)

AC Milan’s Brazilian forward Ronaldinho, background, controls the ball as Juventus defender Zdenek Grygera of Czech Republic vies for the ball during their Serie A soccer match at the Olympic Stadium.  (Luca Bruno / Associated Press)

Volkswagen’s driver Mark Miller of the U.S. and co-driver South Africa’s Ralph Pitchford compete during the eighth stage of the 2010 Argentina-Chile Dakar Rally between Antofagasta and Copiapo, Chile, on Sunday.  (Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

Hartwig Rackwitz and his dogs take part in a race in eastern Germany. The region is covered with snow.  (Jens Schlueter / AFP / Getty Images)

On a beautiful Southern California winter’s day, Jaden DeMedio, 5, of Torrance points out a cloud to parents Robert and Suzanne while the family picnics on a bluff with an awesome view at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A worker shovels snow off a basketball court at a school in Beijing. Heavy snowstorms disrupted life in the Chinese capital, where many schools were closed and more than 90% of flights from the main airport were canceled.  (Andy Wong / Associated Press)

Jeremy Healsmith of Melbourne, Australia, finds a quiet spot to read on the baggage carousel while waiting for a flight to Houston after a security breach shut down Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport. Full story  (Rich Schultz / Associated Press)

A snow-covered mixed-breed dog named Lotta runs through the snow in Unken, in the Austrian province of Salzburg.  (Kerstin Joensson / Associated Press)

San Diego Chargers fullback Mike Tolbert (35) goes over the top of Washington Redskins’ Andre Carter (99) on a run during the fourth quarter of an NFL game Sunday.  (Denis Poroy / Associated Press)

Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer soars during his training jump of the third station of the Four Hills ski jumping tournament.  (Matthias Schrader / Associated Press)

A tourist views a snow scene in Beijing. Authorities in the Chinese capital and in Tianjin announced Sunday that classes in primary and middle schools would be suspended Monday as the snow had caused a traffic breakdown. The meteorological bureau said Sunday that the temperature would plummet to 3 degrees over the next three days, which would be the lowest since the 1980s.  (Feng Li / Getty Images)

Buffalo Bills fan Pat Kiefer, top, does a back flip off a snowpile in the parking lot before an NFL game between the Bills and the Indianapolis Colts.  (David Duprey / Associated Press)

The Buffalo Bills recover a fumble by Indianapolis Colts’ Curtis Painter (7) during the first half of an NFL game.  (David Duprey / Associated Press)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning stands on the sidelines during the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Buffalo won, 30-7.  (Rick Stewart / Getty Images)

Sunday’s sunrise is seen from the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe, Hawaii, where President Obama came to exercise.  (Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images)

Atlanta Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes intercepts a fourth-quarter pass intended for Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Bryant during an NFL game Sunday. Atlanta won, 20-10.  (Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

Tottenham Hotspur defender Alan Hutton leaps over Peterborough’s defender Scott Griffiths during an third round match in the FA Cup. The Tottenham Hotspur won the match, 4-0.  (Ian Kingston / AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the international “Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition” sing and dance to celebrate the new year during their expedition to the South Pole in Antarctica.  (Alexander Blotnitsky / AFP/Getty Images)

A boy watches a penguin diving into the water at the Epson Shinagawa Aqua Stadium in Tokyo. The aquarium has been holding a weeklong New Year’s event.  (Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP/Getty Images)

Dancers from the Shanghai World Expo entry “Better City, Better Life” perform during the Rose Parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Oregon’s Jeff Maehl upends Ohio State kick returner Anderson Russell in the second quarter of the Rose Bowl. Ohio State would go on to end a three-game bowl losing streak, beating the Ducks, 26-17.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The sounds of the Rose Parade ring out along Colorado Boulevard.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Tillman, the skateboarding bulldog, tackles snowboarding on the “Hot Doggin -- Going for the Gold” float in the Rose Parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

South Korean conservative activists in Paju, north of Seoul, burn a North Korean flag during a rally denouncing Kim Jong Il‘s policy. North Korea called for denuclearization and an end of hostile relations with the United States in a New Year’s message Friday.  (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

Brave souls leap into the cold waters of Lake Geneva as the fountain spouts in the background during the annual New Year’s swim.  (Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty Images)

About 2 million people observe fireworks from Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate the beginning of 2010.  (Gabriel Lopes / AFP / Getty Images)

In a time-exposure photo created using sparklers, children celebrate on New Year’s Eve in Manila.  (Romeo Gacad / AFP / Getty Images)

Spectators watch the Farmers Insurance Group float “To The Bands” as it rolls out of the Rose Palace, where final preparations and finishing touches are being made to floats for the Rose Parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A small army of volunteers are helping Phoenix Decorating Co.’s professional builders affix thousands of flowers to floats at the Rose Palace, where several floats are being built for the Rose Parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A crowd celebrates in Tokyo as balloons are released to mark New Year’s at the Zojoji Temple, seconds after midnight.  (Greg Baker / Associated Press)

A man and woman return to their village after the day’s work on a bicycle as the sun sets marking the end of the year on the outskirts of Puri, India.  (Biswaranjan Rout / Associated Press)

A light rain leaves a plant glazed with ice in Washington, where temperatures are in the 30s. Stories from Washington  (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

South Korean lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party take a nap while they wait to pass the government’s budget bill for 2010 later during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul.  (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful from his popemobile on his way to visit the nativity in St.Peter’s Square after celebrating vespers and the Te Deum prayer in Vatican City’s St Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve.  (Filippo Monteforte / AFP / Getty Images)

Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray (7) vaults to a third-quarter touchdown against Stanford in the Sun Bowl on Thursday. Oklahoma prevailed, 31-27.  (LM Otero / Associated Press)

Newly graduated Israeli pilots throw their caps into the air during a graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Israeli Air Force Base near Beer Sheva, Israel.  (Jack Guez / AFP/Getty Images)

An Indonesian boy places a candle near a picture of former President Abdurrahman Wahid, who died Wednesday. He was 69. Full story  (Risyal Hidayat / AFP / Getty Images)

A bull named Encantador jumps over the fence at Monumental Canaveralejo bullring during the Cali Fair.  (Carlos Ortega / EPA)

Michigan State’s Durrell Summers, top, is fouled by Texas Arlington’s Ishmael Awange during a dunk attempt. Summers finished with 20 points to help the Spartans take an 87-68 win.  (Al Goldis / Associated Press)

A fuchsia-colored umbrella adds a splash of color to a rainy day.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Headlights reflect off the pavement as a pedestrian crosses the intersection of Fremont Avenue and 5th Street downtown.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Morning storm clouds hover over the Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro as Jean Green of North Hollywood takes pictures.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

A man rides in a sleigh carrying tourists on the outskirts of Moscow.  (Mikhail Metzel / Associated Press)

Fresh flowers are carried into the Rosemont Pavilion, where floats are being decorated for the Rose Parade.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Biodegradable balloons released by Sao Paulo’s Commercial Assn. float over the city for a New Year’s event.  (Nelson Almeida / AFP / Getty Images)

Trees decked out with holiday lights cast a romantic glow outside Manhattan’s famous Tavern on the Green. After 75 years in business, the Central Park restaurant will close to bankruptcy after a final New Year’s Eve dinner. But fans of the Tavern , where John Lennon used to drop by and play the piano, won’t be entirely starved: The over-the-top Baccarat chandeliers, Tiffany stained-glass murals, mirrors, copper weathervances, silver candelabras, place settings and other interior decor will be up for auction Jan. 13-15.  (Chris Hondros / Getty Images)

National Public Radio’s Carl Kasell delivers one of his last newscasts during the Morning Edition program at NPR. A30-year NPR veteran, Kasell will take up the duty of roving ambassador for the network and continue his work on the game show “Wait, Wait... Don’t Tell Me!”  (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

One of a number of supporters of the Iranian government holds up portraits of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, as she and others take to the streets of Tehran in a show of force against the opposition, whose members are accused of being “pawns of the enemies.” The demonstration in the capital’s Enghelab Square was one of several massive rallies in major Iranian cities called for by clerics, seminary schools and the armed forces to respond to a string of opposition protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s disputed June reelection.  (Atta Kenare / AFP/Getty Images)

Christmas decorations and a brightly hued umbrella provide some welcome color amid the rain and gray skies downtown.  (Christina House / For The Times)

A Kuwaiti man attends a parliamentary session in Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait. The ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state, Sabah al Ahmed al Jabbar al Sabah, warned on December 29 against chaos and social divisions amid heightened political turmoil and tribal and sectarian tensions that have rocked Kuwait. Tensions have surfaced in OPEC’s fourth-largest producer over the last few weeks, with the emirate’s Bedouin tribes staging two massive rallies last week to protest a controversial television program.  (Yasser al-Zayyat / AFP/Getty Images)

A competitor dressed as the animated character Gromit takes part in the Hoar Cross Downhill Soap Box Race, which raises money for charity.  (Christopher Furlong / Getty Images)

A Palestinian worker takes a break inside a smuggling tunnel between Egypt and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Smugglers bring in goods from Egypt through tunnels, though the Cairo government has recently begun installing border fortifications to block the passages, which also serve as a conduit for weapons.  (Eyad Baba / Associated Press)

Lava flows from the crater of Mayon volcano, where recent activity has forced about 50,000 people formerly living in a five-mile danger zone to move to evacuation centers.  (Bullit Marquez / Associated Press)

People enjoy warm springs next to an icy cold waterfall at a spa in northern Greece.  (Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP/Getty Images)

A family looks on as a bare-chested man jogs in a snow-covered park in Minsk.  (Viktor Drachev / AFP-Getty Images)

Slum children gather near a fire to keep warm. Cold weather continues in most parts of northern India.  (Biswaranjan Rout / Associated Press)

A Greek Orthodox clergyman takes part in the annual cleaning ceremony at the Church of the Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.  (Nasser Shiyoukhi / Associated Press)

Drivers pedal their three-wheeled pedicabs carrying foreign tourists by the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  (Heng Sinith / Associated Press)

Hindu devotees pray amid laundry drying on the banks of the River Ganges in Allahabad, India.  (Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press)

Celebrants in Viking costumes participate in the Torchlight Procession along Edinburgh’s main street, the Royal Mile. The procession is the opening event of Hogmanay, a five-day festival of concerts and events to celebrate the New Year.  (David Cheskin / Associated Press)

A poster-covered wall provides a sprink-like backdrop for an ultra-Orthodox man in Jerusalem.  (Oded Balilty / Associated Press)

Armenian clerics participate in the annual cleaning ceremony at the Church of the Nativity, on the site many believe to be the birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The cleaning precedes the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christmas celebrations in January.  (Nasser Shiyoukhi / Associated Press)

Surfers line up along the shore at Seal Beach, which was closed last week after rain and high tide caused ocean water to flood the boardwalk and breach the south side of the pier.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Moscow’s Victory Park is aglow with decorations for New Year celebrations.  (Misha Japaridze / Associated Press)

Participants pray for peace at the Taize Community’s 32nd European Youth Meeting in Poznan, Poland. About 30,000 people from around Europe are attending the meeting this week.  (Adam Ciereszko / EPA)

Andreas Kofler of Austria jumps at the men’s Four Hills FIS ski jumping championship in Oberstdorf, in southern Germany. Kofler won the event. The tournament will continue in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on New Year’s Day, in Innsbruck, Austria, on Sunday and in Bischofshofen, Austria, on Jan. 6.  (Robert Michael / AFP/Getty Images)

African elephants Bakbuki , left, and Noah are taken from the Ramat Gan Safari Park for the journey to their new home at a zoo in Hungary.  (Uriel Sinai / Getty Images)

LAPD Officer Jerome Evans works with his K-9, Alda, sniffing her way through luggage in the international terminal at LAX. American airports are on heightened alert in the wake of the Christmas Day terrorism attempt aboard an Amsterdam to Detroit flight.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Against a backdrop of the downtown Los Angeles skyline at Dodger Stadium, sousaphone players in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s All City Honor Marching Band practice for their upcoming appearance in the Rose Parade.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

An ethnic Hmong refugee sits inside a police truck in Huay Nam Khao in Thailand’s northern Phetchabun province during an army operation to deport thousands of Hmong asylum seekers to communist Laos. Thailand began the deportations amid international expressions of concern that the refugees could face persecution.  (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul / AFP / Getty Images)

Mayon volcano as seen from Legazpi, about 200 miles southeast of Manila. The Philippine government’s chief volcanologist warned against complacency after signs of unrest at the volcano began to diminish over the weekend.  (Ted Aljibe / AFP/Getty Images)

Meerkats at a zoo in Freiburg , southern Germany.  (Winfried Rothermel / Associated Press)

Austria’s Thomas Morgenstern takes off during a trial jump during the first station of the Four Hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany, on Monday.  (Matthias Schrader / Associated Press)

A Kashmiri Shiite Muslim shouts religious slogans as Indian police detain him during a procession in Srinagar, India. Police arrested more than two dozen Shiites as they gathered to mark the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Large public gatherings in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been banned because of an insurgency there.  (Mukhtar Khan / Associated Press)

Palestinian children take part in a ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.  (Khalil Hamra / Associated Press)

Two men throw flour and eggs at each other during the “Els Enfarinats” fiesta in Ibi, a town in eastern Spain’s Alicante province. This 200-year-old egg, flour and firecracker battle is held every Dec. 28, which also is Fool’s Day in Spain. Locals, covered in white and in fancy dresses, gather ‘taxes’ (money) from stores, and the funds are donated to charities.  (Morell / EPA)

Shiite Muslims scourge themselves with knifes attached to chains during an Ashura procession in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Ashura, which falls on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar, is one of the most important holy days for Shiite Muslims. It marks the death of death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad, on the same day in 680.  (Anjum Naveed / Associated Press)

Lake Champlain Bridge is brought down by 800 pounds of explosives in Crown Point, N.Y., this morning. The 80-year-old, 2,184-foot-long bridge, which connects New York and Vermont was closed Oct. 16 because of severe erosion to its concrete piers. Debris will be removed by the spring, when construction is scheduled to begin on a new span slated to open in 2011.  (Mike Groll / Associated Press)

An opposition demonstrator armed with stones faces off with security forces in the Iranian capital, where clashes between police and protesters coincided with the Shiite Muslim religious holiday of Ashura.  (AFP / Getty Images)