Cattle run from a grass fire in Guthhrie, Okla., Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006. Dry and windy conditions made perfect wildfire conditions that have plagued Texas and Oklahoma for a week.
Israeli soldiers run back to their posts after a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip landed next to their artillery unit near Kibbutz Nahal Oz, just outside the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006. The formal end to a truce there has resultred in several deaths.
Two girls left homeless by the Oct. 8 earthquake go for water during a snowfall in Awan Patti, Jhelum Valley, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006. The season's heaviest rain and snow lashed Pakistan's earthquake-hit areas on Sunday, grounding helicopters flying relief supplies and deepening the misery of survivors who huddled around camp fires to keep warm.
Revelers use cameras to capture the fireworks that flash above Sydney Harbour bridge and Opera House during New Year celebrations in Australia's largest city early Sunday, Jan. 1, 2006.
People gather along a park near the sea wall at the scenic Manila Bay to watch the sunset on Friday Dec.30, 2005, in Manila. The Philippines boasts of one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world, having only dry and wet seasons in a year.
A refugee camp at dusk in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Friday, Dec. 30, 2005. The Oct. 8 earthquake killed more than 87,000 people, destroyed the homes of 3.5 million others, and left 4.5 million dependent on food aid.
Comrades comfort each other at the grave of Israeli soldier Lt. Uri Binamo, 21, during his funeral in the northern Israeli coastal city of Haifa, Friday, Dec. 30, 2005. Binamo was killed along with two Palestinians by a Palestinian suicide bomber at a military checkpoint near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem Thursday.
A father and son play in the snow underneath the Angel Of The North, Gateshead, northeast England, Wednesday Dec. 28, 2005.
Fred Santos pours a bag of powdered chemicals to use in the manufacture of pyrotechnics Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005, in Bocaue, a town north of Manila. Unmindful of the hazard of his job, Santos who earns an average of $10 a day, works hard to meet the big demand for different pyrotechnics as celebrations for the New Year approaches.
Surfers ride a wave at Waimea Beach, Monday, Dec. 26, 2005, on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. A large northwest swell hit the north- and west-facing shores of Oahu, creating waves reaching 20 to 25 feet and occasionally higher.
A Chinese man swims in the freezing waters of Shishahai Lake on Dec. 30, 2005, in Beijing, China. Winter swimming is increasingly popular among elderly Chinese, who believe a daily dip in the cold water improves the human immune system.
An Israeli soldier checks the cannon of an Israeli Army artillery unit poised to bombard the Gaza Strip Jan. 1, 2006, in Nahal Oz, in southern Israel. Israel was on nationwide alert after three Palestinian militant groups warned that they will no longer be bound by a truce which expired as the New Year began.
Young girls play on the newly erected wooden post amid burned remains of houses Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005, in the shantytown of Tondo in Manila, Philippines, two days after the fire. Nearly 3,000 impoverished families who were victims of the fire face a bleak new year after losing their homes.
Men cling to the stands during a bull festival in the Caribbean town of San Juan Nepomuceno, Colombia, Friday, Dec. 30, 2005. Locals risk their lives jumping into a ring to play with bulls during the traditional Corralejas bull festival that gathers hundreds of locals to welcome the New Year.
A Christmas tree and the GUM department store, decorated for New Year and Christmas celebrations, are reflected in melted snow on Red Square in Moscow, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2005. New Year's is the biggest holiday of the year in Russia, followed by the Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7.
A baby hippo named Owen walks along with its "mother," a giant male Aldabran tortoise, at the Mombasa Haller Park, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2005, in Mombasa, Kenya. The odd couple have stayed together for one year after Kenya Wildlife Service rangers rescued the baby hippo in the sea off Malindi when the Asian tsumani separated the calf from its mother.