Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images.
A hostage runs towards a police officer outside Lindt cafe, where other hostages were being held during a seige in Martin Place in central Sydney. Photograph: Jason Reed/ Reuters
Workers remove a logo left by pro-democracy protesters in the shape of an umbrella, a symbol of the Occupy Central civil disobedience movement, during a clearance at the last "Occupy" protest site blocking a main road at Causeway Bay shopping district in Hong Kong. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/ Reuters
A member of the special police forces dressed in a Santa Claus suit waves to staff as he descends from the roof of a pediatrics clinic in Ljubljana December 16, 2014. Photograph: Srdjan Zivulovic/ Reuters
A mother mourns her son Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, a student who was killed during an attack by Taliban gunmen on the Army Public School, at her house in Peshawar. Taliban gunmen in Pakistan took hundreds of students and teachers hostage on Tuesday in a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar, military officials said. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/ Reuters
A grave digger sleeps near the graves of Ebola victims at a cemetery in Freetown. The death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 6,915 out of 18,603 cases as of December, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Photograph: Baz Ratner/ Reuters
A man cuddles the body of his dead wife during a sub-zero evening in Shenyang, Liaoning province. The man sat by the roadside while holding his wife's body for almost two hours till his son came and persuaded him to bring the body home, according to local media. The wife had just bought medicine from a pharmacy when she collapsed in a street and died of heart failure. Photograph: Reuters
A miner rests while others dig inside an illegal coal mine near the Bosnian town of Vitez. For the past four years, war veteran Ramiz Rizvic, has been extracting coal from this illegal and unsafe mine using primitive and makeshift tools. High unemployment levels in the former Yugoslavian republic has helped the proliferation of this kind of illegal mining. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/ Reuters
Members of the public observe the thousands of floral tributes left near the site of the Sydney cafe siege in Martin Place. Tough new national security laws failed to prevent a deadly hostage crisis in the heart of Sydney this week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, raising questions about the usefulness of such measures. Photograph: Jason Reed/ Reuters
Pope Francis celebrates his 78th birthday as blows out candles on a cake as he arrives to lead his general audience at the Vatican. Photograph: Tony Gentile/ Reuters
Kyle McCoy addressed the Berkeley City Council meeting in Berkeley, California. Dozens of people spoke before the council to condemn police tactics, including teargas and non-lethal projectiles, used against anti-police brutality demonstrators on December 6. McCoy said he was arrested that night and faces a felony charge for assault with a deadly weapon. Photograph: Noah Berger/ Reuters