The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-19M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station blasts off at the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 15, 2015. The Russian rocket carried British astronaut Tim Peake, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, and U.S. astronaut Tim Kopra. #

Cast members from Cirque du Soleil perform on stage during the Los Angeles premiere of Cirque du Soleil's “KURIOS - Cabinet of Curiosities” at Dodger Stadium on December 9, 2015, in Los Angeles. #

The U.S. Navy's first Zumwalt-class destroyer leaves the Kennebec River, passing a crowd of spectators near Fort Popham in Phippsburg, Maine, on December 7, 2015. The ship was headed out to sea for the first time to undergo sea trials. #

Sara Kjorling, 24, from Stockholm leads the procession during the traditional Swedish festival of Sankta Lucia at York Minster on December 11, 2015, in York, England. The festival of Sankta Lucia is a traditional Swedish festival of light that celebrates the bringer of light during the long darkness of winter. The service features a candlelit procession and carols in celebration of Saint Lucy, a young Sicilian girl who was martyred for her Christian faith in the early fourth century. The service, which is run in partnership with York Anglo-Scandanavian Society, starts with a procession led by a girl wearing a crown of candles, thought to symbolize a halo and a red sash that symbolizes martyrdom. #

Demonstrators march through downtown on December 11, 2015, in Chicago, Illinois, after a recently-released video showed the shooting of Laquan McDonald by Chicago Police officer Jason Van Dyke. The video sparked protests and calls for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign for trying to cover up the circumstances surrounding the shooting. #

Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager under fire for buying a pharmaceutical company and ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug, is escorted by law enforcement agents in New York on December 17, 2015, after being taken into custody following a securities probe. A seven-count indictment unsealed in a Brooklyn federal court Thursday, charged Shkreli with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and securities fraud. #

A lenticular cloud forms as white streaks from airplanes mark the blue sky, in a rare atmospheric phenomena above the town of Gevgelija, Republic of Macedonia, on December 2, 2015. #

A guide dangles a live chicken in front of a crocodile in the village of Bazoule, Burkina Faso, on December 4, 2015. The villagers believe the crocodiles that live there are sacred. #

A screen showing Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual end-of-year news conference, on display on an embankment of the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, on December 17, 2015. #

A man takes a photograph of the annual holiday lights display at the home of Amber Merefield on December 13, 2015, near Medford, New Jersey. Started by her parents, the annual tradition has dazzled crowds in southern New Jersey for years, but could be coming to an end. Merefield says she will be leaving the state soon for her job. #

Darth Mykolaiovych Vader, who is dressed as the Star Wars character Darth Vader, and people dressed as Star Wars characters Chewbacca and a Stormtrooper, select products in a grocery store in Odessa, Ukraine, on December 3, 2015. #

A picture is projected on St. Peters Basilica during the show ‘Fiat Lux: Illuminating Our Common Home,’ on December 8, 2015 at the Vatican. Images by some of the world's greatest environmental photographers, including Sebastião Salgado, Joel Sartore, Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Louie Schwartzberg, were projected in solidarity with COP21 talks in Paris. #

German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a toy wolf she got as a present during a party convention of the Christian Democrats (CDU) in Karlsruhe, Germany, on December 14, 2015. #

Starlings migrating from northern Europe fly in the sky above Rome on December 12, 2015. About one million starlings migrate in Rome during autumn and winter time and draw beautiful patterns in the sky before spending the nights in the trees by the Tiber river, creating chaos in the neighborhood with their droppings. #

People walk among rubble and damaged buildings in the Sur district in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, on December 11, 2015. A policeman was killed on December 9 by sniper fire as he tried to defuse an explosive device in the district which has been under military curfew for eight days. Turkey has been waging a relentless offensive against PKK strongholds in the southeast of the country and in northern Iraq following the collapse in July of a two-year truce with rebels. #

A Peer 1 client wears a “therapeutic benefit” paper hat he made to remind himself of his bad attitude and to show his willingness to ask his Peer 1 brothers for support at a therapeutic community in Denver on July 14, 2014. Peer 1 is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for men, many having spent years in and out of prison, in Denver, Colorado. The men have often tried and failed over and over to turn their life around. With histories of abuse as children and living on the streets, they come to Peer 1 hoping to turn away from addiction and crime, to rebuild their lives and learn how to integrate into society. Treatment includes family group therapy, meditation, and trust-building exercises. #

Members of ASC Tornados, the motorcycle display team of the Indian army, lie in a row on the ground as another performs a stunt by jumping over them during the 225th anniversary celebrations of Army Service Corps in Bangalore, India, on December 8, 2015. #

Floodwater covers the pitch and some of the stands at Carlisle United Football Club's Brunton Park stadium in Carlisle, England, on December 7, 2015, after heavy flooding caused by Storm Desmond. The storm left tens of thousands without power, disrupted water supplies, and forced the closure of a number of schools. #

Prisoner Adriele Cesar, 21, dressed as Jesus, poses for a photo after a Christmas decorating contest inside her cell at the Nelson Hungria prison in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 10, 2015. Cesar, who was has already spent three Christmases behind bars on a murder conviction, said the holidays were the hardest time of year for many of her fellow inmates. #

A woman walks in an alley filled with mud and debris to collect relief goods, as clothes are hung out to dry after floodwaters receded in Chennai, India, on December 7, 2015. #

Fisherman Rene Valero, from the Urus ethnic group, is seen on his boat on the dried Poopó lakebed in the Oruro Department, south of La Paz, Bolivia, on December 17, 2015. Poopó Lake in Bolivia, the Andean nation's formerly second largest after the famed Titicaca, has dried up entirely. With the water now gone, animals have died off in the millions, according to studies. And local families, having lost much of their sustenance, have been forced to migrate. #

A man carries his bicycle past debris and burning cars following reported airstrikes in the town of Hamouria in the eastern Ghouta region, a rebel stronghold east of the Syrian capital Damascus, on December 9, 2015. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 11 civilians, including four children, were killed in strikes on the town of Hamouria, but said it was unclear if they were carried out by Russian or regime aircraft. #

People take videos during a flag-raising ceremony amid heavy smog at Tiananmen Square, after the Beijing issued its first ever “red alert” for air pollution on December 9, 2015. #

Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez waves to supporters at Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 9, 2015. Followers of President Cristina Fernandez filled Plaza de Mayo to say goodbye on the eve of her leaving office. After 8 years in office Fernandez was replaced by Mauricio Macri on December 10th. #