Val d'Isere, France — Trails left by skiers crisscross the snow at the Val d'Isere resort in the French Alps. Recent snowfalls have encouraged skiers to hit the slopes and the Val d'Isere authorities have opened some slopes early.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: FRANCK FIFE / AFP / Getty Images

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Titlis Be, Switzerland — Tourists cross the Titlis Cliff Walk, the highest rope bridge in Europe at an altitude of 9,977-feet. The bridge crosses a 1,600-foot-deep abyss.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: SIGI TISCHLER / KEYSTONE

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Amsterdam, Netherlands — Newlyweds pose for photographs at their wedding in the Botanical Garden in Amsterdam. Many couples worldwide have chosen to get married on the special date 12-12-12.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: ROBIN UTRECHT / EPA

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Hamburg, Germany — A bride holds her bouquet outside the civil registry office in Hamburg, where 77 couples married Wednesday on the auspicious 12-12-12.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: AXEL HEIMKEN / EPA

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SAG Awards Social Media Ambassador Busy Philipps, right, and Taye Diggs announce the nominees for the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards for outstanding performances in 2012 in the SilverScreen Theater at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

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New York — The first of 18 sections of the spire is hoisted atop the new 104-story One World Trade Center.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Mario Tama / Getty Images

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Tongchang-ri,North Korea — An image from video shows a North Korean Unha-3 rocket rising from a launch site on the west coast.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Associated Press

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Kiev, Ukraine — Members of the opposition nationalist Svoboda group cut down a fence outside the Ukrainian parliament, the site of several physical confrontations in recent years amid bitter confrontation between opposition and pro-government camps.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP / Getty Images

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Nairobi, Kenya — Traditional dancers perform during Jamhuri Day celebrations at Nairobi's Nyayo National Stadium, commemorating 49 years since Kenya won independence from Britian.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: SIMON MAINA / AFP / Getty Images

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Aleppo, Syria — A Free Syrian Army fighter aims his weapon during heavy clashes with government forces.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Narciso Contreras / Associated Press

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A portrait of legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar is placed under a tree as part of a makeshift memorial at his music center in New Delhi. Shankar, who is credited with connecting the world to Indian music, died Tuesday in San Diego at the age of 92.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Manish Swarup / Associated Press

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Indian students light candles to pay tribute to legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar at the Bengali Tola Inter College where Shankar had studied in Varanasi.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Rajesh Kumar Singh / Associated Press

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Mumbai, India — Indian students take an oath vowing to eliminate the practice of aborting female fetuses. In India, daughters are often seen as a burden because tradition requires that a bride's family pay the groom's family a large dowry of cash and gifts. Women's education is often neglected, and many do not get adequate medical treatment.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Rafiq Maqbool / Associated Press

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