Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano spews volcanic lava accompanied by large clouds of gas and ash near Banos, about 110 miles south of Quito. The authorities are encouraging residents living near the volcano to evacuate. The Tungurahua volcano has been in an active state since October 1999. (Carlos Campana/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

A long-tailed macaque licks an ice cube with fruits encased in it during the annual Monkey Buffet Festival at the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi, Thailand. The festival provides food and drinks to the local monkey population to thank them for drawing tourists to the town. (Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

German police cross a small river as they follow anti-nuclear protesters near Lemgrabe. The Castor (Cask for Storage and Transport Of Radioactive material) train is carrying 11 containers of spent German nuclear fuel on route from France after being reprocessed, to the nuclear waste storage facility of Gorleben in Germany this weekend. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

Palestinian children stand to form Pablo Picasso’s Dove of Peace as part of a project by British aerial artist John Quigley and the United Nations Relief Works Agency), at the foot of the Mount of Temptation in the West Bank city of Jericho. It took some 1,000 children from United Nations schools to create the project produced as part of the “Peace on Earth” project, a global musical prayer for peace which will be broadcast globally from Bethlehem’s Manger Square on Christmas day. (Ammar Awad/Reuters) Click iage to zoom.

In a cove below the San Diego City Wastewater Treatment Plant in Point Loma, Calif., city lifeguards Wednesday towed away the body of a rare 67-foot female fin whale that washed up Saturday. Scientists hope eventually to determine the cause of death. (Earl S. Cryer/Zuma Press)

Tim Mathieson, Australian Prime minister’s partner, shows U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama his cowboy boots before she hosts a luncheon with the spouses of APEC leaders at Kualoa Ranch in Kaaawa, Hawaii. (REUTERS/Hugh Gentry)

Chalk messages mark the spot where non-violent protestors were pepper-sprayed by police at an “Occupy UCD” rally on campus in Davis, California. (Max Whittaker/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

A man walks amidst morning fog in New Delhi, India, November 21. (Gurinder Osan/Associated Press) Click image to zoom.

A couple walk across Victoria Park during foggy weather in Leicester, England, November 20. (Darren Staples/Reuters) Click image to zoom.

A white whale wears a Santa Claus hat during a show at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, near Tokyo, November 19. (Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press)