Rioters dangle hostage from water tower
Rioting prisoners show a hostage at the Urso Branco Penitentiary complex near the Rondonia state capital of Porto Velho, 1,520 miles (2,440 km) northwest of Sao Paulo, December 26, 2005. Convicts were holding nearly 200 visitors hostage in a remote prison in Brazil's Amazon on Tuesday and police said they were negotiating to end the rebellion without violence. Most of the hostages in the Urso Branco prison were women, some of them pregnant. The gang leading the uprising, which started on Christmas Day when family and friends were visiting, demanded the return of its leader, Ednildo Paula Souza, to the prison. He escaped two weeks ago but was caught and moved to another penitentiary. Picture taken December 26, 2005.
Reaching for a world without prisons
A prisioner tries to make contact with his relatives through a hole in the wall during a riot at Benfica's prision in Rio de Janeiro, in 2004. Nearly 200 visitors are being held hostage inside a Brazilian prison where a riot has raged since Sunday, military police told AFP.(AFP/File/Vanderlei Almeida)
Staredown of the day
An Israeli border police officer argues with a Palestinian demonstrator during a protest against the construction of a section of Israel's separation barrier in the outskirts of the West Bank village of Bil'in near Ramallah, Friday Dec. 16, 2005. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Burning effigies of the day
Activists of 'Sports Lovers' Association of Calcutta' shout slogans as they burn effigies of Indian cricket team selectors to protest the decision to drop cricketer Saurav Ganguly from the team in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata December 14, 2005. Ganguly was dropped from India's test squad on Wednesday, all but ending the international career of the country's most successful captain. REUTERS/Stringer
Burning tire of the day
A Palestinian boy rolls a burning tyre during a protest against the controversial Israeli barrier in Anata, on the edge of Jerusalem December 10, 2005. REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk
More egyption election riots
Supporters of the Egyptian government, background, some armed with machetes, throw stones during clashes with supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, front, the government's main rival in the voting, in Zagazig 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds trying to break through blockades of polling stations in an opposition stronghold Wednesday, the final day of parliamentary elections, and two people were killed and hundreds were wounded. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Egyptian women gather in front of a polling station after they were denied entry in the Delta town of Kafr el-Sheikh December 7, 2005. (Stringer/Reuters)
An Egyptian woman shouts as policemen block the access to a voting station during the final stage of the month-long parliamentary elections at Aziziyah village in Zagazig, 83 kms northeast of Cairo, 07 December 2005.(AFP/File/Khaled Desouki)