24 hours in pictures, 12 December 2019

Ukrainian lawmakers vote the law that extends “local self-government in individual districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions” by another year during a parliamentary session in Kiev on December 12, 2019. Ukrainian parliament on December 12, 2019 extended the special order of local governance in country’s separatist regions, a move agreed by Kiev and Moscow during the long-awaited peace summit in Paris. 320 lawmakers in the 450-seat chamber backed the law that extends “local self-government in individual districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions” by another year. / AFP / Genya SAVILOV

French nursing assistant Pierre Fraimbault poses during the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 at the ‘IFEMA – Feria de Madrid’ exhibition centre, in Madrid, on December 11, 2019. Pierre Fraimbault was drawn to participate in the Citizen’s Climate Convention, decided by French President Emmanuel Macron after the social crisis of the “yellow vests” (gilets jaunes). The mission is to propose measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. / AFP / CRISTINA QUICLER

A protester (C) prepares to shoot an arrow with a bow as riot police fire tear gas towards the bridge protesters attempt to climb down to a road below, to escape from Hong Kong Polytechnic University campus and from police, in Hung Hom district in Hong Kong on November 18, 2019. Dozens of Hong Kong protesters escaped a besieged university campus on November 18 by lowering themselves on a rope from a footbridge to a highway, AFP video showed. Once on the road they were seen being picked up by waiting motorcyclists.
– AFP / Anthony WALLACE

A handout photo made available by NASA Earth Observatory of a satellite image showing the Jokulsarlon and Breidamerkurjokull glacier, in southeastern Iceland, 02 July 2019 (issued 12 December 2019). Jokulsarlon, which in Icelandic means ‘glacial river lagoon’, is a product of a changing climate. It is located at the foot of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, which began melting and retreating from the Atlantic Ocean in the 1920s due to rising temperatures. The lagoon started forming around 1935 and grew as the glacier retreated. Since the 1970s, Jokulsarlon has quadrupled in size and now measures around 11 square kilometers wide. At 248 meters deep, Jokulsarlon is the deepest lake in the country. The Breidamerkurjokull glacier is a tongue of the larger Vatnajokull glacier, the largest in Europe. EPA-EFE/NASA EARTH

epa08064974 Marnus Labuschagne (R) of Australia raises his bat on reaching a century during day one of the first Test match between Australia and New Zealand at Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia, 12 December 2019. RICHARD WAINWRIGHT

epa08064951 The Royal Barge ‘Suphannahong’ (top), meaning Golden Swan, carries the king and queen of Thailand aboard during the Royal Barge Procession to mark the conclusion of the Royal Coronation ceremony on Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand, 12 December 2019. Thousands of Thai oarsmen rowed more than 50 ancient barges during a procession to a traditional rhythmic barge-rowing song. The ceremony honors King Rama X after his complete accession to the throne. EPA-EFE/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in a car on the last day of hearing on the Rohingya genocide case before the UN International Court of Justice at the Peace Palace in The Hague, on December 12, 2019. Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi rejected allegations of genocide against Myanmar in the UN’s top court on December 11, despite admitting the army may have used excessive force against Rohingya Muslims.
AFP Sem VAN DER WAL

People walk past the wreckage of a vehicle which was set on fire by demonstrators during a protest against the government’s Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Guwahati on December 12, 2019. Indian police fired blanks on December 12 as thousands of protesters ignored a curfew in the north-east of the country, in a fresh day of demonstrations against contentious new citizenship legislation. / AFP / Biju BORO

Police officials push Congress workers as they walk past the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state head office, during a march organised by the Congress party to protest against the government’s Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Kolkata on December 12, 2019. Authorities deployed thousands of paramilitaries and blocked mobile internet in northeast India on December 12, while police fired blank rounds at protesters who defied a curfew to demonstrate against contentious new citizenship legislation. / AFP / Dibyangshu SARKAR

Pedestrians walk past a polling station set up in Charing Cross Library in London, as Britain holds a general election on December 12, 2019. / AFP / Niklas HALLE’N

A bus driver arranges water bottles inside a bus of Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC) parked at a stand as it has been cancelled to run from Siliguri to Guwahati, following protests over the government’s Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in Assam state, in Siliguri on December 12, 2019. Authorities deployed thousands of paramilitaries and blocked mobile internet in northeast India on December 12, while police fired blank rounds at protesters who defied a curfew to demonstrate against contentious new citizenship legislation. / AFP / DIPTENDU DUTTA

Dockers stand next to overturned cars blocking the access to the port autonome in Marseille, southeastern France on December 12, 2019 in sign of protest against government’s plans to overhaul the pension system. Unions on December 12 vowed to maintain a transport strike through the year-end holidays unless the government backs down on its pension overhaul. / AFP / Christophe SIMON

Spanish former soccer player Fernando Torres (C) delivers a speech during the inauguration of the soccer field ‘Fernando Torres’ at Cruyff Foundation’s Francisco Quevedo School, in Madrid, Spain, 12 December 2019. The soccer field is the result of the shared partnership between the Cruyff Foundation and the city of Fuenlabrada, the town where the former player of the Liverpool FC and the Chelsea FC studied wen he was a child. EPA-EFE/Rodrigo Jimenez