The Week in Pictures: Nov. 27 - Dec. 5

A Metro-North passenger train lays on its side after derailing in the Bronx borough of New York on Dec. 1. The train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx early in the morning, coming to rest just inches from the water and causing four fatalities and dozens of injuries.

First lady Michelle Obama reacts as Ashtyn Gardner, 2, from Mobile, Ala., loses her balance when she was greeting Sunny, one of the presidential dogs. Children of military families were participating in a holiday arts and crafts event in the State Dining Room at the White House on Dec. 4.

Performers in the 87th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade wait for a subway to take them to the start of the parade in New York on Nov. 28.

A rare total cloud inversion is pictured at Mather Point on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona on Nov. 29. Cloud inversions are formed through the interaction of warm and cold air masses.

Afghan schoolchildren take lessons in an open classroom at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Afghanistan on Dec. 1. Afghanistan has had only rare moments of peace over the past 30 years, its education system being undermined by the Soviet invasion of 1979, a civil war in the 1990s and years of Taliban rule.


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An anti-government protester teases a riot policeman as she demonstrates with others outside the headquarters of the ruling Puea Thai Party of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 29.

Off-roaders with their sand rails, buggies, bikes and quads light up the night at the Oldsmobile Hill sand dune in Glamis, Calif. on Nov. 29 in a photo taken with a five-minute exposure. More than 150,000 people came out to the sand dunes of Glamis in the Imperial Dunes county of southern California for the annual Thanksgiving Weekend gathering.


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Christian children from the village of Bouebou, Central African Republic, are packed in the trunk of a taxi to flee sectarian violence on Dec. 4. The U.N. Security Council authorized French and African troops in Central African Republic on Thursday to use force to protect civilians, imposed an arms embargo on the country and asked the United Nations to prepare for a possible peacekeeping mission.

Grey seals play underwater by the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, northern England on Nov. 17. The Farne Islands are home to a huge array of wildlife, including a substantial colony of grey seals, who come to have their pups there in the autumn.

An Orthodox priest sits on a bench next to a barricade erected in Kiev’s Independent Square on Dec. 2. Thousands of protesters spent the night out on the main square of the Ukrainian capital after demonstrators gathered to call for the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovych after his decision to suspend a partnership and trade agreement with the European Union.

A construction worker continues with the Capitol restoration against the backdrop of a mural while lawmakers return for a special session to tackle pension and tax incentive legislation on Dec. 3 in Springfield, Ill.


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