Today in Photos (Dec 24)

View a gallery of photos from around the world on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014.

Section:Gallery

Wed., Dec. 24, 2014

Children dressed as angels take part in a mass on the eve of Christmas at the South Cathedral official Catholic church in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Estimates for the number of Christians in China range from the conservative official figure of 23 million to as many as 100 million by independent scholars, raising the possibility that Christians may rival in size the 85 million members of the ruling Communist Party.

Ng Guan Associated Press
Indian tribal settlers take refuge in a local church after their village was attacked by an indigenous separatist group called the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, in Shamukjuli village in Sonitpur district of Indian eastern state of Assam, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Hundreds of survivors of a brutal rebel attack that killed at least 63 people in northeastern India sought shelter Wednesday in a church and school while security forces imposed a curfew in a bid to contain the latest bout of ethnic violence.

Anupam Nath Associated Press
Police try to control a crowd Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, on the lot of a gas station following a shooting Tuesday in Berkeley, Mo. St. Louis County police say a man who pulled a gun and pointed it at an officer has been killed.

David Carson St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Pakistani Christian Maria Akbar, 15, checks herself in the mirror, after having her make up done by hairdresser Razia Rehmat, 39, in preparation for Christmas holiday, at a hair salon, in a slum that hosts Christian families, on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014.

Muhammed Muheisen Associated Press
Sandra McDaniel walks through the remains of the product showroom for Jack Morris Gas Company in Columbia, Miss., Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. The community was hard hit by a tornado on Tuesday that destroyed several businesses and homes and have two deaths attributed directly to it.

Rogelio Solis Associated Press
Pope Francis kisses a statue of Baby Jesus as he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014. Pope Francis is celebrating Christmas Eve with a late-night Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and a phone call to some Iraqi refugees forced to flee their homes by Muslim militants. Francis told refugees at the tent camp in Ankawa, a suburb of Irbil in northern Iraq, that they were like Jesus, forced to flee because there was no place for them. For Christians, Christmas marks the birth of Jesus in a Bethlehem barn manger, chosen because there was no room for his parents at an inn.

Gregorio Borgia Associated Press