Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters
Spanish model Marta Garcia, wearing a creation by Cristina Garcia, poses backstage during the International Flamenco Fashion Show (SIMOF) in the Andalusian capital of Seville January 31, 2013. The show will run until February 3.
Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters
Models are seen backstage before the start of the International Flamenco Fashion Show.
Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters
Spanish model Claudia Jimenez, wears a creation by Cristina Garcia and poses backstage.
Guillermo Gutierrez / AP
Firefighters belonging to the Tacubaya sector and workers dig for survivors after an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. A large explosion occurred in the lower floors of the building.
By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News
An explosion in the Mexico City skyscraper complex housing the headquarters of state oil monopoly Pemex killed 14 and injured at least 80, company and government officials said.
The explosion took place in the basement garage of the auxiliary building of the complex, next to the company's 54-floor tower located in a busy commercial and residential area, Interior Department spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told reporters.
Alejandro Dias / Reuters
An injured person is transported on a stretcher the headquarters of state oil giant Pemex in Mexico City Jan. 31.
Yuri Cortez / AFP - Getty Images
Rescue workers head for the skyscraper.
Yuri Cortez / AFP - Getty Images
A helicopter overflies the area following a blast inside the skyscraper that houses the headquarters of state-owned Mexican oil giant Pemex.
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Syrian refugee children play in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on Jan. 31, 2013.
More than half the 642,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict flooding into neighboring countries are children, according to the United Nations. It's tempting to find hope in these portraits of children at the Zaatari camp in Jordan, to see resilience and courage instead of emotional scarring, but the words of a senior U.N. official, remind us that this may not be the case.
"This is a children's refugee crisis. It's heartbreaking when we see these children arriving and particularly what we see in the days that follow. Many of them are withdrawn, we hear from the parents about bedwetting. These children have experienced and witnessed some of the most horrific scenes, seeing their parents or loved ones killed, their homes destroyed, their schools effected," said Panos Moumtzis, the U.N. Refugee Agency regional coordinator for Syrian refugees.
Read the full Reuters story from Jan. 17.
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images
A Syrian man carries a newborn baby in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on Jan. 31.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.
Previously on PhotoBlog:
Henry Griffin / AP file
Years before he was a senator, John Kerry, testified about the war in Vietnam before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington D.C., on April 22, 1971.
Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
Forty two years later, John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations committee for the last time as a senator during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24.
On Wednesday, John Kerry said farewell to his Senate home of 27 years, as he prepares to take on a new role as Secretary of State. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
In John Kerry’s farewell speech on the Senate floor yesterday, the former democratic senator from Massachusetts alluded to the first time he spoke to the Senate in 1971.
During his speech, Kerry said he came “not with my vote, but with my voice — and that is why the end of my tenure here is in many ways a bookend.” He continued:
Forty-two years ago, I testified before Senator Fulbright’s Foreign Relations Committee about the realities of war in Vietnam.
It wasn't until last week that I would sit before that Committee again, this time testifying in my own confirmation hearing. It completed a circle, which I could never have imagined drawing, but one our founders surely did: that a citizen voicing his opinion about a matter of personal and national consequence could one day use that voice as a senator, as the Chairman of that same Committee before which he had once testified a private citizen.
And then as the President’s nominee for Secretary of State — that is a fitting representation of what we mean when we talk about a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
Several days before his Senate testimony in 1971, Kerry appeared on Meet the Press, telling NBC’s Robert Goralski:
We are down here to demand that those who call themselves the most committed of all in this country, namely the senators and congressmen who have been talking peace for the past few years, that these men exercise their responsibility, granted them by the constitution of this country, to end this war.
That is what we are here to demand, and we are here to demand it because we are the men who have seen what is happening in Southeast Asia. And we believe that there is no reason, and no excuse, and no justification, for the loss of one more American life there, or for the loss of more Vietnamese. This war can be ended, and should be ended now, and that is what we are here to say.
The Senate confirmed Kerry to be secretary of state on Tuesday.
Paul Sancya / AP
A car is jammed between two trucks after a mile-long pile-up on Interstate 75 in Detroit on Jan. 31.
By Kari Huus and Nadine Comerford, NBC News
A massive chain-reaction crash on an interstate highway in Detroit on Thursday killed three people, including two children, and left at least 40 injured, local authorities said. That was the first of three major pileups reported on icy Michigan roads Thursday amid blinding snow squalls. Read the full story
Paul Sancya / AP
Vehicles are at a standstill after a multi-vehicle accident in Detroit on Jan. 31.
Paul Sancya / AP
The front of a car is under a truck after a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 in Detroit on Jan. 31.
David Coates / AP
Debris sits on the road after multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 75 in Detroit on Jan. 31.
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
A hooded armed man stands guard in downtown Tecoanapa, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, on Jan. 24.
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
Hooded men stand guard outside the Justice palace, in Ayutla de los Libres, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, on Jan. 24.
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
Armed men guard the Justice palace from a car, in Ayutla de los Libres, in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, on Jan. 24.
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
A female guard watches over 27 people arrested by a residents' police force in Ayutla de los Libres in the Guerrero state of Mexico on Jan. 25.
Hundreds of men and women in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero have armed themselves with rifles, pistols and machetes to defend their villages against drug gangs that local police are unable or unwilling, to stop.
"There isn't one of us who hasn't felt the pain ... of seeing them take a family member and not being able to ever get them back," said the young civilian self-defense patrol member, who identified himself as "just another representative of the people of the mountain." Continue reading Associated Press article.
Guerrero, home to the Pacific resort town of Acapulco, has been one of Mexico's hardest hit states by drug violence, which has left more than 70,000 people killed across the country since 2006.
--Getty Images, Associated Press
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
Some of the 27 people arrested by residents of Ayutla de los Libres, who have formed their own vigilante police force, are kept under custody inside a house in Ayutla de los Libres, on Jan. 25.
Lars Baron / Getty Images
Wong Maye-E / AP
A woman sits in prayer while her head is shaved to mourn the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk ahead of his funeral, Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Wong Maye-E / AP
Mourners gather in front of the Royal Palace and pay their respects to the late Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk ahead of his funeral on Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Chris McGrath / Getty Images
Crowds gather in front of the Royal Palace to pay their respects to former King Norodom Sihanouk on Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Chris McGrath / Getty Images
A street vendor sells ribbons showing a portrait of former King Norodom Sihanouk outside the Royal Palace on Jan, 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Former King Norodom Sihanouk died of a heart attack last October in Beijing at the age of 89. For the past three months his body has been lying in state at the Royal Palace. Officials expect more than one million people to line the streets tomorrow to witness the funeral procession. The former king's body will be transported to a cremation site where it will be kept for three days before his wife and son are expected to light the pyre.
-- Getty Images
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Chris McGrath / Getty Images
A young boy runs through a group of pigeons in front of the Royal Palace on Jan. 31, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Petros Karadjias / AP
A bird is entangled in a net used by poachers to trap migrating songbirds in the Larnaca district of Cyprus. Small birds, called ambelopoulia in Greek, are considered a delicacy in Cyprus, and poachers supply a lucrative market.
Petros Karadjias / AP
A man tries to free a bird caught on a branch covered with a sticky substance that poachers in Cyprus use to trap songbirds in his orchard in the Larnaca district.
Petros Karadjias / AP
Served whole, either boiled or pickled, the fatty birds are such an ugly sight on a plate that outsiders find it hard to fathom how there could be any profit to be made from them. For many Cypriots, however, the tangy-sweet taste of the birds is pure bliss.
By Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press — It's just before first light and the bird-catcher strings nets among the orange, pomegranate, fig and carob trees in his orchard. The sound of chirping emanates from inside a massive carob — a trick sent from speakers to attract tiny songbirds. By mid-morning, the man disentangles about a half-dozen blackcaps, snaps their necks with his teeth and drops them in a bucket.
For centuries, the migratory songbirds have been a prized delicacy among Cypriots. They are also an illegal one, as entry into the European Union forced Cyprus to ban the tradition of catching the creatures, some endangered, in nets or on sticks slathered with a glue-like substance.
Now economic crisis is luring many out-of-work Cypriots back into the centuries-old trade. They risk stiff fines and even jail time by supplying an underground market for the tiny songbirds illicitly served up in the country's tavernas — but they say it's their only way to make ends meet. Read the full story.
Editor's note: Images taken on Nov. 3, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.
Petros Karadjias / AP
A man, who didn't want to be identified because he is breaking the law by poaching, releases a bird that was trapped in a net in his orchard in the Larnaca district.
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Killer outdoor cats slay billions of birds, small mammals yearly
Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP
Human rights activist Nguyen Quoc Quan (center left), seen with his wife Huong Mai Ngo and their sons Khoa, 20, and Tri, 19, speaks during a press conference after his arrival at the Los Angeles International Airport from Vietnam on Jan. 30, 2013.
Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP
Nguyen Quoc Quan and his wife Huong Mai Ngo smile during a news conference after his arrival in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2013.
The Associated Press reports — A Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activist returned to the United States on Wednesday night after a nine-month detention on accusations of conspiring to overthrow the communist government of Vietnam.
Nguyen Quoc Quan smiled broadly as he was greeted by his wife, children and other family members, who bore balloons and placed leis around his neck shortly after 8 p.m. as he exited a plane at Los Angeles International Airport.
"I love you a lot, and I feel very near you every minute of jail," he told his wife, Huong Mai Ngo, in Vietnamese, then repeated in broken English for reporters. He pulled her to his side. "Now even closer," he said with a smile. Read the full story.
Glenn Benson / NASA via EPA
An Atlas V 401 rocket streaks into the sky from the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. The spacecraft carries NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K (TDRS-K) into orbit. According to NASA the TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services. Read the full story.
David Goldman / AP
Will Carter, 15, surveys the damage to his house upon arriving home from school following a tornado, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Adairsville, Ga. Read the full story
David Goldman / AP
Workers look for personal belongings following a tornado at the Daiki plant in Adairsville, Ga on Wednesday.
John Amis / EPA
Danny Odum of Marion, Illinois, reaches to untangle a pair of shoes wrapped around the mirror of his tractor trailer that was overturned by a tornado that touched down in Adairsville, Ga.
Tami Chappell / Reuters
Downed trees and debris lies in the ruins of destroyed homes after a tornado touched down in Adairsville, Georgia on Wednesday.
Edgard Garrido / Reuters
The daughter of Eusebio Gonzalez, a policeman who was shot Tuesday while trying to stop a group of assailants, cries during a tribute to her father as she stands next to a folded Mexican flag in Ecatepec, Jan. 30, 2013.
The government of Mexico state -- the state that surrounds Mexico City -- has started a joint security operation with the Mexican army and federal police in areas of the Mexican state with high rates of violence, where more than 80 murders have been reported in January.
GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A Free Syrian Army fighter looks at his comrade as he gets shot by sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan 30. The Free Syrian Army fighter on the left was wounded moments later. The fighter on the right died soon after being shot.
Photographer Goran Tomasevic has been covering the conflict in Syria for Reuters, offering the world a view into the historic city of Damascus, once strictly off-limits to journalists without a government escort. While it has become tragically routine to see violent and gruesome stories from the country’s civil war, Tomasevic’s dramatic photos from today’s front lines stand out. The series captures not only the last seconds of a rebel’s life before he is shot by a sniper, but also show as the body is taken back to his friends, while under attack. We see an intimate narrative that examines the realities of war for the rebels.
Tomasevic tells the harrowing story on the Reuters Photographers Blog:
One moment, I heard two incoming shots. I was already aiming my camera on these two Syrian rebels. I heard the scream and saw one of them get shot. He was still alive as I was shooting but dying as he was carried away.
There was intensive fighting as the rebel group I was with in a Damascus neighborhood was trying to overtake a government checkpoint some 50 meters away. There was another group of rebels who were supposed to fire rocket propelled grenades from a further distance away from the checkpoint. After that, the group I was with was meant to engage the soldiers manning the checkpoint.
At the checkpoint I could clearly see sandbags and tanks. I didn’t look at the tanks anymore because I needed to take cover. I pulled back a little to look for the best position to take pictures and how to be covered in the best possible way.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Free Syrian Army fighters take position just before they were hit by Syrian Army sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30. The fighter on the right died soon after, while his comrade was wounded.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Free Syrian Army fighters carry a comrade who was shot by sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.
There were two rebels next to me and two rebels across the street. A couple of sniper shots were fired. They were clearly sniper shots, not Ak’s, as they came one by one. I could clearly see through the lens when they actually shot the rebel. The rebel next to him was also shot and injured but he should recover after being hit in the stomach.
After the rebel was killed they pulled back maybe 20-30 meters and I took pictures of the body being taken out. The hole where the rebels had to drag the body through was really small and it was difficult to drag him through. There was a lot of fire as the rebels dragged him away.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover as a tank shell explodes on a wall during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover as a tank shell explodes on a wall during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.
A tank fired a couple of shells onto the top of the building and rubble fell down around us.
The rebels kept on fighting for a few hours. It was heavy, with a lot of RPGs and attacks on multiple sites. They pulled back after a couple of hours of intensive fighting and fired some mortar shells.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A Free Syrian Army fighter fires a rocket propelled grenade during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A Free Syrian Army fighter gestures in front of a burning barricade during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.
From what I’ve seen the fighting is up and down. The lines between the Free Syrian Army and the government army are pretty clear. Since I’ve been here it’s literally been going house by house. The other day there was a rebel next to me who was struck by shrapnel. The rebels and the government forces are close enough to be throwing hand grenades at one another. You can hear them shouting at each other.
The lines seem to be pretty much the same. One day the government takes a couple of houses and then the rebels take a couple of houses again so it is pushing back and forth.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A wounded Free Syrian Army fighter cries after hearing that his friend died in a mission in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.
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Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP - Getty Images
Garrett McNamara rides a wave during a surf session at Praia do Norte in Nazare on Jan. 30. McNamara currently holds the world record for the biggest wave surfed after riding a 78-foot breaker in Nazare, Portugal, on Nov. 1, 2011 but on Jan. 28, 2013 was thought to have gone better at the same location.
Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP - Getty Images
Garrett McNamara waits for a wave during a surf session at Praia do Norte in Nazare on Jan. 30.
Hawaii's Garret McNamara may have broken his own world record by surfing this estimated 100-foot wave in Portugal. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Not one to turn away from big waves, surfer Garrett McNamara went back to the shores of Nazare, Portugal, to continue his quest for the world’s largest wave. A day earlier, McNamara possibly set a new record for surfing an estimated 100-foot wave, but the exact size of the wave is yet to be officially confirmed.
PHOTO: Enormous wave dwarfs surfer Garrett McNamara along coast of Portugal
"Personally, it was very challenging. You just have to stay in the moment, stay focused on what you're doing,” said McNamara to SurferToday.com.
Below are photos of what may go down in history as the day McNamara surfed a 100-foot wave.
Francisco Seco / AP
Garrett McNamara rests after a surf session at Praia do Norte beach in Nazare, Portugal, on Jan. 29.
Rafael Marchante / Reuters
Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara jokes with his colleague Kealli Mamala before a surf session at Praia do Norte in Nazare Jan. 29.
Rafael Marchante / Reuters
Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara drops in on a large wave at Praia do Norte in Nazare on Jan. 29.
Francisco Seco / AP
Garrett McNamara meets media before a surf session in Nazare, Portugal, on Jan. 29.
Rafael Marchante / Reuters
Big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara looks at the sea with his colleague Kealli Mamala before a surf session at Praia do Norte in Nazare, on Jan. 29.
Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP - Getty Images
Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara carries his surfboard as he leaves the beach after a surf session at Praia do Norte in Nazare on Jan. 29.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
A look at the Arizona lawmaker's rise to prominence — from high school to Capitol Hill.
By Kasie Hunt, NBC News
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' words during a brief opening statement at a Senate hearing on gun violence were careful, slow and deliberate.
But they were firm: "Too many children are dying," she said Wednesday, breaking up the syllables during her testimony to open a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun laws.
"It will be hard, but the time is NOW," said Giffords, who has embarked on an arduous recovery after being critically wounded at Tucson Safeway while meeting with constituents in early 2011. "You. Must. Act. Be bold. Be cour-ag-eous. Amer-i-cans are count-ing on you." Continue reading the full story.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Senate Judiciary Committee members, from left, Sen. John Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. John Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member Sen. John Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. John Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. John Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. John Richard Durbin (D-IL) listen to testimony during a hearing about gun control on Capitol Hill on Jan. 30 in Washington, D.C.
Shelley Christians / The Times / Gallo Images / Getty Images
Morelug farm is water-bombed by helicopter on Jan. 29, in Paarl, South Africa. Scores of firefighters are fighting a runaway veld fire that swept through the entire Boland region in the Western Cape, according to SABC News. Veld fires are fires that occur in the open countryside away from urban areas. Veld comes from the Afrikaans word for field.
Korea Aerospace Research Institute - YNA via EPA
The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, carrying a science satellite, blasts off at the Naro Space Center in Goheung on South Korea's south coast on Jan. 30, 2013.
Shin Young-Gun / Yonhap via AP
South Korean elementary schoolchildren celebrate as they watch TV news reporting the country's first rocket launch, at the National Science Museum in Gwacheon on Jan. 30, 2013.
Yonhap via AFP - Getty Images
South Korea launched a rocket on Jan. 30, 2013 in its third bid to put a satellite in orbit -- a high-stakes challenge to national pride after rival North Korea succeeded in the same mission last month.
South Korea says it has successfully launched a satellite into space from its own soil for the first time, weeks after archrival North Korea accomplished a similar feat. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Reuters reports — South Korea launched its first space rocket carrying a science satellite on Wednesday amid heightened regional tensions, caused in part by North Korea's successful launch of its own rocket last month.
It was South Korea's third attempt to launch a civilian rocket to send a satellite in orbit in the past four years and came after two previous launches were aborted at the eleventh hour last year due to technical glitches.
South Korea's rocket program has angered neighbor North Korea, which says it is unjust for it to be singled out for U.N. sanctions for launching long-range rockets as part of its space program to put a satellite into orbit. Read the full story.
Related:
North Korea: Sanctions by South would be 'declaration of war'
North Korea: Rocket launches, nuclear tests will 'target' US
North Korea's poets of propaganda stay true to their muse despite world's laughter
Kiyoshi Ota / EPA
A husband shouts a message of love to his wife in a Tokyo park as part of an annual tradition in which normally reserved men declare their feelings in the most vocal manner.
TOKYO — Love was in the air in a Tokyo park as normally staid Japanese husbands gathered to scream out their feelings for their wives, promising gratitude and extra tight hugs.
With modesty and reticence traditionally valued over outspokenness, expressing deeper feelings such as love has long been hard in Japan.
That's why dozens of Japanese men gather once a year ahead of Jan. 31, which in Japanese is a play on the words for "beloved wife," to let their feelings fly.
"I'm sorry that I've gained weight over the last seven years," a suit-clad man yelled. "But that's because the meals you cook are so delicious."
The event, now in its fifth year, was thought up by Kiyotaka Yamana with the support of a local flower shop to urge Japanese men to show their affection in more explicit ways.
Kiyoshi Ota / EPA
Husbands, shouting in unison, declare their love for their wives as part of an event that urges normally staid Japanese men to show their romantic side.
"The economy is getting better in Japan, and I see a lot of Japanese married couples getting more active in deepening their relationships," Yamana said.
Yamana founded the Japan Aisaika Organization, which promotes a culture of "Aisaika" or "adoring husbands." The group's website says it created Beloved Wives Day to urge Japanese husbands to "get home by 8 p.m. and say thanks to their wives for all they do."
At Tuesday's event, wives in the audience laughed and clapped, especially when one man got down on his knees to offer his wife a bouquet.
"He's very fabulous and manly today," said Yuko Todo, 33, after husband Takeshi's performance. "It just reminded me how macho he used to be — I'd forgotten that in the eight years we've been married. My heart pounded."
Manus van Dyk / Getty Images
A Burkina Faso supporter during the 2013 Orange African Cup of Nations match between Burkina Faso and Zambia from Mbombela Stadium on January 29, 2013 in Nelspruit, South Africa.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
A Congo fan dances ahead of the start of Congo's African Cup of Nations Group B soccer match against Mali, in Durban, South Africa, Monday.
Armando Franca / AP
An Ethiopia supporter waits for the start of the African Cup of Nations group C match between Burkina Fasso and Ethiopia on Friday, Jan. 25 2013 at the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, South Africa.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
A Ghana supporter cheers ahead of the start of the African Cup of Nations Group B soccer match between Ghana and Mali at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Thursday, Jan. 24.
Armando Franca / AP
An Ivory Coast supporter leaps in the air as he enters the stands ahead of their African Cup of Nations group D match with Tunisia on Saturday, Jan. 26 2013 at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa. The two other teams in group D are Togo and Algeria.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
South Africa fans cheer ahead of the start of South Africa's African Cup of Nations Group A soccer match against Morocco, in Durban.
Rebecca Blackwell / AP
A Ghana supporter awaits the start of the African Cup of Nations Group B soccer match between Ghana and Mali at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Larry Downing / Reuters
Sixth grade students from the Park Maitland School in Maitland, Fla., watch as Marine One, carrying President Barack Obama, takes off from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C. as he departs for Las Vegas, Tuesday.
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Nic Bothma / EPA
Aissata Coulibaly, 6.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Children living in Diabaly, Mali pose for a photograph on Jan. 26.
European Pressphoto Agency photographer, Nic Bothma, photographed the children living on the same street in the small rice growing community of Diabaly, Mali where French airstrikes pushed out Islamic rebels days earlier.
On Jan. 14, the rebels vandalized the town's church, desecrated religious symbols, raided shops and took down the Malian flag. For eight days the children lived in fear.
Then the French launched a late night precision airstrike, destroying vehicles within feet of the children’s homes. The strikes caused vehicles to explode and set off ammunition with bullets and shrapnel flying in all directions. The shrapnel caused damage to the mud houses but miraculously there were no fatalities.
While some children were injured, the majority remained physically unharmed. Four days later the French and Malian forces entered the town to cheers from the villagers.
--European Pressphoto Agency
Editor's Note: The children's portraits were photographed by EPA on Jan. 26, and made available to NBC News today.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Kadia Sangialiba, 3.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Mariam Coulibaly, 10.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Ageisha Yattara, 7.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Assan Diarra, 10.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Uomou Coulibaly, 4.
Nic Bothma / EPA
Omar Djibo, 5.
Tó Mané / Barcroft Media via Landov
Surfer Garrett McNamara catches what could be the largest wave ever surfed, off the coast of Nazare, Portugal, on Jan. 29. The estimated 100-foot wave, if confirmed, would beat the current world record of 78 feet, which McNamara has held since 2011. According to SurferToday.com:
Garrett McNamara traveled from Hawaii and hit the water with Kealii Mamala - with whom he surfed waves generated by glacier blocks in Alaska - Kamaki Worthington and Hugo Vau, as their support team on the jet ski. The conditions in Nazaré were heavenly perfect. Light southern winds and strong swell coming from northwest and hitting the local canyon as it should.
Judges with Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards will work to determine the actual size of the wave.
VIDEO: McNamara rides massive wave in Portugal
McNamara's surfing skills developed when his family moved to Hawaii from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, when he was 11 years old. As a professional big wave surfer, he regularly seeks out the largest waves in the world.
"It's like riding a moving mountain," said McNamara to TODAY after he broke the last world record in 2011. Watch the video.
See more photos of McNamara surfing the historic waves off the coast of Portugal.
Laurent Dubrule / Reuters
Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants clash with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29. Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel producer, plans to shut a coke plant and six finishing lines at its site in Liege, Belgium, affecting 1,300 employees, the group said last week.
Yves Herman / Reuters
Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants clash with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP
A steel worker from ArcelorMittal in Liege, Belgium, comforts a colleague during a protest near the Walloon Minister President's office in Namur, Belgium, on Jan. 29. The world's leading steel and mining company ArcelorMittal announced Thursday it will close a coke plant and six production lines in Belgium, in a move that threatens 1,300 jobs.
Laurent Dubrule / Reuters
Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege steel plants clash with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29.
Laurent Dubrule / Reuters
Arcelor Mittal workers from several Liege argue with riot policemen during a demonstration outside the Walloon Region parliament in Namur on Jan. 29.
Related: Belgian steel workers clash with police over job losses
Steelworkers from ArcelorMittal protested in Belgium following the announcement of the closure of a plant. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Jerome Delay / AP
Angry crowds shout at suspected Islamist extremists in the back of an army truck in Gao, northern Mali, on Jan. 29. Four suspects were arrested after being found by a youth militia calling themselves the "Gao Patrolmen". Malian soldiers prevented the mob from lynching them.
Jerome Delay / AP
Malian soldiers guard suspected Islamist extremists after throwing them in the back of the army truck in Gao, northern Mali, on Jan. 29.
Joe Penney / Reuters
Resident Ousmane Togo is reflected on a piece of broken mirror as he surveys the remains of a hotel hit by French air strikes in Douentza, Mali on Jan. 29. The hotel was used as a base for Islamists and was hit by French air strikes over a week ago.
Reuters reports -- French-backed Malian troops searched house-to-house in Gao and Timbuktu on Tuesday, uncovering arms and explosives abandoned by Islamist fighters, and France said it would look to hand over longer-term security operations to African troops.
French and Malian troops retook the two Saharan towns in northern Mali virtually unopposed at the weekend after an 18-day French-led offensive that has pushed back the al Qaeda-allied militants into hideouts in the deserts and mountains.
Malian government soldiers were combing through the Niger River towns and their neighborhoods of dusty alleys and mud-brick homes. In Gao, they arrested at least five suspected Islamist rebels and sympathizers, turned over by local people, and uncovered caches of weapons and counterfeit money.
Residents reported some looting of shops in Timbuktu owned by Arabs and Tuaregs suspected of having helped the Islamists who had occupied the world-famous seat of Islamic learning, a UNESCO World Heritage site, since last year.
Fleeing Islamist fighters torched a Timbuktu library holding priceless ancient manuscripts, damaging many.
Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images
A Malian tries to break the lock off a store front as looters and residents stand by in the streets of Timbuktu on Jan. 29. Hundreds of Malians looted stores in Timbuktu on Tuesday, saying the shops belonged to "Arabs" and "terrorists" linked to the radical Islamists who occupied the desert town for 10 months.
Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images
Looters crowd to get into a shop in the streets of Timbuktu on Jan. 29.
Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images
A Malian soldier tries to disperse looters in the streets of Timbuktu on Jan. 29.
Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images
Timbuktu residents plunder stores they say belong to Arabs, Mauritanians and Algerians who they accuse of supporting the Al Qaeda-linked Islamists during their 10-month rule over the ancient center of Islamic learning, on Jan. 29.
Thousands of residents came out to celebrate after French and Malian troops entered the town of Gao on Sunday, with a parade of motorbikes honking their horns and people weeping in disbelief. Lindsey Hilsum of the UK's Channel 4 News reports.
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