The Week in Pictures: Dec. 26, 2019 - Jan. 2 2020, NBC News

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Watching the eclipse

A child watches the moon move in front of the sun in a rare "ring of fire" solar eclipse over Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on Dec. 26, 2019.

— Chaideer Mahyuddin / AFP - Getty Images

Ring of fire

The moon covers the sun in a rare "ring of fire" solar eclipse as seen from the south Indian city of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu state on Dec. 26.

The so-called annular eclipse, in which a thin outer ring of the sun is still visible, could be seen along a path stretching from India and Pakistan to Thailand and Indonesia.

— Arun Sankar / AFP - Getty Images

Kangaroo flees

A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola, Australia, on Dec. 31.

More than 100 wildfires continued to engulf parts of eastern Australia on Thursday, and weather forecasts for the coming days are causing concern that the situation is set to get worse.

This fire season has been one of the worst in Australia's history, with at least 15 people killed, hundreds of homes destroyed and millions of acres burned.

— Matthew Abbott / The New York Times via Redux Pictures

New Year's Eve protests

Police arrive to conduct a clearance operation in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong on Dec. 31.

Anti-government protesters in Hong Kong held hands and formed human chains across the city on Tuesday, as they carried their months-long movement and its demands into 2020 with midnight countdown rallies and a massive march planned for New Year's Day.

— Isaac Lawrence / AFP - Getty Images

New Year's Day tradition

Orkadian youths take part in the Boys New Years Ba' Game played with a hand crafted leather ball in Kirkwall, Scotland on Jan. 1, 2020.

The Ba' Game is a mass street football match which starts at the towns Mercat Cross and is played between two teams, the Uppies and the Doonies.

The game has been played in Kirkwall's streets for hundreds of years, with the teams made up of youths from the south end of the town and the north end.

— Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

Embassy attack

Protesters burn property in front of the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad on Dec. 31.

Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire.

— Khalid Mohammed / AP

U.S. hits back

A vehicle burns at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike early on Jan. 3. The Pentagon said Thursday that the strike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of President Donald Trump.

The deadly airstrike will raise tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which were already heightened by the New Year's attacks on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.

— Iraqi Security Media Cell / Reuters

River ride

People raft on the Nestos river near the northern Greek city of Drama on Dec. 26.

— Aris Messinis / AFP - Getty Images

"The floured ones"

Revelers dressed in mock military garb throw eggs as they take part in the "Els Enfarinats" battle in the southeastern Spanish town of Ibi on Dec. 28.

During this 200-year-old traditional festival, participants known as Els Enfarinats, or "the floured ones," dress in military clothes and stage a mock coup d'etat as they battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers outside the city town hall as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Innocents, a traditional day in Spain for pulling pranks.

— Jaime Reina / AFP - Getty Images

Hanukkah attack

Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg stands with community members in front of his residence in Monsey, N.Y. on Dec. 29.

A 37-year-old man pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in a knife attack that wounded five people at the rabbi's home during a Hanukkah celebration. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the attack an act of "domestic terrorism."

— Jeenah Moon / Reuters

Smoke column

Massive amounts of smoke rises from wildfires burning in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in an image released on Jan. 2.

Thousands of tourists are fleeing Australia's wildfire-ravaged eastern coast ahead of worsening conditions as the military started to evacuate people trapped on the shore further south. Cooler weather has aided firefighting and allowed people to replenish supplies.

— Dept. of Environment, Land, Water and Planning of Gippsland / via AP

Orange sky

Thick smoke from wildfires fills the air in eastern Gippsland, Australia on Jan. 2.

The Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Choules docked outside of Mallacoota Thursday morning to evacuate thousands of people stranded in the remote coastal town following fires across East Gippsland which have killed one person and destroyed dozens of properties.

— Darrian Traynor / Getty Images

Chile protest

A demonstrator throws items at an armored vehicle during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago on Dec. 30.

— Ivan Alvarado / Reuters

Kabul shoeshine

A young shoeshiner waits for customers on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan on Dec. 29.

— Farshad Usyan / AFP - Getty Images

Christmas rhino

A male black rhino calf stands next to his mother, Doppsee, after its birth at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Mich. on Dec. 25.

Image released on Dec. 27.

— Kaiti Chritz / Potter Park Zoo via Reuters

Snow train

Tourists watch the Harzer Schmalspurbahn narrow gauge train make its way through the snowy landscape on the Brocken mountain near Schierke, central Germany, on Dec. 28.

— Matthias Bein / dpa via AFP - Getty Images

Bangladesh fire

A child stands next to a shelter that burned after a fire broke out in a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Dec. 27.

— Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

Copacabana New Year

A woman celebrates as she watches the traditional New Year's fireworks at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Dec. 31.

— Daniel Ramalho / AFP - Getty Images