Thursday: Day in photos

Anesthesia is applied to the Budapest Zoo’s oldest gorilla, Liesel, in preparation for an operation in the Hungarian capital. The surgery became essential because of the gorilla’s potentially fatal tumor.  (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Smoke rises from the headquarters of a United Nations relief agency after an Israeli air force strike and Israeli artillery shells explode over the area in the center of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip.  (Abid Katib / Getty Images)

A firefighter douses what was a United Nations warehouse in Gaza City after the main U.N. compound in Gaza came under fire from Israeli troops. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon went to Jerusalem to plead for peace.  (Mahmud Hams / AFP/Getty Images)

An Israeli soldier operates inside the northern edge of the Gaza Strip near the Palestinian village of Al Atatra, on a day when Israel killed a senior Hamas leader.  (Moises Saman / AFP/Getty Images)

A woman carries cooking oil after receiving it through the charity organization Oxfam International at a distribution center in Chirumhanzi, southeast of Harare, Zimbabwe. Oxfam warned that more people are set to receive less food because of a funding shortfall.  (Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / Associated Press)

A Social Forum activist mocks being hanged by the neck from a tree during a protest against the financial crisis in front of the Mexican Stock Market in Mexico City.  (Alfredo Estrella / AFP/Getty Images)

Youbert Youkhana videotapes the steam coming off Lake Michigan during the minus-9 degrees weather in Chicago. Bone-chilling cold settled in from the Midwest to the Northeast, with temperatures that sank as low as 47 below zero.  (Paul Beaty / Associated Press)

Arizona State’s Nia Fanaika, bottom, dives through the legs of UCLA’s Doreena Campbell to get to a loose ball during an NCAA college women’s basketball game in Tempe, Ariz. The Sun Devils would go on to beat the Bruins, 68 to 44.  (Pat Shannahan / Associated Press / Arizona Republic)

A wax figure of President-elect Barack Obama is unveiled at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.  (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

A man braves the cold and snow in Trenton, N.J. Bitter Arctic air will continue to send temperatures well below freezing in the region, and frigid windchill values are expected to continue through Friday.  (Mel Evans / Associated Press)

Protesters hold up signs during attorney general nominee Eric Holder’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Tasmin Akther, 18, holds her newborn child in her parents’ house in the eastern Ajmeriganj Subdistrict of Bangladesh. In keeping with tradition, she has come straight from the hospital to her parents’ home, where she will recover for several days before returning to her husband’s family. Women living in poor countries are 300 times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than if they lived in rich countries, UNICEF said in a report released today.  (Noorani / AFP/Getty Images)

Protesters hold up the Bulgarian flag outside the Bulgarian parliament in Sofia. More than 1,500 people gathered for an anti-government protest in the Bulgarian capital. The protesters are calling for members of the Socialist-dominated legislature to resign.  (Boryana Katsarova / AFP/Getty Images)

A Sri Lankan journalist lights candles opposite a portrait of slain newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga to begin a silent candlelight vigil at in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Lasantha Wickramatunga, who was the editor in chief of an English weekly newspaper, was shot and killed last week by unidentified gunmen. After his death, the main opposition in government and anti-government political parties has been quick to point fingers at the state and vice versa.  (M. A. Pushpa Kumara / EPA)

An elderly man crosses the street in front of riot police during a demonstration outside the Greek Parliament in Athens. About 1,000 students protested against the government’s policies.  (Aris Messinis / AFP/Getty Images)

Pedestrians walk through a display of lanterns for the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival at a park in Beijing.  (Andy Wong / Associated Press)