Wednesday: The day in photos

A pedestrian walks through falling snow in front of Christmas trees in Lausanne, Switzerland.  (Laurent Gillieron / EPA)

Injured Russian tourist Yelena Pettomkin recovers in Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, Israel. Twenty-four people died Tuesday when a bus overturned and rolled into a ravine near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat.  (Sebastian Scheiner / Associated Press)

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.  (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

Leigh Howard and Glenn O’Shea of Victoria change over on the way to winning a 25km elite men’s cycling event at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Australia.  (Mark Dadswell / Getty Images)

Shoes are placed above a picture of President George W. Bush during a sit-in by students at the Lebanese University in Beirut. The protest was in support of Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Baghdad.  (Joseph Barrak / AFP / Getty Images)

Pedestrians walk past a lighted Christmas tree decorating the front of an office building in Beijing. China’s government has set an initial target for inflation next year of between 3% and 4.8%, state media reported, suggesting Beijing is less pessimistic about the prospects for 2009 than many independent observers. Though not celebrated officially, the season of Christmas has become increasingly popular in China, with people keen on the retail opportunities as well of some of the religious traditions.  (Federic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Voters wait to cast their ballots outside a polling station in Veeri, south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir. Citizens headed to the polls in dozens of towns in Indian Kashmir as security forces lined the roads and businesses shuttered their doors in protest of the election.  (Farooq Khan / EPA)

People visit an ice sculpture gallery in Rovaniemi, Finland. Rovaniemi is known as the hometown of Santa Claus and it is decorated for Christmas year round.  (Oliver Morin / AFP / Getty Images)