nyt - arch

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and his dog, Dakota, on his way to the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Dec. 13, 2010. The Senate on Monday ad...

President Barack Obama speaks with Kobe Bryant of the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Dec. 13, 2010...

The NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers applaud as President Barack Obama takes the stage at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Monday, Dec. 1...

President Barack Obama poses for a group photo with the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Monday, Dec...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton introduces President Barack Obama at the Diplomatic Corps Holiday Reception at the State Department, in Washington,...

Ed Sernoff, a painter, examines fire damage to his son's home in the artist's village of Ein Hod, Israel, on Dec. 7, 2010. The wildfires that killed 4...

Residents return to their homes after sweeping wildfires in the artist's village of Ein Hod, Israel, on Dec. 7, 2010. The wildfires that killed 43 peo...

A scorched statue in the artist's village of Ein Hod, Israel, on Dec. 7, 2010. The wildfires that killed 43 people and ravaged the Carmel hills spared...

Workers set up a fence around a burned-out home that officials fear will collapse in the artist's village of Ein Hod, Israel, on Dec. 7, 2010. The wil...

Meirav Feigin with her son, Ido, outside her burned-out home in the artist's village of Ein Hod, Israel, on Dec. 7, 2010. The wildfires that killed 43...

Yousef and Dalal Bassis hike down a road bulldozed to stop a wildfire near Ayn Hawd, Israel, on Dec. 7, 2010. The wildfires that killed 43 people and...

Mary Jean Wallace carries a fresh bread loaf from the wood stove to her oven, at her cabin in the high-altitude mountain mining town of Creede, Colo.,...

FILE -- Members of displaced families from Marja and the Nad Ali district of Helmand Province wait to recieve humanitarian aid at a warehouse operated...

The graves of two aid workers marked by a cross and a rectangular headstone in a British cemetery in Kabul, on Dec. 12, 2010. At least 100 relief wor...

FILE -- David Miller, chief investment officer of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, in his office at the Treasury Building in Washington, Dec. 13, 20...

A man performs a ritual by the Tigris River in Baghdad, Nov. 20, 2010. A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to northern Iraq or abroad amid a campa...

Brides of Sabean Mandeans participate in a wedding ritual by the Tigris River in Baghdad, Nov. 21, 2010. A new wave of Iraqi Christians has fled to no...

Enrrique Abreu has a drink next to his 1968 Chevrolet Panel at a beach in La Guaira, a small coastal city near Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 13, 2010. Even...

Luis Jose Alfonso Gonzalez sits on top of his 1978 8-cylinder Chevy Malibu in Naiguat, a small coastal town outside o Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 13, 201...

A villa at King Abdullah Economic City, which is beginning to take shape north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 5, 2010. The city, a 65-square-mile devel...

Julio Navas, a taxi driver, drives his 1973 Dodge Coronet through traffic in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 10, 2010. In Venezuela, where gasoline is inexpe...

A homeless man wheels a shopping cart filled with his belongings down the street near City Hall in downtown Los Angeles, Dec. 3, 2010. Cities across t...

Decorations at the horses' stables behind the scenes at the Extreme Mustang Makeover, at the Tennessee Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Oct. 23...

Traffic in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, Dec. 2, 2010. Even though Venezuela's government remains wary and even hostile toward the United States, 1970s...

The inside of a 1974 Lincoln Continental in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 10, 2010. Even though Venezuela's government remains wary and even hostile toward...

Buildings under construction in the King Abdullah Financial District, on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 5, 2010. The district will be nea...

The entrance to King Abdullah Economic City, which is beginning to take shape north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 5, 2010. The development near the Re...

A flight medic with the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade treats an injured Afghan National Army soldier after soldiers were wounded when a van packed wit...

U.S. soldiers from the from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade rush to dig through rubble in search of victims while responding to the scene where Amer...

U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers rush an injured unidentified soldier to a medical evacuation helicopter after many were wounded when a van pack...

Some injured Afghan National Army soldiers are turned away after attempting to board a medevac helicopter with the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, and...

U.S. soldiers from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade assist American and Afghan soldiers who were wounded Dec. 12, 2010, near the village of Sangsar,...

An injured Afghan National Army soldier is treated on a 101st Combat Aviation Brigade medevac helicopter after many were wounded when a van packed wit...

U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers rush to a medical evacuation helicopter with 101st Combat Aviation Brigade after many were wounded when a van...

FILE -- Soprano Jolle Greenleaf and conductor Julian Wachner in a performance of Handels' "Messiah" with the Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchest...

A view of the Ocucaje Desert in Ica, Peru, Nov. 21, 2010. The sands guard one of the most coveted troves of marine fossils. (Moises Saman/The New York...

A Peruvian holds a fairly recent animal skull in the Ocucaje Desert in Ica, Peru, Nov. 22, 2010. The parched lands, once washed over by the sea, guard...

Vehicle tracks mark the sand and the edge of the Ocucaje Desert in Ica, Peru, Nov. 21, 2010. Officials in Peru's capital, Lima, say seizures of illega...

Roberto Penny Cabrera, a former naval officer who says he is a descendant of Jeronimo Luis de Cabrera, the conquistador who founded the nearby city of...

The newly erected 108-foot-high statue of Jesus in Swiebodzin, Poland, Dec. 5, 2010. Supporters and critics of the Roman Catholic Church all acknowled...

The newly erected 108-foot-high statue of Jesus in Swiebodzin, Poland, Dec. 5, 2010. Supporters and critics of the Roman Catholic Church all acknowled...

An American medical evacuation crew transports an Afghan woman in labor and her husband to an army hospital near Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Dec. 13, 2...

1959: A sidewalk Santa with the Volunteers of America prepared for duty at the Bowery Tabernacle in Downtown New York. (Meyer Liebowitz/The New York T...

Merrill Nisker, known as the rocker Peaches, rehearses "Jesus Christ Superstar" in New York, Dec. 9, 2010. Peaches' one-women verson of the show, "Pea...

1991: Temporary duty in a tollbooth on a parkway near Yonkers, NY. (Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times) STAND ALONE FEATURE - PHOTO FROM NYT ARCHIVES

1943. Frank Bohmer, left, and Edward McIntyre were sidewalk Santas for the Volunteers of America in New York. (Meyer Liebowitz/The New York Times)

1992: A Volunteers of America sidewalk Santa picks up an order at the Liberty Deli in New York. (Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times) STAND ALONE FEATUR...

Maj. Shoshanna Jenni runs participates in the annual Army-Navy game in Wrightstown, Pa., Dec. 10, 2010. In the game, men and women take turns carrying...

Alex Jefferies, a freshman at the United States Military Academy at West Point, participates in the annual Army-Navy game along U.S. Route 202 in New...

1930: Mr. and Mrs. Claus at Capitol Park in Detroit. (Times Wide World Photos/The New York Times) STAND ALONE FEATURE - PHOTO FROM NYT ARCHIVES