Europe debt crisis continues

Protesters across the euro zone find creative ways to make their voices heard. Elections bring in old faces as the continent continues to struggle with recession.

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Dec. 18, 2012

Employees from the Telefonica phone company protest on a street in Barcelona, wearing hoods that read “I am a profitable person.” Spaniards are angered by austerity measures, including budget cuts and plans to partly privatize some of the country's cherished national health services.

Manu Fernandez / AP

Dec. 18, 2012

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, center, walks out to welcome a visitor to the Moncloa Palace in Madrid. Rajoy defended his conservative government's imposition of austerity measures during its first year in power even as thousands of people hit the streets to protest government spending cuts.

Daniel Ochoa De Olza / AP

Dec. 18, 2012

Athenians chat outside a bank as they shelter from a rainfall in central Athens. Greece is failing to collect the tax it is owed and is in danger of missing key targets that need to be met to reduce the government's staggering debt pile, the European Union warned recently.

Petros Giannakouris / AP

Dec. 17, 2012

A visitor inspects wood coffins on display in the showroom of a funeral parlor in Madrid. Spain, responding to street protests and reports of suicides linked to foreclosures, introduced rules to help protect families from eviction, increasing the risk of creditor losses and weakening an already fragile banking system.

Angel Navarrete / Bloomberg

Dec. 20, 2012

A protestor wearing a pig mask holds a banner reading “Europe for the rich people” as he waits for former IMF managing director Rodrigo Rato to arrive in Madrid. Rato was to answer questions over his stewardship of a major Spanish bank, Bankia, that had to be nationalized and bailed out for $24 billion earlier this year. Rato was one of 33 former board members named in a criminal probe.

Andres Kudacki / AP

Dec. 18, 2012

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi gestures during a TV talk show in Rome. A three-time prime minister, Berlusconi insists Italy needs him. The current prime minister, Mario Monti, resigned Friday, ending a 13-month tenure and clearing the way for elections that will focus on his crisis-fighting austerity policies.

Gregorio Borgia / AP

Dec. 20, 2012

A Portuguese national airline pilot walks under a company board at Lisbon's international airport. The Portuguese government postponed the privatization of the national airline after the sole bidder failed to provide required financial guarantees.

Francisco Seco / AP

Dec. 15, 2012

A protestor shouts slogans though a fake TV during a demonstration to defend the dismissal of 925 workers announced by public TV station Telemadrid in Madrid.

Andres Kudacki / AP

Dec. 18, 2012

A 35-year-old deaf woman threatens to take her life after climbing up the supports of an art display in central Athens. The woman, a single mother of two, was protesting serious delays in disability payments that have resulted from successive austerity measures in the crisis-hit country. She was later lifted to safety by firefighters using a crane.

Petros Giannakouris / AP

Dec. 4, 2012

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts as the result of her reelection as party leader was announced at the party's 2012 convention in Hanover, Germany. Thousands of professionals from recession-struck Spain and Greece have been streaming into Germany, where joblessness remains low, and some say they may never leave.

Markus Schreiber / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

ANNAPOLIS MD: MAY 24
The Class of 2013 culminates their commissioning ceremony with the hat toss, a traditional ending to the ceremony, originated at the Naval Academy in 1912. The 'hat toss' has since become a symbolic and visual end to the four-year program. Photographed at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland on May 24, 2013.
(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

They tossed their caps in Annapolis

The 2013 Class of the U.S. Naval Academy holds its graduation and commissioning ceremonies.

PITTSBURGH, PA - MAY 19: Mark Melancon #35 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the eighth inning against the Houston Astros during the game on May 19, 2013 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pirates defeated the Astros 1-0. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

MLB power rankings

Barry Svrluga assesses the best teams in Major League Baseball through Thursday.

epa03714567 A Thai Buddhist family take an offering of lotus flowers to pay respects to a giant Buddha surrounded by more than 1,000 smaller Buddha statues at a Buddhism Park, on Vesak or Visakha Bucha day, in Nakhon Nayok, north of Bangkok, Thailand, 24 May 2013. Buddhist devotees throughout the world offer blessings at temples to mark one of the holiest days in Buddhism, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and the death of Buddha. EPA/BARBARA WALTON

Photos of the day

Buddhist Wesak festival, prisoners-of-war reunion, bridge collapse, world’s largest Lego model and more.

SILVER SPRING MD: MAY 18
from left to right, Bodybuilders Jorge Villatoro, Sidney Bumbrey, Eric Holmes and Ron Coleman show off their most muscular poses for the judges at the 2013 Musclemania - Capital Tournament of Champions Contest held at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 18, 2013.
(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Flexing their muscles

Dozens of bodybuilders came out to Silver Spring to compete in the 2013 Musclemania Capital Tournament of Champions.

epa03714543 US actress Carmen Electra arrives for the Life Ball gala, at the airport Schwechat, in Vienna, Austria, 24 May 2013. The 21th Life Ball, an annual fundraising charity event for HIV and Aids projects, takes place at the Vienna City-Hall on 25 May 2013. EPA/HERBERT NEUBAUER

Eye on entertainment

Carmen Electra, Barbara Eden, Sharon Stone, Goldie Hawn, Jaden Smith and more.

MOORE, OK - MAY 24: A 'For Sale' sign hangs in a tree in a storm ravaged neighborhood on May 24, 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado of EF5 strength and two miles wide touched down May 20 killing at least 24 people and leaving behind extensive damage to homes and businesses. U.S. President Barack Obama promised federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Assessing tornado damage in Oklahoma

Amid great destruction, residents of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore begin to assess the severity of the twister that hit Monday.

WASHINGTON DC: MAY 22
Contestant Travis Rumans, 31 dances with his beloved glow sticks for talent at Penn Social in Washington, DC on May 22, 2013. The contestants help raise over $15,000 for the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
The Mr. DC pageant is a fundraising event to benefit Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The qualifications for the Mr. District of Columbia finalists is that they must live, work and attend school in the District of Columbia between the ages of 21-30 who are unmarried, intelligent, and dapper in a suit.
(Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Mr. D.C. Pageant contestants compete for charity

Contestants in the Mr. D.C. Pageant, a fundraising event, helped raise more than $15,000 for the Children’s National Medical Center.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

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