The clashes last week between protesters and police outside Greece's parliament brought back into the spotlight Athens's best-known demonstrator-cum-mascot: Loukanikos, the riot dog. Loukanikos has been a fixture at the protests that have engulfed Greece intermittently since December 2008. There's some dispute over the dog's name; reports from 2010 identify him as Kanellos ("Cinnamon"), but more recent coverage (and his Facebook fan page) refers to him as Loukanikos ("Sausage"). Yahoo and KnowYourMeme suggest that Kanellos was the name of the riot dog before Loukanikos that passed away in 2008.

Whatever his name, though, he's clearly not one to shirk from a fight. These photos come from his latest appearance on the front lines:

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/Getty Images

Images of Loukanikos at protests in spring 2010:

LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

When wars unfold or natural disasters strike, few journalists are required to get as close to the action as photographers, whose work can never be done remotely, via phone call or email. Getty Images' Chris Hondros, who is now in Port au Prince documenting the aftermath of the horrific earthquake, sent these thoughts to FP:

Dazed people walking the streets of Port au Prince keep saying the same thing: "Haiti is dead." And on one level that's true -- this small country has just endured one of the most searing natural disasters in history, and death is everywhere.  Death is on sidewalks, on the roads, in rivers, buried in rubble and noticeable only by its smell.  The scale is so unimaginable that the usual human traditions and courtesies for the dead have been suspended: many thousands of bodies have been collected by backhoe and dumped into mass graves with no more ceremony than the rubble that goes into the same pits.

But admidst the carnage and chaos there have been remarkable glimmers of hope and strength, of heroism and selflessness. I'm sleeping in my truck in the parking lot of a hotel; outside the walls thousands of Haitians, with nowhere else to go, are camping out on the streets.  But as night descends the singing starts, jumping voices sounding through the darkness, spirituals and ancient songs sung from those streets late into the night. I listen to this from inside the truck as I drift to sleep; its jarring and achingly beautiful."

Chinese folk artist Zhang Luo shows off his gourd painted with a portrait of UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon ahead of Communist China's 60th anniversary, in Beijing on September 2, 2009. China plans to create a 'moat' around Beijing for its National Day festivities on October 1 as part of a massive security crackdown ahead of the sensitive anniversary, state media said.

See more images of China's anniversary preparations here. 

STR/AFP/Getty Images

An Iraqi police woman shows off her skills during a parade to mark the withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities and towns across the nation on June 30, 2009, in the city of Karbala, 110 kms south of the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces took control of towns and cities across the country to replace departing US forces, a milestone in the country's recovery six years after the US-led invasion.

AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED SAWAF 

Model-train bars:

TOKYO - JUNE 03: A man watches a model train running along the bar at Bar Ginza Panorama Shibuya Branch on June 3, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. The bar caters to model train enthusists and customers are able to bring their own model trains to run on the tracks.

Photo: Junko Kimura/Getty Images

Kim Jong Il, the North Korean dictator, started another term in office today, after winning the country's election last month with 100 percent of votes.

It marked one of the few public appearances the Dear Leader's made since suffering a stroke. He appeared significantly thinner, his hair sparse on his head, moving arthritically. (Just months ago, the North Korean news agency released photos of him looking robust to counter rumors about his health.)

Reports note that Kim is likely preparing to pick which of his three sons will succeed him -- a transition which has the potential to end the communist state's isolationist foreign policy. The youngest son, Jong-un, around 25 years old, seems the likeliest candidate.

The middle son suffers from unnamed but allegedly debilitating diseases; the eldest became infamous when he attempted to sneak into Japan to visit Tokyo Disneyland with a fake passport. The New York Times writes:

In recent months, [the oldest son] has been in the news after speaking to Japanese reporters who spotted him at the Beijing airport and in Macao. When Japanese reporters spotted him on Tuesday in Macao, he was quoted as saying that he was “much worried about” regional tensions after the rocket launching last weekend.

“If I was a designated successor, I wouldn’t be here in Macao talking to you now,” he was quoted as saying when asked about his chances of succeeding his father.

 Photo: DPRK/KRT 

Radio Free Europe's Brian Whitmore shares this photo, which many are claiming depicts an encounter between now Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (the blonde man on the left with the cameras) and U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Moscow's Red Square. In case you're wondering why the then-KGB Colonel would be dressed like a dorky tourist, the official White House photographer recalls the encounter to NPR:

Souza recounts a story from a trip to Russia with Reagan. He shot photos of Reagan as the president toured Moscow's Red Square with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev introduced Reagan to various tourists, who asked the American president pointed questions about subjects such as human rights in the United States. Souza says he remembers turning to one of the Secret Service agents standing nearby. "I can't believe these tourists in the Soviet Union are asking these pointed questions." The agent replied, "Oh, these are all KGB families."

Update: Because this post is getting a lot of attention, I feel I should clarify that I didn't mean to imply that the man in the photo definitely is Putin. I thought that phrasing the title as a question as well as the phrase "many are claiming" would make it clear that I was just sharing some interesting Internet speculation, but I should probably have been more explicit. Sorry if anyone was confused. 

This past Tuesday, Kosovo made it through its first year as a self-declared independent country. People there may be celebrating, but Kosovo's continued poverty shows that independence is no quick fix. In fact, in the eyes of many countries, Kosovo isn't even an independent country at all. Only 54 countries recognize it, meaning it still needs to work on Step 3 of "How to Start Your Own Country in Four Easy Steps."

Learn all about it in this week's FP photo essay, "Kosovo: Year 1."

And while you're at it, enjoy these previous FP photo essays:

• India's Real-World Slumdogs
• The Financial Crisis That Won't Go Away
• Gaza's (Literal) Underground Economy
• Election Time in Iraq
• On Gaza, Children, and War
• Russia Leaves Eastern Europe Out in the Cold
• The Inauguration Heard 'Round the World
• China's 30 Years of Economic Overdrive

Iraqi supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr step on U.S. flags after Friday prayer services on Feb. 6 in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. At the time, preliminary results of Iraq's Jan. 31 provincial elections showed that the Sadrists received only 9 percent of the vote in Baghdad.

Related content: FP's photo essay, "Election Time in Iraq"

Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images

With the nomination of Slumdog Millionaire for an Academy Award, it's easy to view Mumbai's slums as wastelands of filth and misery. But they're actually vibrant business centers filled with scrappy entrepreneurs. If some wealthy developers get their way, though, the slums' days may be numbered.

Learn all about it in this week's FP photo essay, "India's Real-World Slumdogs."

And while you're at it, you might enjoy these previous FP photo essays:

• Gaza's (Literal) Underground Economy
• Election Time in Iraq
• On Gaza, Children, and War
• Russia Leaves Eastern Europe Out in the Cold
• The Inauguration Heard 'Round the World
• China's 30 Years of Economic Overdrive

As my colleague David notes in this week's list, "The Next Iceland", Britain's economic malaise has gotten so bad that people are starting to refer to London as "Reykjavik-on-Thames." But from the looks of it, the whole Arctic circle seems to be heading down London's iconic river: 

 LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 26: A 16 foot high sculpture of a polar bear and cub, afloat on a small iceberg, passes in front of the Houses of Parliament on the River Thames on January 26, 2009 in London, England. The sculpture was launched to provide a warning to members of parliament of the dangers of climate change and to launch Eden, a new natural history television channel.

Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Karen Tumulty, yesterday:

The Vice President will attend the inauguration in a wheel chair, completing his transformation into Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life."

Dick Cheney, today:

Photo: Leslie E. Kossoff-Pool/Getty Images

Eagle-eyed Passport reader Steve spotted Frankfurt stock broker and living personification of the global financial crisis Simone Wallmeyer's latest Getty Images appearance:

Today's Simone index: Uncertainty with a smattering of apprehension.

Photo: MARTIN OESER/AFP/Getty Images

A boy crosses a snow-covered road in the small eastern German town of Afrika on Jan. 5, when the temperature fell to a frigid -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit).

Here's what Afrika looks like during greener seasons.

Photo: MICHAEL URBAN/AFP/Getty Images