Best photography from around the world, Dec. 21

A large balloon of a face of “ojisan”, a middle-aged man, floats in the sky above the grounds of Nishiki elementary school in Utsunomiya in Tochigi prefecture, 100km north of Tokyo. Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP

A UNLV cheerleader performs during the team’s game against the Utah Utes in the 2014 MGM Grand Showcase basketball event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller / Getty

Tunisian soldiers guard a polling station during a presidential run-off election in Sousse. One gunman was killed by Tunisian troops and three others arrested after they attacked a different voting station in the central Kairouan governate late on Saturday, hours before polls opened for a presidential run-off, a defence ministry official said on Sunday. Zoubeir Souiss/ Reuters

A man carries a weapons box left behind by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad at the Azaalana checkpoint, after rebels took control of two military posts from the forces, in the southern Idlib countryside. Khalil Ashawi / Reuters

Afghan boxing athletes warm up during a training session at Badam Bagh hillside overlooking Kabul. Afghan youth have made headways in boxing since the fall of the Taliban, who declared the sport to be “against human dignity” during their hardline rule and banned it, along with most other forms of entertainment. Wakil Kohsar / AFP

A Palestinian man, hoping to cross into Egypt, stands behind a fence as he waits at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

The National View’s photo editors pick the best images of the day from a round the world