German Chancellor Merkel gestures with crutch as she meets carol singers during reception at Chancellery in Berlin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures with a crutch as she meets carols singers during a reception at the Chancellery in Berlin, January 7, 2014. Merkel has fractured her pelvis in a cross-country skiing accident in Switzerland over the Christmas holidays and is walking with the help of crutches, forcing her to call off some foreign visits and official appointments her spokesman said on Monday. REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz (GERMANY – Tags: POLITICS RELIGION TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)