Fireworks over Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in London on New Years Eve
Tammy Holmes and her grandchildren, two-year-old Charlotte, four-year-old Esther, nine-year-old Liam, eleven-year-old Matilda, and six-year-old Caleb, take refuge under a jetty as a wildfire rages nearby in the Tasmanian town of Dunalley
A bolt of lightning flashes in an erupting volcano in Japan in this photo taken by German photographer Martin Rietze at Sakurajima volcano, Japan. Sakurajima had been silent for 100 years when there was a huge eruption in 1914 which swallowed up nearby islands and created an isthmus to the mainland, ending its life as an island. Sakurajima's rumbled into life again in 1955 and has been erupting almost constantly ever since.
Solheimajokull Glacier in Iceland is photographed by Marketa Kalvachova, who has been dubbed the real-life Ice Queen after dedicating her life to taking spectacular pictures of glaciers and icebergs
Lotte van den Acker, 24, from Brunssum, Holland, has a tattoo of a vintage 1970s Asahi Pentax 35mm SLR, which makes it appear as if she is taking a picture when she holds up her forearm. She didn't have to look far for a tattooist, as it was her mother Helma van der Weide who applied the ink.
A photograph captured from the 79th floor of the Index Tower, looking over the mystical clouds that formed over Dubai
British climber Leo Houlding has led an international team of climbers to the summit of Ulvetanna in Antarctica. The climb was the first ascent of the 2,930m granite peak in eastern Antarctica by its north-east ridge. It is widely considered to be the most demanding peak on the harshest continent - and has been described as one of the last great climbs. The team led by Houdling included fellow Brits Jason Pickles, Chris Rabone and film-maker Alastair Lee, as well as American Sean Leary (above) and South African David Reeves.
The Tinstix of Dynamite pyro aerobatic team perform at the finale of the Melbourne International Airshow
Children pour cold water on themselves on the instruction of fitness coach Margarita Filimonova at local kindergarten number 317, with the air temperature at about minus 23 degrees Celsius, in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk
Cars line up in the path of lava flowing down the Eyjafjallajkull volcano in Iceland. The drivers parked their 4x4s in the path of the molten rock as it poured down the slopes of the volcano. Some even got out of their cars to take a closer look at the eruption. The images were posted online by 25-year-old student Kristjan Freyr rastarson - and instantly went viral on the internet. Within just a few days, they have received 300,000 hits - around the same as the entire population of Iceland.
Ben Marr paddles a 15-foot-high wave on the Mistassibi River, in Quebec, Canada, with a flare attached to his kayak. Canadian photographer Patrick Camblin took the image of Ben paddle-surfing with a flare in the pitch-dark.
People use smartphones and tablets to take photos of Pope Francis as he speaks from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
Lighting strikes the dome of the Basilica of St Peter's in the Vatican, the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation
A lighting bolt flashes through the night sky and strikes a building in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, narrowly missing Q1, the largest residential building in Australia. Amateur photographer Luke Wormald was taking shelter from the storm when the bolt struck just 100 metres from him.
A web-footed gecko licks its eyeball in the Namib desert of Namibia. The elusive reptile spends most of the day buried in the sand, and uses its long tongue to both clean its eyes of dust and drink the moisture which collects on its eyes when the morning mist rolls in from the sea.
Adele gives the thumbs-up after winning the Oscar for Best Song
A masquerader from the Harts band parades during their Je Taime Carnival presentation on the final day of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival at Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain
A Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel float is seen in the Sambadrome in Rio De Janeiro
People stand beside an enormous hole in the ground in Guangyuan, a village in southwest China's Sichuan province. The hole currently measures 24.9 metres in diameter and residents fear the pit will continue to grow until it starts swallowing nearby houses.
Visitors lounge on the South Sea beach at the Tropical Islands indoor resort in Krausnick, Germany. Located on the site of a former Soviet military air base, the resort occupies a hangar built originally to house airships.
British angler Steve Townson achieved a lifelong ambition when he landed this massive wild arapaima estimated at 250lbs from Middle River Essequibo in Guyana, South America. Steve, who has travelled the world catching exotic fish and who runs UK-based company Amazon-Angler.com - a company specialising in South American angling holidays - caught the mighty fish, plus another weighing around 150lb, on a whole 2lb piranha bait. The arapaima is one of the world's biggest and mightiest freshwater fish and to catch them in the wild is a rare privilege, said Steve.
Photographer Steve Nilsen couldn't help having fun when he witnessed an impressive moon halo in Aspenes in northern Norway. He grabbed his torch and made it appear as if he was create the phenomenon.
Chinese police officers patrol on Segways in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province
A member of the Free Syrian Army sits on a sofa with his gun amongst the ruins of Deir al-Zor
Two-year-old Emily Campbell sits on top of a pumpkin weighing over 600kg, grown by Dale Oliver, which will be entered in the 2013 Sydney Royal Easter Show
Arizona's Antelope Canyon
A figure depicting Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel burns during the finale of the Fallas festival, which welcomes spring and commemorates Saint Joseph's Day, in Valencia. Fallas are giant elaborate sculptures and effigies made of wood, cardboard and papier mache that are burned at the end of the week-long spectacle of processions, fireworks, music and dancing.
Matt Read (L) and Chris Levy compete in a bout of chessboxing during a competition at the Scala venue in London. The hybrid sport combines chess with boxing in alternating rounds. The winner is decided by a knock out or checkmate, whichever comes first. A full match consists of eleven rounds: six rounds of chess, each four minutes long, and five rounds of boxing, each three minutes long.
After climbing hundreds of buildings in his native Russia, Vadim Mahorov, from Novosibirsk, got tired of the same views and set his sights on the iconic Dubai skyline.
A Lion Air plane landed in the sea after it missed the runway in Denpasar, Bali
The Solar Impulse glides over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco during a test flight
A man flies from Robben Island to Cape Town using helium balloons
A full moon rises over the skyline of New York, as seen from the Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, New Jersey
Tiny winged robots inspired by flies could one day help pollinate crops or aid the search for survivors at collapse sites...once they get off the leash, that is. The prototypes designed and created by researchers at Harvard University weigh 80 milligrams and have managed short controlled flights by flapping their mechanical wings while still tethered to a tiny power cable, the journal Science said this week. The coin-sized robots sport two thin wings that flap 120 times per second. Flight tests have shown they can make basic maneuvers, including hovering in place for about 20 seconds before crashing.
An Emirati girl with a traditional outfit made for teens, usually worn on special occasions, takes part in the Al-Dhafra festival, near Madinat Zayed, about 150 kilometers southwest of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Visitors gather in the new 'Rain Room' installation at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Manhattan in New York City. The 5,000 square-foot installation creates a field of falling water that stops in the area where people walk through, allowing them to remain dry. The piece, created by Random International, releases a 260-gallon per minute shower around visitors.
A woman walks with her child on the banks of the Yenisey River near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk in air temperatures of about minus 30 degrees Celsius
People cross the unique living tree root bridge in Padang, Indonesia. The living crossing has replaced a rickety bamboo contraption that was constantly washed away by swollen rivers during the monsoon season, cutting off two villages. A local man named Pakih Sohan decided to intertwine tree roots over 26 years to form the sturdy walkway. Now the villages of Pulut-pulut and Lubuak Glare on either bank of the Bayang river are no longer cut off. The bridge is 30 metres long and one metre wide - and has stood on the site for 100 years.
Clouds of smoke from the Gippsland bushfires fill the sky near Seaton in Victoria, Australia
A flash of lightning illuminates the steep sides of the Grand Canyon in Arizona
