Two four-week-old baby lions play with a ball at the zoo in Dortmund, Germany.
A float is being prepared in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ahead of next week's carnival.
A 14th-Century gold Jewish wedding ring is to go on show at the exhibition Treasures of the Black Death at the Wallace Collection in London.
Classical Chinese traditions come to Sydney in a show called the Wind of Shaolin - a tale of love and loss performed by Chinese and Australian martial artists.
Snow blankets the village of Langwies in Switzerland.
The men's 10km race gets under way at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic.
A man braves sub-zero temperatures as he walks along the shore of Lake Michigan in the US city of Milwaukee.
A boy watches an adult dragon fish (bottom) in the aquarium at Britain's Bristol Zoo Gardens.
American university students examine a waxwork model of US President-elect Barack Obama at Madame Tussauds in London.
Indian Army chief Gen Deepak Kapoor is showered with rose petals from a helicopter during Army Day celebrations in Delhi.
Colourful lanterns go on display at a park in Beijing, China, for the forthcoming Chinese Spring Festival.
Heavy overnight rain triggered flooding in parts of Jakarta, Indonesia, forcing some residents to use inflatable boats to collect belongings from flooded homes.
(BBC)
