Pictures of the week: From flooded homes in Britain to wildfire in California
Here's our pick of the best pictures around the world this week...
Staff and residents are rescued as the floodwaters rise at the Mercure Box Hill Burford Bridge Hotel, Dorking. Two separate storms have battered Britain this Christmas week. Rivers have burst their banks, flooded homes have been left without power, and high winds have caused travel chaos. (Tony Kershaw/REX)
This impressive castle is in fact made of ice. It is being constructed for the 30th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, in Harbin, China. According to the festival organisers, nearly 10,000 workers were employed to build the ice and snow sculptures, which require about 180,000 square metres of ice and 150,000 square metres of snow. The festival kicks off on January 5, 2014. (Reuters)
What are you looking at? Ring-tailed Lemurs inspect a scale during an animal stocktaking at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany. (Reuters)
Eve Grayson, a reindeer herder of the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd, feeds the deer in snowy conditions in Aviemore, Scotland. This is the only reindeer herd in Britain as the animals are not native to the land. Reindeer were introduced to Scotland in 1952 by Swedish Sami reindeer herder, Mikel Utsi. Starting with just a few reindeer, the herd has now grown in numbers over the years and is currently at about 130 by controlling the breeding. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
Haven't you forgotten someone? Onlookers hoping for a rare glimpse of Prince George were sorely disappointed after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived for the traditional Christmas Day church service without their newborn at St Mary Magdalene Church on the royal estate in Sandringham, Norfolk. (PA)
Displaced families wait at Tomping United Nations base near Juba international airport, where some 12,000 people from the Nuer tribe have sought refuge as conflict rages in South Sudan. The country, which gained indepedence from Sudan in 2011, has quickly descended into violance after clashes between rival groups of soldiers in Juba spread across the nation. (Reuters)
Stuart Radbourne (C), huntsman and joint-master with the Avon Vale Hunt, leads the riders and hounds for their traditional Boxing Day hunt, at Lacock in Wiltshire, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
A layer of ice coats the leaves of a Japanese maple tree after an ice storm in Toronto, Canada. (Reuters)
Spot the baby: A shopper taking advantage of the Boxing Day sales in Leicester covers her child's pram with clothes while the baby sleeps soundly. (PA)
Brrr, it's cold in there! Swimmers emerge from the Serpentine river on Christmas Day in Hyde Park, London. For over 100 years, swimmers have taken part in the Christmas Day "Peter Pan" swim in the Serpentine. (Reuters)
Pope Francis holds a replica of the baby Jesus at the end of his first Christmas night mass as Pontiff in the Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (Reuters)
Fire fighters battle a brush fire in the Simi Valley, California. Strong winds and dry conditions hindered the crews hoping to put out the flames. (ZUMA/REX)
