Demonstrators dressed as figures from the film Avatar inhale tear gas during a demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah

Bernat Armangue/AP

The Colosseum in Rome during a rare snowfall, the first since 2005. The last time the city experienced heavy snow was February 1986, with about 20cm (8in)

Angelo Carconi/AP

Kashmiris throw stones at paramilitary soldiers during a protest against the Indian Government in Srinagar, India. Rebel groups have fought since 1989 for the region to become independent or join Pakistan

Dar Yasin/AP

Stefan Hoehener of Switzerland practises for the Luge at the Whistler Sliding Centre in preparation for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The Whistler Sliding Centre will host bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitors

Peter Parks/AFP/Getty

A pedestrian passes a handprint mural of Nelson Mandela in Cape Town. Chanting "Viva, Nelson Mandela, Viva", thousands of South Africans marked 20 years since the anti-apartheid icon walked to freedom after 27 years as a political prisoner

Mark Wessels/Reuters

US Marines patrol outside Marjah in Helmand province, Afghanistan

David Guttenfelder/AP

An Afghan refugee watches other children playing in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Muhammed Muheisen/AP

Melbourne Zoo's new Asian elephant, provisionally named Baby, is only the second elephant born in Australia and the first to be born through artificial insemination

William West/AFP/Getty

The hand of a Sadhu, or Hindu holy man, whose followers say has not moved his arm or cut his fingernails for 32 years. The Sadhu was at a camp near the banks of the Ganges river, during a religious festival in the northern town of Haridwar

Reinhard Krause/Reuters

More than 4,000 people were evacuated from Durazno in Uruguay after heavy rain caused flooding

Matilde Campodonico/AP

Homeless Haitians scavenge in Port-au-Prince. The death toll from last month's earthquake has reached 212,000 with 300,000 injured

Mario Tama/Getty Images

A Palestinian youth walks past a burning barricade in the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem. Palestinians confronted Israeli security forces after an arrest operation caused anger in the camp

Bernat Armangue/AP

An Israeli border police officer is hit with a rock thrown by a Palestinian in the Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank, near Jerusalem. Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli border police entering the refugee camp to arrest suspected criminals

Ammar Awad/Reuters

Chayne Hultgren (aka The Space Cowboy) re-enacts his 18-sword swallowing attempt for a Guinness World Record in front of the Sydney Opera House. The Australian beat his own world record when he simultaneously swallowed 18 swords, each blade measuring 50.8cm by 1.3cm, in the lead-up to this year's International Sword Swallowing Day on February 28

Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images