12.12.12: the world marks an auspicious date - in pictures

A just-married couple kisses in Hong Kong Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images

A newborn baby delivered by caesarean cries inside an incubator at the Bunda Hospital in Jakarta. Several hospitals in Indonesia's main cities performed more caesareans than usual, with new mothers hoping a 12.12.12 birth date will bring luck to their children Photograph: Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images

Twelve couples attend a mass wedding ceremony in Hong Kong Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

Bride Emilia D'Silva with her bridesmaids before leaving home for a marriage ceremony at the Mount Mary church in Mumbai, India Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images

Babies are lined up for the photographers at a hospital in Mumbai Photograph: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

Filipino groom Ronald Celera carries his bride, Ilyn, as he kisses her during a mass wedding at a shopping mall in Paranaque city, south of Manila in the Philippines Photograph: Francis R. Malasig/EPA

A couple wait in a marriage registration hall in Hong Kong Photograph: Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua Press/Corbis

Fathers hold their babies at a private hospital in Bangalore, India Photograph: Aijaz Rahi/AP

A Bulgarian couple arrive for their wedding ceremony in Sofia Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

Oliver Talmage was born at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex at 12.12pm Photograph: Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS/PA

Couples exchange rings during a mass wedding ceremony in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images

Indian mothers hold their babies at a hospital in Jammu Photograph: Channi Anand/AP

People crowd around to take photos of a couple as they arrive to be married at the entrance of a Singapore marriage registry Photograph: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

George and Kate Dumitrascu wait to be married at a busy city clerk's office in New York City Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The tag on a newborn child shows that he was born on 12.12.12 at 12.12pm at a government hospital in Hyderabad, India Photograph: Mahesh Kumar A/AP

US Navy officer John Chen kisses his new bride Victoria Chan after they were married in a civil ceremony in New York City Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

Sarah Murchison holds her baby girl at the New York Downtown Hospital Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Renee and Chris Wiley pose for a wedding photo in Times Square in New York City Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images