24 hours in pictures

Buenos Aires, Argentina: A man wades through a flooded street Photograph: Natacha Pisarenko/AP

Minsk, Belarus: A Belarusian worker takes a polar fox out of a cage Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP

Cairo, Egypt: Soldiers of the Egyptian Republican Guard hand out bottles of water to opposition protesters Photograph: Ed Giles/Getty Images

Athens, Greece: Riot police try to detain protesters during a student march Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

Mazar-i Sharif, Afghanistan: Spectators watch a quail fight Photograph: Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images

California, USA: Gulls peck at the carcass of a male fin whale on the beach in Malibu Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Beijing, China: Two Chinese men warm up before swimming in a partly frozen lake Photograph: Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

Chennai, India: An Indian fisherman pulls in his net as foamy pollutants mix with surf at a beach Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Sydney, Australia: Dancer Matty Shields entertains the crowd before an attempt to break the Guinness record for the world's largest swimwear parade Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Madrid, Spain: People hold a giant Spanish flag during a rally to celebrate the 34th anniversary of Spain’s constitution Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

Baghlan, Afghanistan: German soldiers walk in front of an armoured personnel carrier in their combat outpost Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

Washington, USA: President Barack Obama speaks during the annual lighting of the national Christmas tree Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images