24 hours in pictures

Dandong, China: Paramilitary policemen about to retire bid farewell to their comrades at a train station Photograph: Jacky Chen/Reuters

Manila, Philippines: A beggar ask for alms from passers-by Photograph: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images

Bern, Switzerland: Birds take to the air as a helicopter flies over the Swiss Parliament Photograph: Pascal Lauener/Reuters

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: A boy suffering from polio walks through a doorway of Stand Proud, a local organisation that cares for young people with a variety of physical disabilities Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters

Tehran, Iran: A protester walks away with a poster looted from the British embassy compound after it was stormed and ransacked by a mob Photograph: /Reuters

Shenzhen, China: A skyscraper is seen from an allyway in an old residential quarter Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Siem Reap, Cambodia: Rag pickers search through rubbish as fires burn at the local dump Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

The Hague, Netherlands: The entrance of the International Criminal Court's detention unit where Ivory Coast's ex-president Laurent Gbagbo arrived to face charges over post-election violence that killed 3,000 people Photograph: Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images

Cairo, Egypt: People cast their votes on the second day of voting in the country's landmark parliamentary elections Photograph: Manu Brabo/AP

Beijing, China: A sausage-making machine at an exhibition of food and related technology Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Burma: A girl walks between lanes of an empty highway connecting the former capital Rangoon and new capital, Naypyidaw Photograph: Damir Sagolj/Reuters

Hong Kong, China: Journalists lie on the roof of an illegal structure as they film around Fa Yuen Street, where a fire broke out killing nine people Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters