1. Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. The move came hours after demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in protest over the death of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, January 3.
2. An immigrant carries a child as they try to reach the shore after disembarking from a dinghy on January 3.
3. The Northern Lights seen over Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon in Iceland, January 4.
4. Extreme mountain biker Danny MacAskill takes in the view at the top of the Inaccessible Pinnacle, a prominent feature of the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, January 4.
5. People look around ice sculptures at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province, January 4.
6. People take part in the burning of Christmas trees in Museumplein near Amsterdam, The Netherlands, January 4.
7. Cold weather enthusiasts called Walruses swim in the Wistula river as temperatures fell to -15 degrees Celsius, near the Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland, January 4.
8. Emperor penguin chicks huddle together in below freezing temperatures during a snow storm in Antarctica. The fluffy grey chicks were part of a colony of around 300, January 5.
9. `There`s a star-ling whaling in the sky`: A murmuration of migrating starlings form the shape of a whale as they cross the sky in southern Israel, January 5.
10. Labour`s shadow chancellor John McDonnell will be glad to know a giant statue of Chinese leader Chairman Mao has sprung up near a village in Tongxu county, Henan province, China. Entrepreneurs spent nearly $500,000 (£335,000) to build the 120 feet (36.6 meters) high gold-painted statue, according to villagers, January 5.
11. An Afghan security force member walks inside a building used by insurgents to launch an attack on the Indian consulate, in Mazar-i-Sharif, January 5.
12. North Korea announced it had successfully carried out its first underground test of a hydrogen bomb - a more powerful weapon than an atomic bomb. The announcement was swiftly criticised by world leaders with South Korea calling it "a grave provocation to our national security". But there has been no independent confirmation of the North`s claim yet, January 6.
13. A driver climbs out of a window of his car after driving onto a flooded road in Van Nuys, California. An El Nino-strengthened storm brought widespread rain to drought-stricken California on Tuesday, triggering flooding that clogged roadways, and authorities warned residents about possible mud slides, January 7.
14. An image made up of 55 images captures the bolts of lightning illuminating the night sky over Oakdene, a suburb of Johannesburg in South Africa, January 7.
15. Police officers stand by the police station, seen in background right, after officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man wearing a fake explosives vest, in Paris, Thursday, January 7.
16. Oil prices slumped to a 12-year low on Thursday, as another dramatic fall on China`s stock markets stoked fears of slowing demand in the world`s second biggest economy, January 7.
17. On the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, French police shot dead a man who was apparently trying to attack a police station. Here police check a pedestrian as they secure the area, January 8.
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