An aerial view of small dams containing very little water are seen in dry paddocks located north-west of the city of Melbourne. Australia endured its hottest year on record in 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said, with average temperatures 1.2 degree Celsius above the long-term average of 21.8 degree Celsius, breaking the previous record set in 2005ReutersAvalanche debris is pictured on the Richardson Highway in Alaska. The coastal community of Valdez was cut off from the rest of the state after avalanches blocked the only road inReutersMembers of a local winter swimming club go for a dip in the Yenisei River in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, in temperatures of about -24 degrees Celsius (-11 degrees Fahrenheit)ReutersA house is surrounded by water in Long Sutton on the flooded Somerset LevelsReutersA "sun dog" appears over a farm in southern Minnesota. The halo around the sun is caused by the refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals in the atmosphereReutersA worker is surrounded by flying sparks at a nickel smelter near Sorowako, on Indonesia's Sulawesi islandReutersTourists take a picture in front of a giant dragon lantern during a festival in Shenyang, Liaoning ProvinceReutersIndian Border Security Force soldiers ride camels in front of India's presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan during a rehearsal for the "Beating the Retreat" ceremony in New DelhiReutersPerformers ride horses during the "Nuit de Chine" (Night of China) event at the Grand Palais in ParisReutersA Holocaust survivor walks inside Auschwitz before a ceremony to mark the 69th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration campReutersIsraeli soldiers look at shoes of Holocaust victims during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in JerusalemGettyUS President Barack Obama sits at his desk in the Oval OfficeGettyA rocket fired by SPLA Government forces cruises over a hut burnt by debris from a previous rocket along the frontline at Mathiang near Bor, South SudanReutersJustin Bieber jumps from a quad bike at a resort in Punta Chame, on the outskirts of Panama CityReutersPaul McCartney and Ringo Starr perform during the taping of "The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute To The Beatles", which commemorates the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' appearance on the Ed Sullivan ShowReutersAmerican tenor Tom Randle (Jack Twist) (R), and Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch (Ennis del Mar), perform during a dress rehearsal of the opera "Brokeback Mountain" at the Teatro Real in MadridReutersWorkers place dead chickens into plastic bags at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong, where the government imposed a ban on the sale of live chickens following an outbreak of H7N9 bird fluGetty
