The week in pictures

An anti-drug policeman stands guard after burning a cocaine laboratory in Puerto Concordia, Colombia. 

At least 90 members of the drug police are participating in Operation "Republica 73", aimed at destroying labs

that belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. 

A man looks at a newly-installed 'Renew' media point in the City of London. The pods will transmit breaking news 

and information about weather, travel, sport, fashion, arts and entertainment. The stations will also double as recycling points. 

The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, are seen near the city of Tromsoe, northern Norway.

 Stargazers were out in force in northern Europe on Tuesday, hoping to be wowed by a spectacular showing of 

the Northern Lights after the most powerful solar storm in six years. 

A baboon sits in the sun at a zoo in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Artist Frank Buckley sits on the toilet of the house he has built out of 1.4 billion decommissioned euro notes from the Central Bank's mint. 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is escorted through a crowd of rowdy protesters by body guards 

and police following a ceremony to mark Australia's national day in Canberra, Australia. 

Some 200 supporters of indigenous rights surrounded a Canberra restaurant and banged its windows 

on Thursday while Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott were inside at an awards ceremony.

 

A whole cash machine was stolen from a Co-operative supermarket in Masham, North Yorkshire, 

during a ram raid on Monday. Thieves used a JCB digger to smash the store’s front 

and steal the entire cashpoint at 3am, police said.

A stray dog sleeps in the snow as people pass by on a street in Bucharest. 

Heavy snow and blizzards swept across Romania over the past two days, 

not only causing chaotic traffic, blocking motorways and leaving 

hundreds stranded in snow, but also forcing the closure of the 

country's main Black Sea port.

An Indian Army soldier blows fire as he hangs on a pole during a Mulkhamb display, 

a traditional Indian sport, during Republic Day celebrations in Bangalore, India.

 

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia are photographed during pairs free ice skating.

Pretty in pink Tulisa Contostavlos is seen at the National Television Awards 

which was held at the O2 Arena in London, on Wednesday.

A reveller writes the "Dragon" in traditional Chinese characters and 2012 with fireworks

 in Beijing, on 22 January. A billion-plus Asians welcomed the Year of the Dragon on Monday 

with a cacophony of fireworks, hoping the mightiest sign in the Chinese zodiac will usher in 

the wealth and power it represents.

A snowman is pictured sporting a hat and scarf in the Mellat National Park in northern Tehran, Iran. 

Snow forced authorities to close schools in some parts of the province.

The Italian press has said that the Costa Concordia shipwreck has become something of a photo opportunity. 

Tourists are seen taking photos using the grounded cruise ship off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, as a background.

An Occupy protester poses with a placard reading "Occupy WEF" inside an igloo 

built at the protesters' encampment on 25 January, in Davos, Switzerland.

'Tropicana Sun' a public art installation designed and built by artistic collective, Greyworld, 

is unveiled in Trafalgar Square, London. The installation which has taken six months 

to create is 30,000 times bigger than a football, and weighs over 2,500kgs. 

Its internal core will produce 4-million lumens of light, the equivalent of 60,000 light bulbs.

A Burkina Faso fan takes a nap before The African Cup of Nations Group B match between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso at the Malabo stadium.

A penguin dives in a pool in Frankfurt Zoo, Germany.