This Week in Pictures: 22 - 28 December

Participants from the international contest "Ambassador of Beauty" in Manchuria.

Two participants, dressed as characters from the movie Avatar, during a slackline competition in the Huangshizhai Mountains in the central Chinese province of Hunan.

Vladimir Putin and a participant from the Dream With Me project, Kolya Kuznetsov, who dreamed of shaking hands with the Russian president.

Christmas nativity scene (manger) on a square near the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg.

Demonstrators clash with police during a protest against Spain's cabinet meeting in Barcelona.

Police officers search for victims among the rubble of a destroyed beachfront hotel, which was hit by a tsunami in Pandeglang, Banten province, Indonesia.

Evgenia Medvedeva performs during the Russian figure skating championship in Saransk.

A lynx in "Lynx Park " in the Primorsky safari park, Shkotovo, Russia.

A man during a winter swimming competition at a temperature of -21C in Shenyang, Liaoning Province in northeastern China.

Protesters wearing yellow vests react to the tear-gas canisters fired by police during a demonstration of the "yellow vests" movement in Nantes, France.

A man standing by the portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria.

Artists perform as they celebrate Christmas in Bangkok, Thailand.

Debris of a partially collapsed house sits on the street in Fleri, Sicily Italy. A quake triggered by Italy's Mount Etna volcano has jolted eastern Sicily, slightly injuring 10 people and prompting frightened Italian villagers to flee their homes.

A woman walks past a giant Santa Claus poster at Jumeirah Beach Residence in Dubai.

The launch of the Soyuz-2.1a vehicle with a Kanopus-V remote sensing spacecraft from the Vostochny cosmodrome.

An Iraqi youth dressed in a Santa Claus suit distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul.

Brides pose for a group photo before taking their wedding vows during a mass marriage ceremony, organised by a diamond merchant, in which 261 including six Muslim and three Christian couples took their wedding vows, in Surat, Gujarat, India.

Migrants from Honduras, part of a caravan of thousands from Central America trying to reach the United States, walk next to the border fence as they prepare to cross it illegally, in Tijuana, Mexico.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in NORAD Santa tracker phone calls from the White House in Washington.

Visitors to a festival are taking pictures in front of ice sculptures in the city of Manzhouli at the opening of the ice town of the twentieth Chinese Manchurian international holiday of ice and snow in the border tourist zone of mutual trade in Manchuria.

Boys help to clean Saint Benoit church during Christmas day preparations, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Colombian salsa dancers perform at the "Salsodromo" parade opening the 61th Cali Fair in Cali, Colombia.

A man rides on a camel cart during a winter Naadam fair in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China.

Children put out candles after carrying them during the recessional during a Christmas Eve service at Grace Episcopal Church in Nyack, New York.

Sea gulls fly over a Baltic Sea beach in Timmendorfer Strand, Germany.

Ann Bloom, from Canada, joins revellers as they welcome in the winter solstice at Stonehenge stone circle, in Amesbury, Britain.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders wear a holiday costume as they perform at half time of an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Arlington, Texas.

Lightning bolts striking along the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra in Rajabasa, in Lampung province, on 25 December 2018, three days after a tsunami - caused by activity at a volcano known as the "child" of Krakatoa - hit the west coast of Indonesia's Java island. Desperately needed aid flowed into a stretch of Indonesia's tsunami-stricken coastline on December 25, officials said, but aid workers warned that clean water and medical supplies were dwindling as thousands crammed makeshift evacuation centres.

Participants of the beauty contest "Miss Moscow 2018".

A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the "Copa Nadal" (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona's Port Vell. The traditional 200-metre Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants in Barcelona's old harbour.