Pictures of the week brings you the best images over the past seven days from around the world, chosen by our very own photo editors, Elliot Wagland and Tahira Mirza.
Pictures of the Week
(01 of30)
Children look at the 15-metre-tall snow statue of 'Attack on Titan' during the first day of the 67th Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo, Hokkaido on February 5, 2016. Over 200 snow statues were displayed in the seven-day-long festival where more than 2 million domestic and foreign visitors are expected. AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS ==JAPAN OUT== / AFP / JIJI PRESS / JIJI PRESS (Photo credit should read JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:JIJI PRESS via Getty Images)
(02 of30)
Zookeepers capture a zookeeper dressed as zebra (bottom) during a drill to practice what to do in the event of an animal escape at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on February 2, 2016. About 150 zookeepers participated in the annual drill. AFP PHOTO / KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / KAZUHIRO NOGI (Photo credit should read KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:KAZUHIRO NOGI via Getty Images)
(03 of30)
A family of polar bears shot from underwater in August 2015 in the North-East, Canada. A VETERAN explorer captured the amazing moment a mother polar bear taught her cubs to swim. (credit:Amos Nachoum / Barcroft USA)
(04 of30)
SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 02: A man stands on top of a hill as ice particle iridescence is seen in high-level Nacreous clouds on February 02, 2016 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England. The rare effect is caused by the diffraction of sunlight in the ice crystals that form the Nacreous clouds at high altitudes. (Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images) (credit:Ian Forsyth via Getty Images)
(05 of30)
GUANGZHOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 02: (CHINA OUT) About 50,000 passengers wait for their trains at Guangzhou Railway Station after heavy snow delayed numerous trains on February 2, 2016 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China. Chinese people are preparing for the Spring Festival, the Year of Monkey, which will fall on February 8 according to Chinese calendar. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images) (credit:ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)
(06 of30)
The Duchess of Cornwall tries on glasses at Boots Opticians in Peterborough during a day of visits to promote reading and storytelling as part of her role with the National Literacy Trust. (credit:Chris Radburn/PA Wire)
(07 of30)
HUNSTANTON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 04: A sperm whale is stranded on a beach between Old Hunstanton and Holme on February 4, 2016 in Hunstanton, England. The whale, that later died, was the 29th to get stranded in Europe in the past two weeks and due to its weight of between 25 and 30 tonnes was unable to be rescued. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images) (credit:Ben Pruchnie via Getty Images)
(08 of30)
Ben Stiller attempts a world record for longest selfie stick with guests whilst attending the Zoolander 2 UK premiere, held at the Empire, Leicester Square, London. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday February 4, 2016. Photo credit should read: Ian West/PA Wire (credit:Ian West/PA Wire)
(09 of30)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 04: Myleene Klass attends a London Fan Screening of the Paramount Pictures film 'Zoolander No. 2' at Empire Leicester Square on February 4, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage) (credit:Samir Hussein via Getty Images)
(10 of30)
TOPSHOT - A firebomb explodes beside a riot police member during a massive protest on February 4, 2016.Thousands of people marched across Greece on February 4, 2016 as diverse classes united in a crippling general strike over a pension overhaul that has sparked a major backlash against embattled leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. / AFP / ARIS MESSINIS (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:ARIS MESSINIS via Getty Images)
(11 of30)
A migrant sits next to a painting by English graffiti artist Banksy, at the entrance of the migrant camp of Calais, north of France, Thursdday, Feb. 4, 2016. About 4,000 people from Syria, Sudan and other countries are estimated to be camped out in Calais as they try to reach Britain, some recently moving into new facilities but most still sleeping in what's been called Europe's biggest slum. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(12 of30)
Laurinaldo Alves adjusts the pacifier of his daughter Luana Vitoria, who suffers from microcephaly, during a physical stimulation session at the Altino Ventura foundation, a treatment center that provides free health care, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. Brazil is in the midst of a Zika outbreak and authorities say they have also detected a spike in cases of microcephaly in newborn children, but the link between Zika and microcephaly is as yet unproven. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(13 of30)
This picture taken on February 4, 2016 shows a woman walking in a park decorated with red lanterns ahead of the Lunar New Year in Changzhou. The Spring Festival, this year being the Year of the Monkey, China's most important holiday centering around family reunions, will fall on February 8. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE / AFP / JOHANNES EISELE (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:JOHANNES EISELE via Getty Images)
(14 of30)
Pro-Riders look towards the wild face of 'l'Aiguille Pourrie' and study the choice of routes they can ride the day before a stage of the Swatch Freeride World Tour on February 4, 2016 in Chamonix Mont Blanc. Chamonix, the world freeride capital with a backdrop of the Mont Blanc (4810 m), is hosting the Freeride World Tour for the 8th year running. The competition runs from February 5-7. / AFP / JEFF PACHOUD (Photo credit should read JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:JEFF PACHOUD via Getty Images)
(15 of30)
A nominee for queen of the Carnival of Santa Cruz shows off her outfit on the main stage in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on February 3, 2016. The costumes are more than five meters high and over 80 kilos in weight. The event began on January 13 and finishes on February 14 with orchestras playing Caribbean and Brazilian rhythms throughout the festivities that range from elections for the Carnival Queen, the Junior Queen and the Senior Queen, to children and adult murgas (satirical street bands), comparsas (dance groups) and street performances. AFP PHOTO/DESIREE MARTIN / AFP / DESIREE MARTIN (Photo credit should read DESIREE MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:DESIREE MARTIN via Getty Images)
(16 of30)
TOPSHOT - Pope Francis looks on as artists perform during his weekly general audience in St Peter's square on February 3, 2016 at the Vatican. AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABI / AFP / TIZIANA FABI (Photo credit should read TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:TIZIANA FABI via Getty Images)
(17 of30)
View of a forest fire in Bogota, in February 2, 2016. A yellow alert was declared Tuesday in Bogota due to the air pollution caused by a forest fire near the capital's downtown, where government buildings, schools and other entities were evacuated, authorities reported. AFP PHOTO/ Luis ACOSTA / AFP / LUIS ACOSTA (Photo credit should read LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:LUIS ACOSTA via Getty Images)
(18 of30)
TOPSHOT - Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses his supporters after finishing second in the Iowa Caucus, in West Des Moines, Iowa, February 1, 2016. Republican Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa caucuses -- the first vote in the US presidential race -- in a tight contest with frontrunner Donald Trump and Senator Marco Rubio, US media projections showed. / AFP / Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:JIM WATSON via Getty Images)
(19 of30)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 04: Grounds keepers walk in water as they complete the finishing touches to the carnival dancers in the pond which is made up of Phalaenopsis, Bromeliads, Cambrias and Miltonias which is part of the Kew Gardens Orchid Festival at Kew Gardens on February 4, 2016 in London, England. The festival runs from February 6 to March 6, and features an array of over 8,996 plants and 3,294 orchids creating a Brazilian wilderness in Kew Garden's Princess of Wales Conservatory. (Photo by Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images) (credit:Ben Pruchnie via Getty Images)
(20 of30)
CALAIS, FRANCE - FEBRUARY 03: Naeem Hayat (C) playing Hamlet from Shakespeare's Globe performs performs to migrants at the Good Chance Theatre Tent in the Jungle Refugee Camp on February3, 2016 in Calais, France. The Globe to Globe tour is aiming to perform Hamlet in every country on earth over two years. They began on the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth 23 April 2014, have performed in 166 countries to date and will finish at the Globe Theatre in London on the 400th anniversary of his death 23 April 2016. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) (credit:Dan Kitwood via Getty Images)
(21 of30)
Muhammad Arif Ahmadi, 44, (R) watches his son five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi, a young Lionel Messi fan, plays football in Kabul on February 1, 2016. Barcelona star Lionel Messi is hoping to arrange a meeting with an Afghan boy who shot to fame after pictures of him dressed in a striped plastic bag jersey went viral, Kabul's football federation said on February 1. AFP PHOTO / SHAH Marai / AFP / SHAH MARAI (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:SHAH MARAI via Getty Images)
(22 of30)
Members of the media gather outside Ecuador's embassy in central London on February 5, 2016.A UN panel ruled Friday that Julian Assange had been 'arbitrarily detained' by Sweden and Britain, stoking the hopes of the Wikileaks founder that he could walk free after almost four years in Ecuador's London embassy. / AFP / BEN STANSALL (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:BEN STANSALL via Getty Images)
(23 of30)
TOPSHOT - The Mont Blanc massif is pictured on February 4, 2016 in Chamonix. / AFP / JEFF PACHOUD (Photo credit should read JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:JEFF PACHOUD via Getty Images)
(24 of30)
TOPSHOT - US President Barack Obama poses with University of Alabama football player and Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry (L) at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4,2016 in Washington, DC. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images)
(25 of30)
TOPSHOT - Taxi drivers throw eggs to colleagues who are not on strike during a protest of taxi drivers in Costa Rica's capital San Jose on February 1, 2016. The protesters demand the government block the mobile app for Uber, saying the US-based ride-share company threatens their livelihood. AFP PHOTO/Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP / EZEQUIEL BECERRA (Photo credit should read EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:EZEQUIEL BECERRA via Getty Images)
(26 of30)
TOPSHOT - A cloud of ash and smoke is spewed from the Popocatepetl Volcano as seen from the Izta-Popo National Park, in the central Mexican state of Puebla, on January 31, 2016. AFP PHOTO/RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP / RONALDO SCHEMIDT (Photo credit should read RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:RONALDO SCHEMIDT via Getty Images)
(27 of30)
TOPSHOT - EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / Conceptual artist and comedian Lisa Levy (L) sits nude on a toilet facing participant Eric Gottshall during Levy's performance art show titled The Artist Is Humbly Present at the Christopher Stout Gallery January 31, 2016 in the Bushwick section of New York. == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION, TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION ==The performance is a parody of artist Marina Abramovic's 2010 MoMA piece The Artist is Present, in which she sat in a chair across from visitors for 736 hours in the museum's atrium. / AFP / Timothy A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:TIMOTHY A. CLARY via Getty Images)
(28 of30)
TOPSHOT - An African elephants throws mud onto himself at the Mpala Research Center and Wildlife Foundation, near Rumuruti, Laikipia District, Kenya, on January 31, 2016. / AFP / SIMON MAINA (Photo credit should read SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:SIMON MAINA via Getty Images)
(29 of30)
TOPSHOT - Abul Bajandar (L), 26, dubbed 'Tree Man' for massive bark-like warts on his hands and feet, sits at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in Dhaka on January 31, 2016. A Bangladeshi autodriver dubbed 'Tree Man' for massive bark-like warts on his hands and feet will finally have surgery to remove the growths that first appeared 10 years ago, a hospital said on January 31, 2016. The massive warts, which first started appearing when he was a teenager but began spreading rapidly four years ago, have been diagnosed as epidermodysplasia verruciformis, an extremely rare genetic skin disease that makes the person vulnerable to warts. AFP Photo/ Munir uz ZAMAN / AFP / MUNIR UZ ZAMAN (Photo credit should read MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:MUNIR UZ ZAMAN via Getty Images)
(30 of30)
TOPSHOT - New Zealand All Blacks rugby players Cory Jane (L) and Julian Savea, dressed as zombies, pose on the first day of the Wellington Sevens rugby union tournament at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on January 30, 2016. AFP PHOTO / MARTY MELVILLE / AFP / Marty Melville (Photo credit should read MARTY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:MARTY MELVILLE via Getty Images)