Today's best photos: From Akita dogs in Japan to big winter freeze in the UK - in pictures

  • Around 40 Akita dogs with their owners take part in a parade in Tokyo, Japan. It marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hachiko, a famously loyal dog who waited for nine years at Shibuya Station for his dead owner. AFP
    Around 40 Akita dogs with their owners take part in a parade in Tokyo, Japan. It marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hachiko, a famously loyal dog who waited for nine years at Shibuya Station for his dead owner. AFP
  • Visually impaired men learning to read Braille at the Government School and Institute for the Blind in Peshawar, Pakistan, on the eve of the International Day of People with Disabilities. EPA
    Visually impaired men learning to read Braille at the Government School and Institute for the Blind in Peshawar, Pakistan, on the eve of the International Day of People with Disabilities. EPA
  • Bangladeshi artists perform as students celebrate the opening of the Dhaka University metro station. EPA
    Bangladeshi artists perform as students celebrate the opening of the Dhaka University metro station. EPA
  • Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters
    Displaced Palestinians shelter in tents by Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters
  • Czech history enthusiasts dressed as soldiers prepare for a re-enactment of Napoleon's Battle of Austerlitz, near the southern Moravian town of Slavkov u Brna. Reuters
    Czech history enthusiasts dressed as soldiers prepare for a re-enactment of Napoleon's Battle of Austerlitz, near the southern Moravian town of Slavkov u Brna. Reuters
  • Volcanic eruptions from Mount Etna light up the night sky in Catania, Italy. Reuters
    Volcanic eruptions from Mount Etna light up the night sky in Catania, Italy. Reuters
  • Newly-arrived Rohingya refugees rest on a beach on Sabang island, Aceh province, Indonesia. AFP
    Newly-arrived Rohingya refugees rest on a beach on Sabang island, Aceh province, Indonesia. AFP
  • A nun visits the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, at the start of the Christmas season, as the Israel-Gaza war continues. Reuters
    A nun visits the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, at the start of the Christmas season, as the Israel-Gaza war continues. Reuters
  • Wood pigeons fly from a tree in a snow-covered field in the Kent Downs as temperatures plummet to -10°C in parts of the UK. Getty Images
    Wood pigeons fly from a tree in a snow-covered field in the Kent Downs as temperatures plummet to -10°C in parts of the UK. Getty Images