World in focus - best photos for January 4, 2019

Take a look at some of the best images from around the world today

Revellers take part in the "Canto a la Tierra" parade, during the Blacks and Whites Carnival in Pasto, Colombia, the largest festivity in the southwestern region of the country. More than 10,000 artists, craftsmen and revellers take part in the Black and White Carnival, which has its origins in a mix of Andean, Amazonian and Pacific cultural expressions. It is celebrated every year from January 2 to 6 in the city of Pasto and has been on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage since 2009. AFP

A dancer participates in the inaugural parade of the Santiago a Mil Festival in the streets of Santiago, Chile. A family parade, which combines theatre, circus and live music, started today on the main avenues of the Chilean capital. This year is the 26th edition of the Santiago a Mil International Festival. EPA

Dancers get ready backstage before a performance of masked theatre known as Khon which was recently listed by UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, as an intangible cultural heritage, along with neighbouring Cambodia's version of the dance, known as Lakhon Khol at the Thailand Cultural Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. Reuters

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks away from her husband Paul Pelosi on Capitol Hill in Washington, US. Reuters

People offer prayers on the first business day of the year at the Kanda Myojin shrine, which is known to be frequented by worshippers seeking good luck and prosperous business, in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters

A Pakistani worker rides on his donkey cart near a market during cold and foggy morning in Islamabad. AFP

An Indian man feeds seagulls near the banks of the Yamuna River during a foggy morning in New Delhi. Hundreds of migratory birds from Siberia, southeast Asia and other parts of India congregate in the Indian capital during the winter months. AFP

Indian Hindu activists burn an effigy of Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan during a demonstration over two women entering the Sabarimala Ayyapa temple in the southern state of Kerala, in New Delhi. Clashes broke out in southern India for a second day on January 3 as Hindu hardliners went on the rampage, seeking to enforce a general shutdown in protest at two women entering one of the country's holiest temples. A day after violence among rival groups and with police left one man dead and 15 people injured, authorities said that 266 protestors had been arrested across the state of Kerala. AFP

A visitor walks past a pig sculpture made from snow and ice marking the upcoming Lunar New Year of the Pig in Harbin in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province. AFP

People clad in ancient Kimono attire kick a traditional deer-skin ball during the Kemari Hajime ceremony at the Shimogamo shrine in Kyoto. AFP

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