QUANG NGAI: A flock of ducks makes its way to a rice field. One wonders how bird-flu-hit Vietnam can deal with omnipresent wild birds in the tropical country. Some 20 cities and provinces out of the country's 64 have been hit by avian influenza since the latest outbreaks among poultry began last month.

RUICHANG: Schoolchildren from the Gangkou Elementary school carry their desks into tents that will be their temporary classrooms until their school building is declared safe after the recent 5.7 earthquake. At least 13 people died, hundreds more were injured and thousands of houses were damaged when the earthquake struck near this popular tourist region in eastern China.

RIBNOVO: A Bulgarian Muslim bride, Fatme Hatip, stands with special makeup next to her husband, Mustafa Kioibashi, during their wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, some 210km south from Sofia. Every winter season the residents of the alpine village participate in unique wedding ceremonies of their young people and fellow-villagers. The ancient tradition includes special colorful makeup for the bride called ‘ghelina’.

MADRID: Christmas lights are seen in ‘The Puerta del Sol’ of the city.

JAKARTA: A child cries as she gets vaccine for polio. Indonesia launched a third nationwide round of polio immunization in an effort to wipe out a resurgence of the crippling disease in the sprawling archipelago.