News in pictures: Tuesday January 23, 2024

An Indian Air Force helicopter showered flower petals during the opening of a Hindu temple in the holy city of Ayodhya. The project has been controversial: the temple was built on the site of a mosque that had been destroyed by a Hindu mob two decades ago

RAJESH KUMAR SINGH/AP

Kevin Jay and Nigel Cox lit up the sea while fishing at Frinton-on-Sea in Essex. Jay, who is holding the rod, is an artist who uses LED lights and slow shutter speeds to create striking images

KEVIN JAY/PICTUREEXCLUSIVE.COM

The Vietnamese village of Quang Phu Cau, where incense sticks are made, has become a hotspot for tourists wanting to grab an unforgettable photo. Red sticks are always a favourite but families who live and work in the “incense village”, near Hanoi, now make them in yellow, blue and green too

NHAC NGUYEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Pepino the clown, who plays tricks and pranks on spectators, was the main attraction at the start of the carnival in La Paz, Bolivia. The carnival always begins when he is lifted out of a coffin in a burst of confetti

CLAUDIA MORALES/REUTERS

Snowfall made for dramatic views across the fields and houses of Congjiang county, in the Guizhou province of southwest China

STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A Chinese restaurant’s display for the lunar new year is brightening up the winter nights in Moscow. The year of the dragon begins on February 10

PELAGIYA TIHONOVA/ANADOLU/GETTY IMAGES

Campaigners filled Westminster with scarecrows as MPs prepared to debate supermarkets’ treatment of farmers on Monday. The 49 scarecrows represent the 49 per cent of farmers who say it is likely they will go out of business in the coming year

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL

Blackpool woke up to choppy seas on Monday after Storm Isha left thousands of people without power across much of the UK. Another storm is expected to arrive on Tuesday.

DANNY LAWSON/PA

The world’s leading young speed skaters were in action at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangneung, South Korea. Angel Daleman of the Netherlands, left, triumphed in the women’s 500m quarter final and went on to win gold

CHUNG SUNG-JUN/GETTY IMAGES

Yuwei Jing and Zoe Villiers put on their wellingtons to raise awareness of the threat climate change poses to the marshlands in the Fens. The actresses are starring in Home, a play that was a hit on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year. It comes to Ely on Tuesday and Cambridge on Thursday

GUY CORBISHLEY/ALAMY

Farmers unload their winter tomatoes from boats so they can be sold at the Baishmouja vegetable market in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh. Boats are the only way to take goods to the market, on the banks of the Meghna river

SYED MAHABUBUL KADER/ZUMA PRESS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

The 79 oak trees at The Dark Hedges in Ballymoney, Co Antrim were made famous by the TV series Games of Thrones. There are now only 76 after Storm Isha brought down three of the trees

STEPHEN DAVISON/PACEMAKER PRESS

The opening of the legal year in Hong Kong was marked by police goose-stepping past judges

PETER PARKS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Performers with the Gothenburg Opera Dance Company will need a head for heights during their production of Skid, which opens on Tuesday at the Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney

DON ARNOLD/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

A collection of over 1,000 dolls, built up by a couple over 65 years, is tipped to sell for £500,000 at an auction house in Berkshire. Austin Smith and his late partner Margaret Harkins began collecting in 1949 and the dolls eventually filled several rooms of their home in Bath. The sale, at Special Auction Services in Newbury, will begin on February 22

BNPS