The day in pictures

1 of 11 A Palestinian youth covers his face with headbands of Hamas during the funeral of a man killed in a Gaza Strip air strike by Israeli forces, which left eight dead.

2 of 11 Three Sunflower sea stars, among the thousands logged as part of the Census of Marine Life which discovered 600 new species.

3 of 11 Engineers clean Concorde before her final journey to New York from London's Heathrow Airport. Concorde returns to London on Friday.

4 of 11 The recent arrivals on the international space station were said to have been warned about unreliable equipment .

5 of 11 French President Jacques Chirac salutes Peul fighters on his arrival in Tahoua, Niger, the first French leader to visit the country in over 20 years. He goes on to visit Mali during his four-day tour of west Africa.

6 of 11 A young boy rolls toilet paper to sell on the streets of Kabul. President Hamid Karzai has admitted that two years after the fall of the Taleban most Afghans are still "living in fear".

7 of 11 A man runs from riots in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, where supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide blocked anti-government demonstrators holding a rally.

8 of 11 Iraqi boys relax near graffiti referring to the US dollar on a wall in Baghdad, on the day an international donors conference takes place in Madrid to discuss Iraq's reconstruction. The dollar is the accepted currency alongside Iraqi dinars.

9 of 11 Scientists say they have discovered a new bird species, a blue-flecked seed-eating finch or Carrizal Seedeater, in Venezuela, but its habitat is being threatened by a dam project in the south-east of the country.

10 of 11 Russian Su-27s fly over the new Kant air base near the Kyrgyzstan capital, Bishkek. Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the air base, which he hopes will strengthen security in the volatile Central Asian region.

11 of 11 South Korean soldier Kim Sun-gu is greeted by a delighted relative as he returns from six months on duty in Iraq.