The day in pictures

1 of 12 After more than a 100 days in captivity in Colombia, Briton Mark Henderson is reunited with his mother for Christmas

2 of 12 A Hanoi street vendor balances her goods on her head as she walks past a stand selling Christmas hats.

3 of 12 A Taiwanese boy dressed as a monkey shows off new silver coins issued for 2004 - the Year of the Monkey.

4 of 12 US President George W Bush is among those using the telephone to send Christmas greetings...

5 of 12 ...wishing the thousands of US troops currently serving in Iraq a Happy Christmas

6 of 12 British troops in Basra wear Father Christmas hats as they sang carols at Christmas services

7 of 12 A Palestinian Christian woman walks with her daughter - who is dressed in a Father Christmas outfit - to Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

8 of 12 A homeless man in Barcelona cuddles his cat, which he says comes to find him every day on the street where he sleeps.

9 of 12 In Hanoi, Vietnam, Catholics converge for Christmas mass at St Antoine church

10 of 12 Three newborn South China tiger pups go on display at the Shihu South China Tiger Breeding Base in Suzhou, China. There are now 70 such tigers in the world.

11 of 12 Following reports of a possible cow with BSE in the US, butchers in South Korea check their meat imports

12 of 12 Bangladeshi rafts which will ferry customers across the Buriganga river in Dhaka.