Chinese New Year 2012: Final Countdown to Year of the Dragon
Chinese New Year 2012 will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 23, marking the beginning of the year of the water dragon and the 4709th year of the Chinese calendar. The holiday is the most important in China and will be met with scores of fireworks and festivities in China, Taiwan and across the globe.
Visitors take pictures in front of a dragon-shaped lantern which has been set up for the upcoming Lunar New Year in Beijing. The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, begins on Jan. 23 and marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. (REUTERS/China Daily)
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South Florida Fair 2012: The 100th Anniversary Edition
The 100th anniversary edition of the South Florida Fair is being celebrated sort of like a wedding. It seems a stretch, but hear us out: There’s something old, as in some of the most popular, tried-and-true returning favorites that the festival, running from January 13-29 at the South Florida Fairgrounds, has to offer, plus special things to commemorate the fair’s big birthday.
Fairgoers enjoy the midway during Thursday’s soft opening of the 2012 South Florida Fair. (Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post)
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Apple iPhone 4S Sale Cancelled in Beijing Amid Chaos
Apple cancelled its scheduled sale of iPhone 4S in one of its stores in China’s capital Beijing on January 13.
Crowds outside the store in the Sanlitun district were waiting on queues overnight. There were incidents of scuffle between shoppers and the store’s security staff when shoppers, hundreds of them, were told that the sales had been cancelled. Some of people waiting outside the store pelted eggs. The police intervened later and took away some of the shoppers.
A woman is dragged away by police after she refused to leave from the front of the Apple store in the Beijing district of Sanlitun. (Reuters)
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Dakar Rally 2012: The World’s Most Challenging Off-Road Endurance Race
The world’s most challenging off-road endurance race, the Dakar Rally 2012 is being contested by more than 350 entrants, racing motorcycles, quads, cars and trucks across more than 5,500 miles of mountains and desert, from Argentina’s Atlantic coast, through Chile to the Pacific coast of Peru.
The race, covering 14 stages, began January 1 and will conclude January 15 in Lima.
Click images to zoom and enjoy the real men!
Marc Coma of Spain races his KTM in the 10th stage. (Jerome Prevost/Associated Press)
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Thousands Compete in the World’s Largest Open Water Race in Australia
The Lorne Pier to Pub is an annual, 1.2-km open water swimming race held in January at Lorne, a town located on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. It began in the 1970s, when members of the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club dared each other to dive from the pier, swim through Louttit Bay and finish by body-surfing the waves onto the Lorne foreshore, before attending the Lorne Pub.
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Hot Female Bodyguards: Chinese Firm Conducts First Open Training Session
A firm in China is readying a new batch of women bodyguards to service its clients. The candidates have to undergo rigorous training for 8-10 months before they assume their responsibilities. They are expected to guard wealthy, high-class women seeking protection.
Nearly 20 young women participated in the training session organised by Tianjiao Special Guard/Security Consultant Ltd, based in Sanya in the country’s Hainan province. The session, in fact, marked the first open group training for female bodyguards in China.
A trainee dressed in swimming suit steps on stomachs of other trainees with the help of a trainer during training session in Sanya. (Reuters)
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Chinese New Year 2012: Dragon Fever Begins
A girl looks at lantern decorations for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year at a park in Neihuang county, Henan province January 6, 2012. The Lunar New Year begins on January 23 and marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. (REUTERS / China Daily)
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18 Couples Say ‘I Do’ at China’s Harbin Ice and Snow Festival 2012
About 18 couples from Nigeria, Russia and China tied the knots in a freezing cold of minus 20 degrees during a group wedding ceremony at the Chinese city of Harbin Friday. The ceremony, organized by the city government, was part of the 28th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival 2012, which opened Jan. 5. The show will be on for the next three months.
The group wedding ceremony has been a crucial part of the festival and has seen hundreds of couples exchanging vows since the inception of the ice show in 1985.
A man lifts his wife in front of a snow sculpture after a group wedding ceremony as part of the 28th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province Jan. 6, 2012. (REUTERS/Sheng Li)
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73-Year-Old Polish Granny Deejays for Senior Citizen
There’s a 73-year-old granny in Poland who wants her fellow elderly to get off of their rockers and shake their booties.
Retired youth counselor Wika Szmyt, 73, of Warsaw, Poland, deejays at a city club three times a week, according to a Reuters report. Szmyt, who also deejays for younger audiences, plays rhythmic and sensual disco, rumba and samba songs for older people who want to kick up their heels.
Check out these photos of Szmyt working her magic at the DJ console — and seniors dancing along to it.
Wika Szmyt, 73, in her element at the DJ console. (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)
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World Welcomes the New Year!
Participants run from the frigid waters of English Bay as two people wear a shark costume during the 92nd annual Polar Bear Swim in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
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