The annual New Year's Eve fireworks display illuminates the sky over Sydney

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 31: The annual New Year's Eve fireworks display illuminates the sky over Sydney Harbour on December 31, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The 2009 into 2010 theme is 'Awaken The Spirit' with over 1.5 million people expected to gather around the harbour to watch the 12 minute show.



Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show to celebrate the New Year January 1, 2010.


Fireworks flash over Sydney Opera House during New Year celebrations, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. The annual fireworks extravaganza over the city's landmark harbor bridge and opera house are the centerpiece of Australia's celebrations, and generate some of the most striking images from a night of revelry across the globe.


SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 31: People toast their wine glasses as the annual New Year's Eve fireworks display illuminates the sky over Sydney Harbour on December 31, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The 2009 into 2010 theme is 'Awaken The Spirit' with over 1.5 million people expected to gather around the harbour to watch the 12 minute show.



Fireworks flash over Sydney Harbor during New Year celebrations, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. The annual fireworks extravaganza over the city's landmark harbor bridge and opera house are the centerpiece of Australia's celebrations, and generate some of the most striking images from a night of revelry across the globe.



Fireworks flash over Sydney Harbor during New Year celebrations, Friday, Jan. 1, 2010. The annual fireworks extravaganza over the city's landmark harbor bridge and opera house are the centerpiece of Australia's celebrations, and generate some of the most striking images from a night of revelry across the globe.



SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 31: Roger Sanchez performs as part of the annual Bondi Beach 'Shore Thing' New Year's Eve music festival, this year headlined by DJs Carl Cox and Roger Sanchez, at Bondi Beach on December 31, 2009 in Sydney, Australia.



Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show to celebrate the New Year January 1, 2010.



SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 31: The annual New Year's Eve fireworks display illuminates the sky over Sydney Harbour on December 31, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The 2009 into 2010 theme is 'Awaken The Spirit' with over 1.5 million people expected to gather around the harbour to watch the 12 minute show.



SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 31: The annual New Year's Eve fireworks display illuminates the sky over Sydney Harbour on December 31, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The 2009 into 2010 theme is 'Awaken The Spirit' with over 1.5 million people expected to gather around the harbour to watch the 12 minute show.


photo: Gettyimages, Reuters

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Celebrate the coming New Year

Skaters arrange themselves to form the year "2010" to welcome the upcoming New Year at an ice skating carnival in Shimla, India, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009. Police said a near-freezing cold has killed at least 16 homeless people in northern India even as authorities distributed blankets and made bonfires for the poor.



Vietnamese models, in traditional costumes, stand next to a row of trishaws at the New Year Flowers Festival by the Hoan Kiem lake, the heart of Hanoi December 30, 2009. The annual flowers festival will be held till January 3, 2010 to celebrate the new year and to mark 1000 years of the establishment of the capital city of Thang Long, the former name of Hanoi.



BEIJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 30: A family wear their self-made headwear in the shape of tiger to celebrate the coming New Year on December 30, 2009 in Beijing, China



HEFEI, CHINA - DECEMBER 30: Students of Huaihe Primary School shape the giant '2010' to celebrate the coming New Year on December 30, 2009 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China.


BEIJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 30: A family wear their self-made headwear in the shape of tiger to celebrate the coming New Year on December 30, 2009 in Beijing, China.


HEFEI, CHINA - DECEMBER 30: Students of Crabapple Primary School wear their self-made glasses in shape of '2010' to celebrate the coming New Year on December 30, 2009 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China.

photo: AP

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Enter the World 'Avatar'

source: kapook

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Hundreds of runners get stuck in the mud for annual muck race

The world's dirtiest sporting event: Runners in fancy dress brave the cold for the annual Maldon Mud Race


Hundreds of people braved the cold to scramble though 400-yards of foul smelling muck for the annual Maldon Mud Race.

The 250 competitors, many wearing fancy dress, ran, crawled and scrabbled across the thick black mud of the River Blackwater at Essex at low tide and back yesterday


In the thick of it: A competitor in distress attempts to crawl through the muddy sludge


More than 12,000 spectators lined the banks of the river cheering on the wacky racers who were set on their way by Olympic Javelin athlete Fatima Whitbread.

She said : "I would like to do it. Who knows, fingers crossed I will get to do it one day."


Ho ho hose me down: A competitor wearing a Santa Claus outfit crawls up the bank towards the finish line
Organisers are hoping that when all the sponsorship money is collected they will top the £85,000 raised last year.


All the money raised will be donated to the Essex Air Ambulance fund, Little Havens Children's Hospital, the Army Benevolent Fund and 21st Century Youth.


Muddy waters: Competitors leave the freezing water and enter the thick mud


Dubbed as the 'best hangover cure known' the race raises thousands of pounds for charities.

It started in the 1970s when regulars of the Queen's Head pub ran across the river to drink from a barrel of beer and then back to be hosed down by the landlady.


source: dailymail

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Beautiful risk fantastic landscape

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Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

People visit an ice sculpture for the upcoming 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 24, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 24, 2009.



People visit an ice sculpture for the upcoming 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 24, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 24, 2009.


Workers walk on an ice sculpture before the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 18, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 18, 2009.



People visit ice sculptures for the upcoming 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 24, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 24, 2009.



A visitor walks on icy stairs at an ice sculpture for the upcoming 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 24, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 24, 2009.


People visit an ice sculpture for the upcoming 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 24, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 24, 2009.


People visit an ice sculpture for the upcoming 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at a park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, December 24, 2009. The 26th Ice and Snow Festival will kick off on January 5, 2010, local media reported. Picture taken December 24, 2009.


photo: Reuters

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10 Best Pictures

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