Carnival celebrations from around the world

A fire breather performs during carnival celebrations in Barranquilla, Colombia, Saturday Feb. 18, 2012. In 2003 the UNESCO declared Barranquilla's carnival a "Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity." (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

The different shades of love

Saint Valentine’s Day, originally, is a holiday that honours one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentius.
However, the meaning of “Valentine’s” Day has evolved since then. Millions of people all over the world today celebrate this holiday by giving flowers, chocolates, cards and gifts to each other. For some, it is a celebration between lovers while for others, it is a celebration of love between friends and family.
The photos in this gallery show how people all over the world are celebrating, or not celebrating, Valentine’s Day on the 14^th of February 2012.

Indonesian female students from a local Islamic boarding school hold up anti-Valentine's Day placards during a protest in Surabaya, East Java province. Conservative Indonesian Islamic groups denounced Valentine's Day, saying it is un-Islamic, promoting promiscuity, casual sex and consumption of alcohol while other groups described the day as foreign cultural influence.

5 Largest Technology Companies

Hewlett-Packard (Revenue $118.364 billion 2008)

World’s largest technology company was founded in a garage by two graduate students of Stanford University in 1939. HP produces different electronic products including printers, digital cameras, scanners, PDA’s, desktop calculators, computers, notebooks, workstations, Servers and many more. The company generated revenue of 118.364 billion dollars in year 2008 and its asset value is 113.331 billion dollars. An estimated 321,000 employees serve HP in different parts of the world.

Valentine’s Day 2012

People around the world once again expressed their affection for one another in many ways with balloons, cards, flowers, chocolates, gifts, and kisses to name just a few. The National Retail Federation said Americans alone will spend some $17.6 billion on the day that traces its origins to Roman rituals and the legend of Saint Valentine from the Catholic Church. -- Lloyd Young (34 photos total)

A man is silhouetted as he fills heart shaped balloons with helium while waiting for customers on Valentine's Day in Islamabad. (Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

Valentine's Day around the world

Juanita Aasso, 77, slow dances with friend Roy Elkis during the Valentine's Day Dance at the Neighborhood Center Inc. West End Senior Center on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, in Houston. Approximately 50 seniors attended the Valentine's Day Dance where the DJ played Tejano music, soul, and pop music for seniors.

Happy Valentine's Day

A man runs past a kiosk selling gifts for upcoming Valentine's Day, as he rushes for a train at Waterloo Station in London. Named after an early Christian martyr, Valentine's Day is a traditional celebration marking love and affection and falls on Feb 14 each year.

Jakarta International Djarum Super Mild Java Jazz Festival 2012

Jakarta International Djarum Super Mild Java Jazz Festival 2012 Launches Big Names for Artists Line-up. This coming 2012 will be the eighth edition of Djarum Super Mild Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival. Musicians who will perform at the Jakarta International Java Jazz Djarum Super Mild festival 2012, Al Jarreau and George Duke Trio, Barry White Show & The Pleasure Unlimited Orchestra, Bobby Caldwell, Bobby McFerrin, Carl Allen, Chris Standring, Dave Koz, David Sanborn, Depapepe, Duwende, George Duke Trio, Joey DeFrancesco, Juilliard Jazz Quartet, Laura Fygi, Mamas Gun, Mayer Hawthorne, Medeski Martin & Wood, Pat Metheny, Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band.
Dates: 2nd to 4th March 2012 (Friday to Sunday)
Venue: Jakarta International Expo (JIEx), Kemayoran, Jakarta, Indonesia.

The Most Powerful Images In 2011

Online edition of BuzzFeed published a list of the most impressive pictures of the year. Most of the photographs that shocked the world in 2011, is occupied by natural disasters – the tsunami in Japan, tornadoes in the United States, drought in Africa, floods in Thailand. A considerable proportion of occupied and photo riots in the streets of Britain, Canada, USA and the revolution in Egypt.

An employee of a Charitable Organization with the help of photographs of rotting HIS Corpse iPad Cows during the Drought in Africa. Eruption Puyehu (Puyehue), Chile.

The Most Bizarre Treatments In The World

For thousands of years people have been in continuous search, trying to find an effective treatment for certain diseases and methods to help them stay healthy. While modern Western medicine has turned into an ordered system of doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical factory, and many other tools, ranging from bloodletting and ending coordinated with laughter, still widely used around the world.

1. A pregnant woman in Peru is participating in a session of the dolphin. High-frequency sounds that dolphins emit is believed to stimulate the brain of the fetus being in the womb, thus increasing the level of neural development.

The Imperial Train

The train was built in 1894-96, respectively. The composition of cars has changed several times, old cars were changed to new, changing and interior . In 1902 train consisted of ten cars. Some of them are meant for the royal family and retinue emperors .Another held baggage wagons, serving and kitchen. Later was added the eleventh car to be used as a church.
Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Tsarevich Alexei

The wagons were painted blue, decorated with gold seams. All the wooden parts were made of Indian tika.Paneli, ceilings and furniture were made of polished oak, walnut, white and gray beech, maple and Karelian berezy.Poly were covered with linoleum and carpets. Were the most comfortable, of course, the cars were all imperators.Tam family to have fun and productive work. Mezhdu coupe Emperor and Empress was bimetallic bath (outside of copper, silver inside).

2012 World Press Photo Contest Winners

By the numbers: 5, 247 Photographers, 124 Nationalities, 101, 254 pictures. Three hundred and fifty images by 57 photographers of 24 nationalities were awarded prizes in nine categories. To view the entire collection of winning images from the 55th World Press Photo Contest: 2012 World Press Photo. -- Paula Nelson (16 photos total)

2012 World Press Photo of the Year: A woman holds a wounded relative during protests against President Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Oct. 15, 2011. (Samuel Aranda/The New York Times)

The Soorya Festival

The Soorya Festival, is a five day long festival that presents rare feast of Kerala’s traditional art and dance forms. 

Indian artist Kalamandalam Radhakrishnan gets prepared before his Ottan Thullal performance on the third day of the five-day long "Soorya Festival" at Natarani in Ahmedabad, late on February 8, 2012. Soorya Festival presents rare feast of Kerala's traditional art forms. The festival will end on February 10, 2012.

Lunar New Year 2012

The lunar new year is celebrated throughout the world, but especially in Asia when the lunisolar calendar ticks off a new cycle. This year is the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac, and is viewed as very auspicious. In China, the holiday is known as , the Spring Festival, and kicks off 15 days of celebration. It also triggers the largest human migration in the world, as hundreds of millions of Chinese trek to see families. Gathered here are images of the preparation for the holiday, the travel scene in mainland China, and celebrations in many parts of the world. ! -- Lane Turner/ (38 photos total)

Chinese folk artists perform the lion dance at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year on January 22, 2012 in Beijing. Also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar calendar, it is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with the Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

An Arctic Adventure

Spring has arrived and we’re all excited about the first blossoms, green grass and fluffy baby animals. It has even arrived in the Arctic. It might be a place dominated by ice, snow, freezing temperatures and biting wind, but it can be amazingly beautiful when the sun is shining.

 01. A helicopter drops off supplies at a remote warming station near the 2011 Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in this March 18, 2011 picture. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

The Royal Wedding

Under cool, gray skies billions watched from outside Westminster Abbey and on television worldwide as 1900 invited guests inside witnessed as Prince William and his longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton were married in one of the largest events in London in decades. A little over an hour after they arrived at the Abbey to be married, the couple emerged on a red carpet and onto the streets to a peal of bells and into a horse-drawn carriage, heading toward Buckingham Palace. The prince had married what the British call a commoner; now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (titles granted by Queen Elizabeth II). The couple stepped out onto a balcony a short time later to greet the enormous crowd along the Mall - a tradition at royal weddings. They kissed for the first time in public as a married couple as a cheer went up from the crowd. -- Paula Nelson (36 photos total)

Catherine (Kate) Middleton arrives at Westminster Abbey before her marriage to Britain's Prince William in central London. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

Lolita Fashion In Japan

01. A shop attendant dressed in lolita fashion poses at Marui One, a branch of department store group Marui Co. Ltd., in Tokyo's Shinjuku district March 2, 2009. Suffering under tough economic conditions, Japanese department stores have been shutting stores and merging to survive. But department store group Marui Co. Ltd. is using a different strategy. They are remodelling their Shinjuku ward shops to target even narrower niche customer groups, beginning with their Marui One store. Within Marui One, which opened last month, there are more than 30 boutiques catering to consumers of Gothic, Lolita, Punk, Street and modern Asian brands. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Tech Junkie: Hot hybrids

Porsche is taking orders for its 918 Spyder hybrid with a 718-horsepower swagger courtesy of an angry 500-horsepower 4.0 liter V8 and a pair of torquey 109 hp electric motors. Yet the powertrain will deliver an economical 78 mpg with a 3.1 second 0-60 and has a 199 mph top speed. $845,000.

Edible ornamentals

Orange, yellow, cream, red, white, purplewelcome to the kaleidoscopic world of Marbles pepper. With so many colors coming from one plant, this hot pepper can actually act as a unifier in an annual border that is a motley rainbow mix of flowers.

13 Craziest Wall Hooks

Modern Paris and Paris 1940

Very interesting historical project of Sergey Larenkova. On each of his work combines modern Paris and Paris 1940.

By early June 1940 the main forces of the French armies were broken or cut off to the north. The road to Paris with the German troops had broken through was open. 14 July 1940 the German army entered Paris. Started during the occupation. Upper picture - Paris, 1940. Hitler leadership of the Reich at the Trocadero | Paris, 2010. Military governor, General Henri Fernand Denz declared Paris an "open city", the empty three-quarters of the capital a month after the beginning of Germany's active military operations against France, were without fighting German troops. Paris, 1940. German soldiers marching down the Arc de Triomphe. 17 More images after the break...