1. China ... three-year-old Yang Yang kisses a beluga whale during a publicity photo call at the Qingdao Polar Ocean World, June 2, 2007 / Reuters photo

2. Serbia ... soldiers practise riot control techniques at a base in the western Kosovo town of Pec on March 25, 2007 / Reuters photo

3. United Kingdom ... a reveller slides in the mud during the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset, June 22, 2007 / Reuters photo

4. Guatemala ... a giant sinkhole that swallowed several homes in Guatemala City, February 23, 2007 / Reuters photo

5. Philippines ... students wearing rubber boots use chairs as a make-shift bridg e to get to a classroom in Taytay, north of Manila, July 18, 2007 / Reuters photo

6. USA ... boots representing Corporal Timothy D. Ross sit among more than 3400 pairs of combat boots, one pair for every US soldier killed in the Iraq War / Reuters photo

7. Palestinian territories ... Hamas fighters inside the personal meeting hal l of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after they captured his headquarters in Gaza June 15, 2007 / Reuters photo

8. China ... a labourer in the dust at the construction site of the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, in Beijing May 17, 2007 / Reuters photo

9. Democratic Republic of Congo ... officials look at four mountain gorillas that were illegally killed in the Virunga National Park, July 26, 2007 / Reuters photo

10. Austria ... women dressed as clowns in front of a work by British artist Damien Hirst titled "Iodomethane - 13C" at the Kunsthaus in Bregenz, February 17, 2007 / Reuters photo

11. Australia ... Jimiyu, an 18-month-old male giraffe looks out the back of a transport truc k on his way to his new home at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, August 22, 2007 / Reuters photo

12. South Africa ... surfers in an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the highest number of riders on a single wave at Muizenberg in Cape Town September 2, 2007 / Reuters photo

13. USA ... the tiny feet of Amilia Sonja Taylor, the world's most premature living baby, after her birth at Baptist Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida / Reuters photo

14. Poland ... a banner of prime minister and leader of PiS (Law and Justice) Jaroslaw Kaczynski is taken down from a building in the centre of Warsaw, October 30, 2007 / Reuters photo

15. France ... an official takes the rifle of a Republican guard soldier after she fainted during Bastille Day parade in Paris, July 14, 2007 / Reuters photo

16. USA ... contestants compete in the WE television network's "Bridezilla-Ultimate Cake Eating Contest" in New York's Times Square June 12, 2007 / Reuters photo

17. United Arab Emirates ... riders pass a chemical plant during the sixth stage of the Tour of Qatar race from Sealine Beach Resort to Doha February 2, 2007 / Reuters photo

18. Poland ... a combination of pictures shows two planes from the Zelazny aerobatics team crashing at the Radom Air Show, September 1, 2007 / Reuters photo

19. Colombia ... revellers perform during a parade at the Carnaval de Barranquilla in Barranquilla, February 18, 2007 / Reuters photo

20. China ... a murder suspect is shot by a water cannon at a hospital in Shenyang, April 3, 2007 / Reuters photo

21. South Korea ... members of the South Korean Marine Corps scrub their bodies with snow during an annual winter season drill in Pyongchang / Reuters photo

22. Indonesia ... children play on a railway track in a slum area in Jakarta, January 30, 2007 / Reuters photo

23. Scotland ... France's Gregory Havret is drenched in champagne after winning the Barclay's Scottish Open golf tournament, July 15, 2007 / Reuters photo

24. Autonomous province of Kosovo ... a Kosovo Serb priest walks through a demolished church at a graveyard in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, February 10, 2007 / Reuters photo

25. India ... a boy plays in the waves of the Arabian sea at a beach in Mumbai, July 17, 2007 / Reuters photo

26. Taiwan ... a crocodile at a zoo in the southern city of Kaohsiung holds the forearm of a zoo veterinarian in its teeth, April 11, 2007 / Reuters photo

27. China ... a man walks on the handrail of a staircase at a flooded street in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, July 17, 2007 / Reuters photo

28. Malaysia ... toothless kangal, or "doctor" fish, nibble the dead skin of a customer's feet at Malaysia's first fish spa in Kuala Lumpur, November 13, 2007 / Reuters photo

29. Malaysia ... Diana Hadi, a staff member at the Tiara Beach Resort, in a swimming pool with 20,000 apples in an attempt to set the national record for the most number of apples used in spa therapy / Reuters photo

30. Japan ... the charred remains of a China Airlines plane on the tarmac on the island of Okinawa, August 20, 2007 / Reuters photo

31. Japan ... a boy watches the beetle sumo competition of the IWBC (Insect World Battle Championships) in a miniature ring in Tokyo, August 26, 2007 / Reuters photo

32. Iraq ... male and female pilgrims are separated by a barrier at the Imam Hussein shrine in the holy city of Kerbala, March 8, 2007 / Reuters photo

33. Germany ... polar bear cub Knut plays during his first outing in the Berlin Zoo on March 23, 2007 / Reuters photo

34. India ... a volunteer runs with a blanket to help a performer during a dare-devil act called "The Great Fire Escape" in the city of Hyderabad, March 25, 2007 / Reuters photo

35. Japan ... Austria's Gunther Weidlinger falls during the heats of the men's 3000m steeplechase at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championship in Osaka, August 26, 2007 / Reuters photo

36. Greece ... a firefighter watches a firefighting airplane unload water during a forest fire raging out of control near the village of Karytena, September 1, 2007 / Reuters photo

37. China ... the world's tallest living man, Bao Xishun, a 2.36m tall herdsman meets He Pingping, who measures just a 0.73m / Reuters photo

38. East Timor ... a voter shows his ink-stained finger after casting the ballot in Dili June 30, 2007 / Reuters photo

39. Baluchistan province ... villagers surrounded by flood water near Shahdad Kot, July 3, 2007 / Reuters photo

40. Brazil ... carnival revellers of the Unidos da Tijuca samba school parade during the second night of competition between the schools in Rio de Janeiro, February 19, 2007 / Reuters