Germany ... polar bear cub

Knut plays during his first

outing in the Berlin Zoo.

Reuters year in pictures Part 2.

Italy ... Japan's Kazuhiro

Koshi crosses the finish line

during the men's

skeleton world cup tour

in Cesana Pariol,

northern Italy.

Autonomous province of Kosovo ... a Kosovo Albanian

protester flees after UN police fired tear gas

during clashes in Pristina.

Colombia ... charcoal seller Carlos Vasquez rests in the Caribbean

city of Cartagena.

Sri Lanka ... an elephant destroys a minibus after throwing its rider and going on a rampage during Sri

Lanka's sixth annual elephant polo tournament.

India ... a boy plays in the waves of the Arabian sea at a

beach in Mumbai.

Taiwan ... a crocodile at a zoo in

the southern city of

Kaohsiung holds the

forearm of a zoo

veterinarian in its teeth.

Australia ... the moon is visible during a total lunar eclipse

above one of the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

Netherlands ... children play near a 2.5m Lego man that was fished out of

the sea in the Dutch resort of

Zandvoort.

China ... a man walks on the handrail of a staircase at a flooded street in southwest China's Chongqing

municipality.

Austria ... Germany's

Tino Edelmann soars through the air during

the Nordic combined World Cup event in Seefeld.

Malaysia ... toothless kangal, or "doctor" fish, nibble the dead skin of a customer's feet at Malaysia's first fish

spa in Kuala Lumpur

China ... a child gets a haircut on a

street in Nanjing, in eastern China's Jiangsu province.

Russia ... a soft toy lies amid flowers in

the burned-out school gym in Beslan, on the anniversary of the

2004 hostage crisis.

Netherlands ... Anak, a 31-year-old Orang Utan, holds her five-day-old baby Apie in her arms in

Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen.

United Kingdom ... workers clean the clock face of Big Ben above the Houses of Parliament in London.

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

used in spa therapy.used in spa therapy.

Japan ... a boy watches the beetle sumo

competition of the IWBC

(Insect World Battle

Championships) in a miniature ring in Tokyo.

Indonesia ... the Anak Krakatau volcano spews smoke

and lava in the Sunda strait.

Iraq ... male and female pilgrims are separated by a barrier at the Imam Hussein shrine in the holy city of

Kerbala.

United Kingdom ... steam rises from a power station behind the Royd Moor Wind Farm in

Penistone in northern England.

China ... a winter swimmer dives into a river in Heihe, northeast China's Heilongjiang

province.

USA ... a dog tag ID is wedged

between panels of the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Greece ... a firefighter watches a

firefighting airplane unload water during a

forest fire raging out of

control near the village of Karytena.

China ... the world's tallest living man, Bao Xishun, a

2.36m (7 feet, 9 inches) tall herdsman meets He Pingping, who measures just a 0.73m (2

feet, 5 inches).

East Timor ... a voter shows his ink-stained finger after casting the ballot in Dili.

Baluchistan province ... villagers surrounded by flood water near Shahdad Kot.

Greece ... a dead bird lies

on the dry lake Koronia, 550km north of Athens.

Brazil ... carnival revellers of the Unidos da Tijuca samba school

parade during the second night of

competition between the schools in Rio de

Janeiro.Roelof.