A traditional Chinese opera actress wearing a face shield poses for a picture during Lunar New Year celebrations in Bangkok, Thailand, February 12, 2021. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters)

Women wearing masks and shields take a selfie in front of a praying altar during Lunar New Year in Chinatown in Manila, Philippines, February 12, 2021. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

Participants take part in a parade in traditional attire to celebrate Tamu Lhosar, a New Year festival of the Gurung community in Kathmandu, Nepal on December 30, 2024. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A student poses with her painted face, ahead of New Year celebrations at a college in Chennai on December 28, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

Devotees offer prayers during New Year's Day at a Hindu temple in Colombo on January 1, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

China’s new tallest building has received unexpected publicity thanks to Russian free climbers Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Raskalov. The pair took two hours to climb 650 metres up the unfinished Shanghai Tower. They did not use safety equipment on their ascent to the top of a crane attached to the tower, from where they took these extraordinary pictures of Shanghai. Photo: Vitaly Raskalov's feet dangle from the top of the Shanghai Tower, high above the Shanghai World Financial Centre. (Photo by Vitaly Raskalov/Caters News Agency)

Nothing special – just Russians celebrate the New Year. Yep, not everything in Russia is Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky.

Two men cross the street in front of a burned-out bus standing beneath a residential building, in the district Neukoelln in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. People across Germany on Saturday resumed their tradition of setting off large numbers of fireworks in public places to see in the new year. The bus was set on fire during the New Year's celebrations. (Photo by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo)