“The popularity of the Internet in China has driven the explosive growth of profitable Web companies and made fortunes for some Chinese entrepreneurs despite government controls on what the public can see online. The number of mainland Internet users rose to 513 million in December, up 12 percent from a year earlier, the government-sanctioned China Internet Network Information Center said”. – AP Business Writer

Photo: Shi Yongxin, abbot of the Shaolin Temple, works on the computer April 8, 2005 in Dengfeng, Henan Province, China. (Photo by Cancan Chu/Getty Images)

A woman uses the Aurasma app on an iPad which displays a virtual 3D animation of a Thundercat character which her colleague pretends to fight at the 2012 London Toy Fair at Olympia Exhibition Centre on January 24, 2012 in London, England. The annual fair, which is organised by the British Toy and Hobby Association, brings together toy manufacturers with retailers from around the world. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

“LSD Photo Advertising Studio is comprised of Marco and Paolo. They are photographers who compose, shoot and post-produce all of their images together. For over ten years, they have been creating images from start to finish. Marco and Paolo have different backgrounds of experience: Paolo started as an illustrator then a photographer, and now he’s at Marco’s side and in his head throughout shooting. In turn, Paolo does all the post-production with Marco in his head and at his side. Marco has always worked as photographer”. – Tim Mitchell

'Military woman' is a constantly updated gallery of images of women wearing uniform: military, police and so on. We truly hope that our beloved visitors won't remain passive and will take part in this project making it even more interesting! Note that all the images featured in the gallery are taken from publically available sources: their copyright belongs to their respective creators and the trade mark to the owners. ...

American sculptor Michael Alfano has been sculpting for over fifteen years. A native of New York, he now lives and works in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. His major influences are Salvador Dali, Jo Davidson, and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as Buddhist, Taoist, Sufi and other eastern philosophy and literature. He first studied at the Art Students League of New York, with an emphasis on life-size sculpture from the model. His formal education continued at Boston University and was augmented by internships with several prominent sculptors.

Afghanistan, published by Taschen later July, is a retrospective portfolio of the Magnum photographer Steve McCurry’s most striking images of the country, from 1979 to 2016. Here: Kunar province, 1980. Armed mujahideen carry animal skins to use as inflatable buoys to cross rapids. (Photo by Steve McCurry/Taschen/Magnum Photos/The Guardian)

A Chinese tourist wears protective gloves as she holds a baby Siberian tiger as they pose for pictures at the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park on August 16, 2017 in Harbin, northern China. The center is one of two Siberian tiger parks in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Russia. It is considered the world's largest for breeding the Siberian, or Amur, tiger which is listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Federation. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here: Honorable Mention by Emre Can Alagöz, Istanbul, Turkey: The eyes of a jumping spider, magnified 6x. (Photo by Emre Can Alagöz/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)