PICTURES

People burn incense at temples to pray for good health and fortune and flock to temple fairs to watch dragon dances and Chinese opera.

Over Syrian 1,000 civilians, many of them children, were killed in the first week of February alone as air strikes hit hospitals, schools and markets.

Donald Trump is a typical Fire Dog: hot-tempered, talkative and argumentative. Chinese astrologers predict his second year in office will be even more tempestuous than his first.

Jacob Zuma has quit as president of South Africa. He has been embroiled in a rape trial, corruption, an arms deal, using public money for his home and association with the Guptas.

Ashbourne is home to one of Britain's oldest and bloodiest sporting traditions: the Royal Shrovetide Football Match, played every year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

Three nominees for each of the eight photo contest categories, and – for the first time – a shortlist of six nominees for the World Press Photo of the Year.

This most important of Hindu festivals falls on Tuesday 13 through to Wednesday 14 February 2018.

Nearly 3,000 dogs are competing to win Best in Show at the 142nd annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York.

Behind the ostrich feathers and sequins, the parades tackle serious matters such as crime, corruption, drugs, poverty and intolerance towards the LGBT community.

Heartwarming image of Pikin the gorilla resting in the arms of her human companion Appolinaire in the back of a car wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award.

A panorama photograph of motorbikes in a World War Two shipwreck in the Red Sea has won Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018.

Germany celebrates its annual Rose Monday carnival in traditional fashion: with floats featuring huge, unflattering puppets of politicians.

Teams throw 500,000 kilograms of oranges at each other as the northern Italian town of Ivrea marks the start of carnival season.

Seven of Rio de Janeiro's elite samba schools danced through the specially-built Sambadrome on the first night of the city's famous Carnival parades.

People living along the California coast are being treated to a living light show as tiny glowing phytoplankton light up the waves at Big Sur.

Over 19,000 children are thought to have been recruited, often by force, by armed groups on all sides of South Sudan's brutal civil war.

Escape to somewhere exotic and tropical this winter: the 23rd annual orchid festival at Kew Gardens in southwest London.

The spectacular costumes – covered in feathers, sequins and jewels – can be more than 5m high and weigh over 80kg.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 384 people, including 94 children, have been killed in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region since 29 January.

Netanyahu's government is offering 20,000 male migrants, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea, $3,500 (£2,500) and a plane ticket to what it says is a safe destination in Africa.

In pictures: The most exciting cars on show at Retromobile 2018, including the Ferrari FXX, a stunning 1938 Bugatti and a pristine Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet.

Photos show buildings in Hualien leaning at sharp angles, their lowest floors crushed into mangled heaps of concrete, shattered glass and bent iron beams.

Poland's president says he will sign a bill outlawing suggestions the Polish nation or state was complicit in Nazi crimes.

An 11-year-old girl was the only one person at home when the helicopter crashed into her house. She managed to escape with only a minor knee injury,

Torrential rains have caused havoc in Jakarta and neighbouring West Java, as flooding and landslides have killed at least five people.

The Alps Ski Resort was one of South Korea's first winter sports destinations, attracting tens of thousands of skiers every year, until it abruptly shut in 2006.

The Berlin Wall has now been dismantled for as long as it stood - 28 years, two months and 26 days, or 10,316 days in total.

The world's largest annual migration is underway as hundreds of millions of Chinese people head back home to celebrate the Lunar New Year with their families.

IBTimes UK presents a gallery featuring the best photos of the most creative costumes and masks at this year's Venice Carnival.