Volunteers from China teach Chinese in Ethiopia

Since August 2005, 12 young volunteers from China rendered their free service to Ethiopia. This is the first time that volunteers from China launched a voluntary service campaign in Africa in the fields of the teaching of Chinese and PE, medication and health, IT as well as the exploration of methane.

Indians rehearse for the Republic Day parade

Indian honor guards march ahead in rehearsals for the Republic Day parade in New Delhi, capital of India, Jan. 18, 2006. India's 57th Republic Day will be celebrated on January 26, 2006.

Low-cost trading hit Tokyo shares hard

Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) President Taizo Nishimuro (C) speaks at an urgently convened news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 18, 2006. The TSE suspended trading of all listed shares at 2:40 p.m. (0540 GMT) Wednesday for the rest of the day, saying that flooding orders from investors have reached its computer system's processing capacity due to a scandal caused by Livedoor Co.'s falsification of reported earnings.

Severe cold grips Moscow

Soldiers relieve guard in central Moscow of Russia Jan. 18, 2006. The temperature in Moscow dropped to around -30 degrees Celsius early Wednesday morning.

China tie France 1-1 in Four-Nation Tournament

China's Han Duan (R) fights for the ball with a French player during the first round of the Four-Nation Women's Football Tournament in Guangzhou, south China, Jan 18, 2006. The game finished 1-1.

Traditional Chinese opera in Finnish language

Local performers act during a press preview in Helsinki of Finland Jan. 17, 2006. A traditional Chinese opera drama Magistrate Qiao's Mishandling Marriage is adapted into a drama in Finnish language by Kong, a clown role master in Chinese opera, and will be put on the stage on Jan.26, 2006 in Helsinki. The story, a melodramatic comedy about 4 young people's disarranged love story with a happy ending, is so famous among Chinese that it has become a source of a common literary quotation.

New human bird flu case reported in SW China

A medical staff member disinfects the road in Jianyang, a city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Jan. 18, 2006. China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced another human case of bird flu in Jianyang, bringing the country's total death toll from the disease to six.

Tzipi Livni appointed Israeli FM

Newly appointed Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni attends a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Jan. 18, 2006. Livni, a 47-year-old lawyer, was named as Israel's second ever woman foreign minister, after acting Premier Ehud Olmert reshuffled and expanded the cabinet.

Third round of talks between India, Pakistan

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan gives a speech at the press conferences in New Delhi, capital city of India, on Jan. 18, 2006. India and Pakistan began two days of talks here Tuesday in what is the third round of their composite dialogue that will be devoted largely to confidence building and finding ways to resolve the difficult Kashmir issue.

Chinese, DPRK leaders hold talks

Hu Jintao (R), general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, shakes hands with Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Jan. 17, 2006.