New Year's attraction

A woman in a kimono feeds fish to rehearse for a New Year's attraction at the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo Dec. 28, 2006.

Preparation for coming new year

The entrance of a department store in Shanghai is decorated into numbers of "2007" on the eve of the new year on December 28, 2006. (newsphoto)

Top 10 Chinese athletes for 2006 (2)

Ding Junhui-Chinese snooker prodigy. He won the Northern Ireland Trophy after beating four world top 10 ranked players and bagged three golds in the Asian Games.

Top 10 Chinese athletes for 2006 (1)

Following is a list of the top 10 Chinese athletes for the year of 2006 selected by Xinhua News Agency. Liu Xiang-Olympic champion 110m hurdler. He set the 110m hurdles world record of 12.88 seconds and swept most of the events he entered in 2006.

China's top 10 domestic news of 2006 (2)

Xinhua News Agency has selected its top 10 domestic news items of 2006. On July 1, the world's most elevated railway, Qinghai-Tibet Railway, went into operation from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa, capital to Tibet Autonomous Region.

China's top 10 domestic news of 2006 (1)

Xinhua News Agency has selected its top 10 domestic news items of 2006. President Hu Jintao, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, raised the "socialist concept of honor and disgrace" on March 4, while meeting with members of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

World's biggest Northeast Tiger breeding centre

A tiger takes food in Heilongjiang Northeast Tiger Forest Park, world's biggest Northeast Tiger breeding centre, in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province December 28, 2006. The tiger population in this centre has exceeded 750.

New James Bond movie to open in China

The poster for the movie "Casino Royale". Twenty-one James Bond films with six different stars have been produced in 45 years, but the latest flick in the long-running franchise "Casino Royale" will be the first to screen on the mainland.

Man lives in cage for 5 years

A man looks out of a cage in Liaocheng, East China's Shandong Province December 26. The man surnamed Li, 43, suffered from psychosis five years ago due to his family discordance. He broke furniture, houses or beat villagers as his illness outbroke. His relatives had to put him into an iron cage after no enough money to pay his treatment.

Five killed in residential area explosion in N.China

A nurse attends to a man injured during the explosion in a residential area at a hospital in Ulanqab City, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, December 28, 2006. Five people died and eight were injured in two consecutive explosions in Jining District of Ulanqab City, Xinhua reported. A preliminary investigation said the accident was caused by detonator explosion.

Attempted assault on Russian airliner forces emergency landing

Photo taken on Dec. 28, 2006 shows people and an ambulance arrive at Prague airport after a Russian airliner made an emergency landing because a passenger threatened to damage the plane and demanded a change of its destination.

Premier Wen: China adheres to family planning policy

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L, front) shakes hands with a representative during the national conference on population and family planning in Beijing, capital of China on Dec. 26, 2006. The Chinese government will adhere to the basic policy of family planning with improved services and stronger leadership, said Premier Wen Jiabao at a national conference.

Somali troops enter abandoned capital

Somali militiamen hold weapons they looted after Islamists Courts Council fled Mogadishu December 28, 2006. Triumphant Somali government forces marched into Mogadishu on Thursday after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they have held for six months in the face of an Ethiopian-backed advance.