Dec 28, 2013

Winter swimmers, playing cricket, Greenpeace activists release and more in today’s daily brief.

: Visitors walk past a giant snow sculpture ahead of the 30th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province December 28, 2013. The festival kicks off on January 5, 2014. (REUTERS/Sheng Li)

: A winter swimmer gestures as he jumps into the icy water of partially frozen Songhua River in Harbin, Heilongjiang province December 28, 2013. The temperature in Harbin on Saturday reached as low as minus 21 degrees Celsius (minus 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit). (REUTERS/Sheng Li)

: Australia’s Nathan Lyon (2nd R) celebrates his 100th test wicket with team mates during the third day of the fourth Ashes cricket test against England at the Melbourne cricket ground December 28, 2013. (REUTERS/David Gray)

: A South Korean worker looks at messages displaying requests for the government during a general strike in front of Seoul City Hall Plaza in Seoul December 28, 2013. About 30,000 South Korean workers attend the rally against government decision to set up a unit to run a high-speed bullet train which they say will lead to privatisation and layoffs. (REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji)

: Workers repair damaged windows at the Starco building in front of the site of a bomb blast, which killed Lebanon’s former Finance Minister Mohamad Chatah, in downtown Beirut December 28, 2013. Chatah, who opposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was killed in a massive bomb blast on Friday which one of his political allies blamed on the Shi’ite Hezbollah militia. Former prime minister Saad al-Hariri accused Hezbollah of involvement in the killing of Chatah, his 62-year-old political adviser, saying it was “a new message of terrorism”. (REUTERS/Jamal Saidi )

: Greenpeace activist Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel (R) from Brazil, one of the 30 people arrested over a Greenpeace protest at the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, is greeted by her grandmother Ignez Maciel during her arrival at her hometown Porto Alegre, south Brazil December 28, 2013. Maciel was released from prison in St. Petersburg on November 20. (REUTERS/Edison Vara)

: Poland’s World Cup overall leader Kamil Stoch soars through the air during the practice for the first jumping of the 62nd four-hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, southern Germany, December 28, 2013. The prestigious four-hills tournament starts in Oberstdorf today and will end in Bischofshofen on January 6. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

: Sunderland’s Steven Fletcher scores a goal against Cardiff City during their English Premier League soccer match at Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, December 28, 2013. (REUTERS/Rebecca Naden)

: Wounded South Sudan military personnel lie in bed as they undergo medical treatment at the general military hospital in capital Juba December 28, 2013. South Sudan said on Friday it was ready for a ceasefire and would release eight of 11 senior politicians arrested over an alleged coup plot, raising hopes it was edging towards a deal to end ethnic-based fighting ravaging the world’s newest nation. (REUTERS/James Akena)

: A child is rescued from under the rubble of a collapsed building in the Maysar neighbourhood of Aleppo December 28, 2013. The building collapsed after two air strikes in the neighbourhood by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday, activists said. (REUTERS/Jalal Alhalabi)

: Demonstrators run away from tear gas during an anti-government protest in central Istanbul December 27, 2013. Protesters demanding Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan resign over a high-level corruption scandal clashed with riot police in Istanbul on Friday, while across the city thousands staged a rival show of support for the embattled leader. Picture taken December 27, 2013. (REUTERS/Cevahir Bugu)

: Demonstrators use fireworks against riot police during an anti-government protest in central Istanbul December 27, 2013. Protesters demanding Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan resign over a high-level corruption scandal clashed with riot police in Istanbul on Friday, while across the city thousands staged a rival show of support for the embattled leader. Picture taken December 27, 2013. (REUTERS/Cevahir Bugu)