Celebrations will carry on into the early hours of Sunday, officially the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Residents of Beijing braved freezing temperatures to let off brightly coloured fireworks, with clouds of smoke in the air, red wrappings from firecrackers covering streets and explosions rattling windows.

A plea by the government to set off fewer fireworks to help deal with Beijing's notorious air pollution seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"Every year we set off fireworks and this year will be no different," said Lao Guo, 45, a convenience store worker.

"People won't not set them off because of pollution. It's the custom."

Firecrackers are believed to scare off evil spirits and entice the god of wealth to people's doorsteps once New Year's Day arrives.

China's cosmopolitan business hub, Shanghai, saw similar scenes, though not everyone had reason for cheer.

"Business now is very weak. It's related to the financial crisis," said Chen Yongliang, who used to run a street stall. "The US and other major countries have seen their economies slide and we've gone with them."

Maintaining a tradition of leaders visiting ordinary folk at this time of year, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who takes over as president in March from Hu Jintao, met subway construction workers in Beijing ahead of the week-long holiday.

"Migrant workers have been the labour force behind China's reform and opening up ... so we must look after you properly," Xi said in comments carried on state television.

"I hope the construction firm has organised some new year entertainment for you so you can have a happy holiday," added Xi, who has tried to cultivate an easy-going, man-of-the-people image since becoming party boss in November.

People born in the year of the snake, including Xi, are believed to be thoughtful and stylish yet complex characters.

Practitioners of the ancient art of feng shui say the year ahead will see financial markets slither higher as optimism grows, though the risk of disasters and territorial disputes in Asia also looms.

The lunar new year is marked by the largest annual mass migration on earth, as hundreds of millions of migrant workers pack trains, buses, aircraft and boats to spend the festival with their families.

For many Chinese people, this is their only holiday of the year.

Almost half of Beijing's population of 20 million have left the city for the holiday, according to state media.

Taboos abound over this period. Crying on New Year's Day means you will cry for the rest of the year, and washing your hair signifies washing away good luck.

Woe betide those who clean on new year's day, for you will be sweeping away good fortune in the year ahead.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since a war over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, as the Soviet Union fell apart, killed 30,000 people.

Human Rights Watch condemned the threat against Akram Aylisli, who held the title of "People's Author" in Azerbaijan before being stripped the honor by the president last week after the story "Stone Dreams" enraged Azeris.


The work, which was published in a Russian magazine, in part tells the story of how some Azeris tried to protect their Armenian neighbors when Armenians were being tortured and beaten in Baku in 1990.

With nearly 1 million displaced people from the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh living in Azerbaijan and both states suffering the economic and social effects of the war, the topic of ethnic relations is a hornet's nest.

The leader of Azeri pro-government party Muasir Musavat (Modern Equality) told Reuters on Tuesday the party was offering 10,000 manats, nearly $13,000, for anyone who cut off Aylisli's ear.

"(Aylisli) insulted the entire Azeri nation," party leader Hafiz Haciyev said in his party office in Baku. "As he has insulted us we wanted to respond, and that is why we have decided ... that his ear must be chopped off."

Even before Haciyev's threat, officials from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party called on Aylisli to withdraw the novel from sale and ask for the nation's forgiveness. There have been protests outside his home in Baku.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev last week signed a decree stripping Aylisli of his title of "People's Writer", one of the country's highest cultural honors, which he had held since 1998.

New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Azerbaijan on Tuesday to stop the campaign of intimidation against him.

"The government of Azerbaijan has an obligation to protect safety and security and investigate any threats against the writer, whose only fault is that he expressed his mind," said Georgy Gogia, South Caucasus researcher for the group.

"In fact, the government is often spearheading this smear campaign," he said.

A truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia was signed in 1994, but there was no peace treaty. Violence still flares sporadically along the ceasefire line and Azerbaijan's border with Armenia - underlining the risk of a conflict in the South Caucasus, where Turkey, Russia and Iran have interests.

The enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh has about 160,000 people and runs its own affairs with heavy Armenian military and financial backing since the war. Oil-producing Azerbaijan often threatens to take it back by force, though it says it favors diplomacy.

With stars shining overhead and ice crystals glittering in the air, the temperature had dropped to minus 10 Celsius, or 14 Fahrenheit. Conditions were nearly perfect to harvest fruit for this year's icewine, a Canadian specialty.

Malivoire, one of the Niagara region's boutique wineries, picks its icewine grapes by hand. For this annual rite of winter it relies on a corps of more than a dozen volunteers, selected by a lottery, to get the grapes off the vine and crushed at just the right moment.

One of those chosen for this year's harvest was Susan Smith, 64, a first-time picker who said she was attracted to the mystique of icewine.


"This experience is something I've wanted to have for a long time," she said. "Having those juicy, fragrant little bunches in your hands and being out under the stars."

COMPLEX, FRUITY

Icewine is almost a nectar that is rich with the flavors of apple, peach and apricot. Its hints of honey, nuts and, maybe, a dash of caramel provide a refreshing counterpoint to a blue cheese or fruit-based dessert.

"There is nothing else quite like icewine ... It's a guilty pleasure," said Eric Nixon, who works at Malivoire, adding that the wines - which sell for about double the price of most non-vintage Champagnes - are often associated with special occasions.

Ontario is Canada's icewine capital, accounting for up to 95 percent of the country's production, according to Wine Country Ontario, which represents the province's winemakers.

By provincial law winemakers cannot put the "icewine" label on their product unless the grapes have been picked in temperatures no warmer than minus 8 degrees C (18 degrees Fahrenheit). And the grapes must have sugar level of at least 35 Brix, which is a way of measuring the amount of sugar in a solution. That's close to the sweetness of maple or corn syrup.

Most years harvesting must take place in the dead of night in order to achieve those conditions and the winemaker can usually only give the volunteers a few hours notice at most.

"We have to take the first opportunity," said Molivier's winemaker Shiraz Mottiar. "You can't be casual about it."

In the past, he has called off the harvest even as the volunteers gathered along the vineyard's edge because the temperature had inched above the minimum.

This year, with the pickers working at about minus 10 degrees C, sugar levels came in at 37.8 Brix. "Perfect," Mottiar said. "Right where I'm always aiming,"

Shortly after Malivoire opened, it began to recruit volunteers to help with the 1997 harvest and to its surprise, there was no shortage of candidates. Most years the winery selects just enough people to do the job, leaving others to remain warm and asleep in their beds - and on a waiting list.

In return for their hard work, volunteers will see their name on the back label of Malivoire 2012 Gewurztraminer Icewine, expected to be released in mid-2014.

RISKY BUSINESS

It is a risky business to make icewine. Leaving the selected vines unharvested for so long means that they could be ravaged by wildlife or mold or rot.

Even in the best years, yields are relatively small, making the juice at least four to five times more expensive than that used for table wines.

The price also adds another layer of risk for the winery, especially in a tough economy.

"Icewine is an expensive luxury item. When the economy goes south, those sorts of items aren't a priority for people to buy," Mottiar said.

Icewine is big business for Ontario representing 4 percent of the province's total wine output, according to VQA Ontario, the province's wine authority.

Canada has become one of the world's major icewine producers competing with Germany and Austria, where it is called Eiswein. New York State's Finger Lakes region and Switzerland are also among the colder climes that make icewine.

"Icewine is a significant attraction," especially in January when the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival takes place, said Magdalena Kaiser-Smit, public relations director for Wine Country Ontario.

OBVIOUS CONCERN

Climate change is an obvious concern, and some worry that the Niagara region may grow too warm to guarantee a reliable icewine harvest every year.

Barry Cooke, 59, a veteran picker since 2004, recalls that Malivoire's 2008 harvest took place over two days, with a large haul of three different varieties of grapes - Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Cabernet Franc.

By contrast, this year's icewine harvest produced a relatively small yield from a single variety. The two hours of picking on that January night produced enough grapes to make about 1,000 bottles.

"We got half of what we wanted," Mottiar said.

Even so, the winemaker said the experience is like nothing else.

"It comes full circle," he said. "People come together for a one-time harvest and have a celebration afterwards. It's all about the process of making it...The flavor that has developed through the process can't be simulated."

($1 = 0.9837 Canadian dollars)

Ko opens the defence of her NSW Open title in Sydney this week, a victory which opened the floodgates on a record-breaking 2012 season.

At 14 she became the youngest player, male or female, to win a professional tournament and after turning 15 the youngest ever winner on the LPGA Tour at the Canadian Open.

"When I went to prize givings and people say what I have done for that year it was like 'Oh my God I actually did that?'" Ko told Australian media on Thursday.

"I'm not a person that when I get a win it sinks in straight away," added Ko, who also won the US amateur championship.

"I was really shocked after seeing what I did. Having an LPGA win as an amateur, it doesn't come that often, so it was a year that's nearly impossible to repeat."

The South Korean-born Ko was also the leading amateur at the British and US Open, rounding off a remarkable 2012 by winning the individual title at the world amateur championship.

"I think I was meant to be the richest sportswomen in New Zealand and it would have been great to have that money," said Ko, also set for a flood of endorsements in the future.

"But especially after the NSW Open because I knew that I wasn't going to get any money anyway, I didn't really have interest.

"I didn't know how much it was until the media said 'you could have got $300,000 at the Canadian Open.' That could have been a nice house."

Ko, who began playing golf in Auckland when she was five, insisted she will turn professional when the time is right.

"There's no point in me going in there when I don't think I'm ready and I'm not that confident," she said. "I think there will be a point in time where I think it's the right time.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to wait many many years. A certain time will come suddenly without me noticing."

Not old enough to drive, Ko was given a parking spot for the defence of her NSW title.

"It gives me a little bit of pressure, especially after they gave me a parking spot," she said. "I was thinking 'Oh my god, I should play well.'

"I came second two years ago, last year, I came first, so my goal at this tournament is top five."

The practice is prevalent in 28 African countries and parts of the Middle East and Asia, notably Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and Indonesia. There are several types including partial or total removal of the genitalia and narrowing of the vaginal opening.

It is usually arranged by other women in the family for girls between infancy and 15, and performed by traditional cutters who use anything from razor blades to scissors or tin can lids.

The United Nations passed a resolution in December urging countries to ban the practice that an estimated 100 to 140 million girls worldwide have been subjected to, putting them at risk of serious physical and psychological problems.

But participants at an international meeting in Rome said new laws needed to be accompanied by education and discussion in traditional communities to help dispel misleading myths.

"Religious leaders have to be involved, primarily Muslims and those from traditional religions. Opinion leaders have to be on board in this fight," Benin's Family and Social Affairs Minister Fatouma Amadou Djibril said.

"We can uphold traditions but we have to find ways to replace this kind of practice with different rituals," she said.

People often believe the practice is required by religion, but it is not mentioned in the Koran or any other religious text.

Speakers at the Rome meeting said it was crucial to inform and educate the women who were perpetuating the practice, often because they worry they will be punished by ancestors in the afterlife for not performing it on relatives.

"We need to explain to the women, because they don't understand how it can be prevented - it has such important societal implications," Ivory Coast Health Minister Raymonde Coffie Goudou said.

"The traditional practitioner who uses the knife has value, she has a reputation, she is a woman with a role in the village - we have to understand her to deal with this," she said.

The practice can cause severe bleeding, pain, shock, recurrent urinary tract infections, cysts and infertility. It increases the risk of labor complications and newborn deaths. The procedure itself can prove fatal.

Speakers said cross-border cooperation and enforcement was also crucial for eradicating the practice, because cutters often move to countries where legislation is less strict so they can carry on working unhindered.

Female genital mutilation has been banned by 20 of the 28 countries that practice it in Africa as well as many industrialized countries. But enforcement is usually weak and prosecutions are rare.

Chhurim Sherpa, 29, climbed to the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) Everest summit on May 12 and 19 last year.

"This is a big recognition for me," Chhurim, who like most sherpas is known by her first name, told Reuters.

Chhurim, who hails from the Solukhumbu region in northeastern Nepal that is home to Mount Everest and other notable peaks, returned to the base camp for some rest after her first ascent only to head back up the peak seven days later.

"It was difficult and hard while climbing up a second time. But once I reached the top everything was fine," she said.

"I was very happy that I could accomplish what I had always wanted to do."

She said she wanted to return to Mount Everest sometime but had no immediate plans to do so.

Mount Everest has been climbed by about 4,000 climbers since it was first scaled by New Zealand beekeeper Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953.

Apa Sherpa, a Nepali climber who lives in the United States, holds the record of 21 ascents of Mount Everest.