January 21 2012

United Kingdom

 Detail of a banana leaf,Mainau Island,Germany

(© Egon Bömsch /Age footstock)

 China, Japan

Fireworks at Kek Lok Si Temple,Penang,Malaysia

(© Tan Lian Hock/Asia RM/Age footstock)

 France

Rikuchu Kaigan National Park,Tohoku region,Japan

(© Chad Ehlers/Photolibrary)

Australia, Canada, Germany

 Umbrellas on a beach in Cape Town,South Africa

(© Roger Wright/Getty Images)

New Zealand, United States

Frosted bearberry (uva-ursi) bush on the tundra in the Yukon,Canada

(© Peter Van Rhijn/Corbis)