Look, I can do a roly-poly! Super-cute panda celebrates the wintry weather by taking a tumble in the snow

It is on days like this one a thick fur comes in handy - and one fun-loving panda took full advantage of his built-in protection as he took a tumble in the snow.
Giant panda Wei Wei did not waste an opportunity to roly-poly in the cold at Wuhan Zoo in Hubei Province in China.
Wei Wei practiced his acrobatics alongside his friends at the zoo after a thin layer of snow fell over Christmas.

It's a start: Wei Wei takes a tumble in the snow at Wuhan Zoo in Hubei Province in China

We have liftoff! The giant panda follows through his snow-somersault

Wei Wei was photographed standing on his head in the snow before kicking off the ground to complete his tumble of joy in the wintry weather.

 

Fortunately for Wei Wei and fellow panda bears, their coarse, dense fur is the perfect protection against the freezing conditions in Wuhan City this week.
Giant pandas are solitary bears when in the wild, usually preferring their own company when foraging in Chinese bamboo forests.

Kung fu panda: A spot of snow is no problem for a giant panda's thick fur, and it did certainly not bother Wei Wei as he climbed a snow-covered stand

That was Mac's year that was: From the Bradley Wiggins effect to Abu Hamza and Leveson, The Mail's cartoonist picks his 2012 favourites

It was the year that saw the Olympics come to Britain, doctors and surgeons strike, and Prince Andrew abseiling down Europe's tallest building, the Shard. Here, the peerless Mac revisits his choice moments from 2012...

JANUARY: Drugs offence guidelines suggest lighter sentencing for 'social dealers' who buy drugs to share with friends.

 

FEBRUARY: Former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn is arrested and quizzed about procuring prostitutes for orgies.

 

MARCH: The Environment Agency warns of widespread drought conditions if Britain's dry weather continues.

 

APRIL: London-based Muslim cleric Abu Hamza fights extradition to the U.S. to face terrorism charges.

 

MAY: Surface-to-air missiles are to be situated on the roofs of private flats in East London during the Olympics.

 

JUNE: A historic strike by doctors and surgeons over pension reforms could mean that thousands of operations will be postponed.

 

JULY: Athletes start arriving to compete in the London 2012 Olympics as Britain suffers interminable torrential downpours.

 

 

AUGUST: Cycling fever grips Britain after Bradley Wiggins's triumph in the Tour de France and gold medal at the London Olympics.

 

SEPTEMBER: Prince Andrew abseils down Europe's tallest building, the Shard in the City of London, to raise money for charity.

 

OCTOBER: British forests face an 'unprecedented' threat from a deadly disease that affects ash trees.

 

NOVEMBER: The Leveson Report into the Press is finally published, and recommends a new regulatory body.

 

DECEMBER: David Cameron promises to introduce a bill legalising gay marriage next year.

It's a stick up! The adorable moment San Diego panda plays with its new toys as it has medical exam

Even good little pandas deserve new toys for the holidays - especially while triumphantly passing their latest medical exam.
Xiao Liwu, the giant panda cub at the San Diego Zoo, passed his medical exam with flying colours this week while mutually showing off his new toys and adorable poses for future zoo-goers.
Seen gnawing on a stick of bamboo while dropping himself into a doughnut-shaped ring as a chair, the nearly five-month-old panda cub planted smiles on all the vets' faces, especially after seeing his positive results.
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Busy boy: Panda Cub Xiao Liwu is seen enjoying a stick of bamboo while turning a plastic tube into a chair during his examination by San Diego zoo veterinarians

'Everything looks good he's still a little on the smaller side but overall he's in good body condition, everything's growing,' said Meg Sutherland-Smith, associate director of veterinary services for the San Diego Zoo.
The 19-week-old panda who’s now teething weighed 14 pounds when he was brought in for his weekly veterinary exam on Thursday morning. They still expect him to still be nursing for another year.

After scattering a few items around the room for him, the panda cub was said to have readily recognized the plastic ring as a new addition to the vet’s toy collection, prompting him to quickly plant himself inside.
Chewing on the supplied stick of bamboo, the cub’s wide eyes stayed attentive on a swarm of adoring flash bulbs capturing his many wobbly poses inside the plastic tube.
'He really looked too cute in that, I have to say,' said Sutherland-Smith of his poses.

Roly poly: Holding onto a green ball tightly by the paws, the 19-week old cub also kept himself busy rolling around on the floor as vets did their best to take his measurements

The vets reported the tube being a terrific way to keep him stationary while taking his measurements – opposed to his roly-poly antics also seen while wrapped around a small green ball.
Later a tree branch was placed on the floor for him to be used as not just a plaything, unbeknownst to him, but to demonstrate his climbing skills for keepers.
'He's getting past his awkward movement phase. He's walking around with much more confidence, he's not stumbling anymore. And today we also gave him a small piece of a bamboo stem which he readily held in his hand and he was mouthing like he was a big boy,’ Ms Sutherland-Smith said.

Climber: A small section of a tree branch was used here not as a toy but for the cub to demonstrate his

Can you spot the 'invisible animal'? Incredible images show nature's disappearing act when predators are near

Whether they are hunters or the hunted, these cunning animals are all masters of disguise who can fool even the most beady-eyed passer by into believing they are not there.
Some hide under lily pads, some dissolve into the bark of a tree while others slip seamlessly into the snow, either to hide from a hungry predator or silently stalk an unwitting prey.
But the one thing from which they cannot hide is the all-seeing camera lens of photographer Art Wolfe.
He has spent over 35 years roaming the deserts of Africa, the rainforests of South America, the mountains of the United States and snow plains of Canada to capture wildlife at its most invisible.

 

It's white in front of you! A willow ptarmigan in winter plumage, hidden on a brushy slope near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. The animals are trying their utmost to fool predators but that's not enough to deceive international photographer Art Wolfe

He has travelled through every continent in the world in tireless pursuit of more subjects for his chef-d'oeuvre 'Vanishing Act' that dates back to the 1980s.
Art said: 'Throughout my career as a nature photographer, I have challenged myself to present new perspectives on well-documented subjects.
'Like most of my projects this collection has been a long time in the making.

 

'Finding and filming animals on location is an exhilarating and painstaking process. I'm still adding to the project even now.
'Conventional wildlife photography calls for isolating the subject by selective focus, this way the animal is clearly defined.

 

Having a giraffe: A Giraffe in Transvaal, South Africa. Wolfe's 35-year career has spanned every continent as he has followed his passion for the environment

 

Can't see the wolf from the trees: A wolf peering out from behind a tree trunk in an autumn Montana forest

 

Eye spy: A spectacled caiman in Llanos, Venezuela. Wolfe works to make it visually challenging to the viewer by using depth of field, scale and placement and confusing the subject

 

 

Cunning tricks: A Great Horned Owl uses colour in its plumage to disappear in a temperate forest in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, left, while an American Pika performs a vanishing act in the Cascade Range of Washington, right

 

Leaf me alone: A Mealy or Blue-crowned parrot disappears like just another leaf in the lush Central American rainforest, Chan Chich, Belize

'Photographers always want to show off their subject. And yet, is this really the way an animal is viewed by the human eye? Not quite.
'We don't have the isolating abilities that a telephoto lens provides. On most occasions an animal remains somewhat concealed by the clutter of its natural habitat-a necessity of survival for both predator and prey.
'I have basically employed three different photographic approaches and purposely worked to enhance the difficulty to find the camouflaged subject-as difficult as it is in the wild to see animals that do not want to be seen.

 

Snake eyes: A horned adder matches the colour of the sand in the Namib Desert, Namibia, where they bury themselves using a swimming motion to disappear beneath the hot surface

 

Can you spot me? A Leopard conceals herself in vegetation at the base of a tree in Kruger National Park, Transvaal, South Africa

 

 

Rock and hole: A gyrfalcon at their nest built on a cliff, left, and a California Ground Squirrel blends in with its rocky environment, right

 

Bark and hide: A Great Gray Owl positions itself in front of a similar pattern to take advantage of his camouflage in Oregon, United States

'Since it is impossible to capture all the distractions to the senses of an entire landscape in a photo, I worked to make it visually challenging by using depth of field, scale and placement and confusing the subject.'
Art is also a successful book publisher and television producer. He has published at least one book a year since 1989.
The 61-year-old from Seattle said: 'It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, the human spirit is fed.'

 

Invisible: A male Spotted Deer disappears among sun-dappled vegetation in Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, India

 

Stop monkeying around: A family of Japanese Macaques disappear amid their rocky habitat on Honshu Island, Japan

 

I'm white over here! White-tailed Ptarmigan in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

 

The long grass: An Impala hiding in vegetation in Botswana's Chobe National Park, Africa

 

A sandy place to hide: A cheetah cub disguised against the Kalahari Desert, South Africa

 

Water good place to hide: A Common Snipe, well hidden in the shoreline vegetation of a Minnesota stream

 

 

Painstaking: Mr Wolfe, right, says finding and filming animals on location, such as this wandering tattler chick in Wrangell-Saint Ellias National Park, left, is 'an exhilarating and painstaking process'

 

Out of sight hawk: A nighthawk resting on rocks where it blends into its surroundings in eastern Washington

 

Snow way I'll be spotted here: A coyote camouflaged in the surrounding brush at the edge of a snow dusted field, Washington State, USA

 

Precarious perch: Two Klipspringers camouflaged against a rocky outcrop in Chobe, Botswana

 

Branching out: A well-concealed blue dacnis takes a rest in foliage in Panama

Germany accused of 'deporting' its elderly: Rising numbers moved to Asia and Eastern Europe because of sky-high care costs

German pensioners are being sent to care homes in Eastern Europe and Asia in what has been described as an ‘inhumane deportation’.
Rising numbers of the elderly and sick are moved overseas for long-term care because of sky-high costs at home.
Some private healthcare providers are even building homes overseas, while state insurers are also investigating whether they can care for their clients abroad.
Experts describe a time bomb’ of increasing numbers unable to afford the growing costs of retirement homes.

 

Inhumane: Rising numbers of Germany's elderly and sick are being sent to care homes in Eastern Europe and Asia because of rising care home costs

And they say the situation should be a warning to Britain, where rising numbers of pensioners are forced to sell their homes to pay for care.
The Sozialverband Deutschland (VdK), a socio-political advisory group, said the fact that many Germans were unable to afford the costs of a retirement home in their own country was a huge ‘alarm signal’.
‘We simply cannot let those people, who built Germany up to be what it is, be deported,’ VdK’s president Ulrike Mascher told The Guardian. ‘It is inhumane.’

Attractive Look with your Ash Clothing and Shoes

Most of the people have a liking to wear the latest AshMens. For this the best way is to browse the best clothingof your choice which are of latest design and also match to the changing styles of fashion. For women clothing, men clothing and also kids clothing a unique and varieties of collections are displayed. All these clothes are available in various styles and these clothes have also captivated the attention of various people from all the corners of the world.

You can have varieties of apparel choices on your online apparel portal. You can choose silk clothing, denim, leather, clothing design etc. you can easily choose the best suitable apparel from a great variety of popular clothing for men, women and kids wear.

In addition to your best clothing, your shoes (in Swedish ) also have an important place, while considering the appearance of a person. Nowadays there are versatile of shoes which had flooded into the market. Matching to their personalities and also lifestyles, you can choose your favorite shoes of your favorite styles and colors. It is a difficult task to take care of your different kinds of shoes. But there are some ways to take care of your different kinds of shoes.

First type of shoes is leather shoes of which you can easily take its care. You just require a small piece of cloth to clean its surface which is covered by dirt and ash. You can also use brush to clean the dirt from its surface if it is hard to remove. This type of shoes requires a regular polish which is quite troublesome for almost every people. Good air ventilation is also required to avoid fungus. Some other types of shoes are Suede shoes, rubber shoes etc.
For women wearing miniskirts or skirts, various types of footwear are suitable like flats footwear, stiletto heels and also ankle boots. Stiletto heels are the best choice, if you want to look sexy. No doubt sneakers are the most acceptable styles for sports. They are very comfortable and convenient to wear. Especially, black color foot wear match with any of your apparels. But with dark color of your outfit, you can go for bright colored shoes to break the heaviness.

ASH Shoes --- The Historic Shoe Brand

ASH, the famous brand of woman shoes subordinated to Highline United China, was founded in Europe in the 21 century, and has been popular across Europe even the world since its birth. The design style is unique, rebellious, wonderful and full of spirit of adventure, youth and has power, which is aimed at the group that care about fashion but do not want to be assimilated by public. The men, women and people from all ages, they travel in the fashion world hoping to create a popular field that belongs to them.

Ash Mens is an uncommon brand with its own attitude, and it sticks to its own attitude between popular and itself. Its suppliers are those who provide leather for the first-lined brands so that the material is luxurious and ensure its high quality. ASH, MiuMiu, Prada and Dior are usually settled in one high-end department store, while ASH can be afforded by people who know fashion --- "Affordable Luxury". Ash has been supported by many world super stars, such as the super models Heidi Clum and Macedonia who wore the ultra-high sport style of ASH in her concert.

ASH coming from Italy was created by the French famous designer Patrick Ithier who used to cooperate with many leading brands, from which he accumulated valuable experience and created unique fashion with obvious style. Founded in 2001, ASH has been popular in Italy, France, Germany and Korea, and for that its innovative design attach importance to both comfortable and popularity ASH started its first flagship store in American in May, 2011.

ASH is acknowledged in retail footwear business for boots and shoes for different seasons. This brand caters to the needs of women and men as they come up with different styles and designs every season to satisfy the consumers. The brand are suitable for men and women, as well as children, its products includes ASH Women and Men, ASH Kids and ASH Sandals. The shoes are both practical and stylish, making them an excellent choice for day to day use. 



The Ash shoes can enhance your look no matter what you are wearing, so you can be rest assured of looking good. There are many different types of shoes available from Ash, so it is easy to find the pair that you are looking for and suitable for you.
When buying shoes it's important to keep in mind that the shoes must be comfortable. The foot should fit in snugly and not pinch when walking. If a shoe hurts, then there is no point in buying it. With ASH shoes, there is no doubt about either comfort or the right fit. They take extreme care to make shoes that fit a customer's feet well and last long. Quality is never sacrificed in ASH.

Family thought their cats had run away... but neighbour had caught them in tuna-baited traps to stop them fouling his garden

When three of their cats vanished without trace, the Wilcocksons thought they had simply run away.
Their devastated children searched the neighbourhood and stuck up posters to try to track them down.
But when – several months later – they found another one of their pets trapped in a cage, the family realised there was a more sinister reason behind their disappearance.

'Not proud': Gordon Wilson (left) baited a home-made trap with tuna to capture pets including Pip (right)

Their neighbour, Gordon Wilson, 74, had been baiting a home-made trap with tuna to capture the pets before releasing them into the countryside.
The pensioner hated the animals for fouling his immaculate garden.

 

Only one of the pets that he captured managed to return home – and he was so disorientated by the experience that he later got run over and died.
Two of the family’s cats remain missing, but there seems little hope that they will be found.
Joanne Wilcockson, 27, has lived two doors away from Wilson in Hunmanby, North Yorkshire, all her life, and used to go to his house as a child to play with his Jack Russell puppies. So when three of her cats went missing in as many days in April, she never suspected he was behind it.

Home-made: The trap that Wilson used to capture the cats before releasing them into the countryside

Pumpkin, a three-year-old black and white tom, was the first to go.
The same thing happened to their second tom, Morris, and their tortoiseshell cat Pansy, both of whom were little more than kittens.
Distraught children Ryan, eight, and Isaac, five, made posters and leaflets to distribute locally, but to no avail.
Although Pumpkin did return home, he was ‘confused’ and was run over by a car shortly afterwards – leaving the family with just one cat called Patience.
Over the summer, Mrs Wilcockson and her factory worker husband, Sean, decided to get another cat, a ginger tom they called Pip. When he didn’t return home one evening in October, Mr Wilcockson went to search and found him trapped in the cage at 1am.
‘I thought he had been hit by a car and wandered around the road looking for him,’ he said.

Survivor: Pip was saved when his owner found him at 1am in a cage in a bush in Wilson's front garden

It was only when he heard a miaow that he was able to trace Pip to a cage in a bush in Wilson’s front garden.
‘I turned the light of my mobile phone on and saw he was sitting in this cage,’ Mr Wilcockson said. ‘I realised it was a trap immediately.’
The cage was made of chicken wire and baited with tuna. As the cat entered, a peg holding up a plastic flap was dislodged, sealing the animal in.
Wilson was arrested the next day and questioned. He admitted responsibility and apologised to the family. He was later fined £250 for theft by Scarborough magistrates and ordered to pay £205 in compensation.
‘He said he was very sorry for what he had done and would never have done it if he had known the hurt he was causing,’ Mr Wilcockson, 28, said.
‘He has a really beautiful garden and the reason he gave police was he likes it pristine and did not want to put his hand in the soil and find cat poo. If we had known there was a problem we would have bought him some cat-repellent pellets to put down – but we didn’t know.
‘We still do talk to him though. He is very remorseful. We don’t expect to ever see the other two cats again but if anyone knows anything we would like to know if they are all right.’
Wilson said last night: ‘It’s not something I’m proud of.’

Ash shoe - It is in the style

Italian brand Ash has changed the way we think of footwear. The brand, established in Italy in 2001 by Patrick Ithier, has come to be associated with quality and comfort. It's at the forefront of revolutionary design.

Ash Sneakers  have become a must-have for any style-conscious person. Their smart, up market designs are simply to die for. Whether the style is that of wedges, flats, sneakers or boots, the shoes are meant for all seasons. To wear Ash is to appreciate style. Women have a wide range to choose from. Ash Thelma Havana sand leather with four front buckles would look great with a skirt or a sexy dress. Or the lovely Ash Instinct, with brown leather inlay work is ideal for partywear. Same goes for the summery Ash Nirvana. Take your pick.

Comfort has to be kept in mind when buying shoes. You have to be careful that your feet fits in snugly and that the shoe doesn't pinch or hurt. With Ash, you can be rest assured that comfort is taken care of. The leather that is used is of the highest quality. And the shoe is made using latest technology that takes care that it's a smooth product.

Ash shoes can be worn with any outfit. There is a matching shoe with any dress that you wear. The best thing about Ash is that their shoes complement the clothes you choose to wear. Whether it's party or outdoors, you can safely choose from Ash. Mix and match and get a great combination that is bound to turn heads and make you the showstopper.
Often people sacrifice quality for cheaper products. The price may be high but then remember you are getting quality. These are shoes which will last you a lifetime. So, even if you pay a little extra, don't worry. These shoes will keep your feet comfortable for a long time.
Ash keeps reinventing and reintroducing new styles. So there is always a wide range to choose from. The best thing is that there is no repetition. So you don't have to worry that your best friend will also turn up in the same design.
During winter, it's important to cover up the feet and keep it warm. Ash shoes are ideal for the cold months. The wedge heel boots make a great fashion statement. Those dry, drab months can be so depressing but Ash shoes make it fun to dress up and have a good time.