Far-Out Photos

• What would make a man send his head through a flaming brick? The end of another maddening winter and the promise of spring. This annual event in Belarus, held this year in Minsk on Feb. 28, features elite soldiers engaged in oddball competitions to mark the changing seasons.
  
  
  

  Viktor Drachev, AFP / Getty Images

• Japanese men dressed as Namahage, or mountain demons, march down from a snow-covered mountain with flaming torches during the Namahage Sedo Festival at Shinzan Shrine in Akita, Japan. The masked men don straw clothes and visit each house, looking for lazy and misbehaving children.
  
  
  

  Kiyoshi Ota, Getty Images

• You won't find a polar bear and penguin together in nature ... but they're joined here in an artistic "suicide" off London's Millennium Bridge. Taiwanese artist Vincent Huang used two glass penguins and a stuffed toy polar bear for the eye-catching project, which aims to raise awareness of climate change.
  
  
  

  Marco Secchi, Getty Images

• In what looks like a scene from a 1950s sci-fi flick, giant ants cover Colombia's National Congress as a couple looks out. The sculptures were created by Colombian artist Rafael Gomezbarros, and symbolize the people displaced by the nation's armed conflict.
  
  
  

  Rodrigo Arangua, AFP / Getty Images

• A kitten plays with a squirrel rescued off the streets in Envigado, Colombia.
  
  
  

  Raul Arboleda, AFP / Getty Images

• A woman holds one of the smallest books in the world during the 19th International Book Fair in Havana, Cuba. The tiny book, from Peruvian Editorial Chirre, is a Holy Bible measuring about 1 cm in height.
  
  
  

  Adalberto Roque, AFP / Getty Images

• "Les cochons tatoués" -- The tattooed pigs -- by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye are displayed on the French Riviera. The exhibition, featuring seven stuffed and tattooed pigs, stirred animal welfare groups into planning a protest on opening day of the exhibit.
  
  
  

  Valery Hache, AFP / Getty Images

• Street performer Chayne Hultgren reenacts his 18-sword-swallowing attempt for a Guinness World Record in front of the Sydney Opera House. The Australian beat his own world record when he simultaneously swallowed 18 swords, each blade measuring 50.8cm by 1.3cm, ahead of this year's International Sword Swallowing Day on Feb. 28.
  
  
  

  Torsten Blackwood, AFP / Getty Images

• Members of the Anima Naturalis organization protest bullfighting in front of the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City.
  
  
  

  Alfredo Estrella, AFP / Getty Images

• Visitors dab chocolate syrup on their faces at a "chocolate spa" at the Hakone Yunessun resort west of Tokyo.
  
  
  

  Yoshikazu Tsuno, AFP / Getty Images