She’s a reality TV judge (on the still-often-#1 show on television), a sex symbol, a singer, a dancer and an all-around superstar ? which is why Forbes has crowned Jennifer Lopez “the world’s most powerful celebrity” for the first time.
SODAHEAD SLIDESHOW: See the “most powerful” stars on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 List.
So how exactly did J-Lo go from an almost-has-been to #1 on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list? Well, earning $52 million over the last 12 months didn’t hurt (there’s a reason why her clothes always look so good). Yep — she makes $20 million on “Idol” alone. And that’s not even including the dough she rakes in from her music, endorsement deals, top-selling fragrance and line of clothing at Kohl’s.
While some people “love to hate” Lopez (common complaints include that she can’t sing, she’s a diva, she’s too “lenient” as an “Idol” judge), she has 12 million fans on Facebook and 6.6 million followers on Twitter. So the people have spoken, and millions of them are in J-Love.
PHOTOS: See the latest celebrity pictures to hit the Internet.
Looking at Forbes’ list of the top eight “most powerful” celebs, let us know: Who do YOU think is the most powerful celebrity? 
On a day of high drama and emotion, the blue half of Manchester was left to celebrate as Manchester City pipped their city rivals to the title. Click on for the highlights … 
20 mins: Manchester United, relying on City to slip up against QPR, score first through Wayne Rooney in their must-win match at Sunderland. Advantage United! 
39 mins: Back in Manchester, Pablo Zabaleta puts City back in the driving seat as Paddy Kenny fails to keep his shot out. 
48 minutes: A terrible mistake from Joleon Lescott allows Djibril Cisse (center) to race through and equalize for QPR. Advantage well and truly with United! 
54 minutes: With City looking shell-shocked, QPR captain Joey Barton is sent off after a clash with Carlos Tevez. 
66 mins: Unbelievable! Jamie Mackie (3rd from left) puts 10-man QPR 2-1 ahead after a rare counter attack. Classic smash and grab — the City players can’t believe it. 
92 minutes: With time added on City grab a lifeline through substitute Edin Dzeko (right). But City need to win. United have beaten Sunderland 1-0! 
95 minutes: City have done it! Argentina striker Sergio Aguero is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winner with seconds to go in injury time. 
City manager Roberto Mancini (center) runs to greet his jubilant players after their breathtaking victory. 
Victorious captain Vincent Kompany holds aloft the Premiership trophy … 
… while United players look dejected as the result from Manchester filters through. 
Yaya Toure’s two goals against Newcastle put Manchester City in pole position to clinch the English Premier League title. The club’s last domestic championship came in 1968. 
Toure’s older brother Kolo joined Manchester City a year earlier in 2009, having moved from English rivals Arsenal. 
The midfielder was not such a key player at his previous club Barcelona, and filled a central defensive role in the 2009 Champions League final victory against Manchester United. 
Two weeks earlier, also playing in defense, Toure scored the opening goal as Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the Spanish Cup final. 
Toure played in the Ivory Coast’s first World Cup in 2006, and also appeared at the 2010 tournament. He suffered defeat in final of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, and his six-week absence was crucial to City’s loss of form. 
Toure has played in the European Champions League for several seasons, and is pictured here on duty for Greek club Olympiakos against Lyon in 2004. 
He started his European career with Beveren in Belgium, before moving to Ukraine’s Metalurh Donetsk in 2004 along with compatriots Arsene Ne (left) and Igor Lolo (center). 
Balotelli’s first-team debut came in December 2007 as a subsitute with Internazionale. Three days later the 17-year-old scored two goals during Inter’s 4-1 Coppa Italia win against Reggina. 
Balotelli became the youngest Inter player to score in the Champions League in November 2008 when he netted against Cyprus’s Anorthosis Famagusta. He was 18 at the time. 
Man City signed Balotelli from Inter for £24m in August 2010. The deal was made under manager Robert Mancini who this week hinted the player may be sold unless he reels in his controversial behavior. 
Balotelli is red-carded after a foul on Arsenal’s Barcary Sagna on Sunday. Man City lost the match 1-0, with manager Robert Mancini later saying: “It’s clear he’s created big problems, but he’s scored important goals.” 
Berlotelli’s off-pitch antics have taken their toll on the squad with manager Robert Mancini admitting last week he’d punch the forward in the head if they were teammates. It’s been a rocky year for the 21-year-old who caused severe damage when he let off fireworks in his bathroom and on Thursday crashed his Bentley in Manchester. 
Barcelona’s players are the best paid in the world according to a new report. The team kept its No. 1 place on the earnings table with each player taking home an average annual salary of $8.6 million (£5.2 million). That’s a whopping $166,934 (£101,160) per week and a 10% rise on last year. 
Spanish football teams continued to dominate the rankings, with Real Madrid keeping its No. 2 spot. It’s players earned an average $7.7 million (£4.7 million) – a 6% rise on last year. Cristiano Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history in 2009 after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a six-year deal worth $129 million (£80 million). 
Manchester City moved up the rankings from 10th last year to 3rd in 2012, thanks to an average annual salary of $7.4 million for its players. It’s a 26% increase on last year and demonstrates the wealth of the English club’s owner Sheikh Monsour. 
Russian billionaire Roman Abromovich’s Chelsea team climbed the rankings from sixth to fourth, with players earning around $6.7 million a year — the equivalent of $130,690 a week. 
The first non-soccer entry in the rich list is the LA Lakers. The Americans are also the only bastketballers in the top 10, with players taking home $6.2 million annually — about $120,732 per week. 
Baseball’s New York Yankees have continued to fall in the rankings — dropping from No. 1 in 2010 to sixth this year. But the MLB team’s players can still take comfort from an average yearly salary of $6.1 million — around £118,968 a week. 
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pumped even more money into his football club AC Milan last year. The Serie A champions rose from 14th in the list with players enjoying a yearly salary of $6.1 million, pocketing $117,399 per week. 
Also rising in the rich list was Germany’s Bayern Munich, up from 12th place last year. Players boasted a yearly salary of $5.9 million, taking home $113,609 a week. 
The Philadelphia Phillies are one of just three U.S. teams in the top 10. The baseball franchise’s players earned an average $5.8 million a year, or $111,884 per week. 
Internazionale sneaked into the top 10 with an average yearly salary of $5.7 million for its players. It’s a family affair for Italian oil tycoon Massimo Moratti, whose father Angelo also owned the club in the 1950s and ’60s. 
General Ratko Mladic, center, commander of Serbian forces in Bosnia, arrives at Sarajevo airport on August 10, 1993 to negotiate the withdrawal of his troops from Mount Igman. 
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, right, confers with his military chief during a meeting with the press in Pale on August 5, 1993. 
Ratko Mladic talks to a Serbian soldier on February 15, 1994 at Lukavica barracks near Sarajevo six days before the NATO ultimatum. 
David Scheffer, U.S. Ambassador at large for war crimes points to a wanted poster showing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic in March 2000. 
A Muslim woman and her husband are treated in July 1995 for injuries inflicted on them by Serb forces as they fled Srebrenica. The man died shortly after the picture was taken. 
Serb nationalists protest against the U.S. and the U.N. war crimes court in Belgrade in December 2006. Their posters show pictures of Karadzic, Mladic and Vojislav Seselj with the Cyrillic writing meaning: “God saves the Serbs” and “Great Serbia.” 
Bosnian Muslim women who survived the Srebrenica massacre, Sabra Kolenovic, right, and Sabaheta Fejzic watch the news of Mladic’s arrest in Sarajevo on May 26, 2011. 
Mladic supporters protest at a rally organized by the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party near parliament in Belgrade in May 2011. 
Mladic appears at his war crimes trial on May 16, 2012. He eluded authorities for nearly 16 years until his capture in May 2011. 
Michael Schumacher in the modern Silver Arrow while Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg takes the wheel of the 1955 model. 
China Grand Prix champion Nico Rosberg is the first Mercedes driver to win a Formula One race since Juan Manuel Fangio in Italy in 1955. 
The two Germans will return home this weekend and help launch the new season of the DTM touring car series at Hockenheim. 
Fangio, pictured in second place, races the original Silver Arrow at the Buenos Aires track in 1955. The Argentine didn’t disappoint his home crowd, later taking the title. 
Fangio is mobbed by fans after winning the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. The racing legend had 24 wins and five world championships in a career spanning almost 20 years. 
Fangio and Schumacher are the only drivers to have won three successive world championships, a feat Sebastain Vettel is hoping to match this year. 
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher gets behind the wheel of the new F1 W03 at an official preseason test event in Barcelona. 
The 43-year-old said he is still hungry to achieve success despite entering his 19th season in Formula One. Schumacher is yet to register a podium finish since returning to the sport in 2010. 
Nico Rosberg finished the 2011 Formula One season one place and 13 points ahead of compatriot and Mercedes teammate Schumacher. 
Team principal Ross Brawn worked with Schumacher at Italian marque Ferrari, where they won multiple world championships together. 
Schumacher became drivers’ champion for the first time at Benetton in 1994, before retaining his crown with the team in 1995. 
The German is best remembered for his time at Ferrari, where he won five consecutive championships between 2000 and 2004 before retiring for the first time in 2006. 
Protests against the Bahrain GP have intensified in recent weeks. This graffiti was posted on a wall in the village of Barbar, west of the capital Manama, in April. 
Bahraini Shiite Muslims in the town of Muharraq take part in a demonstration calling for the cancelation of Sunday’s race. 
Hundreds of supporters of Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq demonstrated against the government on April 15, 2012. 
However, Bahrain International Circuit chairman Zayed Alzayani told CNN that staging the race was not a big risk, and that F1 was not linked to the protesters’ concerns. 
Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One Management, told CNN that sport and politics do not mix after announcing that the Bahrain race would go ahead. 
CNN’s Fred Pleitgen went to Bahrain to report on the situation, and accompanied riot police as they confronted protesters in the streets. 
Bahraini Shiite demonstrators hold posters of jailed activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja during a protest calling for his release in the village of Jidhafs, west of Manama, on April 6, 2012. 
Al-Khawaja has been on hunger strike for almost two months, and his daughter told CNN she fears for his health. 
Bahrain first held a Formula One race in 2004, but last year’s event was canceled due to the civil uprising against the government. 
Next month sees the start of football’s European Championships, arguably the toughest competition in world football. Ukraine will co-host the event with Poland, but it has been overshadowed by the treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been in prison since last October on charges of abuse of power. 
It is alleged by Tymoshenko’s supporters that charges against the former prime minister, who came to the fore during the Orange Revolution that swept Ukraine in 2004 and 2005, are politically motivated, trumped up by current president Viktor Yanukovych. They also allege that Tymoshenko was beaten while in prison. 
CNN spoke to Tymoshenko’s daughter Eugenia about her mother’s detention and alleged beating. The pictures caused a political firestorm, with many European leaders now boycotting the tournament. 
Dozens of European political figures have boycotted the event in protest at Tymoshenko’s treatment, including the EU president and head of the EU commission Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso is pictured here receiving an official Euro 2012 match ball from President Yanukovych just 18 months ago. 
The controversy is a far cry from the euphoria that followed the Orange Revolution in 2004 and 2005. The uprising was sparked when Viktor Yushchenko lost the presidential election to the then prime minister Viktor Yanukovych after alleged voter fraud. 
Yushchenko was taken seriously ill during the uprising. His supporters alleged that he was deliberately poisoned to prevent him winning the election. But he survived and, after the allegations of vote fraud had provoked massive street protests, a new round of voting took place which Yushchenko won. 
Although Yushchenko had won the election it was the blonde-haired figure of Tymoshenko that captured the public’s attention. She was appointed prime minister in the new government. 
Here Tymoshenko meets with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Although it was all smiles on the international stage, domestically Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko were locked in a bitter power struggle. 
The Ukrainian people had had enough of the infighting, and made a decisive decision in the 2010 presidential elections. Yushchenko received just 5% of the vote while Tymoshenko narrowly lost to Yanukovych, who had lost the 2004 election. This time international observers judged the election to be free and fair. 
Preparations for Euro 2012 did not run smoothly. The new president promised to allay UEFA’s concerns over the slow building work. Here Ukrainian riot police practice ahead of the arrival of tens of thousands of football fans from across Europe. But there are still some worries. Amnesty International issued a warning to fans that Ukraine’s police exhibited “criminal” behavior. 
The preparations were completed and Ukraine now awaits the biggest sporting event to ever take place in the country’s history. But how many European heads of state will actually turn up for the final at the $500 million Olympic Stadium in the capital Kiev on July 1? 
That will largely depend on the fate of Tymoshenko, pictured here kissing her daughter Eugenia goodbye after being convicted last year. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of several politicians watching and waiting before making a decision. 
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has spoken out against European leaders’ boycott of Ukraine’s Euro 2012 matches, saying sport and politics should not mix. 
Her husband Oleksander (left) and their daughter Eugenia have been campaigning for better treatment of the Orange Revolution leader, who was found guilty of abusing her power when in office. 
Germany’s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said that concerns over Tymoshenko could block ratification of a political and trade deal between the EU and Ukraine. 
Security fears for the June 8-July 1 tournament in Ukraine and Poland have been elevated since four explosions went off in a busy area of central Dnipropetrovsk on April 27, wounding 26 people. 
Police officers walk past a giant model of “Tango 12,” the official match ball of the Euro 2012 football tournament, during a patrol in Dnipropetrovsk on April 29. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks. 
All 16 competing nations at Euro 2012 will head to Poland and Ukraine next year dreaming of reaching the final at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium on July 1. The venue in the Ukrainian capital has been renovated ahead of the championship, having originally been constructed in the 1920′s. In addtion to the final, the Olympic Stadium will also host a quarterfinal and some Group D matches. 
The Donbass Arena in Donetsk is home to Ukrainian champions and 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk. Opened in August 2009, the stadium will host a semifinal, quarterfinal and Group D matches. 
The National Stadium in the Polish capital of Warsaw has a capacity of over 58,000 and will play host to a semifinal, a quarterfinal and Group A matches. Euro 2012 will kick-off at the newly-built arena on June 8. 
Work began on the 43,000-seater Arena Gdansk in 2008, with the stadium now the home of Polish team Lechia Gdansk having opened in August 2011. The stadium will host a quarterfinal and three Group C matches. 
The Ukrayina Stadium is home to Ukrainian outfit Karpaty Lviv and is pictured here during an explosive opening ceremony in October 2011. The arena holds just under 35,000 fans and will be the venue for three Group B ties. 
The Kharkiv Stadium is the home ground of Ukrainian team Metalist Kharkiv and was renovated ahead of next year’s tournament. The venue for three Group B matches, the ground can hold 38,000 fans. 
The Miejski Stadium was originally built in 1980, but the arena in the Polish city of Poznan has been updated for Euro 2012. It is the home of Lech Poznan and will stage three Group C matches. 
The Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw holds 42,000 fans and will be the venue for three Group A clashes. Home to Polish team Slask Wroclaw, the arena was opened in September. 
Ukrainian fans are known for creating a formidable atmosphere in their own stadiums. Here, Dynamo Kiev’s fans hold flares during a match between their team and rivals Shakhtar Donetsk. 
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (L) shakes hands with Michel Platini on a recent visit to the country by UEFA’s president. Platini said in 2008 that Ukraine needed to “wake up” and “get going” after a series of delays. 
Platini and deputy prime minister Boris Kolesnikov inspect work on a new terminal at Donetsk airport. The improvement work, insisted on by European football’s governing body, comes at a cost of $412m, according to the Ukrainian government. 
A group of 37 writers and artists spent five days in Gaza holding free public events, a concert and workshops for university students. Here some of the group visit the Beit Hanoun Crossing with Israel. 
PalFest collected more than 1,500 books — including copies of an anthology of extracts from works by festival participants — which were distributed to cultural centers and university libraries. 
None of the 37 writers and artists had previously been to Gaza. They traveled all around the territory, including to Old Gaza. 
Song Byeok’s paintings are often about coming to terms with life outside North Korea. Behind him is the painting “Child Warrior,” depicting the curious North Korean custom of dressing children in military clothes on special birthdays. Song painted the boy with his eyes closed. 
“I risked my life on this painting,” Song says of “Take Off Your Clothes,” which created a stir by putting the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in a Marilyn Monroe pose. “In some ways, this picture represents me,” Song said. “I hope after North Korean society opens up, people will debate it.” It is used on this poster to promote Song’s recent exhibit in Atlanta. 
North Korea built hundreds of statues of Kim Il Sung, founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In “Beloved Father of Our Country,” women in drab military clothing pay tribute to their “Great Leader.” 
It was only after he lived outside North Korea that Song began to understand freedom and why it was so important. This, Song says, is his main message as an artist. 
Like much of Song’s work, this painting, “Hope,” is about the desire for a better future for his homeland. “Defectors naturally want to help things inside North Korea change,” he said. “My way of doing that is to paint.” 
A work done in classic Tang Dynasty style, “Around the Tumen River” looks as if it could have been painted centuries ago. But an up-close view reveals the hard realities of life in North Korea. Farmers work without tractors, soldiers survive on fish they catch in a river, and people in hills scour for edible plants. 
In some ways, it’s not a far jump from propaganda to pop art. In “Let Me Taste It,” Song pays tribute to Andy Warhol, freedom of expression and the difficulties of life in North Korea. 
Before his death in December, North Korean society revolved around the Dear Leader. But in “General and Tribes People,” Song shows Kim Jong Il’s shadow shrinking to a taper when around people who don’t buy into the myth. 
Like most North Korean families, Song’s parents didn’t want him to wear his shoes unless it was necessary. “Shoes cost parents three or four days’ wages,” Song said, “and children were expected to stitch their own repairs.” In “Barefoot Boys,” a T-shirt says “Nothing to Envy in the World.” 
“Mass Game” depicts a trademark image of North Korea, where thousands participate in exercises of unity and patriotism. 
It’s not uncommon for North Koreans to describe the Dear Leader as a surrogate parent. In “A Loving Father and His Children,” Song replaces the chubby, square-jawed children he painted as a propagandist with realistic images of child beggars found around many North Korean rail stations. Passers-by will sometimes pay them to sing; a popular song is “Our General is a Great Leader.” 
In “Hillside Slums,” the painting on the left, an image of Song’s mother dominates the skyline over the house he grew up in. She told Song she was worried about Kim Jong Il’s health before she herself died in the famine of the 1990s. By putting Kim in drag in “Fall Into My Arms,” Song glamorizes all things foreign and wonders whether life would not be more exciting for North Korea if it was opened to the outside. 
The girls in “Flower Children” are waving and posing for foreigners in the way they’ve been trained: brimming with confidence that they live in the world’s greatest country. Song painted them with their eyes closed, blind to the reality of their poverty. 
Song says he feels a bond with people from other countries where basic rights are restricted. “Freedom” expresses his hope that people everywhere will break their chains the way he broke his. 
Song takes a cigarette break with Greg Pence, an American who saw Song’s work in Seoul, was moved by its power and organized the funds for an exhibit in the United States. 
Ever desperate for hard currency, the official website of North Korea offers propaganda art for sale, including some of Song Byeok’s designs. Artwork promoting the North Korean regime is available on beer steins, clocks and even iPad and iPhone covers. The items are made in places as diverse and as far from North Korea as El Salvador and Pakistan. They are for sale in U.S. dollars and ship from California. This calendar sells for $5.99 and says “We must be determined to fight and win against imperialism.” You can also order this motif on an insulated bottle or can holder. 
It may look like a nation at war, but in fact it’s a North Korean greeting card. The caption says “Happy New Year.” 
Now available to foreigners on a coffee mug, Song Byeok painted this same design on three factory billboards inside North Korea. It says “Self-Reliance: This Is Our Only Belief.” The mug is made in China. 
The bottom line on this lime-green T-shirt reads, “Let’s Build a Strong and Prosperous Country With the Power of Our Military.” 
Song painted this design across the large exterior wall of a factory in North Korea. The gun and the dove dominate the scene, as the phrase beneath reads “Peace Through Fighting.” 
This battery-powered wall clock sells for $16.49, and in addition to telling the time, it tells you, “Let’s Kick-Start the ‘Military First’ Policy.” This was Kim Jong Il’s policy of prioritizing the military’s needs over food during the famine of the mid-1990s. 
The button on the right is emblazoned “All-or-Nothing War.” 
If anyone were to think North Korean propaganda was relentlessly martial, this golf shirt (made in Pakistan) proclaims, “Let’s Ignite the Fire for Peace.” 
This beer stein declares, “In Life, In Death, Red Is In Our Hearts.” 
Tymoshenko’s husband Oleksander and daughter Yevgenia hold a news conference to rally support. Yevgenia claims her mother’s life is in danger since starting a hunger strike more than a week ago. 
Thousands of supporters and opponents rallied outside Tymoshenko’s latest court hearing in Kharkiv on April 28. The mixed turnout shows how divisive Tymoshenko still remains in Ukraine after a spell in government that began with hopes of pro-Western reforms and ended with allegations of corruption. 
Police experts examine one of the explosion sites in Dnipropetrovsk, where four bombs were let off in rubbish bins on Friday. At least 30 people were injured, raising serious concerns over safety at next month’s European Championships. 
Porto’s fine after its fans made monkey chants at Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure was less than the English club’s punishment for being late on the field in another match. 
European football’s ruling body UEFA has run a “Unite Against Racism” campaign in recent years. 
Manchester City took part in the campaign in 2009 when its players and mascots wore Unite Against Racism t-shirts for a home match against Polish club Lech Poznan. 
Australian Grand Prix: March 18, Melbourne
Malaysian Grand Prix: March 25, Kuala Lumpur
Chinese Grand Prix: April 15, Shanghai
Bahrain Grand Prix: April 22, Sakhir
Spanish Grand Prix: May 13, Catalunya
Monaco Grand Prix: May 27, Monte Carlo
Canadian Grand Prix: June 10, Montreal
European Grand Prix: June 24, Valencia
British Grand Prix: July 8, Silverstone
German Grand Prix: July 22, Hockenheim
Hungarian Grand Prix: July 29, Budapest
Belgian Grand Prix: September 2, Spa
Italian Grand Prix: September 9, Monza
Singapore Grand Prix: September 23, Singapore
Japanese Grand Prix: October 7, Suzuka
Korean Grand Prix: October 14, Yeongam
Indian Grand Prix: October 28, New Delhi
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: November 4, Yas Marina
United States Grand Prix: November 18, Austin
Brazilian Grand Prix: Sao Paulo, November 25
The 2012 Formula One season sees the introduction of a four-hour limit for races, following last year’s rain-delayed marathon in Canada. Charlie Whiting, the FIA’s race director, explained the decision, telling the sport’s official website: “Should four hours elapse during a future race, drivers will receive a signal telling them they have one more lap before the checkered flag.” 
Teams can no longer use engine exhaust to produce large amounts of downforce — a practice which has been prevalent for the last two years in the form of blown diffusers. Now exhaust pipes must exit in a defined area at the back of the car, not run along its underbelly. 
Many of this year’s cars feature a dramatic stepped-nose design. Whiting said this is to make sure the height of the nose was lower than the sides of the cockpit, therefore reducing the risk to the driver in the event of a collision. 
In previous seasons, cars had to pass crash tests in order to compete in races. Now, cars must pass the FIA’s 18 mandatory tests before the official preseason test events. “It is indefensible to have drivers testing cars in the winter that haven’t met the safety standards we demand for a race,” said Whiting. 
As bizarre as it may sound, drivers have been told not to drive off the race track without good reason. “We’ve seen drivers taking shortcuts on in and out laps, either to save time or fuel,” explained Whiting. 
Pit stops are a crucial part of F1, and a race can be won or lost depending on how quickly the crew are able to replace a car’s tires. In an attempt to save valuable time, teams have been known to power their wheel guns with compressed helium instead of air. But not anymore. “It saved fractions of a second,” Whiting said. “It would have been a very expensive method of gaining no advantage.” 
The gulf in class between some cars means that the leading drivers often lap back-markers during a race. The safety car is deployed if there has been an accident on track or if conditions become dangerous. Drivers are not allowed to overtake each other under such conditions, but in 2012 strugglers will be able to un-lap themselves by going past the safety car and reforming at the back of the field. 
Each driver is allowed 11 sets of tires to use over the course of a race weekend, but they must last through practice, Saturday qualifying and Sunday’s race. Previously teams could only use three of their sets during Friday practice, but they will now be able to use as many as they like. 
The highlight of any grand prix is seeing drivers attempt daring, fast-paced overtaking maneuvers. But now, when a driver has someone behind them, they are allowed to make only one defensive move to protect their position. This rule is to prevent potentially dangerous blocking strategies. 
Ernie Els is most famous for his golfing exploits, but as his career reaches its twilight years he is focusing on a cause dear to his heart. 
The former world No. 1swings his son Ben over his shoulder during the fourth annual Els for Autism Pro-Am charity golf tournament, held in March 2012. 
Els often returns to his native South Africa for vacations with his wife Liezl, Ben and daughter Samantha. He has invested heavily in the Cape region where he grew up, opening a golf foundation for disadvantaged youngsters, a wine and restaurant business and a resort. 
Els (pictured with Liezl with Ben in 2011) says he has met some families with three autistic children and admitted it would be “one of the hardest things in the world.” 
Guan Tian-Lang, 13, will make history as the youngest player at a European Tour event when he tees off at his home China Open. 
Guan will seek to better the achievement of Jason Hak, who was 14 when he became the youngest player to make the halfway cut at a European Tour event at the 2008 Hong Kong Open. 
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is the youngest player to win a professional event. She was just 14 when she triumphed at the the New South Wales Open in January 2012, having entered as the world’s leading female amateur. 
Thompson is also the youngest player to win on the European Ladies’ Tour. Here she receives her trophy at the Dubai Ladies Masters on December 17, 2011. 
Celebrity Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor took up the Fusion Journey challenge, making a gastronomic pilgrimage from Mumbai, India’s most populous city, to the stylish Danish capital of Copenhagen. His task was to blend the contrasting culinary traditions of Denmark and India in one dish. 
Mist shrouds the 17th-century spires of Copenhagen Harbor, a striking contrast to the sweltering streets of Mumbai. 
Hidden within a renovated warehouse, and overlooking the old port, is the two Michelin-starred Noma restaurant. The exterior’s crisp, clean lines reflect the philosophy of its head chef, Rene Redzepi, who has elevated the simplicity of Nordic cuisine to new gastronomic heights. 
Redzepi escorted Kapoor to the outskirts of Copenhagen to see some of his favorite foraging spots. The Noma founder has helped redefine Nordic cuisine, incorporating the region’s traditional use of wild ingredients with more contemporary cooking methods. 
The “New Nordic Cuisine” as it is known, could not be more contrasting to the traditional spicy fare served up on the streets of Mumbai. 
Back in the city, Kapoor nibbles on a variety of freshly plucked vegetables sold at one of Copenhagen’s many street-side grocery stores. 
Redzepi’s reverent attitude to nature does not just end in the kitchen. The Nordic masterchef is a keen cyclist, and opted to ferry Kapoor back to his restaurant in true Copenhagen style. 
The day’s new arrivals — squirrel and a selection of game birds — are delivered directly to Noma from the local farmlands. 
Redzepi’s strict emphasis on local, seasonal food, means that Noma’s menu often includes some unlikely ingredients … such as squirrel. 
Back in the kitchen, Redzip shows Kapoor how to prepare a simple dish in the Noma style, using only local ingredients. 
The result is a raw salad from the foraged vegetables the duo picked up earlier in the day, all assembled on the plate with a painterly flourish. 
Nine-year-old schoolgirl Niamh Clarke-Willis makes history as she presses the button to officially open the Olympic stadium along with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe. They were joined on stage by TV presenters Gabby Logan and Vernon Kay. 
Paralympic gold medalist archer Danielle Brown also took part in the ceremony. The opening weekend included the British Universities and Colleges Sports Outdoor Championships, the first athletics meeting at the 80,000-seater stadium. 
Brown fired arrows into a spinning target, covered with the names of 100 children in the crowd — and Clarke-Willis was the lucky winner. 
Logan looks on as her husband Kenny, a former rugby union international, competes in a celebrity tug-of-war. About 40,000 spectators watched entertainers including impressionist Jon Culshaw, actor Hugh Bonneville, former Spice Girl Melanie C, rapper Chipmunk and comedian Jack Whitehall. 
Wet weather didn’t stop thousands of visitors turning up. The venue was built using 10,000 tons of steel, considerably less than other Olympic stadiums organizers say, and with an emphasis on sustainability. Construction began in May 2008 and was completed in March 2011. 
James Ellington, left, celebrates winning the men’s 100 meters final during the weekend’s BUCS VISA Athletics Championships, one of the Olympic test events. 
Katy Sealy throws in the javelin event. The track and field competition was watched by a reported crowd of around 6,000 during the day before numbers swelled for the evening show. 
It was the first time many visitors had walked around the Olympic grounds, including the new aquatics center. They appeared cautiously optimistic about the site, with one family telling CNN the seats were comfortable but there was a lack of rubbish bins. 
Visitors had to queue for events as they passed through airport-style checks. Security was high at the event, with police helicopters fyling overhead and armed officers patrolling the grounds. 
Britain’s Ministry of Defence is to place ground-to-air missiles on an apartment block in Bow, East London. The building was formerly the Bryant and May match factory. 
The building’s former water tower was chosen as the possible site for a missile battery during the 2012 Olympic Games because of its location close to, and view over, the Olympic Park. 
Match girls at the factory walked out on strike in 1888, in protest at the terrible working conditions which made many of them ill, and the system of fines that left them very poorly paid. 
Louise Raw, a historian who has written a book about the match girls’ strike, called on residents of the apartment block to follow their example and protest at the decision to place missiles so close to their homes. 
More than 250 Guardsmen mark 100 days until the London 2012 Olympics starts on on July 27. They are at Horse Guards Parade in central London, which will host beach volleyball. 
China, which hosted the previous Olympics in 2008, also marked the milestone as athletes performed outside the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing. 
Melissa Wu, a diving silver medallist four years ago, poses with Australia’s Boxing Kangaroo Olympic mascot as the 100-day landmark is celebrated in Sydney. 
The future of London’s new Olympic stadium is one of the unresolved issues surrounding the Games’ legacy. 
Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville strike a pose outside the London 2012 store at Heathrow Airport. 
Giant Olympic rings are towed on the River Thames in front of the city’s iconic Tower of London on February 28, 2012. 
The Arcelor Mittal Orbit viewing platform seen next to the Olympic stadium. World-renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor designed the skyscraping sculpture that stands at 115 meters high. 
London 2012 Olympic Torchbearers Dinah Gould and Dominic John MacGowan pose with Mayor of London Boris Johnson on March 19, 2012. 
The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, meets Great Britain’s Hockey Team at London’s Olympic Park on March 15, 2012. 
Members of the emergency services take part in a London Olympics security drill entitled Exercise Forward Defensive on February 22, 2012. The exercise was to test responses to a possible terrorist incident during the Games. 
British rowing legend Matthew Pinsent helps lift in the first of 16,000 beds to be installed in London’s Olympic Village on January 26, 2012. 
Analyst Jignasha Patel prepares a sample for testing in the anti-doping laboratory which will test athletes’ samples from the London 2012 Games on January 19, 2012. 
Workers carry out the installation of artist Monica Bonvicini’s “RUN’”sculpture in the plaza of the London 2012 Handball Arena at the Olympic Park on January 12, 2012. 
Models wear the Volunteers Uniform for London 2012 at a photocall at the Olympic Park on November 22, 2011. 
Organizers expect 80% of the eight million ticket-holders to use the various rail systems, including the tube, during the Games. There will also be an Olympic Route Network where road traffic will be shut off to allow 55,000 athletes, officials and media to get to venues each day. 
France Football magazine has released a list of the highest-earning players in world soccer. Three-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi of Barcelona tops the list, earning $52 million in wages and sponsorship deals. 
Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o profited from joining big-spending Russian outfit Anzhi Machachkala from Inter Milan in August 2011. 
England star Wayne Rooney penned a lucrative five-year contract with Manchester United in October 2010, after initially declaring that he wanted to leave the Old Trafford club. 
Argentina striker Serguio Aguero is one of two Manchester City players in the top 10 after joining the Abu Dhabi-owned English Premier League club from Atletico Madrid for a reported $62 million in July 2011. 
Aguero is joined on the list by City teammate Yaya Toure, the Ivory Coast midfielder who signed for the club from Barcelona in 2010. Toure signed a sponsorship deal with German brand Puma in October 2011. 
Spain striker Fernando Torres joined Chelsea from EPL rivals Liverpool in a British-record transfer reported to be worth $80 million in January 2011. Despite his lucrative move, Torres has struggled to find the net during his spell in west London. 
Brazil playmaker Kaka was briefly the world’s most expensive player when he signed for Real Madrid from AC Milan in 2009. The reported$100 million fee Real paid for his services was beaten later in the same transfer window, when the Spanish club signed Ronaldo. 
Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm completes the top 10. The Germany skipper attracted controversy last year for releasing a book in which he criticized the training techniques of former Bayern coaches Jurgen Klinsmann and Felix Magath. 
Javier Pastore is the most expensive player in French football history after he cost Paris Saint-Germain a fee believed to be $56 million. But Pastore is not the first footballer to have swapped clubs for a hefty price tag. 
Fernando Torres swapped Chelsea for Liverpool on the final day of the January 2011 transfer window. After moving for a British-record transfer fee, believed to be in the region of $80 million, Torres has scored just five goals in a little over 12 months with the club. 
In 2001, Real Madrid broke the world transfer record to bring FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane to Spain from Italian club Juventus. The fee for the French World Cup winner was reported to be ?86.5 million ($115 million). 
Real broke world transfer record again in June 2009, paying a reported $100 million to lure Brazil’s Kaka away from Italian club AC Milan. 
Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved to Real’s archrivals Barcelona during the same transfer window. Barca paid Inter Milan a reported $65 million for the Sweden striker, but he lasted only one season before returning to Italy with AC Milan. 
Kaka’s time as the world’s most expensive player was short, with Real smashing the transfer record once again to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for a reported $130 million. 
Josep Guardiola gave an emotional press conference as he confirrmed widespread speculation that he will end his four-year reign as Barcelona coach. 
Guardiola announced his intent to quit at the end of this season just three days after the club’s Champions League semifinal exit against Chelsea, drawing 2-2 at home and losing 3-2 on aggregate. 
He was massively popular at the Camp Nou after four trophy-laden seasons. Here he is thrown in the air by his players after winning the FIFA Club World Cup for the second time in December 2011, having been the first team from Spain to win it two years earlier. 
Guardiola congratulates Barca players Cesc Fabregas and Javier Mascherano after winning the Spanish Supercup against Real Madrid at the start of the 2011-12 season. 
Guardiola won the FIFA Men’s Football Coach of the Year award in January 2012. “I can’t promise you silverware, but I can say that we’ll keep on battling to the end and you’ll be proud of us,” he said after becoming coach four years ago. 
In the 2009 calendar year, Guardiola won six trophies in total — the Copa del Rey, La Liga, the European Champions League, the Spanish Supercup, the UEFA Supercup and the Club World Cup. 
Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta shakes hands with Guardiola on June 5, 2008. The Catalan club’s 15th coach arrived with the mission to end a two-season trophy drought — he didn’t disappoint. 
He joined Barca’s famed La Masia youth academy in 1984, and wore the No. 4 shirt until leaving for Italy in 2001. 
He had two spells at Serie A side Brescia either side of a brief time at Roma, and is pictured playing against Perugia in 2002. 
Guardiola left Europe to join Qatar’s Al-Ahly from 2003 to 2005, then joined Mexico’s Dorades de Sinaloa for a season before finally hanging up his boots. 
Misfiring striker Fernando Torres comes on to secure Chelsea’s place in the Champions League final, giving his side an improbable 3-2 aggregate win over defending champions Barcelona. 
After Barcelona miss several chances, Sergio Busquets puts them ahead on the night and level on aggregate after 35 minutes. 
Chelsea suffer what looks like a critical blow when captain John Terry knees Alexis Sanchez from behind and is sent off in the 37th minute. 
Chelsea, who have already lost Gary Cahill to injury, look set to fall apart when Andres Iniesta finishes off a typically slick Barcelona move in the 44th minute to put the Catalan side 2-1 up. 
But Ramires runs through a static Barcelona defense and brilliantly chips Victor Valdes to put Chelsea ahead on away goals just before half time. 
As Barcelona push forward, Torres goes clean through, rounds the keeper and Chelsea wrap up a 3-2 win. 
Dr. Callie Torres (Sarah Ramirez) and Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) were married during “Grey’s Anatomy’s” seventh season in 2011. The pair also have a baby girl they share with her father, Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). 
“True Blood’s” Lafayette Reynolds, played by Nelsan Ellis, works as a cook and gay prostitute on the HBO series. 
On “Brothers and Sisters,” which aired on ABC from 2006 to 2011, Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) proposed to Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane). The pair had two children, Olivia and Daniel. 
After playing bisexual Alex Kelly on “The O.C.,” Olivia Wilde played Dr. Remy “Thirteen” Hadley on Fox’s “House.” 
“Happy Endings’” Max Blum, played by Adam Pally, is openly gay. His friends persuade him to come out to his parents during the show’s first season. 
“Greek’s” Calvin Owens, left, played by Paul James, originally struggled to come out to his Omega Chi fraternity brothers on the show, which aired on ABC Family from 2007 to 2011. 
Gay characters Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) and Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) and lesbian character Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) are some shining stars on Fox’s “Glee.” The teens deal with bullies, coming out and dating on the musical dramedy. 
Michael K. Williams played “The Wire’s” Omar Little, a renowned Baltimore criminal. In March,
Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Novak Djokovic of Serbia will be hoping to defend their Wimbledon titles in July — earning a 4.5% increase in prize money if they do. Singles champions will now receive £1.15 millon ($1.85 million). 
Rafael Nadal ruined Britain’s hopes of a home finalist after defeating Andy Murray in the 2011 semis. Both were part of the “Big Four” who helped secure pay increases. Semifinalists will now take home £287,500 ($463,336) — up 4.5%. 
Jo-Wilifried Tsonga of France delivered one of the biggest upsets of the 2011 tournament, knocking out six-time champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Quarterfinalists will now earn £145,000 ($233,720) — an increase of 5.5%. 
Russian third seed Vera Zvonareva suffered a shock third-round exit in last year’s against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova. A similar achievement this year would earn her £33,875 ($54,630) — an increase of 13.1%. 
Lebanese photographer Roger Moukarzel swapped his warm studio in Beirut for the frozen mountains of Lulea in northern Sweden. He was here to create a series of striking images that would highlight the cause and effect of climate change. 
Lulea is part of the area commonly known as Lapland, a reindeer heartland and home, of course, to Santa Clause’s legendary workshop. 
The reindeer share the region with the Sami, Europe’s northernmost officially indigenous people, whose ancestral lands spread across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. 
Lulea’s subarctic climate, with mild summers and long, cold and snowy winters, make it an ideal habitat for reindeer. However, in recent years, locals have said that temperatures have been rising appreciably and, in 2010, a herd of more than 300 reindeer was reportedly lost when the ice cover of a frozen lake broke beneath their hoofs. 
Moukarzel takes a picture of a local Sami girl, against the dark, ethereal backdrop of the Lulea forest. 
Dressed in their rich and colourful traditional clothing, Moukarzel positioned his subjects against the intentionally incongruous image of a large, smoke-chugging factory. 
According to Moukarzel, this series of images will be the beginning of many. The 45-year-old photographer plans to travel across all five continents, exploring this theme among different climates and cultures. 
It will certainly not his first big adventure. At just 15, Moukarzel started his career with moving, sometimes haunting pictures of the Lebanese civil war. 
He says he has always been primarily interested in taking pictures of people and “capturing moments of humanity” — such as this striking exchange from 1978 between a Lebanese soldier and a woman in war-torn Beirut. 
After 15 years as a front-line photojournalist for news agencies Sygma and Reuters, Moukarzel hung up his hard hat in favor of high fashion, as he embarked on a new career in the world of fashion photography. 
