THE WEEK Jan 20: Lunar New Year special

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Torturous travel

As the Chinese New Year approaches, millions of urban Chinese residents endure the painful and stressful attempt to find tickets home, known in China as "chunyun". Most people favor railway transportation, waiting in lines for hours and sometimes days to get a seat. The only thing worse in China is waiting to buy a new iPhone 4S. But if Chinese officials want to relieve the stress of chunyun, they should look to the solutions utilized in Indonesia.

Give me your gifts

It's common practice during the Chinese New Year to bring gifts to family and friends. China Daily reports, "high-end liquor, cigarettes and health products" are most commonly exchanged. Small tobacco and liquor stores in China offer the illegal service, known as gift recovery, which allows people to exchange crappy gifts for cash.

Firework fails

While many families replace New Year fireworks with recordings of firework sounds or popping balloons, most people in China continue to amaze themselves with the eye-catching explosives. But be careful, because fireworks can be dangerous. The Week's Clark Cahill explains.

Fireworks at Aussie Open

The explosiveness of Chinese New Year fireworks may have crept into the mind of tennis professional Marcos Baghdatis. At the Australian Open, Baghdatis got super mad at his racquet.

This wacky world!

Scientists at Utah State University in the United States have bred goats that can create spider silk. Do I see the makings of a super hero movie?

A new product shows us why Americans are so fat. It's a special cup holder that fits your box of French fries perfectly.

Hollywood film star Mark Wahlberg thinks he is a real-life hero. After claiming he could have single-handedly prevented the 9/11 attacks, someone should tell him to shut up unless he's reading a script.

Jerry Yang finally made the smart decision to resign from Yahoo. He should have taken a lesson from Captain Francesco Schettino, a man who (allegedly) abandoned his sinking ship before evacuating his passengers. That's despicable.