Millions around the world celebrate Lunar New Year and ring in the Year of the Snake

BEIJING (AP) — Firecrackers popped, incense was offered at temples and dancers and drummers paraded Wednesday in Asia and farther afield as millions around the world celebrated the Lunar New Year. From Beijing to Havana, the holiday — known as the Spring Festival in China, Tet in...

AP PHOTOS: Lunar New Year prayers and incense usher in the Year of the Snake

Wisps and clouds of smoke rose into the air at Buddhist and Daoist temples around Asia on Wednesday as people lit incense to pray for good luck in the Year of the Snake. From Vietnam to Japan, ethnic Chinese flocked to temples across north and Southeast Asia on what was the Lunar New...

PHOTO COLLECTION: Lunar New Year

What is Lunar New Year and how is it celebrated?

On Jan. 29, Asian American communities around the U.S. will ring in the Year of the Snake with community carnivals, family gatherings, parades, traditional food, fireworks and other festivities. In many Asian countries, it is a festival that is celebrated for several days. In diaspora communities,...

AP PHOTOS: Indonesia welcomes the Year of the Snake with dragon puppets and drum displays

BOGOR, Indonesia (AP) — From narrow side streets to packed malls, the traditional music and dance of dragon puppet performances have filled this bustling city south of Indonesia's capital to usher in the Lunar New Year. Asian communities across the world will begin ringing in the...

China's factory activity contracts in January for the first time in 4 months

HONG KONG (AP) — Manufacturing slowed in China in January for the first time in four months as workers began leaving assembly lines to travel to their hometowns for Lunar New Year holidays. The National Bureau of Statistics said its purchasing managers index, based on a survey of...

China's Lunar New Year travel rush kicks into high gear with 9 billion trips expected

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Lunar New Year travel rush has kicked into high gear, with billions of trips expected in coming days for the peak of the 40-day annual mass migration — the world's biggest annual movement of humanity. The actual new year holiday, which marks the start of...

Lunar New Year giveaway of cash and food leaves 4 dead in Cambodian capital as crowd surges

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Four people died and five others were injured Thursday as a crowd scrambled for a handout of food and cash from one of Cambodia 's richest people as a Chinese Lunar New Year gift, officials said. The victims were crushed as the crowd of hundreds surged...

AP PHOTOS: A lantern workshop in China makes snakes cute for the Lunar New Year

WEIFANG, China (AP) — The brightly lit snake lanterns are topped with oversized heads that don’t fit the usual image of the slithery reptile — they are cute. It's the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac, and in an era when cuteness reigns supreme, a workshop in eastern...