A trainee bodyguard of the Genghis Security Academy is reprimanded by instructor Marco Borges (2nd R) following an ambush exercise at an army training ground on the outskirts of Beijing on January 18. In sub-zero winter cold, trainees at an army base outside Beijing wake before dawn to practise martial arts and evasive driving, under the instruction of a Portuguese ex-special forces soldier. The roughly 40-strong group -- mostly with previous military experience -- are on a commercial training course to become elite bodyguards protecting Chinese firms as they seek ever more resources and contracts in some of the world's most unstable regions.

Trainee bodyguards performing an exercise at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing.

Trainees of a bodyguard camp stand with taped masks on their heads before a freestyle blind wrestling training session at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing. Nearly three dozen recruits took target practice and conducted evasion and extraction drills as part of preparations to provide security for the growing number of Chinese businesses investing in turbulent regions of Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. The academy is one of several bodyguard schools in China that offer protection for the country's growing number of wealthy businessmen and women, but in its case, the focus is on the international market.

A trainee of a bodyguard camp sheds tears as he is briefed on his performance after the day's training by a coach at the Genghis Security Academy in Beijing.

Free Syrian Army fighters run across a street in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

A Free Syrian Army fighter rest as another fighter aims his rifle in the Zamalka neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley comforts her son, Nalin, 10, and her daughter, Rena, 14, as her husband, Capt. Michael Haley, right, gets ready for a deployment ceremony for the South Carolina Army National Guard at Ft. Jackson on Jan. 10.

Inmate John Barba works with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training, at Western Correctional Institution in Cresaptown, Md. Dill is one of three dogs assigned since September to inmates at the maximum-security prison for basic training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

Dill looks on as inmate John Barba walks away after commanding him to sit and stay. The inmates, who are also veterans, are among the state's first prisoners to join a national trend of training service dogs in correctional institutions.

John Barba looks at a calendar as he sits in the 6-by-9-foot cell that he shares with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training.

John Barba walks out of his cell with Dill. Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to graduate sooner and at higher rates than those raised traditionally in foster homes because puppies respond well to the consistency and rigid schedules of prison life.

People leave Damara, the last strategic town between the rebels from the Seleka coalition and the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, on Jan. 2, 2013, as the commander of the regional African force FOMAC warned rebels against trying to take the town, saying it would "amount to a declaration of war."

Chadian soldiers who are fighting in support of Central African Republic President Francois Bozize ride in a convoy on the road leading to Damara, about 44 miles north of Bangui, on Jan. 2, 2013.

Chadian soldiers on the road leading to Damara on Jan. 2, 2013.

A Chadian soldier sits on a truck near Damara on Jan. 2, 2013.

A soldier runs to jump on a moving truck carrying Chadian soldiers in Damara on Jan. 2, 2013.

Syrian rebels stand atop Sham II, a homemade armored vehicle made by the rebels' Al-Ansar brigade, in Bishqatin, west of Aleppo, on December 8, 2012.

A rebel uses a GTS game controller to activate the machine gun mounted on the Sham II.

A rebel drives the Sham II with the help of cameras mounted on the vehicle.