Four days to go until the Mayan Doomsday

If you’re seriously concerned about the world ending on Friday, then this could be just the ticket.

Ron Hubbard has built a luxurious underground bomb-proof shelter in Montebello, California, with a leather sofa, plasma TV and wooden flooring - just in case the Mayans’ predictions come true.

The civilisation’s Long Count calendar which began 5,125 years ago in 3113 B.C. ends on December 21, 2012 - sparking fears among a small group of people that a major catastrophe could happen.

Bomb-proof: Children test out the bunk beds in the underground survival shelter in Montebello, California

Going underground: The luxurious bomb, nuclear and chemical weapon-proof bunkers are kitted out with beds, kitchens, flushing toilets and even fireplaces - and sell for an average price of £46,000 based on fittings

Handle: A young girl stands in the bunker, which has a leather sofa, plasma TV and wooden flooring

Mr Hubbard manufactures hi-tech underground ‘recreational bomb shelters’ - and has seen his business boom from selling one a month to one a day in the past year.

THE END - OR A NEW CALENDAR?

Inscriptions in Mexico refer to Bolon Yokte - a god associated with war and the underworld - 'descending from the sky' at the end of a 13th period of 400 years on December 21 2012.

But many Mayan experts believe the ‘apocalypse’ concept is a false interpretation of their 5,125-year Long Count cycle as Friday simply marks the start of a new calendar.

The luxurious bomb, nuclear and chemical weapon-proof bunkers are kitted out with beds, kitchens, flushing toilets and even fireplaces - and sell for an average price of £46,000.

Mr Hubbard revealed that he is currently rushing the instalment of two shelters - one in New York and another in Indiana - in time for the potential Doomsday anticipated by some people this Friday.

He said: ‘I will be heading into my shelter on December 21 just because I have one and if any of the astrophysicists are right, I would feel really stupid.

Tidy: The 500 sq ft cylindrical shelters - produced in California - each measure 10ft in diameter and 50ft long

Home comforts: A bed is prepared in the shelter with the Chile flag on the pillows and duvet cover

Practical: The bunkers have escape tunnels with one sided hatches which can only open from the inside, as well as sealed contamination rooms between the entrance and living areas

‘I've sold shelters to astrophysicists who believe there is a possibility that we could be hit with a strong solar flare or large amounts of radiation. 

'I will be heading into my shelter on December 21 just because I have one and if any of the astrophysicists are right, I would feel really stupid'

Ron Hubbard, shelter manufacturer

‘I'll spend three days underground in the shelter just to be safe. If you have a shelter you might as well go in it. I don't think anything will happen but you never know.’

The 500 sq ft cylindrical shelters - produced at Mr Hubbard’s based in California - each measure 10ft in diameter and 50ft long.

They have escape tunnels with one sided hatches which can only open from the inside, as well as sealed contamination rooms between the entrance and living areas.

But they have proved popular not just with those preparing for armageddon, but hunters too.

Installation: The chambers are mean to be installed 20 feet underground - offering comfort as the world falls apart around you

Relax in comfort: A leather sofa and basins can be found inside the Doomsday underground bunker

Space optimization: There are a range of shelters for sale- this one being cheaper than the luxury edition

Mr Hubbard said: ‘I started making them because I wanted one for myself, but didn't want to pay $1million (£600,000) to $2million (£1.2million) for them.

'I'll spend three days underground in the shelter just to be safe. If you have a shelter you might as well go in it. I don't think anything will happen but you never know'

Ron Hubbard, shelter manufacturer

‘We get a lot of people who buy the shelters as a form of insurance for the worst case scenario. Just like someone would buy fire insurance in case their home suffers a fire.

‘We have gone from selling one a month to one a day in the past year since Obama's re-election.
‘Many people are afraid of economic meltdown, others simply want to have one just in case something catastrophic does happen.

‘People love them. They make a very nice hunting cabin or weekend retreat, so they don't just have to sit there waiting for a catastrophe.’

Creature comforts: The small dining area with an ornament on the side is reminiscent of a table at a diner

Home made: There is a mini fridge and microwave in the shelter but little other space for food preparation

Tight quarters: Visitors likened the California shelter to a studio apartment when they looked around

CCTV with a view of the world upstairs: Add a few trinkets and posters and you have a home from home

Messi hits jackpot!

Lionel Messi is ready to sign for life at Barcelona with a deal that would give him the highest club wages of any footballer in Europe's top leagues.

The player's father, Jorge, has already opened negotiations with the Catalan club over extending his current contract, meaning he will stay at Barcelona until he is at least 31.

Money bags: Messi looks set for a mega contract

The deal is expected to be structured so that it increases yearly, rising to £12.5million a year net before bonuses. Messi, 25, signed his last big contract in the 2009-10 season with then sporting director Txiki Begiristain and his vice-president Marc Ingla. 

That contract is heavily incentivised with his pay, after bonuses, in any given season automatically becoming his basic pay for the following season.

President Sandro Rosell is keen to extend that deal by two years to ensure he stays at Barcelona before fulfilling his ambition of a swansong in Argentina before he retires.

The top 10 richest players

1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £27.5m

2 David Beckham (Free agent) £26.2m

3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £24.3m

4 S amuel Eto'o (Anzhi Makhachkala) £19.4m

5 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) £17.2m

6 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain) £16m

7 S ergio Aguero (Manchester City) £15.7m

8 Yaya Toure (Manchester City) £14.7m

9 Fernando Torres (Chelsea) £13.9m

10 Kaka (Real Madrid) £12.9m
 

The player's net take-home pay before bonuses is estimated at £9m year, behind Paris Saint-Germain striker  Zlatan Ibrahimovic's £12m and Samuel Eto'o, who earns £16m at Anzhi Makhachkala.

Although his bonuses, as well as sponsorship, invariably take Messi past those players, the new deal could see his basic pay leave him clear of the field.

It would also see him pull away from Cristiano Ronaldo's estimated £9m annual earnings before bonuses. That will annoy Ronaldo's camp, who have been frustrated by Real Madrid's failure to start talks over a new deal for the  Portugal forward. 

Today, Messi comes up against Atletico Madrid and the player Roman Abramovich wants to put in a similar pay league at Stamford Bridge, Radamel Falcao. 

The Chelsea owner will offer the Colombia striker a five-year, £200,000-a-week contract but his dream of landing the world's most wanted No 9 could be thwarted by Real Madrid. 

A bid of €60m (£48.8m) will land the striker, who destroyed Chelsea in the European Super Cup in August, but Real president Florentino Perez is committed to meeting that asking price at the end of the season.

Left behind: Cristiano Ronaldo could be eclipsed by Messi in pay chart

Just as Messi is beyond the reach of the Chelsea owner, Real's determination not to miss out on Falcao - as they did Sergio Aguero - threatens the Russian's chances of landing his latest top target.

A gentleman's agreement between Real and Atletico has in the past stopped the former from signing the latter's players but Perez was criticised by fans for allowing Aguero to join  Manchester City last season. He is up for re-election this summer and needs a big signing to help him win.

Despite the Madrid clubs' understanding, Aguero was bound for Real before the start of last season until differences over which agent would be used scuppered the deal.

That will not be an issue as Falcao is represented by Jorge Mendes, who already manages a host of Real's top players, including Ronaldo.

Perez was at an awards ceremony in midweek with Falcao and was filmed without his knowledge joking with the player and goalkeeper Iker Casillas that he would pass the striker a serviette with the words 'do you want to sign for Madrid?' on it.

That's rich: Kaka may be a bit-part player but he receives £12.9m

This is a reference to the note he scrawled on a napkin for Zinedine Zidane when the two met prior to the Frenchman signing for Madrid from Juventus.
Perez was alerted to the rolling  cameras by Casillas, who told him: 'Be careful, president. They are filming.'

The man who landed Zidane as well as Luis Figo, Ronaldo and David Beckham in the team that became known as the Galaticos wants another earth-shattering signing to send out a message to football's new money.

Messi's Barcelona team-mate David Villa, another former Chelsea target, could also be on his way out of Spain after being edged out at the Nou Camp.

The 31-year-old was the last of former president Joan Laporta's signings and  is on a €6m-a-year deal that runs until 2014. He has started six league games this season.

On the road to snow-where!

This spectacular snowy route marks the border between Sweden and Norway - and is perfect challenge for adventure-loving snowmobilers.

But this group are quite literally treading on a thin line - because to their right is Norway where riding a snowmobile for fun is illegal while to their left is Sweden where it is allowed.

Strict laws in Norway mean unless it is work related, riding snowmobiles is against the law. 

But photographer Havard Dalgrav, 25, and his friends were undeterred by the risk of ending up on the wrong side of the law and travelled four hours to the border to capture these stunning shots.

The snow motorway: Snowmobilers ride down the cleared border between Sweden, pictured on the left where riding snowmobiles for fun is legal, and Norway on the right where it is not 

A bumpy ride: The snowy route is more than 1000 miles long - making it the longest border for either country

The incredible snowy terrain, home to wolves and brown bears, is more than 1000 miles long and is the longest border along either country.

Mr Dalgrav, from Oslo, Norway, discovered the route while travelling to Sweden for a snowmobile trip earlier this year.

 

He said: 'It's a really breath-taking sight - the track seems to go on forever and as much as I'd love to get to the end of it I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to.

'It looks natural but I'm sure the trees must have been removed to mark the border, maybe left from WWII or something when this was much stricter.

'When you zoom in on the internet using Google Maps you can actually see the gap on the border and follow it all the way along from top to bottom.'

A winter wonderland: A man walks through the freshly-fallen snow in Chemnitz, eastern Germany, yesterday

Going nowhere fast: Bikes are covered in heavy snow in Munich, southern Germany, today as temperatures in the Bavarian capital fell below freezing

Vineyards were left covered in snow near Durbach, southern Germany, today

A quick dip: Ducks make the most of a river that has remained unfrozen after more snowfall in the Belarusian capital Minsk

But while the pictures may make the route appear to be as smooth as motorway, Mr Dalgrav revealed it was actually a rather bumpy ride. 

He continued: 'It's about 10-15 metres wide and what you can't tell from the pictures is that it's really quite bumpy so you can't get the sort of speed you crave looking at the long straight line.

'The laws are quite unusual so a lot of us from university travel over to Sweden together. Just a few meters to the right and we would have been breaking the law.

'We discovered it in February this year and we decided to make it an annual trip. It was about -15c so when driving at 100kmh with the wind in your face it's pretty cold.

'Unfortunately due to the temperature my camera stopped working - thankfully it was after I got this shot of the route snaking along the border for miles into the distance.
'It was so much fun and it's not every day you see something this beautiful.'

Clearing the way: Snowplows clean the A20 highway in eastern Germany after heavy snowfall

A long journey ahead: A man on cross-country skis attempts to make his way across a field in front of a church of Weyarn, Bavaria, Germany

Weather around the world: Snow falls in the suburbs of Beijing, China, bringing traffic problems and delayed flights for the first time 

Hard at work: A worker clears the tracks of the Chur-Arosa line at the train station in Litzirueti, Switzerland, yesterday

Beautiful photographs of horse loggers

It was a picturesque scene that could easily grace the cover of a Christmas card, as a full-time commercial horse logger was photographed removing Scots Pine trees from in the snow.

Simon Lenihan was pictured removing the trees in Crathie, Aberdeenshire, from the Balmoral Estate yesterday with Belgian Ardennes horses Sultan De Le Campagne, 15, and Salome Du Pre Renier, 4.

The beautiful horses working at the royal residence of Balmoral at this time of year were being used in place of large timber machines to minimise any damage to vegetation, soils and water-tables.  

Traditional values: Simon Lenihan, a full time commercial horse logger, removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne, a 15-year-old Belgian Aldennes horse

Beautiful scene: Simon Lenihan uses Salome Du Pre Renier, a 4-year-old Belgian Ardennes horse, to remove another Scots Pine tree from the estate

Tough work: Simon Lenihan removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne, a 15-year-old Belgian Ardennes horse

Traditional trade: The Prince of Wales is the Patron of The British Horse Loggers, an association that works to promote horse logging and support professional horse loggers

The Prince of Wales is the Patron of the British Horse Loggers, an association that works to promote horse logging and support professional horse loggers.

 

Mr Lenihan, who lives in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, was working in temperatures of -4C (25F) yesterday with his son Ian in front of photographer Jeff Mitchell.

Mr Mitchell, 42, of Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, told MailOnline: ‘They take the horses instead of using heavy machinery which causes quite a lot of damage to the ground.

Teamwork: Simon Lenihan and his son Ian, full time commercial horse loggers, remove a Scots Pine tree

Old-fashioned ways: The horses working at Balmoral are being used in place of large timber machines

Carefully does it: The purpose is to minimise any damage to vegetation, soils and water-tables

Together: Simon Lenihan removes a Scots Pine tree from the Balmoral Estate with Sultan De Le Campagne

‘I think those guys must have been working in temperatures of -4c. There’s a bit of frost on the ground, but those guys start around 5:30am and go and warm the horses up on a two-mile walk.

‘That gets the muscles and the blood going through the horses. They’re going back to the methods people were using 100 years ago. The neck harness is made by the Amish in the US.’

He added: ‘They've been up there for about 12 weeks. It's gorgeous, that whole area is just beautiful. You can see why the royal family go there. I think it's one of the most beautiful places in the UK.’ 

Going for cold: The team was working on the estate in Crathie, Aberdeenshire, in temperatures of -4C

Horse play: There are successful horse logging contractors working throughout Scotland, England and Wales

The British Horse Loggers offers demonstrations, training, professional development and works to advertise and promote horse logging

The British Horse Loggers's website describes horse logging as 'the extraction of timber using horses as 'base machine' with a wide range of traditional and modern implements'. 

It continues: 'Horse loggers work through the whole range of timber produced in British woodlands; from small coppice poles and firewood, through thinnings in soft and hard woods up to final crop - large saw logs in soft and hard woods.'

The organisation offers demonstrations, training, professional development and works to advertise and promote horse logging.

Sultan De Le Campagne drags along a Scots pine trunk, while Simon Lenihan follows on

The Lenihans were working today in sub-zero temperatures. They first take the horse for a two-mile walk to warm them up

Purchased by Queen Victoria in 1848, the Balmoral Estate has been the Scottish home of the Royal Family ever since.

The estate covers about 20,000 hectares (just over 50,000 acres) of heather-clad hills and ancient Caledonian woodland.

Over the past 150 years, careful stewardship by the Royal Family has preserved its wildlife, scenery and architecture.

The paintings which are full of life: Incredible body art transforms

Artist Gesine Marwedel's paintings are full of life - quite literally.

The German creates her stunning images not on a traditional blank canvas but on the bodies of people, as these breathtaking pictures reveal.

Using her subjects' limbs to create angles for her intricate work, she transforms them into moving masterpieces that represent landscapes and animals.

A model is turned into a human swan in this incredible piece of body art work

A desert scene, complete with camels, is represented on this woman

World cities are merged as Gesine Marwedel tries her hand at a more urban style

In one incredible image, a subject is turned into a human swan, while her other works show desert scenes, a bleak mountain, and a breathtaking cityscape that merges what appears to be Barcelona and Sydney.

Ms Marwedel, from Dortmund, has also turned one person into a flamingo, and ethched eye-catching paintings of an iguana and a tiger.

All her body art is created using eudermic colours, which are natural and based on mineral water and thermal mud.

The 25-year-old, who has attracted a large following in her native country, says she was inspired to paint after working at an Indian orphanage on completion of her university degree.

A bleak mountainscape under a moonlit sky transforms this woman

Both men and women are used by the talented artist, whose highly intricate works reveal an incredible eye for detail. A jigsaw puzzle and eyes are shown here

Half-man, half-tiger: With meticulous attention to detail, a tiger painting merges into the model's natural form

Most people would jump out of their skin if they had an iguana on them but, luckily for this woman, it's just a painting, albeit incredibly lifelike

German Gesine Marwedel has attracted a cult following in her native country with work like this

She describes her style as 'mostly realistic or surrealistic' and also paints on traditional canvas using oil.

Traditionally, body art was, and still is, popular among tribal people.

It still survives in its ancient form among the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Gesine Marwedel gets to work on one of her subjects, this time painting a tree on a beach