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Movie award season started this weekend with the Golden Globes being held in Los Angeles. Presented by English comic Ricky Gervais for the third year running, the big winner from the night was, unusually, a black and white silent movie called The Artist.

The Winners and Losers

The Artist tells the tale of a declining silent actor who is starting to lose his celebrity as talking films gain in popularity. On the night, it was named best comedy and its star Jean Dujardin (pictured above) took home the best male comedy actor award. On the drama side, George Clooney won best actor for his role in The Descendents, which also won Best Film Drama.

Other big winners included hotly-tipped Meryl Streep for her role as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and Michelle Williams who plays Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn, both of whom won Best Actress awards. On the international scene, Iran's A Separation, which tells the simple tale of a couple's break up, won best foreign language film.

As part of Foreign Fridays, we explore a different country each week through its most unusual, amusing and odd facts. If you want your country to appear, then simply get in contact with us either in the comments below or through Facebook or Twitter.

This week it is the turn of Russia:

Much of Eastern Europe is celebrating Old New Year tonight. In Russia,
they traditionally celebrate by drinking vodka and champagne,
and by eating Mandarin oranges.

January is the month of a thousand New Year's Eves. Well, maybe not a thousand, but certainly a few different ones other than the traditional British 31st December, and today is Old New Year. This confusingly named festival is celebrated by Eastern European countries where the Orthodox Church is still prevalent. The reason it falls on January 13th, is due to the use of the old Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the modern calendar.

The latest university application figures for UK courses starting in 2012 have been revealed by UCAS, showing an increase in non-EU students. Whilst British and European applicants have fallen by 7.6% and 11% respectively, international student applications have risen by 13% compared to the same time last year.

With tuition fees tripling for UK and EU students from 2012 onwards, there has been a particular focus on application figures this year. The latest statistics show the number of undergraduate applications made by the middle of December 2011, and there are certainly some interesting changes since the same time in 2010.

EU and British Students Unsure

For EU students, the huge increases in fees have clearly had a negative impact. Applications to institutions in England, Ireland and Wales (all of which have fees of up to £9,000) have dropped by an average of almost 15%, whilst applicants to Scottish universities (which offer free tuition to EU students) have actually increased by 7.6%. This is matched by a similar trend in British students who also appear to be reluctant to apply with the increased fees.

As part of a brand new version of Foreign Fridays, we will be exploring a different country each week through its most unusual, amusing and odd facts. We will post it right here on the blog, as well as on the all new Foreign Fridays page. If you want your country to appear, then simply get in contact with us either in the comments below or through Facebook or Twitter.

As we enter in to 2012, the fact for Foreign Fridays this week had to be related to New Year's really didn't it? Well we've come up with a cracker for Japan.

At midnight on New Year's Eve in Japan, Buddhist temples strike a gong 108 times, with each ring representing one of the 108 types of human weakness that must overcome to achieve nirvana.

On December 31st, billions of people across the world celebrated the end of 2011 and the start of 2012, with fireworks, balloons and even grape eating.

In the UK, thousands of street parties were held up and down the country. The biggest by far was held in London where 250,000 people gathered along the River Thames to watch a massive firework display at the London Eye. Triggered by the Big Ben bell striking midnight, the 11 minute display had an amazing 12,000 fireworks. It had an Olympic theme, and mayor Boris Johnson enthused: "Our New Year fireworks were a brilliant start to a spectacular year. This is just the beginning - as the eyes of the world turn to London for the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Scotland's capital, Edinburgh, also saw tens of thousands of revellers turn out for the city's historic and world famous Hogmanay street party. As 5.5 tonnes of fireworks lit up the night sky, more than 20 music acts performed to the crowds over seven stages.