Thread: World News in Pictures

It's summer and so it's showtime

Summer is here and that means art graduates up and down the land will be burning the midnight oil putting the finishing touches to their final shows. Every year thousands of visitors hotfoot it to graduate-orchestrated extravaganzas in search of the latest creative talent. Talent scouts dream of discovering the next Alexander McQueen, Tracey Emin or Zandra Rhodes, and graduates pull out all the stops to impress



Design by Ziv Gill Kazenstein, BA Fashion Print at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, one of University of the Arts London’s six Colleges. Kazenstein’s designs will be on show at Central Saint Martins Undergraduate show at Charing Cross Road, 15 June–2 July 2011






Camberwell College of Arts BA Illustration student Lizzie Towndrow is photographed alongside her work 'Bear'



Born to be famous by Camberwell College of Arts BA Painting student Julie Bennett, imagines some of the 20th century’s most famous artists as children



Billionaire’s Monument by MA Fine Art student Rob Brown, depicts the estimated life expectancy of some of the world’s richest people

Royal Ascot 2011



Racegoers arrive on the opening day of Royal Ascot



First things first – a spot of research into the runners and riders






Early contenders in the fashion stakes



Even the cameramen have been forced to dress up for the occasion

Gary Lineker arrives with his wife, Danielle



Who soon attracts the attention of the press pack



Overdose, ridden by Andreas Suborics, rides in the King's Stand Stakes



There's no excuse for that



Time for a quick rest break in the shade - evidently much needed by the chap on the left

Prohibit, ridden by Jim Crowley, wins The King Stand Stakes



The Queen arrives in a horse-drawn carriage with Prince Philip at her side. Mint green, that's the colour she's gone for, in case you were desperate enough to bet on that



The big race of the day seems to be taking a predictable path - Frankel, ridden by Tom Queally and the odds-on-favourite at 30-100, is streaking ahead



But having taken a five-lengths lead, Frankel tires and is almost caught on the line by Zoffany



No doubt who they put their money on

The magnificent Salisbury Cathedral is filled with floral displays by 500 volunteers from around Wiltshire and Dorset in preparation for its six-day flower festival, which starts today

Mexican president under fire after tycoon's release

Anti-crime activists attack government after judge frees former mayor of Tijuana at whose home officials say they found 88 guns



The Mexican government of Felipe Calderón has been left with egg on its face after a judge ordered the release of a former Tijuana mayor arrested earlier this month when dozens of firearms were allegedly discovered in a raid on his mansion.

The federal judge released Jorge Hank Rhon saying there was insufficient evidence to indict the 55-year-old gambling magnate and politician, despite reports from officials that 88 guns were found at his sprawling complex in Tijuana.

Hank Rhon – a father of 19 – is famed for his fortune, machismo, and exotic animals.

But he did not get to enjoy his freedom for long, as he was immediately taken to the state prosecutor's office for questioning over murders reportedly committed with two of the guns.

Hank Rhon was arrested in the early hours of 4 June after soldiers entered his home, which stretches up a hill from the racetrack he owns. The compound also includes a private bullring and zoo populated by white Bengal tigers, guacamayas and other rare animals.

The attorney general, Marisela Morales, said Hank Rhon had no permits for 78 of the weapons said to have been found, which comprised 40 rifles and 48 handguns. The raid also yielded 9,298 bullets, 70 ammunition clips and a gas grenade.

The judge who ordered Hank Rhon's release in the early hours of Tuesday morning also freed 10 of his employees detained during the raid. The former mayor left the jail before dawn and was taken to an office of the state prosecution service for questioning, after ballistic tests that allegedly linked two of the seized handguns to murders in Tijuana.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said his wedding has been canceled because his 25-year-old fiancee changed her mind. A look at the many girlfriends of Hefner.



Hugh Hefner and his fiancee, Playboy Playmate Crystal Harris, arrive at the opening night gala of the 2011 TCM Classic Film Festival featuring a screening of a restoration of 'An American In Paris' in Hollywood, California April 28, 2011.



Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner shares a laugh with girlfriends Holly Madison (R), Kendra Wilkinson (2nd R) and Bridget Marquardt (2nd L), and the 2006 Playmate of the Year Kara Monaco (far L) at a reception for Monaco at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, May 4, 2006.



Hugh Hefner and girlfriend Holly Madison attend the 30th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, June 14, 2008.



Hugh Hefner kisses girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson after their arrival at his 80th birthday party in Munich's famous club P1, May 31, 2006.



Hugh Hefner and girlfriend Holly Madison view photographs from selections of the Playboy archives, at Christie's in Beverly Hills, September 10, 2003.






Hugh Hefner is joined by former girlfriend Barbi Benton (L) and current girlfriend Holly Madison during an ESPY Awards pre-party at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, July 12, 2005.












His taste in shirts leaves a lot to be desired imo

Riots in southern China



Residents look on as riot police patrol on a street in the township of Xintang in Zengcheng near the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, June 13, 2011.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse rampaging migrant workers in southern China protesting over the mistreatment of a pregnant street hawker by security guards, media reports said on Monday, the latest in a series of protests across the country.



A man stands near an overturned police van on a street in Xintang town, near Guangzhou, Guangdong province, June 11, 2011.

Streets of Mogadishu



A car burns outside Hotel Madina during a protest in support of Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, in the streets of Somalia's capital Mogadishu, June 10, 2011.



A Ugandan peacekeeper from the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) takes a rest during fighting between Somalia government soldiers and Islamist insurgents near the main Bakara market in the capital Mogadishu,



Displaced Somali women jostle for food aid at a relief distribution centre in southern Mogadishu












Somali government soldiers fire on Hezbol Islam insurgents in the capital Mogadishu



A view of the scene after a car bomb detonated along a street in Somalia's capital Mogadishu






Somali demonstrators participate in a street protest in support of their Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, in the streets of the capital Mogadishu, June 10, 2011.






Residents drag the body of a peacekeeper killed during fighting between Islamists and government forces along a street in Hodan district, Mogadishu
























A member of the Somalia hardline Al Shabaab Islamist rebel group looks at the body of what it says is a Ugandan peacekeeper from the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) killed during clashes near the AMISOM base in Somalia's capital Mogadishu

Lifting the veil in Afghanistan









A supporter of Afghan parliamentary election candidate Farkhunda Zahra Naderi holds plastic bags as she guards shoes of other supporters at a rally in Kabul,

Soaked in the Midwest
Vehicles travel along Interstate 29 on Monday in Hamburg, Iowa, where floodwaters from the rising Missouri River have inundated the area. The waterway ruptured two levees in neighboring Missouri, drenching nearby farmland.



Arizona Wildfire Sets Record
Officials on Tuesday said Arizona's huge Wallow blaze, which has torched more than 469,000 acres and crept into New Mexico, is now the state's largest wildfire on record. Here: A firefighter outside the town of Alpine on Monday.

When in Rome...
President Obama takes a bite from a "medianoche" sandwich during a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday. The last president to visit the island territory was John F. Kennedy, who came in 1961.



Militant Violence in Iraq
On Tuesday, insurgents attacked a government building in Baquba, Iraq, killing at least 12 people, according to officials. Here: Iraqi security forces stand next to the body of a dead militant after the siege ended.

UK presses Sri Lanka over Channel 4's 'war crimes' film



The UK Foreign Office has pressed Sri Lanka to investigate alleged atrocities during its civil war after "horrific" footage aired in a TV programme.

Britain's Channel 4 showed what it said was previously unseen footage of what purported to be extrajudicial killings of Tamils by the military.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry dismissed the videos as fabricated, saying they were intended to discredit the army.

The army defeated the Tamil Tigers in 2009, ending 25 years of war.

Both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels have been accused of human rights abuses during the conflict, which killed an estimated 100,000 people.

The one-hour film, entitled Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, shows what appears to be executions of Tamil men, and video showing the corpses of naked women who appeared to have been sexually assaulted.

The programme - the result of two years' collection of video and eyewitness accounts - said the reports amounted to evidence of war crimes committed during the final months of fighting.

One video - which was said to have been taken by the military - shows graphic images of at least three bound prisoners, including one woman, being shot at close range.

In it, a soldier gives instructions to the others about how to kill the men.

"Is there no one with the balls to kill a terrorist?" he is heard saying, before telling his colleagues to aim at the prisoners' heads.



President Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected early last year

Pakistani woman villager is forced to 'parade naked'



Police in Pakistan say they have arrested two men for stripping a woman naked and parading her in a village.

One of the offenders had accused the woman's son of having illicit relations with his wife, the police said.

Public dishonouring of women is not uncommon in Pakistan and other parts of South Asia, but the incident is rare in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Police said villagers where the incident took place did not try to stop it because the offenders were armed.

Haripur district police chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur told the BBC that a resident of Nilor Bala village had complained to village elders that two men had had sexual relations with his wife.

According to the police, a village council advised the complainant to divorce his wife.

Instead, he and four armed men stormed the house belonging to the mother of one of the men alleged to have slept with his wife in order to kill her son.

Because the son was not there, the men dragged the mother out, stripped her and made her walk through the village, the police said.

They have now registered a case against seven people, but only two have been arrested so far. They say they are looking for other offenders.

Campaigners say achieving justice for women who are abused in Pakistan is difficult.

Woman's body in Papua New Guinea leader's home



Michael Somare is one of the Asia-Pacific region's longest-ruling leaders


Police in Papua New Guinea are investigating the discovery of a woman's body at the home of the acting prime minister, Sam Abal.

Mr Abal called the police when the body was found at his home in the capital Port Moresby.

The police say Mr Abal's adopted son is being treated as a suspect in the death; they are trying to find him.

Mr Abal is in charge of the government while the veteran leader, Michael Somare, recovers from heart surgery.

He said that he and his family were "immediate suspects" in the case, which he described as an "unfortunate and regrettable incident".

"The alleged murder took place within the perimeters of my private home," Mr Abal said in a statement published by the Post Courier newspaper.

"All family members living with me are immediate suspects and are subject to investigation and questioning by police," he added.

In the meantime, Mr Abal has moved into a local hotel and said he would not interfere in the case.

If any of his family members were involved they would face the full brunt of the law and not be treated differently from anyone else, he said.

Mr Somare, who is 75, has led the country for almost half of its 36 years of independence.

Amid failing health, he stepped down in December 2010 to face a tribunal investigating misconduct for allegedly failing to submit full annual financial statements in the 1990s.

Mr Somare replaced his then deputy in favour of close ally and foreign minister Sam Abal.

Girls treated as commodities, child prostitution trial told



Teenage girls were treated as "sexual commodities to be sold or gifted", a jury in a child prostitution trial has been told.

Nine men deny a range of sexual offences against seven girls in Shropshire.

The men, who are aged between 21 and 59 and from Telford, face more than 50 charges at Stafford Crown Court.

Charges include rape, controlling child prostitution and sexual activity with girls under the age of 16.

'Not about race'

One of the defendants is accused of trafficking a child in the UK for exploitation.
The men on trial are Ahdel Ali, 23, Murbarek Ali, 28, Mohammed Ali Sultan, 24, Tanveer Ahmed, 39, Mahroof Khan, 33, Noshad Hussain, 21, Mohammed Islam Choudhrey, 52, Mohammed Younis, 59 and 34-year-old Abdul Rouf.

They enticed the girls, groomed the girls and exploited them either for their own sexual gratification or for money.”

Deborah Gould Prosecuting


They deny all of the charges, which relate to the alleged sexual abuse and exploitation of girls in Wellington between September 2007 and December 2009.

The victims are seven teenage girls, one of whom was 13 years old at the time the alleged offences were committed.

The girls, who cannot be identified, were said to have received cash, alcohol, drugs, meals and mobile phone credit in exchange for sex with some of the defendants.

Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said the men in the dock had variously trafficked, raped or sexually abused girls, both over and under the age of 16, over a considerable period of time.

Alan Shearer holds talks with Cardiff City




Former England captain Alan Shearer has held talks with Cardiff over succeeding Dave Jones as boss of the Championship club, BBC Sport Wales understands.

The ex-Magpies manager, 40, is the latest name to be linked with the club.

Another former Newcastle boss, Chris Hughton, is also believed to have been on Cardiff's shortlist along with Watford boss Malky Mackay.

Ex-West Brom manager Roberto di Matteo and St Johnstone's Derek McInnes have also been linked to the role.

Ruud Gullit sacked as Terek Grozny manager



Ruud Gullit has been sacked as manager of Russian side Terek Grozny.

The Dutch legend, 48, was appointed in January, but had been told by club president Ramzan Kadyrov that Terek must win at Amkar Perm on Tuesday.

After a last-minute goal condemned them to a 1-0 defeat, Kadyrov told Interfax: "Gullit will no longer train Terek. Under him, the team have played exceptionally poorly this season."

The result leaves Terek lying 14th in the 16-team Russian Premier League.

"I don't think it would have mattered if I had won or lost," said Gullit, who has also had spells in charge of Chelsea, Newcastle, Feyenoord and Los Angeles Galaxy.

Greeks set to strike as MPs debate austerity measures



Workers in Greece are due to stage a general strike, as the parliament meets to debate new austerity measures.

Demonstrators say they will encircle the parliament building in an attempt to prevent MPs from taking part.

Prime Minister George Papandreou is trying to push through fresh policies as part of the conditions for the EU and IMF's bail-out package.

On Monday, Standard & Poor's cut Greece's credit rating, making it the world's least credit-worthy country.

The Greek government said the downgrade - from B to CCC - ignored its efforts to secure funding.

Activists and unionists have been planning to gather on Athens' central Syntagma Square on the assembly's front steps on Wednesday.

Mr Papandreou also faces the risk of a backbench revolt over the plans.

One MP defected from Mr Papandreou's PASOK party defected on Tuesday, leaving it with only 155 of the chamber's 300 seats.

You have to be as cruel as a tiger to vote for these measures. I am not," George Lianis, a former sports minister, said in a letter to parliament's speaker announcing his departure from the parliamentary group.

At least one other Socialist MP has threatened to vote against the new programme of cuts and privatisation of state assets.

The government has appealed for consensus over its proposals, which would see 6.5bn euros (£5.7bn; $9.4bn) worth of tax rises and spending cuts this year.

Fed chief Bernanke warns of US debt ceiling threat



The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has warned that the country's creditworthiness is at risk if its borrowing limit is not raised.

He said the US could lose its coveted AAA credit rating if Congress did not vote in favour of lifting the $14.3 trillion (£8.7 trillion) debt ceiling.

If there is no deal by August, the US may start defaulting on obligations.

Vice-President Joe Biden and congressional leaders have resumed efforts to find a bipartisan solution.

They are trying to reach an agreement that would tie spending cuts with an increase in the debt limit. They are expected to discuss annual spending levels, budget process reforms, taxes and healthcare benefits.

"We're making real progress, we're down to the tough stuff now and everybody's still in the room," Mr Biden said after Tuesday's meeting.

President Barack Obama and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, want an agreement by 4 July.

Union warns of mass public sector strike warning



Mark Serwotka said teachers' vote to strike would send ministers a clear message


A union is threatening a walkout by hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, ahead of the results of a ballot over pension changes, job cuts and a pay freeze.

The PCS union is expecting its members to deliver an overwhelming vote in favour of strike action when details are announced on Wednesday.

It follows two teachers' unions backing strikes on the same day.

But the government said any co-ordinated action would be a "mistake".

Following Tuesday's announcements of strikes by the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, a walkout is set to take place at thousands of schools in England and Wales, affecting millions of children.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka has warned that up to 750,000 public-sector workers in total could be taking co-ordinated strike action on 30 June, the biggest outbreak of industrial unrest in the public sector for many years.

Tunisia Ben Ali: Trial to begin in absentia on 20 June



Tunisia's ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia in January, is to go on trial in absentia on 20 June.

Announcing the date, interim Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi said Saudi Arabia had not replied to requests to hand him over.

Charges range from conspiring against the state to drug trafficking.

A lawyer for the Mr Ben Ali, whose 23-year rule ended in mass protests, has dismissed the trial as a "masquerade".

Both the former leader and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, face charges.

His overthrow inspired protesters across the Arab world, from Egypt to Yemen.

The Macedonians are paying tribute to Alexandra the Great and his horse Bucephalas by erecting a giant statue in the capital Skopje

A Czech worker stands in front of some 50,000 skeletons in the town of Brno, the second largest repository of bones in europe. The skeletons are being cleaned prior to the reopening of St James Church to the public next year

Chancellor to call for retail banks to be ring-fenced



Chancellor George Osborne is to force banks to ring-fence their retail operations from investment banking.

In a speech on Wednesday he will say banks must be set up so that their branches and public savings and loans would not be damaged if their trading arms ran into trouble.

The legal separation of the functions of big banks was recommended by the Independent Commission on Banking.

He will also announce the privatisation of Northern Rock.

The former mutual was nationalised in February 2008, in the early stages of the financial crisis.