World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Last Volkswagen camper vans are made in Brazil – in pictures

Volkswagen will finally stop producing the Kombi camper van in the last plant to manufacture it in Brazil this month. An event was held in São Bernardo do Campo celebrating the last days of the minibus after 62 years



Higher manufacturing costs and an increase in production time due to new auto regulations, which will require anti-lock brake systems and air bags in all cars produced in Brazil from 2014, contributed to its decision to stop production



Volkswagen produced more than 1.5m of the vehicles worldwide

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

A 2013 'Last Edition' model of Volkswagen's Kombi minibus at the VW plant in São Bernardo do Campo

[Mr Lick]

ADF troops return from Afghanistan

ADF Troops arrive in Sydney to greet family and friends

[Mr Lick]

South Sudanese seek shelter at UN compounds in Juba – in pictures

Up to 13,000 civilians flee fighting between rival military factions in South Sudan's capital, Juba, and seek safety in two UN compounds







Civilians crowd inside the UN compound on the outskirts of Juba. The UN says the clashes have claimed hundreds of lives. A meeting of the security council in New York on Tuesday was told that the fighting was ‘apparently largely along ethnic lines’. Up to 20,000 people have taken refuge in the UN mission in Juba, according to the French UN ambassador and current president of the security council, Gerard Araud. He said the conflict had ‘the potential of a civil war’ between the two main ethnic groups, the Dinka and the Nuer. The South Sudan government has denied that there is an ethnic aspect to the conflict

[Mr Lick]

A dog riding in a car passes a fire burning near the access road to Pfeiffer Ridge in Big Sur, California, December 18, 2013



A man gestures as he calls for help at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Tareek Al-Bab area of Aleppo, December 18, 2013



Members of the Guarani Nandeva tribe stand guard at the entrance to one of the 14 farms they have been occupying for the past 78 days, claiming they are part of the ancestral land called Tekoha Yvy Katu, in the Japora municipality of Mato Grosso do Sul state, near the southern border with Paraguay, Brazil, December 18, 2013. Guarani Indians are preparing to resist the possible arrival of police to forcibly evict them under court order, and have also sent a letter to Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff saying that they are "ready to die" fighting for the land



Customers puff on e-cigarettes at the Henley Vaporium in New York, December 18, 2013. At the Henley Vaporium, one of a growing number of e-cigarette lounges sprouting up in New York and other U.S. cities, patrons can indulge in their choice of more than 90 flavors of nicotine-infused vapor, ranging from bacon to bubble gum

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Stoke's Peter Crouch shields himself as hail falls during a League Cup quarter-final football match against Manchester United.

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Apollo Theatre ceiling collapse



More than 80 people have been injured - several of them seriously - after part of a ceiling at London's Apollo Theatre collapsed on Thursday evening.











Three London buses were commandeered to ferry some of the injured and shocked to hospital.

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Exploratory entomologist Kenji Kishida photographed this pitbull katydid while visiting the Barbilla National Park in Siquirres, Costa Rica. The bug is native to Costa Rica and is a nocturnal, carnivorous insect known for its bizarre shocked look and flat head



For more on this story, please click here. Police, ambulance and fire crews on the scene of a bus crash in Kennington Road, south London in which several people have been injured

[Mr Lick]

Recent storm surges have exposed the wreckage of a German First World War U-boat which has been marooned on mudflats off the Kent coast for nearly a century

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Cardiff City fans gather in front of the statue of 1927 City cup final winning captain Fred Keenor, as the future of Cardiff manager Malky MacKay remains unresolved at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales



A polar bear sits on drift ice as it searches for seals in the Arctic Ocean



A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume swims with fish at the Coex Aquarium in Seoul, Korea



Huge waves crash onto Viavelez's seafront in the northern Spanish region of Asturias

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Closer to home, high winds cause spectacular waves on the promenade at Aberystwyth on the Cardigan Bay coast in Wales



Humanoid communication robot Kirobo and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata in the International Space Station. Kirobo has the job of talking to astronauts to keep them entertained. He has told Koichi Wakata that he likes zero-gravity and that he wants a toy rocket from Santa this Christmas



Chinese dancing master Yang Liping performs in her dance drama The Peacock during the first Yang Liping International Dance Festival in Kunming, China. The 20-day festival will end on Christmas Day

[Mr Lick]

Wisconsin's Lauren Carlini, centre, celebrates with teammates after they beat Texas in an NCAA women's volleyball tournament semifinal in Seattle, USA

[Mr Lick]

Armed police storm a car outside the New South Wales Parliament in Sydney, Australia, after a standoff that ended after two hours when police attempted to control the situation, fearing the 58-year-old driver would set fire to himself with a lighter. The man drove a white car containing what police believe to be containers of flammable liquid up onto a footpath and demanded that Premier Barry O'Farrell leave the building



The shadow of the of the US Capitol dome is seen during a tour of the dome in Washington, DC. The Dome has not undergone a complete restoration since 1959-1960 and due to age and weather is now plagued by more than 1,000 cracks and deficiencies. The Architect of the Capitol began in November, a multi-year project to repair these deficiencies, restoring the Dome to its original, inspiring splendor

[Mr Lick]

A researcher conducts electromagnetic compatibility experiment on a new mobile phone in a lab of a Lenovo production base in Wuhan, China. Lenovo has become the world's third largest smartphone maker after the duopoly of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics



The tug Samuel de Champlain pushing the barge Innovation follows the USCGC Bristol Bay, the 140-foot tug as it breaks the ice in the Saginaw Bay shipping channel in Bay City, Michigan, USA. Bristol Bay began cutting ice at 8 a.m. and escorted the barge to LaFarge docks in Essexville

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A view of the penal colony where Maria Alyokhina, jailed member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, is being held is seen in Nizhny Novgorod. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the two jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot would be freed under an amnesty but still described their protest against him in a church as disgraceful



Oranges thrown by farmers on the pavement in front of riot policemen in Athens. Farmers scuffled with riot police as they protest against Greek government's decision to tax agricultural land.



Members of the emergency services use a cherry picker as they work at the scene of a bus crash in Kennington, south London. Two people were believed to be in critical condition after a bus crashed into a tree in south London leaving dozens injured, according to local reports

[Mr Lick]

A Palestinian boy dressed as Santa Claus holds a Palestinian flag as he stands in front of Israeli soldiers during a protest against the Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of al-Masara near Bethlehem



A large snow sculpture is carved at the Sun Island Park during the 26th China Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo in China



The 25 metre long mainyard is lifted into place on Brunel's SS Great Britain in Bristol as preparations begin for the attraction's Go Aloft that will allow the public to climb the rigging. Visitors will be able to step into the shoes of a Victorian sailor and be able to scale the rigging for a unique view of Bristol

[Mr Lick]

Joan Miró's 1968 oil painting Women and Birds, which has an estimated sale price of £4-7m, in a room with other works by Miró at Christie's auction rooms in central London. Eighty-five works by the Spanish surrealist that were acquired by the Portuguese government from a failing bank are up for sale with an estimated value of £30m



Gypsy Taub (left) places a ring on the finger of Jaymz Smith during their nude wedding in San Francisco on Thursday night. Taub tied the knot outside City Hall and was later cited and released by police. A mother of three who conducts nude interviews on public access TV, Taub has been arrested repeatedly for breaking the city's public nudity ban

[Mr Lick]

It's a wonderful dogs' life

Travis and Gus - two German shorthaired pointers - are the furry duo in this shoot by Canadian photographer Steph McCombie. From their Instagram account, they appear to share their passion for dressing up and posing for, frankly, daft photoshoots. They wear matching elf hats, wrap up warm for the snow together and get tangled in fairy lights. It must be Christmas. Woof woof!



Santa Paws



Berry Xmas






Barka in a parka

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Afghan female prisoners sit on their bed at Herat's prison for women, western Afghanistan, December 8, 2013. Foreign aid donors have ensured regular meals, heating and healthcare in Herat's prison for women, but those arrangements are now at risk and fears that its female prisoners may be abandoned are growing as the prison's main benefactor, the Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team, winds down operations alongside most foreign troops



Anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban (C) waves to his supporters during a rally at a major business district in Bangkok December 19, 2013



The inside of the U.S. Capitol's rotunda is seen during a media tour on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 19, 2013

[Mr Lick]

Police rush a car and spray gas into it as they attempt to apprehend the driver, who parked in front of the New South Wales state parliament in Sydney. Police, who negotiated with the man for two hours after he made unspecified demands, say he suffered minor cuts during the extraction.



Voters in Madagascar are taking part in a second round of presidential elections, after October's first round failed to produce an outright winner.

[Mr Lick]

Doughnuts bearing the colours of the European flag are on sale in a pastry shop in Kiev. Ukraine's Russian-backed President, Viktor Yanukovych, has said he strongly opposes Western politicians intervening in the crisis in Ukraine.



Seventy-six people have been injured, seven seriously, after part of a ceiling in London's Apollo Theatre collapsed during a show, police say. The venue in Shaftesbury Avenue was packed for a performance of The Curious Incident Of The Dog in the Night-Time.



Bode Miller of the US clears a gate during the men's World Cup Super-G skiing race in Val Gardena, Italy.

[Mr Lick]

Apollo Theatre ceiling collapse