World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

A Hairy Situation
In Hyderabad on Tuesday, an Indian student has his head shaved as others shout slogans against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) party during a protest demanding a separate state of Telangana.

[Mr Lick]

Children die as drought plagues Somalia



Men prepare the body of Aden Ibrahim for burial in accordance with Somali tradition, inside the makeshift shelter where Aden's family lives amongst other newly-arrived Somali refugees, on the outskirts of Ifo II Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya, on Tuesday, July 12.






Osman Ali Aliyow Mursal digs a burial plot among other graves for his four-year-old son, Aden Ibrahim, as men prepare to pray over the boy's body, wrapped in a plastic mat, on the outskirts of Ifo II Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya, on Tuesday, July 12. Doctors were unable to save Aden, who died of diarrhea-related dehydration after four days of inpatient care. U.N. Refugee Chief Antonio Guterres said Sunday that drought-ridden Somalia is the "worst humanitarian disaster" in the world, after meeting with refugees who endured unspeakable hardship to reach the world's largest refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya. People die here every day, though no one can provide a reliable estimate of the drought deaths.

[Mr Lick]

Rescued seabird pecked out man's eye on Gower beach



A man has been blinded in one eye after an injured gannet he was carrying across a beach on Gower, south Wales pecked his eyeball out of its socket.

Michael Buckland, 38, from Cardiff, spent three days being treated by eye specialists at Swansea's Singleton Hospital.

The seabird pierced his eyeball and cut his eyelid in two with its beak
Mr Buckland, a welder, has been told the chances of him regaining sight in his right eye are very slim.

Its beak went through the centre of my eyeball” Michael Buckland

He recalled how he was walking on the beach with his girlfriend when the attack happened last month.

Mr Buckland told BBC Wales: "We were just walking along the beach and seen a seagull or gannet in the seaweed so I went over and picked it up - I was going to take it to the sand dunes.

"A family walked up with their dog. The dog was jumping up trying to get its tail and as I looked down at the dog all I saw was a beak coming straight towards my eyes.

"The surgeon said it pecked me about three times. Its beak went through the centre of my eyeball."

[Mr Lick]

Russian tourist boat disaster




Russian Emergencies Ministry members search for the missing people from a tourist boat that sank on the Volga river in the Tatarstan region July 10, 2011.

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An acquaintance of a missing passenger from the Bulgaria tourist boat reacts as he sits in a car at the Russian Emergencies Ministry camp on the bank of the Volga river in Russia's Tatarstan region July 11, 2011.

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Tourist boat "Bulgaria" floats along the Volga river outside Russian city of Samara in this August 24, 2010 file photo.

[Mr Lick]

Russia neo-Nazis jailed for life over 27 race murders



The gang members joked and told the courtroom: "We'll be back"



A court in Moscow has sentenced five members of a neo-Nazi gang to life in prison for the racially motivated murders of 27 people.

Several other members of the outlawed Nationalist Socialist Society were also found guilty - including one woman - and given jail terms of up to 23 years.

The gang targeted Muslims and dark-skinned migrants during 2007-8.

The defendants in the dock joked with each other, taunted the judge and attempted Nazi salutes in handcuffs.

As the verdict was read out, they shouted: "Our conscience is above your laws, we'll be back", Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

The 18-month trial heard that the gang had hunted down people in Moscow who were or appeared to be from central and south-east Asia, Africa or the mainly Muslim Caucasus region, and brutally attacked them.

Ringleader Lev Molotkov, who pleaded not guilty, was described by presiding judge Nikolai Tkachuk as "an extraordinary danger to Russian society".

'Brainwashed'
In total, 12 people were found guilty of murder, inciting racial hatred, attempting terrorism and participating in extremism. At least one attack was filmed and posted on the internet.

''They are evil killers who will never get back to a normal life” Alexander Kolodkin Father of murder victim

Molotkov and four others were sentenced to life, while a young woman, Vasilisa Kovolyova, was among those jailed for for between 10 and 23 years.

Another gang member who had turned himself in to police and co-operated with the investigation was given an eight-year suspended sentence.

Defence lawyers argued their clients had been brainwashed by neo-Nazi ideology and coerced into their crimes. Others said they had been tortured or forced to give confessions.

Lawyer Maria Malakhovskaya said they would appeal against the verdict.

But Alexander Kolodkin, whose son was stabbed to death by the gang in 2008, said their defence was irrelevant.

"Irrespective of whether they were fooled or mentally lost, they are evil killers who will never get back to a normal life," he said, adding that they should be kept in isolation.

Russia has seen a surge of racially motivated attacks in recent years in Moscow and other large cities.

The authorities have responded by banning groups like the Nationalist Socialist Society, but rights group have accused officials of being too lenient on racist crimes.

[Mr Lick]

Libya's Gaddafi prepared to leave, says Alain Juppe



France says it has had contacts with envoys from Muammar Gaddafi who say the Libyan leader is "prepared to leave".

"The Libyan regime is sending messengers everywhere, to Turkey, to New York, to Paris" offering to discuss Col Gaddafi's exit, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told French radio.

But he added that such contacts did not constitute negotiations.

France played a key role in launching Nato-led strikes in Libya, under a UN-mandated mission to protect civilians.

Mr Juppe told France Info radio on Tuesday: "We are receiving emissaries who are telling us: 'Gaddafi is prepared to leave. Let's discuss it.'

"There are contacts but it's not a negotiation proper at this stage."

Mr Juppe did not say who the emissaries were.

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: "These are emissaries who say they are coming in the name of Gaddafi. What is important is that we send them the same message and stay in close contact with our allies on this."

[Mr Lick]

China migrant riots: Six jailed over Guangdong unrest



A Chinese court has jailed six people for their involvement in riots last month in a southern industrial area.

The court in Guangdong province handed out prison sentences ranging from nine months to three-and-a-half years.

Thousands of migrant workers rioted for several days in a garment manufacturing zone near the city of Guangzhou.

They threw stones at police, burned cars and ransacked government buildings after a confrontation between street vendors and security officials.

A pregnant street trader was reportedly shoved to the ground by security guards after being told to move her stall.

But the workers - many of whom were from Sichuan province - then turned against the government, with long-held grievances about corruption and abuse of power coming to the surface.

Migrant workers are often paid meagre wages, and China's tight control of internal migration means they are not given the same rights as full residents of the cities where they work.

[Mr Lick]

India: Seven ministers dropped in cabinet reshuffle



Mr Singh has come under fire in recent months


Indian PM Manmohan Singh has reshuffled his cabinet, dropping seven ministers as his government grapples with corruption scandals and inflation.

While the key ministries of finance, home, defence and foreign affairs remain unchanged, six new ministers have been brought in.

This is the second cabinet reshuffle carried out by Mr Singh since January.

It is being seen as a bid to improve the government's image, which has come under attack in recent months.

One former cabinet minister is under arrest in connection with corruption investigations, another resigned last week. Both deny wrongdoing.

Last month, in a rare meeting with media editors, Mr Singh dismissed opposition criticism that he is a "lame duck" leader.

Among the ministers dropped on Tuesday is Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran who submitted his resignation last week following allegations of involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal over telecoms licences.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Sports Minister MS Gill have also been dropped.

[Mr Lick]

A Nationalist youth throws a flaming beer bottle at police in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on July 12. Twenty-two police were injured when Irish nationalists rioted in Northern Ireland overnight, burning cars and firing petrol bombs to protest annual marches by pro-British Protestant groups.

[Mr Lick]

Stephanie Olson taught in her Arizona school district for five years, but budget cuts and the state of education in the United States has brought her to the point where she has decided to take drastic measures.

This year, Olson applied for a teaching job in Abu Dhabi. She was accepted and is now moving her family to the United Arab Emirates in August.

Olson, 32, is one of hundreds of teachers who will be moving to Abu Dhabi this fall through Teach Away, a Toronto-based company that recruits English-speaking teachers to work in foreign countries. Ash Pugh, a program manager with Teach Away, says that while the U.S. and Canada are making cuts to education, other countries are investing in it.

[Mr Lick]

President Barack Obama shakes the prosthetic hand of U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Leroy Arthur Petry of Santa Fe, N.M., who received the Medal of Honor for his valor in Afghanistan in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, July 12, 2011. Petry lost his right hand as he tossed aside a live grenade during a 2008 firefight in Afghanistan, sparing the lives of his fellow Army Rangers.

[Mr Lick]

Kids run into the mud pit during the annual Mud Day in Westland, Mich. on July 12, 2011. Wayne County mixes more than 200 tons of topsoil and over 20,000 gallons of water to ensure that the mud is just right.

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Waverly City Council member, Kim Billington stands in the town's post office, July 11, 2011 in Waverly, Wash. Nearly half of the 100 residents of Waverly turned out Monday night to protest plans to close the post office in the south Spokane County town. Billington says the post office is the only building in town that is staffed every day. Waverly is one of about 2,500 small post offices targeted for closure in a Postal Service budget-cutting plan. Residents will learn the fate of their post office later this year.

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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland chips onto the practice green during a practice round for the British Open golf championship at Royal St George's in Sandwich, southern England on Thursday, July 12.

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Rebels wave as an Air Libya aircraft takes off from the Rhebat airstrip on July 12, 2011. Ali Tarhouni, the oil and finance minister in the council opposing Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, opened the airstrip linking the rebel capital Benghazi with a remote western mountain stronghold south of Tripoli, and promised a military breakthrough within days.

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Pakistanis look out of the window of a bus at a burnt-out bus, following an explosion on a highway on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, July 12, 2011. Pakistani police say a blast on a bus has killed at least 10 people on the highway in the country's capital. Tahir Alam the operations police chief in Islamabad says the blast on Tuesday was believed to have been caused by a faulty gas cylinder that exploded.

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Two blue crane chicks stand in their enclosure in the zoo of Hanover, northern Germany on July 12. The two chicks hatched on July 6 and 7, 2011. The blue crane feeds on insects, roots, fish, frogs, worms, crabs and even reptiles and small mammals.

[Mr Lick]

Moscow's first sex museum opens

The artfully named Tochka G ('G Spot') opened last month off Arbat, the Russian capital's famous tourist thoroughfare – and the museum is already courting controversy




The Tochka G displays more than 3000 pieces of art