World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo patrol the empty streets of Abidjan. Supporters of Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognized as the presidential election winner, have launched an attack on Gbagbo's residence



Libyan rebels sit in the back of a pickup truck before leaving Ajdabiya to return to the frontline near the oil town of Brega. The rebels have regrouped after being driven from Brega by troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi



Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe leaves the Southern African Development Community troika summit in Livingstone. The summit called on Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo to step down from power



Thai villagers gather at the site of a devastating mudslide at the village of Nakau following torrential rains. Severe flooding in southern Thailand has left 25 dead and caused thousands to be evacuated.

[Mr Lick]

Thai Customs Department officials inspect seized elephant tusks ahead of a news briefing in Bangkok on on April 1, 2011.






American Artist Eric Staller performs with his creation, 'Fish-O-Vision' at Carre Senart Leisure Center on April 1, 2011 in Lieusaint, France.




According to the AP. Christie Carr, a depressed Oklahoma woman, has found solace in a kangaroo named Irwin, but local city officials worry that the partially paralyzed therapy pet could become a public safety risk









Christie Carr dresses her kangaroo, Irwin, in a shirt in her home, in Broken Arrow, Okla., before going out to visit a nursing home on March 30, 2011.




IKEA created the "Hundstol" doggy high chair as an April Fool's prank on March 30, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. According to Getty Images. Australian media were duped, with the story running on television, in print and online on April 1, 2011, and consumers placed calls to IKEA inquiring about the product's availability. IKEA went to great lengths to pull off the hoax - creating a prototype and placing in print and online






An Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Staff Sgt. Frank E. Adamski III at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Thursday, March 31, 2011. According to the Department of Defense, Adamski, 26, of Moosup, Conn., died March 29 of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire in Konar province, Afghanistan.



A farmer dumps raw milk in a hole made at his farmland in Kawamata, northeastern Japan, March 30. 200 tons of raw milk produced in Fukushima is wasted per day, Kyodo News reports. The March 11 earthquake off Japan's northeast coast triggered a tsunami that barreled onshore and disabled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.




While no-joke April Fools' snowstorm swirled toward the Northeast Thursday, warm temps in Anchorage are putting a dent in Snowzilla, a 25-foot tall snowman in Anchorage. In January we posted a picture of Snowzilla in his just-made glory.



Staff members of Hunan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau sterilize the box containing a dolphin at Huanghua Airport on March 30, 2011 in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province. Four dolphins from Japan, which have received radiation checks, will be on show to tourists at the Changsha Sea World after a month long quarantine



A Budweiser Clydesdale is led across the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange for participation in opening bell ceremonies, in observance of Major League Baseball's opening day on Thursday, March 31.






Spiderwebs in trees in Pakistan



An unexpected side-effect of the flooding in parts of Pakistan has been that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters. Because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water has taken so long to recede, many trees have become cocooned in spiders' webs. People in this part of Sindh have never seen this phenonemon before - but they also report that there are now less mosquitoes than they would expect, given the amount of stagnant, standing water that is around. It is thought that the mosquitoes are getting caught in the spiders' webs, thus lowering the chance of being bitten. This may in turn be reducing the risk of malaria, which would be one blessing for the people of Sindh, facing so many other hardships.

[Mr Lick]

Ivory Coast showdown looms









The guy (left) who wont step down,despite losing an election

[Mr Lick]

Libyan rebels advance

[Mr Lick]

Sendai, Japan



He's a cheeky Indonesian boy




Gabriel (right) on her way to retaining her WBO super welterweight title, knocking out Perez in the 7th round



Ducati moto2 rider Marc Marquez practices at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez



A sculpture called 'Big Baby' at Christies auction house in Moscow

[Mr Lick]

Mexico: Attorney General Arturo Chavez resigns




Mexico's Attorney General, Arturo Chavez, has resigned, President Felipe Calderon has confirmed.

Mr Chavez had been leading efforts to tackle Mexico's violent drugs cartels and reform the justice system for 18 months.

He said he was leaving for urgent personal reasons.

Mr Chavez is to be replaced by investigative prosecutor Marisela Morales, who will be Mexico's first female attorney general.

President Calderon thanked Mr Chavez for his service, saying he had helped bring many cartel leaders to justice.

[Mr Lick]

Former Argentine Gen Eduardo Cabanillas jailed




Former Argentine Gen Eduardo Cabanillas has been sentenced to life in prison for running a notorious detention centre during military rule in 1976-83.

Three former intelligence officers were also convicted of murder, torture and illegal imprisonment.

Around 200 left-wing activists were kidnapped and taken to the Automotores Orletti secret prison in Buenos Aires.

Most of the victims were Uruguayan, but there were also Chileans, Bolivians, Peruvians and Cubans.

Thousands of Argentines were tortured and murdered in other centres run by the armed forces.

The crimes were part of Operation Condor, a coordinated campaign by South American military rulers to crush opposition movements.

[Mr Lick]

Reward offered for US agent death in Mexico



The US government has offered a $5m (£3.1m) reward to find those behind a deadly attack on two US officials in Mexico.

Immigration agent Jaime Zapata was killed and his colleague Victor Avila was injured as they travelled from San Luis Potosi to Mexico City last month.

It was the first killing of an American official in Mexico in 26 years.

Several people have been held in connection with the attack, but the investigation remains ongoing.

The US state department said the reward money was funded by its narcotics rewards programme.

[Mr Lick]

Stockwell shooting: Man, 19, held over attack on girl



A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a five-year-old girl who was shot in a shop in south London.

Thusha Kamaleswaran was shot in the chest and fellow bystander Roshan Selvakumar, 35, was hit in the face at a store in Stockwell on Tuesday.

They were gunned down when three youths on bicycles chased two youngsters into the shop and opened fire.

The man was arrested on Thursday afternoon.

The arrested man, who was picked up by officers in south London, remains in police custody.

Police have also reviewed CCTV footage from the shop.

A £50,000 reward was earlier offered for information about the attack.

The victims - who are both Sri Lankan but unrelated - are now said to be in a serious but stable condition

[Mr Lick]

Bomb plotter Nezar Hindawi wins legal bid over release



A man jailed for 45 years for plotting to blow up an Israeli airliner has won a legal challenge against UK government refusals to allow his early release.

Jordanian Nezar Hindawi was jailed in 1986 after planting a bomb in his fiancee's hand luggage for a flight from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv.

The Parole Board has recommended release but successive governments have rejected its advice.

The High Court ruling does not mean Hindawi will be freed immediately.

A further hearing will be held to decide whether the Supreme Court should now make a final ruling, or whether the justice secretary should be ordered to reconsider his decision.

Hindawi's 45-year sentence is believed to be the longest specific jail term imposed by an English court.

[Mr Lick]

Rwanda genocide: Ex-mayor Gatete sentenced to life



A former Rwandan mayor has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the genocide of 1994.

Jean-Baptiste Gatete, who also held a senior position in the women's ministry, was found guilty of the massacre of hundreds of Tutsis.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said he provided militiamen with weapons and ordered them to kill Tutsis in the east.

Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in the 100-day genocide.

A judge at the UN tribunal said Gatete, who had served as mayor of Murambi in eastern Rwanda, was responsible for the "deaths of hundreds and possibly thousands of Tutsis civilians".

[Mr Lick]

Japan's search for the dead

[Mr Lick]

Four found guilty at Tonga ferry disaster trial



A court in Tonga has convicted four men of manslaughter in connection with the sinking of a ferry in bad weather in 2009, killing 74 people, reports say.

The ferry's captain and first mate, the shipping company's managing director, and a civil servant, were found guilty of the manslaughter by negligence of Vae Fetu'u Taufa, a 21-year-old mother.

They face up to 10 years in prison.

It was Tonga's biggest criminal trial, and followed an official inquiry that found the ferry was not seaworthy.

The Princess Ashika went down during a storm in deep water off the main island of Tongatapu on the night of 5 August 2009.

Most of the 74 passengers were asleep below decks at the time. Ms Taufa was the sole Tongan passenger whose body was recovered.

[Mr Lick]

UN staff killed during protest in northern Afghanistan



At least seven foreign UN workers have been killed after protesters stormed a UN compound in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, officials say.

The compound was set alight as hundreds protested over the burning of the Koran in a US church last month. Several demonstrators were killed by guards.
Witnesses said the protest began peacefully but suddenly turned violent.

A local police spokesman told the BBC the city was now under control and a number of people had been arrested.

Dan McNorton, spokesman for the UN mission in Afghanistan, said: "Three international Unama (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) staff members were killed, and four international armed security guards were killed."
Initial reports said eight foreign UN workers had died.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt later confirmed that one of the dead was a Swede, 27-year-old UN worker Joakim Dungel.

The Norwegian defence ministry said another of those killed was Lt Col Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot. The other foreign victims are believed to be a Romanian and four Nepalese guards.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described it as "an outrageous and cowardly attack".

[Mr Lick]

Syria unrest: New protests erupt across country



New anti-government protests have erupted in several Syrian cities after Friday prayers, despite heavy security.

Witnesses said thousands of people took to the streets chanting "freedom". The state news agency said protesters were calling for reforms to be speeded up.

Reports suggest four protesters died as security forces opened fire in the Damascus suburb of Duma.

Activists had dubbed Friday a Day of Martyrs to honour the dozens of people killed during two weeks of protests.

President Bashar al-Assad said earlier this week that demonstrations were part of a foreign "plot".

In a speech on Wednesday, Mr Assad did not announce the lifting of emergency legislation as some analysts had predicted.

However, the president later said he had directed a legal committee to look into lifting unpopular emergency laws - in place since 1963.

[Mr Lick]

'Westside rapist' John Floyd Thomas jailed in LA



A man known as the "Westside rapist", who terrorised Los Angeles suburbs in the 1970s, has been jailed for life on seven murder counts.

John Floyd Thomas, 74, pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to seven life terms, with no chance of parole.

Thomas was charged in 2009 after new DNA testing linked him to attacks in which middle-aged and elderly women were raped and choked in their homes.

Police have said they believe he may be responsible for as many as 30 killings.

Thomas, a former state insurance claims adjuster, had previously spent time in prison for sexual crimes, and it was because of those convictions that his DNA was taken in 2008 as part of a process to collect samples from sex offenders.

That testing led California investigators to conclude he was the notorious Westside rapist, who carried out a series of rapes and killings of older women in two waves, in the 1970s and 1980s.

At the time he was charged, police said the attacks had stopped in 1978 - the year Thomas went back to prison for the rape of a woman in Pasadena. They started again in 1983, the year he was released.

[Mr Lick]

Kesennuma, Japan: A boy helps his relatives as they recover items around a ship swept inland by the tsunami



Benghazi, Libya: A girl shows a victory gesture with her arm painted with French, US, British, Italian and Qatari flags



Guadalajara, Mexico: A two-week-old baby chimpanzee with her mother at Guadalajara Zoo



Sana'a, Yemen: Anti-government protesters embrace and kiss Yemeni army officers



Glasgow, UK: Artist Frank To dressed in a medieval plague doctor costume



Lampedusa, Italy: People fleeing unrest in Tunisia are checked by Italian customs police before boarding a cruise liner



Amman, Jordan: A boy flies a homemade kite



Onagawa, Japan: Evacuees clean their quarters at a shelter



Singapore: A staff member on an escalator at the new preflight area of the Singapore Flyer sightseeing wheel



Budapest, Hungary: A Russian Grand Circus artist performs with his snake

[Mr Lick]

Fulham fans cry foul over 'bizarre' Michael Jackson statue

Al Fayed's tribute to the pop star – who has no links to the club – causes disquiet ahead of Sunday's unveiling at Craven Cottage



Football clubs have their own loyalties, however, and the unveiling of the statue – which depicts Jackson draped in ammunition belts and wearing what has been described as "his underpants outside his trousers" – has caused disquiet.

Hundreds of supporters have signed a petition in protest at the club honouring "a controversial American pop star, who has no links to Fulham Football Club … causing heated debate and much unrest".

A demonstration is being planned to mark the unveiling tomorrow before the home match against Blackpool.

"Why? Why us? Fulham football fans do not want a statue of Michael Jackson," said Fulham supporter Lee Robinson. "It's completely mad. He's got nothing to do with us. To be honest, he's the last person you'd want there."

Fayed originally planned to erect the statue outside Harrods, which he sold to the Qatari royal family for £1.5bn shortly after commissioning it.

[Mr Lick]

A man mourns the death of his father at the site of a suicide attack targeting Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party head Fazl-ur-Rehman in Charsadda March 31, 2011. Rehman, a prominent Islamist politician, narrowly escaped the assassination attempt on Thursday when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up near his car in Pakistan's northwestern town of Charsadda, killing at least 11 people, government officials and aides said.




Rebels sit at a check point outside Ajdabiyah in eastern Libya March 31, 2011.




Women spend a moment of silence next to coffins of victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at a temporary mass gravesite in Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan March 31, 2011.




Rebels fire rockets as they return fire towards forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi near Brega in eastern Libya, March 31, 2011.




Contestants have make-up applied in a dressing room before the 6th China Super Model Final on the last day of China Fashion Week in Beijing March 31, 2011.




A seagull flies in front of burnt ships in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami March 31, 2011.




Police officers detain an activist during a protest rally to defend Article 31 of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly, in St. Petersburg March 31, 2011.




Rebels run for cover from artillery fired by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi near Brega in eastern Libya, March 31, 2011.




Katsuyuki Takahashi stands behind the portraits of his parents and aunt that he recovered from a destroyed family house in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture,



Severe weather moves in over the vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida March 31, 2011



A woman rides a bicycle in front of a ship damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Ishinomaki, northern Japan March 31, 2011.



Rebels run for cover after a shell fired by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi exploded in a direct hit on a vehicle near Brega in eastern Libya March 31, 2011.




Graffiti is seen inside a building in the abandoned city of Prypiat, near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant March 31, 2011. Belarus, Ukraine and Russia will mark the 25th anniversary of the nuclear reactor explosion in Chernobyl, the place where the world's worst civil nuclear accident took place, on April 26.




Rebel fighters hold rocket-propelled grenades (RGPs) as they drive through a checkpoint west of Ajdabiyah March 31, 2011.




Students march in the streets of downtown Montreal to protest a proposed tuition-fee hike, March 31, 2011.




Rescue workers sail in their boat past stranded ships in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami March 31, 2011.




A fuel pump is defaced with a graffiti caricature of Muammar Gaddafi in the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah March 31, 2011.




The New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers are lined up on the field during the playing of the National Anthem before their Major League Baseball American League opening day game at Yankee Stadium in New York, March 31, 2011




A member of the Georgian police bomb disposal unit inspects a bag which is suspected to contain explosives, in central Tbilisi, Georgia March 31, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Battle for Libya

















Two men from Chad are guarded in the back of a pick-up truck by rebel fighters at a checkpoint after they were captured in Ajdabiyah April 1, 2011

[Mr Lick]

Week in fashion




Probably get hair in your mouth, kissing that



You ok in there luv? Wanna scratch your nose?



I'd like to lick her cleavage very, very much.



Terrribly bad taste darling,



Nice to see 70's sofa patterns coming back into fashion



Auditioning for a new Strongbow ad darling?



She's Blackpool FC's greatest fan



Plastic bag split luv? Don't worry, some ducktape will soon fix that!



How does one find out if she's a true ginger? Look under her armpits of course!

[Mr Lick]

12 Killed in Attack on U.N. Compound

Smoke billows from the U.N. compound after an attack by protesters in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Afghan officials say the attack was triggered by anger over a Florida pastor burning the Koran

[Mr Lick]

Prince William and Kate Middleton lookalikes attend the launch of Alison Jackson's new book Kate And Wills Up The Aisle: A Right Royal Fairytale at Waterstones in London, England.



A millitaman loyal to Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognized as the Ivory Coast presidential election winner, walks along a street in Abidjan. Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo still clings to power even as the military defects



Japanese Self Defense Force members stand among the debris in Miyago. A new concern has emerged with the discovery that groundwater near the damaged nuclear reactor contains radioactive iodine



An Afghan child grabs the gun of an American soldier during the opening ceremony for a newly completed mosque in the village of Tarok Kolache in southern Kandahar province. The U.S. military is funding its rebuilding.



A Yemeni boy shouts slogans as he takes part in a demonstration demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa. Thousands also rallied in support of the embattled Saleh.



Employers added over 200,000 payroll jobs in March, the highest figure in over two years. The overall jobless rate dropped to 8.8 percent. Above: Job seekers fill out applications during a job fair in San Francisco.



Queen Elizabeth II attempts to stop her hat from blowing away as she is greeted by Group Captain Bruce Headley during a visit to RAF Valley, where Prince William is stationed as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.



Colombian singer Shakira is greeted by students at the Elie Dubois School in Port-au-Prince. Shakira, who visited Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, is donating $800,000 to the school.



Russian riot police officers detain an opposition supporter during a rally to defend Article 31 of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly, in Moscow.



Donald Trump suggested America has not seen President Barack Obama's real birth certificate because "maybe it says he's a Muslim." Trump is rumored to be mulling a run for the presidency in 2012.



Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks with his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales during the closing ceremony of the Bolivia-Venezuela Integration Committee in Cochabamba, Bolivia



Jim "The Captain" Griffin, a former Marine from Maryland, salutes during a Tea Party rally at the U.S. Capitol. Republicans backed by the Tea Party have promised to stand firm on slashing federal spending.



Secretary of Defense Robert Gates takes his seat before the Senate Armed Services Committee while protesters hold up signs. Gates insisted the U.S. needed to intervene in Libya to prevent a humanitarian disaster



Rugby Star Alleged Ax Murderer

Former South African rugby star Joseph Ntshongwana is charged with murdering three people with an ax in Durban. He reportedly was seeking revenge for his daughter's rape

[Mr Lick]

Ivory Coast: '800 die in Ivory Coast ethnic violence'



At least 800 people have been killed in the western Ivory Coast city of Duekoue this week, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said.

They died in inter-communal violence in one district of the city, it added.

The head of the ICRC delegation in the country said the event was particularly shocking in its scale and brutality.

Fighting has continued in Abidjan between forces loyal to the UN-recognised president Alassane Ouattara and the incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo.

Mr Ouattara was internationally recognised as president last year after the electoral commission declared him the winner of a November run-off vote, but Mr Gbagbo also claimed victory and refused to leave office.

[Mr Lick]

YUMA, Ariz. — A Southwest Airlines passenger jet flying from Phoenix to Sacramento, Calif., made an emergency landing in Yuma, Ariz., Friday after a hole opened up in the roof, officials said.



Flight 812, carrying 118 passengers, landed safely at Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport at 4:07 p.m. after experiencing "rapid decompression," the FAA said.

"Upon safely landing in Yuma, the flight crew discovered a hole in the top of the aircraft," Southwest said in a statement. "There are no reported customer injuries. One of the flight attendants, however, received a minor injury upon descent."

The cause of the decompression was not known, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. An FAA inspector from Phoenix was en route to Yuma.

Some passengers aboard the plane recounted moments of terror after landing in Yuma. They said they heard what sounded like an explosion that opened a hole in the cabin.

“They had just taken drink orders when I heard a huge sound and oxygen masks came down and we started making a rapid descent," a passenger named Cindy told Sacramento TV station CBS13.