World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

MP Dorries calls PM and chancellor 'arrogant posh boys'




A Tory MP has described David Cameron and George Osborne as "two arrogant posh boys" with "no passion to want to understand the lives of others".

Nadine Dorries told the BBC's Daily Politics their "real crime" was to show "no remorse" about their lack of insight beyond Westminster.

Last year, Mr Cameron apologised to Ms Dorries for the way he responded to her at PM's questions.

The Commons descended into laughter after he described her as "frustrated".

Earlier this year, Mid-Bedfordshire MP Ms Dorries told the Financial Times that government policy was "being run by two public school boys who don't know what it's like to go to the supermarket and have to put things back on the shelves because they can't afford it for their children's lunch boxes"
"What's worse, they don't care either," she added.

Mr Cameron later described her comments as "nonsense".

Speaking to BBC2's Daily Politics on Monday, Ms Dorries was asked whether she still believed the prime minister and chancellor were "two posh boys who don't know the price of milk".

She replied: "There is a very tight, narrow clique of a certain group of people and what they do is they act as a barrier and prevent Cameron and Osborne and others from really understanding and knowing what is happening in the rest of the country.

"Unfortunately, I think that not only are Cameron and Osborne two posh boys who don't know the price of milk, but they are two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition, and no passion to want to understand the lives of others - and that is their real crime."

Last September, Ms Dorries campaigned for an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, which would have stopped abortion providers giving NHS-funded counselling to women.

She claimed Mr Cameron dropped his support for it after pressure from Nick Clegg, and during PMQ's, urged the PM to show his deputy "who's the boss".

[Mr Lick]

Uganda Ingrid Turinawe 'sexual abuse' protesters strip



A group of women have stripped to their bras in protest at the alleged sexual assault by Ugandan police of a high-profile female opposition politician.

Footage shows an officer squeezing the breast of Ingrid Turinawe of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) during her arrest ahead of a rally last week.

Deputy police chief Andrew Kaweesa has apologised, saying the incident will be investigated.

Uganda's opposition says police regularly harass them during protests.

[Mr Lick]

Wayne Rooney's father cleared over bet probe




The father of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will face no further action over allegations of a football betting scam, his solicitor has said.

Wayne Rooney Sr was one of nine men arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud over bets placed on a game between Motherwell and Hearts in 2010.

Police have already dropped their case against Liverpool-born Motherwell midfielder Steve Jennings, 26.

Mr Rooney's solicitor said his client would face no further action.

Anthony Barnfather, solicitor for Mr Rooney Snr, said: "Mr Rooney Sr has always vigorously denied the allegations and maintained his innocence throughout the investigation.

[Mr Lick]

Iceland ex-PM Haarde 'partly' guilty over 2008 crisis




Former Icelandic PM Geir Haarde has been found not guilty of negligence over the 2008 financial crisis that saw the island's economy go into meltdown.

A special court in Reykjavik said Mr Haarde would face no punishment and his legal expenses would be paid for.

But he was found guilty of one of the four charges: not holding cabinet meetings when things turned critical.

Mr Haarde, 61, is thought to be the first world leader to face criminal charges over the financial crisis.

Iceland's three main banks collapsed during economic turmoil and the failure of online bank Icesave hit thousands.

The collapse led to a dispute over compensation between the UK and Iceland, which remains unresolved.

Some Icelanders have seen the trial of Mr Haarde as scapegoating, while others have argued that public accountability is essential following the country's financial collapse.

[Mr Lick]

Indian campaign demands 'Right to Pee' for women




Activists in Mumbai have launched a campaign to demand better public toilet facilities for women.

Currently, women have to pay to use public toilets while men can use the services for free.

The campaign, dubbed the "Right to Pee" campaign, is led by 35 non-government organisations (NGOs), and urges women in Mumbai's civic authority to ensure that the service is free for women.

Women currently make up 50% of Mumbai's civic authority.

Rahul Gaekward, who heads one of the 35 NGOs in the campaign, has outlined three basic requirements for women.

"They should be allowed to pee for free, the public toilets should provide vending machines with sanitary towels, like men have for condoms, and they should have a changing room in the toilets," he said.

There is an acute shortage of both public and private toilets in India, and public defecation is common across the country.

A census in March found that half of India's homes do not have toilets

[Mr Lick]

Aftermath of the battle for Sudan's Heglig oilfield

Sudanese warplanes bombed a market and an oilfield in South Sudan, killing at least two people after ground forces reportedly crossed into South Sudan, elevating the risk of war between the old enemies












Sudanese soldiers pose next to seized mortar rounds from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army of South Sudan in the oil region of Heglig






Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir addresses celebrating troops in Sudan's main oil centre of Heglig

[Mr Lick]

Tyson, owned by Tyler and Chelsea Motter, of Urbandale, Iowa, sits on the throne after being crowned the winner of the 33rd annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest Monday, April 23, 2012, in Des Moines, Iowa.









Zena the Warrior Princess, owned by Cindy Driscoll, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, walks across the stage during the contest

[Mr Lick]

Riot police officers in Bogota, Columbia use their shields to shelter from the rain while standing guard during the "Marcha Patriotica" demonstration on April 23. Supporters of Colombia's new leftist political and social movement, National Patriotic Council (CPN), gathered at Plaza de Bolivar square to celebrate the creation of the movement which aims to bring together social and student groups.

[Mr Lick]

Color Run participants are doused in colors during the finish of the 5k at the Great Park in Irvine, Calif. Participants begin the run in white shirts and each kilometer is associated with a designated color doused on participants as they make their way through. Photo was shot April 22, but made available to msnbc.com today.

[Mr Lick]

A female mourner looks back as she participates in the funeral procession of Salah Abbas Habib in the district of al-Bilad al-Qadeem in the capital Manama on April 23.

Salah Abbas Habib, 36, a Bahraini protester found dead on a rooftop after clashes with police during the Formula One Grand Prix, was buried on Monday after a funeral attended by about 15,000 people, a Reuters witness said.

His brother told Reuters before the funeral that a coroner's report had concluded that Habib died of birdshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

"We just got the body back. He had birdshot wounds in his chest and abdomen," Hussein Abbas Habib said by telephone from Manama, adding that the body also had bad bruises on the hands, back and legs.

[Mr Lick]

A visitor looks at a monumental sculpture by artist Robert Therrien in the newly opened Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast April 23.



Visitors look at a monumental sculpture by artist Robert Therrien in the newly opened Metropolitan Arts Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 23,.

[Mr Lick]

Robin Gibb has 'beaten the odds', son says

Robin Gibb has been battling ill health for the past two years

Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, who woke from a coma at the weekend, has been laughing and joking and wants to go home from hospital, his wife has said.


Dwina Murphy-Gibb told ITV News her husband was "really happy... he just wants to get out".

Gibb's son Robin-John said: "They gave him an under 10% survival chance and he has beaten the odds... he really is something else."

The 62-year-old star fell into a coma last week after contracting pneumonia.

He has also been battling colon and liver cancer. Gibb's son said his father was "completely compos mentis now".

The family - including son Spencer and daughter Melissa - had been playing Bee Gees tunes to the singer as he lay in a coma and noticed Gibb trying to mouth words to the songs.

When his latest composition was played, Gibb began to come round, they said.

"He woke up while we were playing the track which is a movement from the Titanic Requiem we have just written," Robin-John Gibb told ITV News.

The star was unable to attend the London premiere of his first classical work two weeks ago after contracting pneumonia.

The singer had also been due to perform a new song at The Titanic Requiem concert earlier this month to commemorate the centenary of the famous ship's sinking.

Robin-John Gibb added that two days before his father regained consciousness, "they said they had thrown the kitchen sink at him, that it was time to make plans because he was in God's hands".


Dwina Murphy-Gibb has been keeping a vigil by her husband's hospital bed

Earlier this week, doctors treating Gibb say they had been "confounded" by his recovery since waking from a coma.

The singer's physician Dr Andrew Thillainayagam said the "exhausted" star had shown "extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength".

But he added: "The road ahead for Robin remains uncertain but it is a privilege to look after such an extraordinary human being."

Gibb is being treated at the London Clinic in the centre of the capital

Gibb's wife added that her husband's brother and bandmate Barry would go to see him on Thursday and that the pair had spoken on the phone.

The British-born singer had surgery on his bowel 18 months ago for an unrelated condition. But a tumour was discovered and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and later of the liver, for which he had chemotherapy and surgery.

[Mr Lick]

The Ford Transit




The Ford Transit first hit the road in 1965 at a cost of 542 pounds. On Tuesday a new Transit Custom made it's debut



It will go on sale later this year.



1968











Our 'Enery also had a day job selling fruit and veg from his Transit flatbed



48 people squeezed into this Tranny



1972 in S'ton



Ali standing by the Variety Club of GB's Tranny in 1977



Not standard wheels are they?

[Mr Lick]

Texas, USA: A King penguin chick at the Aquarium at Moody Gardens in Galveston



Guatemala City, Guatemala: A woman drops stones on the road during a demonstration



Dubbo, Australia: "Happy" the hippo has his tusks filed by keeper Anthony Dorrian at the Taronga Western Plains zoo



Dhaka, Bangladesh: Buses parked at the Mohakhali interdistrict bus terminal during a strike



Beijing, China: Performers dance in a performance called Thousand-hand Bodhisattva at the opening of the Beijing international film festival

[Mr Lick]

Beijing Auto Show 2012



A Mercedes-Benz Smart car on display






Exhibits of the latest in car technology from Japanese giant Toyota (taken with a tilt lens)

[Mr Lick]

A worker cleans the Chevrolet stand. Of 1,125 vehicles on display, 120 are world premieres



Chinese company Geely shows its Yinglun SC7-R5 model, taking styling cues from the traditional London taxi, which it also manufactures under licence in China

















The new Denza brand all-electric concept car

[Mr Lick]

James Murdoch adjusts his tie as he arrives at the high court to give evidence to the Leveson inquiry. His evidence so far has consisted mainly of 'I don't recall'



Popocatepetl gives a spectacular display in the Mexican central state of Puebla, but residents at the foot of the volcano can no longer sleep soundly since it erupted back into action more than a week ago, spewing out a hail of rocks, steam and ashes



Every dog has its day and this fellow is patiently waiting to appear in this year's international dog show in Kiev, Ukraine

[Mr Lick]

From the ZX Spectrum to Apple II: 80s computers in pictures

It's 30 years since the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was launched as an affordable home computer for the masses. Here's a selection of classic computers we came to know and love – from basic gaming machines to those you could program in BASIC, beginnning with the ZX80









Sinclair ZX Spectrum with ZX Microdrives



Sinclair QL, an early home computer produced in 1984-85



The BBC Micro was designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, in the 1980s







The Commodore C64, an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International

[Mr Lick]

Apple II computer in Shanghai, China in April 1985



An Apple IIE manufactured from January 1983 to Feburary 1985, with the game Frogger

[Mr Lick]

A woman sits in the rain on the place where her shack once stood before a fire razed it down in Durban, South Africa, April 23, 2012. More than 100 people have been left homeless after the fire on Monday destroyed shacks in the Jadhu Place informal settlement.



The body of a man killed following flash-floods is seen in the gorge at the Hells Gate National Park in Naivasha, Kenya, April 23, 2012. Seven bodies were recovered after a 53-member youth group from Nairobi encountered flash-floods yesterday evening after heavy rains, while on a tour of the park.



Anti-riot policemen used their batons to hit a squatter after a violent attempt to demolish shanties in Sucat, Paranaque city, metro Manila April 23, 2012. At least one resident was killed and 40 were injured as a housing demolition on Monday turned violent with police using tear gas on residents who in turn hurled rocks and other objects at them, a local media reported.

[Mr Lick]

Ruth Benjamin of Nigeria looks on from a cell in a police station before her deportation from the Russian Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk April 23, 2012. Benjamin arrived in Krasnoyarsk as a student and is being deported for a visa violation



Norwegian anti-Muslim fanatic Anders Behring Breivik (R) stands with members of his defence team during the morning break on the sixth day of his trial in Oslo April 23, 2012. Breivik is on trial for the murder of 69 people at the ruling Labour Party's youth camp on Utoeya island and the setting off of a car bomb that killed eight people at government headquarters in Oslo.



Taxis line the Strasse des 17. Juni thoroughfare in central Berlin during a strike by taxi drivers against new tariffs for journeys to and from Berlin's new international airport, April 23, 2012. In background is the Siegessaeule (victory column).



Germany theatening to invade China? Big, Big mistake there Angela.

[Mr Lick]

Police gather at the entrance to the Chaussee d'Antin La Fayette Metro station in Paris after a car accidentally drove into it, April 24, 2012

[Mr Lick]

A Proton-M carrier rocket with the YahSat 1B telecommunications satellite aboard, blasts off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome early on April 24, 2012. The Russian carrier rocket successfully launched the satellite built by Astrium/Thales Alenia Space consortium for the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company of United Arab Emirates, the RIA Novosti news agency reported

[Mr Lick]

Newly discovered purple crabs

Four new species of colorful crustaceans have been discovered in the Philippines, a recent study says. The crab's brilliant hues may simply help the species recognize its brethren, said study author Hendrik Freitag, of the Senckenberg Museum of Zoology in Dresden, Germany.










Large Insulamon males—such as this I. johannchristiani, another of the newfound species—sport a reddish color, possibly to signal their power. Smaller, less dominant Insulamon males and females are purple.

[Mr Lick]

James Murdoch defends actions

James Murdoch defended his record at the head of his father's scandal-tarred British newspaper arm Apr. 24, saying that subordinates prevented him from making a clean sweep at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid.







Chairman of News Corporation Rupert Murdoch, right, and his son James Murdoch, chief executive of News Corporation Europe and Asia arrive at his residence in central London, in this Sunday, July 10, 2011 file photo. A private investigator working for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World conducted surveillance on Prince William as well of dozens of politicians and celebrities, the BBC reported Tuesday Nov. 8 2011. The broadcaster said private eye Derek Webb spied on the prince in 2006 while William was in Gloucestershire, western England, where his father Prince Charles has a country home.