World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

TV personality Stephen Colbert from Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report", center, with his attorney Trevor Potter, right, shakes hands with Shawn Woodhead-Werth, Secretary and Clerk of the Commission, after filing with the Federal Election Commission to be a SuperPAC Friday, May 13 in Washington

[Mr Lick]

First Lt. Krystal Belland hugs her children, Caleb, 7, and Emily, 4, on May 13, 2011 as she prepares to leave the Army Reserve Center in Knoxville, Tenn. More than 200 soldiers from the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion will spend the next month training at Fort Dix, N.J. before traveling to Afghanistan in June.




Afghan women pray during Friday Prayers at the Madinatul-Elm mosque on May 13, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Within many mosques women have separate areas from the men for prayer. However, in many parts of Taliban controlled Afghanistan, women are only allowed to pray at home.

[Mr Lick]

Astrophotographer Nick Risinger stitched 37,440 night-sky exposures together into a spectacular, panoramic view of the Milky Way and the universe beyond.

[Mr Lick]

Libyan rebels take position during a battle against forces loyal to Moamer Gadhafi in the town of Tamina, nine miles from Misrata, on May 13, 2011.



Ding Ning of China plays against Liu Shiwen during the women's semi final match at the World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam on May 13, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announces, during a press conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, that the Social Security Board of Trustees estimates the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust funds will be exhausted by 2036, one year earlier than projected last year.



Secretary Geithner walks away at the conclusion of the news briefing

[Mr Lick]

The coffin bearing the body of British photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington is carried from the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception in London, on May 13, 2011. Tim Hetherington was killed in a suspected mortar attack while covering the conflict in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata, on April 20, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A Haitian man paints the front of the destroyed presidential palace, May 13, 2011, in Port-au-Prince for the inauguration of Michel Martelly. The former pop star and victor in the Haitian presidential election will take office on May 14, 2011, assuming leadership over the poorest nation in the Americas.

[Mr Lick]

American Dean Potter, solo and without ropes, climbing Heaven - a route on the Glacier Point cliff in Yosemite national park, California. As seen in the May issue of National Geographic magazine

[Mr Lick]

A diver swims between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates in Silfra Canyon, Thingvellir National Park, Iceland. In this photograph the American plate is on the left, and the Eurasian on the right

[Mr Lick]

New York Terror Suspects Arraigned

Ahmed Ferhani, 26, and Mohamed Mamdouh, 20, stand before a judge during their arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. The men allegedly attempted to buy guns and grenades and considered a synagogue attack.

[Mr Lick]

An Ominous Sign from the Sea

A man takes pictures of a shoal of sardines in Acapulco, Mexico. The cluster is a cause for concern, as the fish seldom approach the shore. Latin American nations along the Pacific coast are preparing for a tsunami.

[Mr Lick]

A Leap of Defiance

A Palestinian demonstrator jumps in the air during clashes with Israeli riot police in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. Palestinians are marking the "catastrophe" of Israel's establishment in 1948.



Flying Close to the Sun

Solar-powered airplane the Solar Impulse prepares to land at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium. The plane, which operates fully on solar energy, completed its first international flight.

[Mr Lick]

Yemeni President Refuses to Step Down

Tens of thousands of Yemeni anti-government protesters take part in a demonstration calling for the ouster of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa. Saleh has ignored all calls for him to leave office.

[Mr Lick]

Revenge for bin Laden

Wounded blast victims lie in a truck as they wait for help outside a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan. At least 80 people were killed in twin suicide bombings in what the Taliban claims is retaliation for Osama bin Laden's death.



A Dangerous Crop

An Afghan man cultivates poppy bulbs at a farm near the city of Kandahar. Afghanistan is by the largest producer of opium poppies in the world, producing an estimated 90 percent of the world's raw opium for heroin.

[Mr Lick]

Inspecting the Wreckage

A woman looks at a building flattened by a 5.1-magnitude earthquake in Lorca, Spain. The quake killed nine people and damaged thousands of structures.



Still Rising Death Toll in Syrian Protests

A protester burns a portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a demonstration after Friday prayers in front of the Syrian consulate in Istanbul. It is believed the two month crackdown on protesters may have left 850 dead.

[Mr Lick]

White House Photo Controversy

President Barack Obama makes a statement announcing Osama bin Laden's death at the White House on May 1, 2011. It's been revealed Obama reenacted part of the televised speech to allow for photos to be taken.

[Mr Lick]

Uganda Lashes Out

Ugandan military personnel use swatches to disperse supporters of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Besigye, who went to Kenya to treat injuries from an earlier attack, was initially blocked from returning to Uganda.

[Mr Lick]

Visiting a Neighbor

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara (left) waves from a car with Sengal President Abdoulaye Wade after arriving at the airport in Dakar. It is Ouattara's first foreign trip since being sworn in last week.



Post-Election Party

A supporter of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party rejoices as firecrackers are set off to celebrate party leader (and former film actress) J.Jayalalithaa's win in the state elections in Chennai.

[Mr Lick]

A rebel fighter stands guard at the eastern gate to the Libyan town of Kabaw in the Western Mountain region, about 230 km (140 miles) southwest of the capital Tripoli, May 11, 2011. Fighting in the Western Mountain region, home to the Berber ethnic minority, has intensified since the rebels seized the Dehiba border crossing into Tunisia last month, opening a key artery for supplies. The rebels' hold on these flat-topped mountains is precarious at best, and there is no sign they can advance against the superior firepower of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.




A man cries in front of his daughter's gravesite in Yingxiu, Sichuan province, May 12, 2011. The daughter was killed in the Wenchuan earthquake which struck three years ago on May 12, 2008. The earthquake left 87,000 people dead or missing, and millions homeless, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

[Mr Lick]

An Iranian Sunni Kurd couple sit near their relatives at a recreational area in Marivan in Kurdistan province, 512 km (318 miles) west of Tehran, May 12, 2011. Iranian Shi'ite and Sunni Kurds live in harmony with each other in Marivan, although Sunni is the religion of the majority of the people.



Somali civilians drag the body of a suspected Ugandan peacekeeper from the African Union Mission to Somalia who was killed during fighting between AMISOM and Islamists in Hawlwadaag district-southern Mogadishu, May 12, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Newly planted trees line a new street in front of residential buildings under construction in the Kangbashi district of the town of Ordos, located around 30 kilometres south of the city of Dongsheng in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region May 11, 2011. The Kangbashi district of Ordos, which means 'palaces' in the Mongolian language, is an area filled with thousands of residential apartments and duplex-style homes, built to house mainly workers for the nearby coal mines located just outside the town. It also includes many large office towers, administrative centers, government buildings, museums, theaters, schools playing fields and exhibition centres. However, the estimated one million people that were expected to move into or visit the district's now decaying buildings, have yet to appear.



Spectators await the start of a beach front cinema screening on the Croisette during the 64th Cannes Film Festival, May 12, 2011

[Mr Lick]

A girl prepares backstage for her audition for the television show "China's Got Talent" in downtown Shanghai May 10, 2011. China's version of the internationally popular television talent show will start its second season with more than 5,000 applicants and with an estimated audience of more than 35.5 million people.



A Libyan refugee who fled the unrest in Libya stands outside her tent at a refugee camp in Dehiba, near the southern Libyan and Tunisian border crossing of Wazin, May 9, 2011. An estimated 20,000 refugees have found shelter in Dehiba, a border town of 5,000, some in camps, most in the homes of strangers.

[Mr Lick]

Mississippi floods

























Immature corn fields are seen laid to waste by the encroaching flood waters from the Mississippi River along Highway 61 near Yazoo City, Mississippi May 12, 2011.















Members of the Vicksburg Fire Department and county crews prepare to sandbag areas on the levee to slow down floodwaters from the swollen Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Mississippi

[Mr Lick]

London Zoo's baby gorilla 'Tiny' killed in attack



A baby gorilla nicknamed "Tiny" by keepers at London Zoo has died after an attack by a new male silverback.

The seven-month-old western lowland gorilla was injured on Thursday when he and his mother Mjukuu were introduced to new male Kesho for the second time.
During a scuffle between the whole group the baby suffered a broken arm and suspected internal injuries.

The infant gorilla underwent a three-hour operation to pin his arm but vets were unable to revive him.

Zoological Society of London (ZSL) director David Field said everyone at the zoo was "completely heartbroken".

Kesho's arrival last year was recommended by experts to create a cohesive social group, after the death of the zoo's previous male gorilla.

In the wild male gorillas often attack the offspring of their rivals, so staff were cautious about introducing Kesho to the baby, who was the offspring of the former male.

Kesho had been gradually introduced to the two other female gorillas at the zoo but keepers waited many months for an introduction to the youngster and his mother.

[Mr Lick]

Diana film 'not sensationalist', says Keith Allen



British documentary Unlawful Killing was the focus of attention for the media at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday.

Its makers claim the film throws light on circumstances surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

But at a stormy media conference after its premiere, director Keith Allen was repeatedly asked to explain what new evidence he believes the film contains.
Allen disagreed with suggestions he should have made it clear on screen that the film was funded by the businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, saying it would have interrupted the film's flow.

Conor Nolan, Mr Al Fayed's spokesman, said the former owner of Harrods had invested £2.5m in the documentary.

Mr Al Fayed's son, Dodi, was also killed in the crash as well as driver Henri Paul. The sole survivor, Trevor Rees-Jones, does not feature in the film.