World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

These baboons show they really are cheeky monkeys by breaking into a flat, stealing food and proudly parading their loot - including a giant teddy bear. Around 10 chacma baboons clambered into the third floor flat and wreaked havoc, after one of their accomplices managed to get the window open. The hairy burglars scaled the block of flats' brick walls and raided the property in Cape Town, South Africa, while its owners were out

[Mr Lick]

Elena Kazachenko jumps from a wooden beam with a smoke flare attached to her ankle. The adrenaline junkie can be seen leaping from a makeshift wooden beam precariously placed over the edge of an an electricity pylon. However, instead of plummeting 300 feet to the ground below, she is suddenly snatched to safety by a self-made zip line. Elena, from Russia, even leaves behind a stream of coloured smoke from a signal flare attached to her ankle



Christmas decorations in the centre of Nice, France



The procession for former South African president Nelson Mandela makes its way through the streets of Pretoria, South Africa. The body of Nelson Mandela is being taken in procession to the Union Buildings in Pretoria where it will lie in state for three days. Each morning his remains will be transported from the mortuary to the government buildings

[Mr Lick]

Sir Bradley Wiggins CBE holds his Knighthood award as he is surrounded by Beefeaters after it was presented to him by the Queen at an Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London



Artists perform The Lion King during a media call at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia

[Mr Lick]

Show host Danica Patrick (C) dressed as a Las Vegas show girl introduces Justin Moore's performance during the 4th annual American Country Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada



Residents try to put out a fire after what activists said was shelling from forces loyal to president Bashar Al-Assad on a fuel vendor in Al-Shaar area in Aleppo, Syria



A Christian youth squats inside a burnt out car in Bangui. French troops in Central African Republic manned checkpoints in the capital Bangui on Monday and searched for weapons in an operation to disarm rival Muslim and Christian fighters responsible for hundreds of killings since last week

[Mr Lick]

A Thai Buddhist monk holds his bowl against his chest as he waits for alms outside a temple near the Government House in the early morning in Bangkok. Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra has refused to resign ahead of upcoming elections and urged an end to mass anti-government rallies after protesters pledged to keep up their people's revolution

[Mr Lick]

A man takes part in a protest against reforms to the constitution put forward by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, in front of the Parliament building in Managua. In November, Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front changed the constitution that would end restrictions on presidential re-election, although the president has yet to say publicly whether he wants to run again in 2016. Nicaragua's law had a two-term limit for presidents but that was overridden by a controversial Supreme Court ruling that allowed Ortega to run for office again in 2011



Firefighters attempt to control a fire as it set a tyre warehouse ablaze in downtown Lima, Peru. The toxic smoke from the tyres left at least 2 firefighters and 14 civilians injured



A police driver has been accused of performing a U-turn and smashing into a £250,000 Ferrari parked in the exclusive Mayfair district in London. The officer, in a silver BMW 5 Series, smashed into the rear of the yellow Ferrari 458 Spider, damaging the exotic supercar. Crowds of stunned onlookers surrounded the incident, which took place on Curzon Street

[Mr Lick]

Jacob’s Well, an artesian spring that flows out of one of the deepest underwater caves in Texas, USA. The spot is very popular with people needing to cool off on hot summer days



This giant Snickers is almost eight times the size of a standard bar. The huge chocolate contains 2,000 calories, which is equal to a woman's recommended daily intake. It measures nearly one foot long and weighs a hefty 16 ounces, of which nearly 9 ounces are fat



With remote-sensing satellites, scientists have found the coldest places on Earth, just off a ridge in the East Antarctic Plateau. They found that the high ridge contains pockets of trapped air that dipped as low as minus 136 Fahrenheit (minus 93 degrees Celsius) on August 10, 2010, researchers said at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on Monday



Greenpeace activists dig into the yard of Romania's Parliament, to protest against a Canadian company's plan to set up Europe's biggest open-cast gold mine in Romania. A special Romanian parliament commission overwhelmingly rejected a draft bill that would have allowed Canada's Gabriel Resources to set up Europe's biggest open-cast gold mine in the small Carpathian town of Rosia Montana last month. However, parliament plans to revise a mining law that could open way for the project



Interior Ministry personnel block a street during a gathering of supporters of EU integration in Kiev. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich backed a call for talks with the opposition on Monday to end weeks of protests in Kiev, but tension was high with pro-Europe demonstrators barricading their protest camp in preparation for police intervention

[Mr Lick]

Ukrainian heavyweight boxing world champion and opposition party UDAR member Wladimir Klitschko (L) offers hot tea and cookies to a police officer at a barricade in Kiev. Ukrainian security forces moved in on pro-EU demonstrators to end a week-long blockade of the government headquarters, prompting Washington to urge Kiev to immediately de-escalate the situation



A newly created small islet near Nishinoshima island on the Ogasawara island chain in Japan. A new island created by a volcanic eruption off Japan's coast is here to stay -- for now at least, scientists said on December 10, adding the new landmass could withstand erosion for several years



A wounded man waits for assistance during a disarmament operation by French soldiers in Bangui. French troops on Monday began disarming fighters in the Central African Republic after a swell in sectarian violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and terrified inhabitants

[Mr Lick]

Ukraine protests and police crackdown – in pictures

Thousands of riot police carried out a co-ordinated crackdown on protest barricades in Kiev during the night. Columns of riot police closed in on Independence Square, hub of the protests that erupted after President Viktor Yanukovych pulled out of an association pact with the EU

[Mr Lick]

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[Mr Lick]

Police officers at the funeral of PC Kirsty Nelis, who was on board the Police helicopter that crashed into the Clutha pub, at St Andrews Cathedral, Glasgow



Striking employees block the entrance to the Kem One chemical factory with burning tyres in Fos-sur-Mer, southern France, to protest against the possible closure of their factory



Athletes and officials from Burma wave as they parade into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the Southeast Asian Games in Naypyitaw, Burma

[Mr Lick]

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas Boas visits with 93-year-old Tottenham Hotspur fan Stanley at North Middlesex Hospital in London during a team visit

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Mandela lies in state




Military personnel carry the remains of the late Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, December 11, 2013, where it will lie in state for three days

[Mr Lick]

Uruguay legalizes marijuana

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

A high-speed powerboat inspired by First World War biplanes has become the world's first to 'fly' above the water on futuristic hydrofoils. The makers of the W-Foil Albatross claim it can hit blistering speeds of 70mph thanks to its revolutionary design which lifts the boat clear of the water. Rather than being driven by an underwater propellor like other boats, it is pulled along by an aeroplane rotor. And because of its minimal drag, it is also among the most environmentally friendly powerboats in the world



The boys of Winchester Cathedral Choir enjoy a misty morning skate on the cathedral's ice rink which will be open until January 5th

[Mr Lick]

Careful with that chisel! Sculptor Stephanie Dewitte carves a chocolate replica of the famous Brussels statue Manneken Pis



It's official: Christmas is cancelled because Santa sleeps with the fishes this year. (A Tokyo aquarium worker swims with a zebra shark.)



Two pantomime actors fail to agree who should play the zebra's rear end. Or, performance artists wear masks in Chongqing, China, in anticipation of 2014's Year of the Horse

[Mr Lick]

'When you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you …' Maybe not. Performers during the week-long Anjos do Picadeiro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil



Get me a dragon-shaped snow sculpture made by local residents at a residential compound in Jilin, China, and make it snappy!



Are my roots showing? Lady Gaga, and a Christmas tree, return to her hotel after performing at London's Jingle Bell Ball

[Mr Lick]

Keochi Xayyasa (left), of Laos, and Junel Cantanci, of the Philippines, compete during their boxing match in the South East Asian Games at the Wunna Theikdi indoor stadium in Naypyidaw, Burma



Japan's core machinery orders rose 0.6% in October, rebounding from a decline in the previous month



In numerals, the date and time on the clock in London's Canary Wharf read 9.10.11.12.13, a sequence of consecutive numbers that will not occur again this century