World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

At least three houses were destroyed after a fire broke our near the beach front in Sea Isle City, N.J., on Friday. Numerous adjacent properties damaged, but there were no injuries reported, according to police.

The fire broke out around 4:30 p.m., fanned by strong ocean winds, prompting a total of 14 fire companies from up and down the Jersey Shore to respond to the scene, according to NBC Philadelphia

[Mr Lick]

HIGHGATE, Vt. — An aerobatic stunt pilot narrowly escaped by parachute Friday when his single-passenger plane crashed in a fireball onto a northern Vermont interstate, charring the ground beneath it.

Dan Marcotte, an experienced stunt pilot, bailed from the plane before it crashed into a lane of Interstate 89 North in Highgate, Vt., near the Canadian border and the Franklin County State Airport.





Firefighters found him dangling in his parachute from a tree and cut him down. He was not seriously injured, police said

[Mr Lick]

Joe Keating pulls his son Joe along Willow Road through the flooded Otonabee River near Peterborough, Ontario on Friday, April 18. Spring run off is causing problems in much of central Ontario as warm temperatures finally melt snow and ice

[Mr Lick]

A cold front swept as far south as Louisiana on Tuesday, dumping several inches of snow in parts of upstate New York and an icy dusting in New York City overnight

[Mr Lick]

Armed pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said on Friday they were not bound by an international deal ordering them to disarm and would not move out of public buildings they have seized until the Kiev government stepped down



Vladimir Putin is playing a dangerous geopolitical game by using the Ukraine crisis to try to shore up political support among ultra-nationalist Russians nostalgic for the Soviet era, according to a former U.S. intelligence officer and author who has spent years studying and analyzing the Russian president

[Mr Lick]

Family's car catches fire in Longleat lion enclosure













Rangers managed to rescue a woman and two children from the vehicle before it burst into flames.

Visitor George Lear, who saw the drama unfold, said: "The lions just kept their distance and didn't take their eyes off the fire and smoke.

"The rangers were pushing them back but they were reluctant on moving away as they looked interested."

Mr Lear said: "The car slowly caught fire and then the whole thing went up leaving the place filled with black smoke."

Also in the enclosure on Friday afternoon was Gabrielle Owen, from Newport, who said the car burst into flames incredibly quickly and it could have been a "horrific story".

She praised the rangers at the Wiltshire attraction, who she said "were incredibly fast at dealing with the incident".

[Mr Lick]

Students from Danwon High School and others attend a candlelight vigil to wish for the safe return of missing passengers from the South Korean ferry Sewol, which sank in the sea off Jindo, at a park in Ansan, South Korea, on Saturday.

The Sewol, carrying 476 passengers and crew, capsized on Wednesday on a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Some relatives of the more than 200 children still missing on the sunken ferry offered DNA swabs to help identify the dead. Thirty-two people are known to have died



Family members of missing passengers of the Sewol ferry comfort each other Saturday as they wait news about their missing relatives at a gym in Jindo, South Korea

[Mr Lick]

The mother of Balal, a convicted killer awaiting execution in the northern Iranian city of Nowshahr, pleads for forgiveness from the victim's family on Tuesday. NBC News was unable to verify details of the incident reported by British newspaper The Guardian and Iran's semi-official news service Isna



Balal, who reportedly stabbed-to-death 18-year-old Abdolah Hosseinzadeh in a street fight in 2007, is led to the gallows to be executed on Tuesday



Abdolah Hosseinzadeh’s mothers slaps Balal, who was convicted of her son's murder in the northern city of Nowshahr on Tuesday. In Iran, a victim's family is able to participate in hangings by pushing aside the chair the convicted stands on. In this case, Hosseinzadeh's parents removed the noose from Balal's neck and spared his life, The Guardian reported



Abdolah Hosseinzadeh’s parents remove the noose from the neck of convicted murderer Balal



Samereh Alinejad cries after sparing the life of her son's convicted murderer



The mother of Balal (L), who was convicted of murdering Abdolah Hosseinzadeh in a street fight in 2007, cries with Hosseinzadeh's mother



Samereh Alinejad and Abdolghani Hosseinzadeh mourn at the grave of their son Abdolah Hosseinzadeh after halting his murderer's execution. NBC News was unable to verify details of the incident reported by British newspaper The Guardian and Iran's semi-official news service Isna. Iran puts more people to death than any other country apart from China

[Mr Lick]

People watch an Easter bonfire next to the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday. The age-old tradition symbolizes the coming of spring and was believed to banish the evil spirits of winter

[Mr Lick]

A family member of a passenger missing after the South Korean ferry "Sewol" capsized is blocked by police during a protest in Jindo calling for a meeting with President Park Geun-hye and demanding the search and rescue operation be speeded up, April 20, 2014. South Korean divers retrieved three bodies from inside the sunken ferry overnight, officials said on Sunday, the first time they have been able to gain entry to the passenger section of the ship.



A daughter of one of the Nepali mountaineering guides who was killed in Friday's avalanche on Mount Everest, cries as she is comforted by a relative at Sherpa Monastery in Kathmandu April 19, 2014. Sherpa climbers aided by helicopters resumed a search on Saturday for four missing guides after the ice avalanche swept the lower slopes of Mount Everest, killing at least 12 in the deadliest accident on the world's highest mountain.

[Mr Lick]

A pro-Russian protester wearing a balaclava and holding a baseball bat sits next to piles of bricks and tyres outside a regional government building in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine April 19, 2014. A day after an international deal in Geneva to defuse the East-West crisis in Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists vowed not to end their occupation of public buildings and Washington threatened further sanctions on Moscow if the stalemate continued



Protester Isabel Loaiza lies on the ground injured after being hit by a SUV vehicle during an anti-government protest in El Cafetal in Caracas, April 19, 2014. Protesters were blocking a street when a man driving a SUV hit Loaiza and escaped right after that, according to a Reuters photographer. The vehicle was later stopped by protesters a few blocks away, who in turn threw stones and beat the driver up. The driver was subsequently arrested by the police



The covered body of a missing passenger onboard the sunken South Korean ferry Sewol is carried by rescue workers from a coastguard ship to the landing pier at a port, where family members of the missing passengers are gathered, in Jindo April 19, 2014. Some relatives of the more than 200 children missing in the sunken South Korean ferry offered DNA swabs on Saturday to help identify the dead as the rescue turned into a mission to recover the vessel and the bodies of those on board

[Mr Lick]

Ma Toke, an ethnic Kayan woman wears bronze rings around her neck as she works in Panpet village, Demoso township Kayah state April 16, 2014. Some ethnic Kayan women, also known as Padaung, begin wearing the bronze rings on their neck and legs from young. Usually they start wearing six to ten rings when they are five to ten-years-old and then they put one more ring every year.



Runners compete in the Boston Athletic Association's 5K race in Boston, Massachusetts April 19, 2014. The 118th running of the Boston Marathon will be held April 21.

[Mr Lick]

A family member of missing passengers (L) who were on the South Korean ferry Sewol which sank in the sea off Jindo, cries as she found the name of her family in the list of fatalities at a port where family members of missing passengers gathered, in Jindo April 20, 2014. South Korean divers retrieved three bodies from inside a sunken ferry overnight, officials said on Sunday, the first time they have been able to gain entry to the passenger section of the ship



Members of the public use their mobile devices to take photographs of Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at a walk about in Brisbane, April 19, 2014. Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate are on the second leg of a 19 day official visit to New Zealand and Australia with their son George



2013 Boston Marathon bombing survivor Crisci (C) gets a high five as she crosses the marathon finish line in the arms of fellow survivor Doug Julian (R) during a Tribute Run for survivors and first responders in Boston, Massachusetts April 19, 2014. The 118th running of the Boston Marathon will be held on April 21.

[Mr Lick]

Cedric the duckling poses for a photograph at the Axe Valley Animal Park in Axminster, Devon. Cedric had been stuck inside his egg without enough strength to get out, so owner Andrew Collier pulled the shell apart to reveal the fluffy Easter Mandarin baby



Chris, the runaway rhea, is spotted in fields near Barkway Golf Club, Hertfordshire

[Mr Lick]

Great Crested Grebes nesting in the campus of York University. There are three chicks, which are approximately ten days old, nestling on the back of their parents, safely tucked under feathers. Once hatched the chicks climb straight onto the back of their parents and ride around with them, in order to be protected from predators



A dramatic aerial photograph shows the moment a group of crocodiles and herd of hippos came face to face in Zambia

[Mr Lick]

A boy in a suit arrives for Easter Sunday celebrations at the Saint Joseph Cathedral in Bambari, Central African Republic



Swiss Guards attend Easter mass held by Pope Francis at St Peter's Square in Vatican City



Sorbs take part in a traditional Easter procession that dates back to the 15th century in Ralbitz, Germany



A girl dressed as an angel takes part in the unveiling of a statue of the Virgin Mary in Penafiel, Spain



A boy is buried in the sand at the beach as he and his family celebrate Easter Sunday at Cavite, Philippines



A girl holds a doll of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge as she waits outside St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney, Australia. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand

[Mr Lick]

A portion of the Perimetral overpass is demolished as part of Rio's Porto Maravilha (Marvelous Port) urbanization project, in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The project is for the city's redevelopment ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games

[Mr Lick]

Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, feed giraffes at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on April 20, 2014

[Mr Lick]

Four French journalists held captive in Syria for more than 10 months returned home to France on Sunday, freshly shaved and beaming, where they were met at an airbase by President Francois Hollande, their families and friends.

Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres, Edouard Elias and Didier Francois smiled at a crowd of journalists, some of them colleagues, after descending from a military helicopter at the Villacoublay airbase southwest of Paris.





"It's a great joy and an immense relief, obviously, to be free. Under the sky, which we haven't seen for a long time, to breathe the fresh air, walk freely," veteran Europe 1 reporter Francois said in an impromptu speech at the side of his fellow ex-hostages and Hollande

[Mr Lick]

Prince William kisses Prince George as they look at an Australian animal called a Bilby, which has been named after the young Prince, during a visit to Sydney's Taronga Zoo on Sunday. The Prince and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, are undertaking a 19-day official visit to New Zealand and Australia

[Mr Lick]

South Korea ferry search



Relatives of the missing passengers waiting in Jindo port were shown underwater footage of divers reaching the sunken South Korean ferry, as they continued their search on Saturday.



But the stress became too much for some relatives, with one preparing to strike a policeman.

[Mr Lick]

Deliylah stands after winning the best dressed dog award at the 35th annual Drake Relays Beautiful Bulldog Contest in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The pageant kicks off the Drake Relays festivities at Drake University where a bulldog is the mascot



A fisherman from Florida, Joey Polk, and his two cousins Earnie Polk, and Kenny Peterson, caught and 11ft Mako shark. They battled the predator for more than an hour before finally hauling it onto the shore at a secret location on the Florida Panhandle



The record breaking 805lb Mako shark was caught from land rather than a boat and broke the previous record catch set by Earnie for a Mako weighing 730lbs, in February 2009

[Mr Lick]

This tender photograph of a mother polar bear in Russia cuddling up to its cub show theres nothing cold about these two



Curious cheetahs peer into a sunroof in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya



Hippos fight ferociously in a muddy pool in Katavi National Park, Tanzania. The battling beasts send water flying through the air as they attack each other with their massive jaws. The male hippos - who weigh around five tons each - launch themselves through the muddy waters trying to intimidate and injure their opponents



Women in traditional costumes are sprayed with water by men as members of the Marghareta Dance Group perform Easter folk traditions in the Museum Village in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary. According to tradition, young men pour water on young women who in exchange present their sprinklers with beautifully coloured eggs on Easter Monday

[Mr Lick]

U.S. President Barack Obama kisses first lady Michelle Obama next to the Easter Bunny during the 136th annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington



Meb Keflezighi of the U.S. reacts after winning the men's division of the 118th running of the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts, USA. Keflezighi is the first American man to win the race since 1983



This hedgehog in the western German city of Saarbruecken had a lucky escape after being tempted to try and eat the remains of a pudding at the bottom of a plastic carton and getting its head stuck.The trapped hedgehog was spotted walking in the middle of the street by a motorist. He was worried that it was likely to be run over, despite stopping and attempting to divert drivers around the animal.He called police to alert them to the fact that there was a hedgehog on the road which motorists were swerving to avoid. When officers arrived they managed to find the animal and free it from the pudding container

[Mr Lick]

There must be something in the air.. This unfortunate bear in Sudbury, Ontario, USA was looking for a sweet snack and discovered the white container which had been used to store birdseed. Police responded to a call about the bear walking down the street with the jar stuck on its head. It couldn't get the jar off its head and continued to wander around walking into things - including a police car



West Bromwich Albion's English defender Craig Dawson (3rd R) unsuccessfully tries to stop Manchester City's first goal at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. City went on to win 3 - 1.