World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Peru: Indigenous protests erupt in city of Puno



Thousands of angry indigenous protesters have taken over the city centre of Puno in south-eastern Peru.

Looters have taken advantage of the unrest and ransacked offices and shops as the police retreated.

Cars and buildings were torched on Thursday night when protesters went on the rampage, demanding an end to a Canadian silver mining project.

The indigenous Aymara activists say the mining company will pollute their ancestral lands.

The protesters have blocked the main roads into the city.

A customs office was set ablaze on Friday and several other buildings are still smouldering after being torched in the night.

The demonstrators have threatened to continue the disruption until the government revokes the mining concessions for the Canadian Bear Creek mining company.

The activists say the mining corporation will contaminate nearby Lake Titicaca, decimating the fish stocks.

[Mr Lick]

Yemen forces 'kill 20 protesters' in Taiz



Security forces in Yemen have shot dead at least 20 anti-government protesters in the southern city of Taiz, medics and organisers say.

Soldiers reportedly moved in to end a four-month-old sit-in in the city.

Meanwhile, four Yemeni soldiers have been killed in an apparent ambush near the city of Zinjibar, reportedly held by al-Qaeda fighters, officials say.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to step down despite months of protests and strong opposition from a key tribe.

A protest organiser told AFP that security forces backed by army and Republican Guard troops drove the demonstrators out of Freedom Square in the city centre.

"At least 20 protesters have been killed," the organiser said.

Earlier reports quoting witnesses and doctors said security forces attacked protesters with rifles and water cannon and set fire to their camp.

Sadek al-Shugaa, head of a field hospital at the protest camp, was quoted by AP news agency as saying soldiers fired into the crowds indiscriminately.

In Zinjibar, security officials said the soldiers died when their convoy came under attack.

"A convoy of reinforcements fell in an ambush by al-Qaeda elements 1km from Zinjibar. Four soldiers, including a colonel, were killed and a number of others were wounded," the security official said.

[Mr Lick]

Syria: Restive towns 'surrounded' by tanks



Syrian troops have attacked two towns north of the capital Damascus, as they continue a crackdown against anti-government protests, reports say.

Witnesses said the troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, surrounded Rastan and Talbisa early on Sunday and searched houses for protesters.

Anti-government activists said five people were killed and many wounded.

Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March.

Syria has banned foreign journalists, making it difficult to verify eyewitness accounts. Syrian authorities insist they are pursuing "armed terrorist gangs".

[Mr Lick]

Afghanistan: Taliban suspected of burning two alive



A senior Afghan general has ordered the capture of a Taliban deputy governor alleged to have authorised the burning alive of two people.

General Daud Daud told the BBC that the incident happened last Friday in the northern province of Sar-e Pol.

He said that the gruesome killings were ordered by Maulvi Nasrullah, a deputy governor of the Taliban in neighbouring Balkh province.

Afghanistan's human rights commission condemned the incident.

In a statement, it said that all those responsible must be arrested for what it called "the gravest human rights violation".

The Taliban say that they are unaware of the incident.

Officials say that one of those killed was a driver of a local Taliban commander.

They say that the burning happened when the Taliban commander, Mastu Khan, abducted an influential tribal elder from Gosfandi district.

Mr Khan's bodyguard, known only as Daoud, opposed the abduction and was beaten by Mr Khan for not obeying orders.

Daoud allegedly killed Mr Khan in retaliation for his beating and escaped. He is now receiving hospital treatment in Kabul.

It was a rare case of a Taliban subordinate turning against a superior.

Officials say that on the morning after the escape, the kidnapped trader and the driver were beaten by the Taliban who suspected them of having a role in Mastu Khan's killing.

[Mr Lick]

India president denies mercy plea of death row convicts


The president accepts or rejects a mercy petition after consulting the government


Indian President Pratibha Patil has rejected the mercy petitions of two convicts on death row, clearing the way for their executions, officials say.

They said that Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar from Punjab and Mahendra Nath Das from Assam have been denied mercy.

While Das was found guilty of a gruesome murder, Bhullar was sentenced for "plotting terror attacks".

This is the first time since 2004 that the president has given assent for a death sentence.

The death penalty is rarely given in India and is often delayed indefinitely or commuted by the president.

Bhullar was sentenced to death by a trial court in August 2001 for "plotting terror attacks" in 1993 in Delhi in which several people for killed. His mercy plea has been pending since 2002.

Das was sentenced to death in 1999 for murder.

[Mr Lick]

Ghana's deer-hunting festival



Every year 1000's gather in the coastal town of Winneba, approximately 40 miles west of the capital Accra, to celebrate the deer hunting festival

[Mr Lick]

800,000 'not given help with social care'



Hundreds of thousands of older people in England who need social care are not getting any support from the state or private sector, campaigners say.

Age UK says 800,000 people are excluded from the system - and the figure is set to top one million within four years.

It said budgets had hardly risen in recent years even before the squeeze, despite the ageing population.

The charity renewed its call for an overhaul of the system, something ministers are looking at.

Social care in England is means-tested, which means those with savings of over £23,250 are excluded.

But councils have also been making it more difficult for those who do meet the income threshold to get care, by tightening the eligibility criteria.

Six years ago, half of councils provided support to people with moderate needs, but that figure has now dropped to 18%.

[Mr Lick]

Baby Peter boss Sharon Shoesmith 'does not do blame'



Ex-children's services director Sharon Shoesmith has said she is "not into the blame game" when asked if she bore responsibility for Baby Peter's death.

On Friday, the Court of Appeal ruled that she was sacked unfairly from her job at Haringey Council after the case.

She told the BBC "I don't do blame" and "you cannot stop the death of children".

Baby Peter Connelly, who had been seen 60 times by the authorities, was found dead in 2007 with over 50 injuries.

Ms Shoesmith learned of her sacking in December 2008 in a live televised press conference by the then Children's Secretary Balls.

She told the Guardian newspaper that Mr Balls had been "staggeringly irresponsible" and his actions had left children's social care in "complete disarray".

[Mr Lick]

Reading 2 - 4 Swansea



Scott Sinclair hit a hat-trick as Swansea became the first Welsh side to reach the Premier League after holding off a brave Reading fightback in a pulsating Championship play-off final at Wembley.
The Swans have not played in the top flight of English football since 1983 but they scored three unanswered first-half goals to take control of Monday's match.
Sinclair struck twice in as many minutes midway through the half, first from the penalty spot and then with a close-range finish, before Stephen Dobbie scored with his right foot from 16 yards.


Royals substitute Jay Tabb and assistant manager Nigel Gibbs were both red carded at the break after abusing referee Phil Dowd on what was turning into an afternoon to forget for Brian McDermott and his team, but the Royals surged back into the contest after the restart.
Joe Allen headed into his own net following Noel Hunt's flicked header, and Matt Mills converted a corner as Reading scored twice in eight minutes to leave the contest on a knife edge.
Jem Karacan struck the Swansea post but Sinclair converted his second penalty of the afternoon 10 minutes from the end as the Welsh side held on.

[Mr Lick]

Sri Lanka batting collapse hands England shock victory

England 496-5 dec beat Sri Lanka 400 & 82 by an innings and 14 runs



Chris Tremlett and Graeme Swann bowled England to a remarkable innings victory after Sri Lanka were bowled out for 82 in the first Test in Cardiff.

A draw seemed likely after rain delayed the start of day five until 1500 BST.

But England declared after two overs on 496-5, a first-innings lead of 96, as soon as Ian Bell reached his century.

Tremlett (4-40) grabbed two early wickets, before he and Swann (4-16) combined to tear through the tourists, with Stuart Broad finishing them off.

With the last eight wickets falling in just over an hour after the tea interval, it left England victorious by an innings and 14 runs.

It was an amazing end to a day's play that had begun with few supporters in the stands and even fewer expectations that the game would end in anything but a draw.

For the fourth day out of five, no play was possible during the morning as rain meant the covers remained in place until four hours after the scheduled start time of 1100 BST, a delay that appeared to have killed the game as a contest.

When the players did take to the field it was initially for only 12 balls - long enough for Bell to add five runs to his overnight score of 98 and reach his 13th Test century - before England's declaration brought them off again.

Sri Lanka 2nd Innings - All out 82

[Mr Lick]

A customs official stands guard beside a preserved hawksbill turtle, locally known as "Pawikan," and rare black corals before customs officials and a senator present to media inside a customs headquarters in Manila May 30, 2011. According to customs officials, the Bureau of Customs seized earlier this month two containers of protected species amounting to 35 million pesos ($808,221) including 161 preserved hawksbill and green turtles, nearly 21,000 pieces of black corals, more than 7,300 seashells and 196kg of sea whips

[Mr Lick]

Rice and crab farmer Pi Xiaozhen (front) ,wearing a traditional cone-shaped Chinese farming hat, watches as her husband Yong Houying carries water to irrigate their cotton crop, grown due to their failing rice crop, near the village of Wanghu in central China's Hubei Province May 30, 2011. Almost 35 million people across five provinces on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze have been affected to different degrees by the drought, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs said last week. That number includes 4.2 million who have difficulty getting drinkable water. Direct economic losses are nearing 15 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), it said. Farmers said they would need generous rainfall in coming weeks, or the first of their two annual rice crops could wither and die, and more of the thousands of fish and crab farms could lose all their stock.

[Mr Lick]

Swansea Manager, Brendan Rodgers is thrown in the air by his players after winning the npower Championship Playoff Final between Reading and Swansea City at Wembley Stadium on May 30 in London, England.

[Mr Lick]

A policeman walks past a hole in a bridge over Yitong River where a truck accidentally plunged through, in Changchun city, Jilin province, Northeast China, on Sunday, May 29. The bridge partially crumbled, allowing the truck to plunge through the hole injuring the driver and a passenger. The local government has set up a team to investigate the accident.

[Mr Lick]

U.S. President Barack Obama lays a Memorial Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia on Monday, May 30.

[Mr Lick]

Katlyn Wilkins, in tree, and Andrea Wilkins Morelli work on securing an American flag on May 29, as they deal with the destruction caused by a massive tornado that passed through Joplin, Mo., May 22, killing at least 139 people.



US President Barack Obama pauses while speaking at Missouri Southern University May 29, during a memorial for victims of the Joplin, Mo., tornado. Victims of the tornado continue to recover as 2011 becomes the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1953. The death toll stood at 142 one week after the tornado cut a path of death and destruction through the heart of this town of 50,000.

[Mr Lick]

Bryan Herta Autosport driver Dan Wheldon of England pours milk on himself after winning the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 auto race in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 29.

[Mr Lick]

Fisherman Xiao Gonggus and his wife Wang Guzhun push their fishing boat through an almost dried-up irrigation canal leading from Honghu Lake, near Honghu city in central China's Hubei province, May 29. Honghu Lake, China's seventh-largest freshwater lake, is suffering from the worst drought in 70 years, having received just 144 millimetres of rainfall from Jan. 21 to May 21 this year, only 21 percent of the amount recorded during the same period last year, according to Chen Gang, chief engineer of the flood control and drought relief headquarters of Honghu city.



People in wheelchairs pull a C130 cargo aircraft weighing 67 tons across 100 metres at the Melsbroek military airport near Brussels May 29. The attempt, led by 84 people, set a new Guinness World Record for heaviest plane pulled over 100 meters by a team of people in wheelchairs.

[Mr Lick]

A picture made available on May 29 shows a hot air balloon flying during the sixth Moscow region Hot Air Balloon Championship in Dmitrov, Russia, May 28.



A picture made available on May 29 shows the reflection of a hot air balloon in a pond during the sixth Moscow Region Hot Air Balloon Championship in Dmitrov, some 60 km north of Moscow, Russia, May 28. The hot air balloon championship runs from May 25-29.

[Mr Lick]

Benghazi, Libya: New cadets for the rebel army dance and chant



Connecticut, US: Members of the Eaglehouse Hook and Ladder Company march with an antique fire hose in the Memorial Day parade



Bridgeville, US: A bird lands on a gravestone in the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies

[Mr Lick]

Mazgit, Kosovo: A man prepares his horse before the start of the Best Horse competition



Nablus, West Bank: An Israeli border policeman enters through a window as a Jewish worshipper prays in Joseph's Tomb

[Mr Lick]

Figueira da Foz, Portugal: A snail with a picture of the retired footballer Paulo Futre on its back, in action during the fifth Snail Grand Prix



Missouri, US: People attend a ceremony marking a week since a tornado hit Joplin

[Mr Lick]

Madrid, Spain: Thousands of demonstrators gather at the Puerta del Sol, the city's main square



Kohada, India,: Indian army personnel movements during military exercises

[Mr Lick]

Beijing, China: A child of migrant workers cries



Cairo, Egypt: A tourist covers her head against the sun in sight of the Pyramid of Khafre

[Mr Lick]

Toronto, Canada: Lightning strikes the CN Tower



Barcelona, Spain: Adriano Correia celebrates during a gathering with supporters at the Camp Nou stadium a day after Barelona won the UEFA Champions League final