World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Diamond miners in South Africa have uncovered a 232.08-carat white diamond that is expected to fetch between $10 million and $16 million.

The stone was discovered at the Cullinan mine, famed for the largest rough gem diamond ever recovered, the 3,106 carat Cullinan Diamond found in 1905, which was cut into stones that are part of Britain's Crown Jewels

[Mr Lick]

Iraq's parliament has approved a new government with Sunni and Kurdish deputy prime ministers, as it seeks to tackle Islamic State (IS) militants who have seized large parts of the country. PM Haidar al-Abadi, a moderate Shia, was asked to form a government after the resignation of Nouri Maliki



Rowing teams from the cities and towns surrounding Grand Harbour in Valetta take part in the Victory Day Regatta, part of the celebrations commemorating Malta's victories during the Great Siege of 1565 and World War Two

[Mr Lick]

Opposing supporters of the "Yes" and "No" campaigns in the battle for votes ahead of the Scottish independence referendum argue on the streets of Edinburgh



The death toll from floods in India and Pakistan has passed 375 as authorities continue efforts to rescue hundreds of thousands of stranded people. In Indian-administered Kashmir some 175 people have been killed, many of them swept away by surging rivers



England's forward Daniel Welbeck celebrates scoring England's second goal in their Euro 2016 qualifying match against Switzerland in Basel

[Mr Lick]

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter holds a a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as he takes up position in an area overlooking Baretle village, which is controlled by the Islamic State, in Khazir, on the edge of Mosul September 8, 2014.



Goel Ratzon sits in a Tel Aviv courtroom September 8, 2014. The Israeli cult leader alleged by prosecutors to have kept 21 wives under his spell for years was convicted on Monday of sexual crimes but acquitted of charges of enslavement. The suspect, Ratzon, 64, had denied the allegations, which prosecutors described as a "mind-boggling" saga of dominance and delusions of deity

[Mr Lick]

A 1960's era Dick Tracy wrist radio is seen in District Heights, Maryland September 8, 2014. With the expected release this week of the Apple iWatch, which would be the company's first new product since 2010, Tracy's two-way wrist radio from the 1940's could be seen by some as a predecessor to today's smartwatch. Tracy wrist radio courtesy of the National Law Enforcement Museum.



Britain's Prince William speaks with school children as he officially opens the Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre, in Oxford, central England September 8, 2014.

[Mr Lick]

A young ragpicker collect clothes, coins, wooden materials and other usable items cluttered at the bank of the Jawahar Lal Nehru lake after the end of the Ganesh festival, in Bhopal, India.



Liverpool City Council leader Joe Anderson and Labour leader, Ed Miliband raise a Saltire in an effort to persuade voters in Scotland to “stay with us”.



Buffalo soldiers: Fighting during the mid-autumn Festival in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong, Guizhou, China



Fish supper: A Bryde’s whale feeds along with some seagulls on anchovies in the Gulf of Thailand. The species is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora which prohibits its international trade.

[Mr Lick]

Roy of the Rovers celebrates 60 years - in pictures

Launched in Tiger magazine in 1954, the Melchester Rovers striker’s career captured the imagination of youngsters and adults alike






















Trevor Francis and Malcolm MacDonald join Roy Race in the England team in January 1978







Roy Race is given a tempting offer to coach the Basran national team in September 1978







In March 1982 Roy Race returns to Melchester Rovers after coming out of the coma he was in following his shooting. He is welcomed by Sir Alf Ramsey who had stepped in as manager whilst Race was in hospital







The fate of Race was revealed in the new Roy of the Rovers monthly magazine. Readers discovered that the helicopter crash had resulted in the amputation of his famous left foot, ending his playing career and resulting in his move to Italy as the manager of fictional Serie A side AC Monza.



Roy Race returns to Melchester in the last issue of Roy of the Rovers monthly magazine in March 1995.

[Mr Lick]

Lt Lee Vee Weng carries the remains of his one-year-old son Benjamin Lee Jian Han, who was killed in the MH17 crash, into the Xiao En Bereavement Centre in Kuala Lumpur September 9, 2014. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 crashed after being shot down over war-torn Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people on board



Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond (front C) poses with supporters of the 'Yes Campaign', in Edinburgh, Scotland September 9, 2014.

[Mr Lick]

A trader sits at his desk at IG Index in London September 9, 2014. Britain's top shares fell on Tuesday as weaker energy stocks weighed, extending the previous day's retreat on concerns that Scotland could vote to leave the United Kingdom



A Pakistani man uses a rope while he wades through a flooded field beside his house following heavy rain in Pindi Bhattian, Punjab Province September 9, 2014.

[Mr Lick]

A waitress poses while customers eat dinner inside iron cages at a jail-themed restaurant in the Chinese port city of Tianjin September 9, 2014. The three-story restaurant consists of rooms resembling jail's cells made from iron caging and it attracts customers who wants to experience the atmosphere of the jail for fun

[Mr Lick]

Britain's Prince Harry stands next to a Guardsman at the Jaguar Landrover driving Challenge, which will be the first event in the Invictus Games, in Gaydon, central England on September 9, 2014.



An Indian tourist cries as she is airlifted into a chopper in Srinagar, India, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. The death toll from floods in Pakistan and India reached 400 on Tuesday and have put more than half a million people in peril and rendered thousands homeless in the two neighboring states. The tourist was stranded on the terrace of a five-storey hotel in central Srinagar.

[Mr Lick]

Flood-affected people row boats past partially submerged buildings in floodwaters in Srinagar, India, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. The death toll from floods in Pakistan and India reached 400 on Tuesday and have put more than half a million people in peril and rendered thousands homeless in the two neighboring states



A Russian Communist Party activist, wearing a mask depicting US President Barack Obama, holds a poster reading "Nobel Peace Prize" in one hand and a bag reading "War" in the other, takes part at a picket outside the UN mission in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. The poster at the background reads: "Seven Sins of Obama". Other participants wear tee shirts with writing in Cyrillic saying: Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Ukraine.



Kashmiris hang on to a tree to prevent being swept away by floodwaters in Srinagar, India, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. The death toll from floods in Pakistan and India reached 400 on Tuesday and have put more than half a million people in peril and rendered thousands homeless in the two neighboring states

[Mr Lick]

Beth Johnson from Ohio, who has made it into the 2015 Guinness World Records book for constructing the world's largest yo-yo which measures 3.65m (11ft 9in) in diameter with a weight of 2095.6kg (4,620lb)



Horse whisperer Martin Tata sits on his five-year-old horse, Pimavera, as he performs a demonstration of 'Indian taming' at the Polo Club Puesto Viejo ranch in Canuelas, northest of Buenos Aires. Tata says the techniques that he uses to tame unbroken horses avoids unnecessary violence and helps build a more harmonious relationship between humans and the horses

[Mr Lick]

A bird rests on the back of a capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in the Paraguay River in Caceres, Brazil, the gateway to the Pantanal. Often referred to as the world's largest freshwater wetland system the Pantanal is a stunning biodiversity sanctuary which extends through millions of hectares in central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay. It includes sanctuaries for migratory birds, nursery grounds for aquatic life, and refuges for such creatures as the yacare caiman, deer, and jaguar. Some 4,500 different species live in the Pantanal



An albino axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is photographed at the laboratory of ecological restoration of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. Wild axolotls are near extinction due to urbanization in Mexico City and water pollution

[Mr Lick]

A super moon rises in the sky behind the Eiffel Tower as seen from Suresnes, Paris



Singer Rita Ora performs onstage at the Fashion Rocks event at the Barclays Center of Brooklyn in New York

[Mr Lick]

Tattoo artist Andy Burns from Dundee shows off his Yes tattoos



Projections light up Buckingham Palace in a tribute to all the competitiors taking part in the inaugral Invictus Games, the international sports event for 'wounded warriors' launched by Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace in London

[Mr Lick]

Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the new Apple Watch in Cupertino, California. Apple's new wearable device marks the company's first major entry in a new product category since the iPad's debut in 2010



Jalea Blasingame falls into floodwater in Overton, Nevada. The flood water came from heavy rains that fell on Monday that also washed out parts of Interstate 15

[Mr Lick]

A tractor evacuating Kashmiri flood victims to higher ground travels through a flooded street in Srinagar



One of two ships from the lost Franklin expedition in this image released. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that a Parks Canada remotely operated underwater vehicle confirmed the find of one of two ships from Sir John Franklin's doomed Arctic expedition in the 1840's searching for the Northwest Passage

[Mr Lick]

A riot policeman confronts an environmental activist in the Sivens forest as clearing began in preparation for the Sivens dam construction near Gaillac, in the Tarn region of France



A boy collects items thrown by devotees as religious offerings next to idols of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, a day after they were immersed in the waters of the Sabarmati river in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad

[Mr Lick]

In the dry and desolate land along Syria’s northeastern border, thousands of young Kurdish women have taken up arms to protect their people against attacks from Bashar Assad’s government, ISIS militants and the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.

Some 7,000 volunteer soldiers have joined the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, which grew out of the wider Kurdish resistance movement. The group is strongly associated with the PKK, an organization fighting for the rights of Kurds in neighboring Turkey that has been designated a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. Alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces, the YPJ has been battling against Islamic militants who have seized large areas of Iraq and Syria and declared a cross-border caliphate

[Mr Lick]

A federal agent from the US Office of Air and Marine draws his weapon on an undocumented immigrant who fled from agents through dense underbrush near Falfurrias, Texas, on the border with Mexico



Eri Tosaka, of Japan, (in blue) grapples Silvia Felice, of Italy, at the World Senior Wrestling Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

[Mr Lick]

Tens of thousands of people are still stranded in Indian-administered Kashmir after the worst floods in half a century. Here Kashmiri houseboats and houses submerged in floodwater are seen from an Indian Air Force helicopter during rescue and relief operations in Dal Lake in Srinagar



Gareth Bale, who scored twice, described the pitch for Wales' 2-1 Euro 2016 qualifying win in Andorra as "by far the worst I have ever played on". The artificial pitch at Andorra's new national stadium had only been deemed suitable to stage the game six days earlier

[Mr Lick]

Defending the American way




A handmade sign to deter trespassers hangs in the front yard of Fernando Rivera Jr.'s house in Brownsville, Texas September 2, 2014



Members of the "Patriots" patrol the area in their UTV near the U.S.-Mexico border outside Brownsville, Texas September 2, 2014.







'We wont get to shoot nobody if you put a fence up!'

[Mr Lick]

Shi'ite Houthis help a fellow protester, injured during clashes with law enforcement officers, near the cabinet building in Sanaa September 9, 2014.



A Mercedes sedan is pictured partially submerged in mud in the median of Interstate 15 near Glendale, Nevada September 9, 2014



A man dressed as a horror clown poses before a so-called "Monster Casting" session for the Filmpark Babelsberg theme park in Potsdam, Germany, September 9, 2014. The theme park is casting people for an upcoming horror show.

[Mr Lick]

An injured man sits at a field hospital after what activists said were airstrikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus September 9, 2014.



Cabs, made by the manufacturer Ambassador, in front of a century-old building during a day-long taxi strike in Kolkata, India