World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

US Congressman Anthony Weiner sent underpants photo




Married New York congressman Anthony Weiner has admitted sending a close-up picture of his underpants to a young woman, but says he will not resign.

The Democratic representative also acknowledged "inappropriate" communications with women online.

Mr Weiner had initially said his Twitter account had been hacked when a photo of a man's crotch was sent from it last week.

On Monday he admitted this was not true, saying that he had "panicked".

A tearful Mr Weiner told a news conference he was "deeply ashamed of my terrible judgement".

"I'm deeply regretting what I have done and I'm not resigning," he said, apologising for any pain caused to his family, constituents, supporters and staff.

[Mr Lick]

Volcano eruption seen from space



A plume of light-coloured ash stretches along the edge of the Andes in this natural-colour satellite image acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard Terra on the morning of June 6, 2011, as the eruption at the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain continues. The volcano dormant for decades erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday belching an ash cloud more than 6 miles high that blew over the Andes and carpeted a popular ski resort in neighboring Argentina. The eruption took place about 575 miles south of the capital Santiago.

[Mr Lick]

Vendors selling qat, a mild stimulant, flash the victory sign as they wait for customers at the site of an anti-government sit-in to demand the removal of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa on June 6. The United States made clear on Monday that it wants Yemen's government to seize on the absence of Saleh to try to effect a peaceful, orderly political transition.



Yemenis walk past vendors selling qat next to the site of a rally by anti-government protestors celebrating President Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure to Saudi Arabia, on June 6. A cease-fire in Yemen's capital was at risk of unraveling as regime supporters opened fire on opposition fighters in renewed clashes that killed at least six. The violence raises fears over the potentially explosive situation after the wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh left the country, creating a deep power vacuum.

[Mr Lick]

Robert Joseph rides his ATV as smoke plumes from the Wallow fire fill the sky in Luna, N.M., Monday, June 6, 2011. Firefighters worked furiously Monday to save a line of mountain communities in eastern Arizona from a gigantic blaze that has forced thousands of people from their homes and cast a smoky haze over states as far away as Iowa.

[Mr Lick]

Volcanic ash settles in Argentina



A view of the ash plume at sunset above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain on June 5. The volcano in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, dormant for decades, erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday, belching ash over 6 miles into the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighboring Argentina, and prompted the government to evacuate several thousand residents, authorities said.

[Mr Lick]

D-Day veteran Rangers stand at attention and salute during the commemorative ceremony of the 67th anniversary of the Allied invasion as part of Operation Overlord, in Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, France on June 6. A reduced group of surviving veterans, who stormed the battery 67 years ago, were present for the inauguration of a monument in their honor.



British veteran Gordon Smith cries while walking along the beach of Arromanches-les-Bains, northwestern France, during a ceremony to mark the 67th D-Day anniversary on June 6, 1944 allied landings in Normandy, then occupied by Nazi Germany.

[Mr Lick]

Workers throw away cucumbers to be destroyed at an agriculture facility near Bucharest on Monday, June 6, as sales collapsed in Romania's markets due to the fear of E. coli contamination. The workers from this facility are destroying about 1500 tons of harvested cucumbers from the last three days, despite negative E. coli laboratory tests. The outbreak, centred on the north German city of Hamburg, has made more than 1,500 people ill in eight European countries, and led to an international row over the source of the contamination.

[Mr Lick]

Former New York Giants star Plaxico Burress was released from prison on Monday after spending nearly two years behind bars on a gun charge and headed to Florida to be with his family as he contemplates his chances of playing again in the NFL.






As he left Oneida Correctional Facility in central New York Monday morning, he hugged agent Drew Rosenhaus and shook hands. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, shorts, sneakers and a Philadelphia Phillies hat.

[StrontiumDog]

A few more jaw dropping images of the volcano...

Lightning strikes over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Monday June 6, 2011. Authorities have evacuated about 3,500 people in the nearby area. The volcano was calm on Monday, two days after raining down ash and forcing thousands to flee, although the cloud of soot it had belched out still darkened skies as far away as Argentina. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno)


A column of smoke and volcanic lightning are seen over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Sunday June 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno)


A military helicopter is backdropped by the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, as it flies near Rininahue village on June 5, 2011. AFP PHOTO/CLAUDIO SANTANA


A cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano is seen in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5, 2011. Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4 prompting evacuations for 3,500 people as it sent a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas 10 kilometers (six miles) high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area. AFP PHOTO/Alvaro Vidal


Picture taken from Rininahue village showing the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5, 2011. AFP PHOTO/CLAUDIO SANTANA


A column of smoke and volcanic lightning are seen over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Sunday June 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno)


Picture taken from Rininahue village showing the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5, 2011. AFP PHOTO/CLAUDIO SANTANA

http://photos.denverpost.com/mediace...e/#name%20here

[Mr Lick]

The Gallery: Fifa







'Allegations of corruption continue when the winners of Fifa's Fair Play Award are announced,'

[Mr Lick]

A day in an overcrowded prison




Inmates walk around an exercise yard at the California Institution for Men state prison in Chino, California, June 3, 2011. The Supreme Court has ordered California to release more than 30,000 inmates over the next two years or take other steps to ease overcrowding in its prisons to prevent "needless suffering and death."

[Mr Lick]

60 births a day



Babies lie on a bed inside the maternity ward of the government run Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, June 1, 2011.



Women are pictured near their newborn babies inside the maternity ward of the government run Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila, June 1, 2011. The ward, the busiest in the country, sees an average of 60 births a day.






























Plenty of milk to go round there!






Looks like she's been on the beer for a while






Is there room for one more darling?



Any vacancies for male nurses at that hospital i wonder?

[Mr Lick]

Golan Heights Violence
Palestinians carry the coffin of Zakaria Abu al-Hassan, who was killed by Israeli troops during clashes in the Golan Heights, at his funeral in the in al-Yarmouk camp near Damascus, Syria, on Monday.



On the Libyan Front Lines
Rebel fighters fire rockets on Monday near the city of Zintan, which is located some 75 miles southwest of Tripoli.

[Mr Lick]

Mountain Trail
A line of visitors riding camels make their way along Mingsha Mountain (or Singing Sand Mountain) during the Chinese Dragon Boat festival in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province, on Monday



Big Rollout
Apple CEO Steve Jobs appears at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco to unveil the iCloud storage system on Monday

[Mr Lick]

Paying His Respects
In Seoul on Monday, Lee Jae-Myung, 35, pays his respects at the tombstone of a family acquaintance who died while serving as an officer during the Korean War in 1950



Cooling Down
As a major heat wave continues to bake India, families try to keep cool at a water park in Calcutta on Monday.

[Mr Lick]

Gates on Goodbye Tour
A crewman aboard a U.S. helicopter in eastern Afghanistan uses his cell phone to take a picture of the Blackhawk chopper carrying Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who is in the country on a two-day farewell trip.



It's Official
Former U.S. senator and outspoken conservative Rick Santorum, here in Somerset, Pennsylvania, on Monday, announced that he's running for president.

[Mr Lick]

Singapore Air in code share deal with Virgin Australia



Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia have entered a partnership which allows them to sell tickets and seats on each other's international and domestic flights.

The so called code-sharing agreement will mean passengers may purchase a seat with Virgin but the flight will be operated by Singapore Air.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Asia is the world's largest and fastest growing market for air travel.

The agreement brings Singapore Airlines' international network together with Virgin's routes within Australia and the Pacific.

"It will enhance the attractiveness of Australia as a travel destination while also opening up new horizons for travellers from Australia," said Singapore Airlines head Goh Choon Phong in a statement.

Singapore Airlines passengers will be able to access a further 30 destinations.

While Virgin customers will be able to fly to 70 more places.

[Mr Lick]

Apple boss Steve Jobs shows off iCloud service



Apple has unveiled its much-anticipated iCloud service at its annual developers' conference.

Apple boss Steve Jobs returned from medical leave to show off the features of the web-based service.

He said iCloud was necessary because the PC was no longer the digital hub of users' digital lives.

The web-based service aims to synchronise and co-ordinate the key content people store and share across their devices.

Music match
Contacts, calendar and mail applications have been re-written so a change to one propagates across the other versions on separate devices. This re-writing means Apple's MobileMe service will soon cease to exist.

Anyone buying an app, book or music track for one device will see it replicated on the other Apple devices they own. Similarly, bookmarks for interesting web pages will be shared across all gadgets.

Mr Jobs stressed that iCloud was "not just a hard disk in the sky".

"We are demoting the PC and Mac to just be a device," he said. "And moving the digital hub centre of your digital life to the cloud."

This would end the current frustration of keeping content such as photos and songs synchronised.

One key element of iCloud was Apple's music store iTunes, he said. This now has a iCloud element so music bought on one device can be propagated across all the Apple gadgets that person owns.



Updates for Apple's iOS and Mac operating system were also on show at WWDC

One part of the cloud-version of iTunes, called iTunes Match, will also scan the songs that people have ripped from their own CDs.

This will recreate the library in the cloud without the need for the music to be uploaded. The service will cost $24.99 a year in the US. UK prices have yet to be given.

The release of iTunes Cloud pits Apple against Google and Amazon which have both unveiled their own web-based music storage services.

However, both those lack the involvement of record labels and the ability to replicate an existing library.

"This is the first set of cards on the table for the long game which is increasingly moving access to all your media up into the cloud, " said Mike McGuire, senior analyst with research firm Gartner.

[Mr Lick]

Australia breakthrough on recovering old fingerprints



Australian researchers have developed a new way of recovering usable fingerprints from old evidence.

The scientists, at the University of Technology in Sydney, believe it is a world first, that could help police reopen unsolved cases.

They used nanotechnology to detect dry and weak fingerprints, which are not revealed by traditional techniques.

Nanotechnology reveals much sharper detail of amino acid traces from old fingerprints than existing methods.

Their aim is to detect fingerprints of any age on any surface.

Specimens that previously went unseen are now being revealed using new chemical treatments that target amino acids.

These are molecules commonly found in sweat and are therefore present in most fingerprints.

While the targeting of amino acids in this area has been used for decades, the researchers in Sydney are employing nanotechnology to give degraded samples sharper detail.

[Mr Lick]

Philippines game shows: Abuse or entertainment?



How far should TV shows be allowed to push the boundaries of taste to boost their ratings?

One game show in the Philippines has stepped over the line, and now stands accused of condoning child abuse.

Willing Willie was the type of programme that is popular the world over; members of the public - both adults and children - perform in front of the cameras, while the studio audience eggs them on.

But the show was taken off air in April after it featured a six-year-old boy simulating a striptease act.

The host, Willie Revillame, cajoled the child into completing the suggestive dance, despite the boy having tears streaming down his face.

The audience seemed oblivious to his discomfort, laughing and cheering along with the host.

It later transpired that the boy's family - like the majority of audience members - were poor, and came on the game show because of the cash prizes on offer.

Human rights groups were quick to condemn the incident.

[Mr Lick]

Fatal floods hit southern China after prolonged drought



More than 60,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in central and southern China after continuous downpours caused heavy flooding

At least 14 people have been killed in raging flood waters that have swept through southwestern Guizhou province.

Scores of people are missing, and tens of thousands have left their homes ahead of more flooding.

Roads, bridges and hundreds of homes and cars have been destroyed in the onslaught.

The floods toll, reported by the state news agency Xinhua, comes after months of crop-destroying drought in the centre and north of the country.

The provincial civil affairs office in Guizhou said that floods have hit 11 cities and counties since 3 June.

At least 270,000 people have been affected, 45,000 evacuated and 3,000 stranded, said Xinhua.

[Mr Lick]

London Marathon is Eddie Kidd's 'greatest feat'



Former daredevil Eddie Kidd has spent the past two months completing what his wife has described as his greatest feat yet - the London Marathon.

In his prime Kidd was one of the best stunt riders in the world.

He first stunned spectators and fans in December 1979, when he jumped 80ft (24m) across a derelict railway bridge in Essex on a 400cc Yamaha.

Kidd's achievements culminated in 1993 when he jumped the Great Wall of China and beat Robbie Knievel, son of Evel Knievel, to the stunt bike world championship.

His life changed when he suffered serious head injuries in an accident at a motorcycle rally in Warwickshire in 1996.

The crash left him brain damaged with severely restricted co-ordination and speech but over the past seven years Kidd has fought to regain some of the mobility he lost.

His disabilities, however, have not diminished his zest for a challenge.

He's been exhausted and frustrated and made up his own swear words because he's run out of the normal ones to use” Sami Kidd

Kidd's wife, Sami, said she was not entirely surprised when he told her at Christmas he wanted to complete the London Marathon.

But she did not realise the challenge would be this tough on both of them.
Kidd, who lives in Seaford, East Sussex, has been walking up to a mile a day using a specially designed frame in aid of the charity Children with Cancer UK.





Mr Kidd was doused in champagne by well-wishers when he crossed the finishing line on Monday

[Mr Lick]

Yemen: Royal Marines on standby to evacuate Britons



Some 80 Royal Marines are on standby off the coast of Yemen to assist with the possible evacuation of British civilians, the BBC has learned.

The marines are thought to be aboard a naval support ship, RFA Fort Victoria, near Yemen, according to naval sources.

The Ministry of Defence said British military assets were in the region but it would not comment on their exact operational task.

Yemen has been affected by weeks of political instability and violence

[Mr Lick]

Braintree murders: Christine Chambers had called police before



Neighbours of a mother and young girl found dead after a shooting incident in Essex have expressed concerns that police could have prevented the deaths.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating the incident in Bartram Avenue, Braintree.

The deaths of Christine Chambers, 38, and daughter Shania, two, early on Monday, are being treated as murder.

A neighbour shouted at police: "You knew this was going to happen, you could have stopped it."

Shotgun recovered
A 50-year-old man is under armed guard in hospital.

The man is being treated for gunshot wounds at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Christine Chambers and Shania, two, were found dead in the house

Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the investigation.

[Mr Lick]

Kenyan police: Campaign to purge corrupt officers



Kenya has started screening more than 1,600 senior police officers in an effort to weed out corruption.

Anti-corruption commission director Patrick Lumumba told the BBC a committee would check whether the officers had faced corruption allegations.

It would also order the policemen to undergo psychometric and physical fitness tests.

Kenyan police are often ranked as the most corrupt in East Africa.

In 2005, a recruitment drive for new police officers was cancelled after 80% of applications were found to have paid bribes or used their connections to get a job.

The BBC's Anne Waithera in Nairobi says the exercise is the first of its kind in Kenya and is intended to restore public confidence in the police force.

All officers above the rank of superintendent will be screened.

"One of the things we will determine is whether a particular officer has a case or cases that may undermine his ability to serve with integrity," Mr Lumumba told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.