World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

A police officer encourages 'Larry', the Downing Street cat, into 10 Downing Street before a photocall involving British Prime Minister David Cameron and BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer in central London, UK, on June 9.

[Mr Lick]

The official with the local of office of the Interior Minister said five protesters were arrested in Thursday's violence outside Valencia's regional parliament. She said she did not know if demonstrators were hurt.

Valencia is one of dozens of Spanish cities where mainly young protesters have been living in makeshift urban camps for weeks to denounce bleak economic prospects and corrupt politicians.

[Mr Lick]

Heidi, the crossed eyed possum gets new digs at Leipzig zoo, Germany

[Mr Lick]

Arizona wildfires continue to burn





















Lucas Malone, who decided not to evacuate, sits on a rooftop while watching smoke from the Wallow fire in Eagar

[Mr Lick]

New species discovered in Philippines



Fish-swell shark



Mysmenidae micro orb

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Acusilas spider web



Thelyphonida, a type of scorpion

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Barnacle species



Soft coral species

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Nudibranch species



Nudibranch species

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Nudibranch species



Nudibranch species

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Segmented worm species



Starfish species



Fish-eel species

[Mr Lick]

Jack Warner will not meet Fifa investigators over bribery claims



The suspended Fifa vice-president Jack Warner says he has no plans to meet investigators looking into bribery allegations.

Fifa have agreed to move the venue of the interviews with those Caribbean Football Union (CFU) members who refused to travel to Miami but Warner will not be among those questioned by investigators.

Warner, alleged along with fellow Fifa member Mohamed bin Hammam to have paid bribes totalling $1m (£610,000) to Caribbean associations, told Press Association Sport: "I have not received any summons asking me to speak with them [the investigators] nor do I plan to do so."

Up to 18 of the 25 CFU associations alleged to have been paid or offered bribes of $40,000 have refused Fifa's call to go to Miami to provide evidence. They also called for Fifa to replace the former FBI director Louis Freeh as lead investigator.

A CFU source said that Fifa had agreed to a new venue for the interviews and that they were prepared to co-operate with any "independent and unbiased" investigation.

The CFU suggested Barbados and Trinidad as options for a different venue to Miami but it is believed Fifa will choose an island elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Warner and Bin Hammam have been suspended pending the investigation into allegations they paid bribes at a meeting of CFU officials in Trinidad on 10 and 11 May. They deny any wrongdoing.

[Mr Lick]

Algerian-born man living in France is refused French nationality



An Algerian-born man living in France has been refused French nationality because of his "degrading attitude" towards women.

The man, who has not been named, is married to a Frenchwoman, but does not allow her to leave the family home freely, it was claimed.

In what is seen as a legal precedent, his application for French nationality was turned down because "his idea of sexual equality is not that of the republic", according to a high-ranking official quoted by French radio station Europe 1.

The French constitution states that the government can refuse nationality or strip nationality for a "lack of integration".

The interior minister, Claude Guéant, has made it clear he expects candidates for nationality to not only integrate but "assimilate" into French society.

A spokesman for the minister told the Guardian that concerns were raised when police interviewed the man as part of the application process.

The refusal, she added, had been confirmed by the State Council – the legal body that advises the government on legislation – and was awaiting signature by the minister.

"The man was eligible for French nationality as he had been married to a French citizen for more than four years. In such cases, however, it can be refused by a disrespect of or lack of assimilation into the French community or if the person practises polygamy.

"In this case, during the interview at the police station his behaviour showed a lack of assimilation into the French community; it was incompatible with the values of the French republic, notably in respect to the values of the equality of men and women. This justifies the decision for not giving him French nationality.

The case was examined by the State Council, which agreed and a decision to that effect was given."

The case emerged a week after far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote to French MPs asking them to support an end to dual nationality, claiming it "undermines republican values".

Le Pen has made no secret that her demand is aimed at people from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. A delegation of 50 MPs from the ruling right-of-centre UMP party met President Nicolas Sarkozy recently to press for an end to dual nationality.

Afterwards one of the MPs said Sarkozy was "very favourable" to the idea.

[Mr Lick]

Mark Kennedy case: independent inquiry ordered over CPS claims



A senior judge is to conduct an independent inquiry into evidence that prosecutors suppressed secret surveillance tapes recorded by the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, the Guardian can reveal.

The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has requested an independent investigation into claims, as disclosed on Tuesday, that the CPS misled courts over the collapse of a trial against six activists accused of conspiring to break into Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.

Starmer said in a statement: "In light of growing concerns about the non-disclosure of material relating to the activities of an undercover police officer in the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station cases, I have decided that I will set up an independent inquiry, conducted by a senior legal figure, to work in tandem with the Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry into the matter which began in January 2011."

The IPCC has been looking at allegations that vital evidence was withheld from lawyers respresenting the activists.

Starmer added : "The two inquiries will have full access to all the available evidence, whether held by the police or the CPS, and will share information. They will also share their provisional findings before final reports are drawn up."

When the trial was abandoned in January, the CPS told the court that "previously unavailable information" had come to light just two days earlier that undermined its case against the activists.

However, the Guardian detailed how the supposedly new information – the Kennedy tapes – had been in the CPS's possession for more than a year.

[Mr Lick]

A general view of the village of Juzcar, near Malaga, southern Spain on Thursday, June 9, 2011. The facades of the houses of Juzcar are being painted blue after Sony chose it for the world premiere of new movie

[Mr Lick]

Pilgrims sing as they cross the Quema River, on their way to the shrine of El Rocio in the province of Seville, southern Spain, on Thursday.



Pilgrims make their way to the shrine of El Rocio during the annual pilgrimage in which hundreds of thousands of devotees of the Virgin del Rocio converge in and around the shrine, in Villamanrique, Spain, on Thursday, June 9.

[Mr Lick]

Penny Farthing riders assemble with their bikes at Potters Fields in London June 9, 2011. The riders who have ridden from Paris will race in The London Nocturne on Saturday.

[Mr Lick]

Exterior of a house in Mutenice, a small town in the South Moravian wine region about 145 miles southeast of the Czech capital Prague, decorated with 180,000 wine corks.






A bricklayer in the picturesque South Moravian wine-making region is drawing legions of tourists curious to see the elaborate cork-decorated facade of his house. The bricklayer, Miroslav Svoboda, a passionate drinker of red wine, got the corks from a local vintner -- "a sponsor who wants to remain unknown" -- to give himself a unique present for his 50th birthday after two years of busy work.

[Mr Lick]

A diver prepares to dive in the Yangon River in search of coal from a sunken ship in Myanmar on Thursday, June 9..



Every morning and every evening when the tide is high, up to 40 boats of different shapes and sizes with crews of between four to eight people leave the former capital for the dangerous work of salvaging coal from the muddy waters of the Yangon River.







With flimsy-looking masks costing about $8 to $9 and attached to ropes commonly used at homes, the divers jump into the water in search of coal from sunken ships. It's a tiring and lethal job - many have lost their lives when their ropes break or when they get caught up in fishing nets and hooks. Many of the divers, who live in Dahla Township next to the river, have been doing the job for five, six years. "We know it's a dangerous job, but we don't know any other profession," said one of divers at the river.



The income is irregular - today, the boat was in the water from eight in the morning till two in the afternoon and yet they only found enough coal for 10,000 kyats (1USD - 750 kyat). The divers say they earn a minimum of about 150,000 kyats a month (about $200) - in a country where rights groups say a third of the population live below the poverty line - this is a considered a good wage.

[Mr Lick]

Master of Hounds, left, looks at his neighbor Viscount Nelson on Thursday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Master of Hounds, trained in Ireland, is entered in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

[Mr Lick]

Gunmen opened fire on a wedding party in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine people, including the groom, officials said Thursday.

The assailants entered a field where the groom and his family had gathered Wednesday night in the remote Dur Baba district and started shooting, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the provincial government spokesman. The attackers also set fire to a nearby house and a car.






Afghan villagers stand over the groom, who was killed during an attack by gunmen on his wedding party in Dur Baba district of Nangarhar province on June 9, 2011. Gunmen stormed a wedding party in eastern Afghanistan overnight, killing the groom and eight other people in an attack blamed on Taliban-linked insurgents, officials said. The groom was a cousin of the local district chief, and women and children were also among the casualties in the attack at the family party in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, the provincial spokesman told AFP.

[Mr Lick]

Syrian refugees flee across border to Turkey



A Turkish soldier stands by as a group of Syrians wait inside Syria for authorisation to enter Turkey near the Turkish village of Guvecci in Hatay province, Turkey, which borders Syria



A Syrian refugee walks besides tents at the Turkish Red Crescent camp in the Yayladagi district of Turkey, close to the city of Hatay



A Syrian woman waits beside her wounded husband at a hospital near the city of Hatay, close to the border





Syrian refugees who fled from Syria to Turkey leave the Yayladagi Turkish Red Crescent refugee camp by bus





Turkish soldiers patrol as Syrian refugees (in the background) wait to be transported to the Turkish side of the border with Syria, near the village of Guvecci in Hatay province



Refugees walk behind the fence of a refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Yayladagi

[Mr Lick]

In the Hot Seat
With anti-war protesters in the background, CIA chief Leon Panetta, who's been nominated by President Obama to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, arrives at his confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

[Mr Lick]

Let's Make a Deal
With the U.S. economy faltering and Japan still recovering from natural disasters, the demand and prices of used cars have risen 30 percent over the past year. Here: A vehicle for sale in San Francisco on Thursday.

[Mr Lick]

Top Gingrich Staffers Quit, Sources Say
A number of high-level aides working on Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign have resigned, according to media reports on Thursday. The Republican White House hopeful, here last month in Iowa, says he's still in the running.

[Mr Lick]

Steppin' Out
Britain's Prince William and new wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrive for the 10th Absolute Return for Kids charity gala at Kensington Palace in London on Thursday.