World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Guatemala City, Guatemala: Retired Guatemalan general Hector Mario Lopez looks at prison guards during a break in his trial. He is accused of directing a "scorched earth" campaign against mainly Mayan communities during the country's period of dictatorship



Wuhan, China: Students in graduation robes stand on a stone bridge submerged by floodwaters on Donghu Lake

[Mr Lick]

Bhubaneswar, India: A snake handler holds up an Indian cobra hatchling



Kabul, Afghanistan: Men pray on a hill overlooking the city

[Mr Lick]

Peshawar, Pakistan: A man who was injured in a suicide bomb blast receives medical treatment in a local hospital



Bariloche, Argentina: Residents gather to clean up ash deposited by the eruption of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano

[Mr Lick]

Summer solstice at Stonehenge - more pics







Chief druid Arthur Pendragon leads incantations





















Druid Tia Daisy, 25, from Seattle, joins revellers around the ancient stone circle

[Mr Lick]

A man in a horse costume entertains revellers as they watch the sunrise



A reveller climbs the ancient stone structure

[Mr Lick]

David Cameron defends sentencing U-turn

PM abandons plan of 50% discounts on jail terms for early guilty pleas and promises to bring in more mandatory life sentences



David Cameron announces a U-turn in prison policy after tabloid accusations of 'soft justice', overriding Ken Clarke's efficiency savings.


David Cameron has outlined plans to hand out a greater number of life sentences and increase the amount of time serious offenders spend in prison, in a major policy U-turn.

The prime minister also confirmed his decision to abandon plans to offer 50% sentence discounts to offenders who submit early guilty pleas amid tabloid accusations that the government was engaging in "soft justice".

Cameron told a No 10 press conference that dangerous criminals will be locked up "for a very long time" as he described his mission to ensure that families can "feel safe in their homes" and on the streets.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, seized on the sentencing about-turn, saying it was as "another example of this government not being in touch, and making proposals that they then have to abandon".

Cameron told journalists that sentences would have been too lenient and criminals would have been sent the "wrong message" if plans had gone ahead to halve jail terms for offenders who plead guilty early.

Kenneth Clarke's original green paper proposal was expected to produce savings of £210m a year by reducing the demand for prison places by 6,000. Ministry of Justice officials estimated that this would cut the record 85,000 prison population in England and Wales by 3,000 by the time of the next general election.

[Mr Lick]

Andy Gray settles phone-hacking case



TalkSport presenter Andy Gray has accepted £20,000 from News of the World publisher News Group to settle his phone-hacking claim against the newspaper.


The newspaper group reached a similar agreement last month with actor Sienna Miller, who dropped her action and received £100,000 in damages.


Gray was one of five phone-hacking test cases that were due to be go to court in January next year.


Gray's legal costs will also be met.

[Mr Lick]

Sectarian violence erupts in Belfast

Petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks are thrown during clashes in Lower Newtownards Road and Short Strand areas




Sectarian violence involving hundreds of people erupted in Belfast on Monday night, leaving two men with gunshot wounds to their legs in what police called "major disorder".

Officers said shots, petrol bombs, fireworks, bricks, stones and smoke bombs were fired as violence broke out at 9pm in the Lower Newtownards Road and Short Strand areas.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has confirmed officers fired a number of AEP or stun-grenade rounds.

Homes were attacked with paint bombs and stones and police say they are investigating a report of an attempted hijacking of a bus. One police officer was taken to hospital with an eye injury after rioters tried to blind officers with laser pens.

Sinn Féin blamed scores of masked men, who a party representative said were wearing camouflage clothing and surgical gloves, for launching co-ordinated attacks on the Catholic Short Strand area. Ulster Unionist MLA Michael Copeland said he believed the violence followed attacks on Protestant-owned homes.

The Belfast mayor, Niall Ó Donnghaile, a councillor based in the Short Strand area, said a number of residents had been injured, including one man knocked unconscious when he was hit with a brick.

[Mr Lick]

'Shocking' Threat to Marine Life Revealed
Due to a combination of climate change, excessive fishing, and pollution, a group of scientists warn in a new report that ocean life is "at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history."



NATO Airstrike Killed 15, Libya Says
The Libyan government claims that an early Monday NATO airstrike on a family compound outside Surman killed 15 people. The alliance insists it had targeted a "command and control" center. Here: Rescuers work in Sebrata City.



Casey Anthony Murder Trial to Resume
A day after the judge in Casey Anthony's murder trial halted the proceedings because of a dispute over evidence disclosure, the case is set to resume on Tuesday. Here: Anthony, left, in a Florida courtroom on Monday.



Homelessness on the Rise in New York City
A new report on New York City's homeless, one of whom is seen above on Monday, said that 113,553 people turned to shelters last year -- an eight percent increase over the previous year and a 37 percent spike since 2002.

[Mr Lick]

Hello, Helene
NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently completed its second-closest encounter with Saturn's small, icy moon Helene, which is pictured above.



Wimbledon Warriors
Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain hits a return to Britain's Andy Murray at the big Wimbledon tennis tournament in London on Monday. Murray won 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0.



Out to Sea
Germans Silke and Maren Hahlbrock and Kerstin Schult, background, race against Americans Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi, foreground, during the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Kiel, Germany, on Monday.

[Mr Lick]

A Soviet WW II tank painted pink is loaded on a boat to be transported in Prague's city center, June 20, 2011. The Czech Republic is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the departure of Soviet troops which invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, and the tank was brought back to Prague from a military museum for a week for the occasion.



The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort is pictured at the background as tourists walk on the beach in San Juan Port, south of the capital Managua June 20, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Visitors ride a merry-go-round at the amusement park 'Wunderland Kalkar' (Wonderland Kalkar) in the western city of Kalkar June 20, 2011.



Supporters carry swords and animal skin "draqh" shields as they welcome Sudan's President Omar Al Bashir during his visit to Osaef town in Sudan's Red Sea state June 20, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

People take part in the 'European Umbrella March' on international day of refugees in Vienna June 20, 2011. The umbrellas symbolise the protection of refugees and displaced people.

[Albert Shagnasty]

Thanks again Mr Lick.
Not only great pictures, but great record of current history.
Nice one, have a green or five.

[Mr Lick]

Instructors show workers how to exercise on the factory grounds of Yingli Green Energy Holding Company, also known as Yingli Solar, in the city of Baoding, Hebei Province June 20, 2011.



Lady Gaga performs "Born This Way" during the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto, June 19, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A rebel army officer fixes weapons taken from forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at a workshop in Benghazi June 20, 2011



A person walks past an upturned car by the shore after the vehicle was swept into the ocean by high waves caused by the approach of Tropical Storm Beatriz in Acapulco June 20, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

An aerial view of the 49th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, near Paris June 20, 2011.



Former and ousted President Manuel Zelaya send messages via a mobile phone during a news conference before a protest in support of his former Minister of the Presidency, Enrique Flores Lanza, accused of corruption activities during Zelaya's government, in Tegucigalpa June 20, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Street signs peeled due to the heat at the corner of Lewis Street and Delaware Avenue in the east side of Flint, Mich., Tuesday, June 21, where an abandoned house burned during a rash of 11 suspicious fires that occurred overnight that left Flint Firefighters needing to call in mutual aid from surrounding communities to help.



Two men wearing white disposable overalls and masks on their mouths take stinking garbage from the alleys of the Spanish Quarter of Naples, to throw it along via Toledo in the city center, near the intersection with via Santa Brigida, a few hundred meters from Piazza del Plebiscite, in Naples, Italy, June 21. Protests broke out in the city over the uncollected waste with citizens blocking a street by overturning dumpsters, strewing the contents across the street.

[Mr Lick]

The world's largest milimetric telescope (50 metres in diameter) is seen in the Sierra Negra Volcano, at an altitude of 15,000 ft., which lies between the states of Puebla and Veracruz June 20. The telescope, optimized for astronomical observations at millimeter wavelengths, is the result of a bi-national project between Mexico and the U.S., according to its website. The first observations were made at 3 mm on June 1, reported by Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE).



The world's largest milimetric telescope (50 metres in diameter) is seen in the Sierra Negra Volcano, at an altitude of 15,000 ft., which lies between the states of Puebla and Veracruz June 20. The telescope, optimized for astronomical observations at millimeter wavelengths, is the result of a bi-national project between Mexico and the U.S., according to its website. The first observations were made at 3 mm on June 1, reported by Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE).



INAOE's Director Alberto Carraminana speaks during an interview to Reuters television at the world's largest milimetric telescope (50 metres in diameter) at the Sierra Negra Volcano.

[Mr Lick]

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon enters the General Assembly to take his oath for his appointment as the Secretary-General of the United Nations June 21 at the United Nations in New York. The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected Ban Ki-moon for a second term as the global body's secretary general

[Mr Lick]

Bernice Acosta and other enthusiasts perform yoga in Times Square during an event marking the summer solstice on June 21, in New York City. Thousands of yogis will attend the free day-long event in Manhattan on the longest day of the year.

[Mr Lick]

Aymara people attend the sunrise of the winter solstice ceremony in La Apacheta, El Alto in the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia on June 21. The solstice also coincides with the Aymara Indian New Year.

[Mr Lick]

US First Lady Michelle Obama meets children as she visits the Emthonjeni Community Center in Zandspruit Township, Johannesburg, South Africa June 21.

[Mr Lick]

Former Utah Governor Republican Jon Huntsman speaks during a press conference to announce his bid for the presidency at Liberty State Park on June 21 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Huntsman, until recently the U.S. ambassador to China under President Obama, emphasized his record as a two-term governor of Utah.

[Mr Lick]

Republican Jon Huntsman and family just before he announced he will run for US president on June 21.