World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Two British climbers die in French Alps



Two British men have died while climbing in the French Alps, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

The unnamed pair, aged 22 and 24, were near the town of Chamonix on Friday when they fell more than 2,500ft, according to reports.

Their families have been told and are receiving consular assistance, a Foreign Office spokesman said.

It comes less than four weeks after Scottish medical student Robbie Cammack, 19, died in the same region.

Mr Cammack, from Moray, died on the Massif du Mont Blanc on 10 June.

[Mr Lick]

Japan finds rare earths in Pacific seabed



Japanese researchers say they have discovered vast deposits of rare earth minerals, used in many hi-tech appliances, in the seabed.

The geologists estimate that there are about a 100bn tons of the rare elements in the mud of the Pacific Ocean floor.

At present, China produces 97% of the world's rare earth metals.

Analysts say the Pacific discovery could challenge China's dominance, if recovering the minerals from the seabed proves commercially viable.

The British journal Nature Geoscience reported that a team of scientists led by Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo, found the minerals in sea mud at 78 locations.

"The deposits have a heavy concentration of rare earths. Just one square kilometre (0.4 square mile) of deposits will be able to provide one-fifth of the current global annual consumption," said Yasuhiro Kato, an associate professor of earth science at the University of Tokyo.

The minerals were found at depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres (11,500-20,000 ft) below the ocean surface.

[Mr Lick]

S Korean marine 'kills four on Ganghwa island base'



A South Korean marine has turned his gun on his colleagues, killing four and injuring another, officials say.

A spokesman for the defence ministry in the capital, Seoul, said the corporal had opened fire while on duty at Ganghwa island west of Seoul.

A staff sergeant and two marines died on the spot while another marine died of his injuries on the way to hospital.

The 19-year-old corporal was later wounded by an exploding hand grenade in a possible suicide attempt.

The Ganghwa island base is near a disputed maritime border with North Korea.

All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve at least two years in the country's 650,000-member military.

[Mr Lick]

Former Doors mark anniversary of Jim Morrison's death



Former members of The Doors have marked the 40th anniversary of Jim Morrison's death in Paris.

On Sunday, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger lit candles at Morrison's grave in the city's Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Morrison, the band's lead singer, died of heart failure in a bath in Paris on 2 July 1971. He was 27.

Hundreds of Morrison fans, some wearing T-shirts bearing the words 40th Anniversary, left flowers at the grave.

Some sang and others read poems to mark the day.

Morrison moved to Paris in 1971 to write.

He was found dead in the bath by his girlfriend, Pamela Courson. A doctor's report stated the cause of death was heart failure aggravated by heavy drinking.

Morrison, the son of a US Navy admiral, was born in 1943 in Florida.

He formed The Doors with Manzarek in 1965 in Los Angeles

[Mr Lick]

A seagull rests by swan pedal boats in Tokyo's Ueno Park

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Hong Kong fashion week

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Fans of the pop star Lady Gaga strike a pose in Taipei, Taiwan

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Green Turtles are seized from a speedboat by Indonesia marine police on Bali

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Morocco vote on King Mohammed's reforms 'corrupt'



The official figures showing that 98% of voters backed Morocco's reform referendum are "unbelievable", a democracy campaigner has told the BBC.

Mountazar Drissi said there were numerous cases of multiple voting, while people were bussed in from the countryside to vote in cities.

He was speaking after thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday to demand further political changes.

Mr Drissi says that King Mohammed VI still wields too much power.

"He can control everything - we want the power to belong to the people," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

The demonstrators marched through cities such as Rabat, Casablanca and Tangier, chanting slogans such as "The interior minister is a liar," Reuters news agency reported.

They carried empty boxes to symbolise that they thought the turnout was far lower than the 73% announced by election officials.

There were also pro-government protests, which officials said outnumbered those organised by Mr Drissi's 20 February Movement.

[Mr Lick]

Lindsay Ann Hawker accused admits killing teacher



Lindsay Ann Hawker's family arrived at court where Ichihashi admitted raping Miss Hawker and causing her death

A Japanese man has admitted raping and killing a British teacher whose body was found in a sand-filled bathtub.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, 32, is accused of murdering Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, from Brandon near Coventry.

Her body was found at the defendant's home east of Tokyo in March 2007.

At the opening of his trial, Ichihashi admitted raping Miss Hawker and causing her death but said he did not intend to kill her.

The defence said Ichihashi had tried to revive his English teacher after accidentally suffocating her in an attempt to stop her from crying out for help.

[Mr Lick]

Dharamsala, India: Tibetan glass-makers hold a portrait of the Dalai Lama at the Tara Tibet workshop in the hill-station town



Pamplona, Spain: Animal rights protesters lie covered in fake blood and black paint as they form the shape of a bull during a demonstration calling for the abolition of bull runs and bullfights

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London, England: River of Joy, ridden by Michael Jung of Germany, competes in the dressage round of the Equestrian Eventing at Greenwich Park. The competition is a Locog test event for ahead of the 2012 Olympics



Hong Kong: A woman fills a net with clams during low tide on Lantau island

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Kunar province, Afghanistan: An Afghan man prays at sunset following a rain storm on the helipad at forward operating base Bostick



Kolkata, India: A young Hindu devotee dressed as Lord Krishna waits to participate in the Rath Yatra, along with Sri Krishna devotees

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Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Villagers sit before praying during the Labuhan ceremony on the slopes of the Mount Merapi volcano. The ceremony involves offerings to the volcano as a form of appeasement



Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France: Thomas Levet of France reacts after a shot during the French Open at the Le Golf national golf club

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Halle, Germany: A newborn anteater relaxes on its mother's back at Berg zoo



Xinmin, China: Students practise with handkerchiefs at an Er ren zhuan folk art training school



Mihama, Japan: A man dives into the sea near Kansai Electric Power Company's nuclear power plant

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Anna Massey dies aged 73



The veteran actor Anna Massey has died at the age of 73, her agent said.

Massey won a string of awards for her stage and TV roles, including a Bafta for her performance as a lonely spinster in the 1986 TV adaptation of Hotel du Lac.

Her agent said in a statement: "Actress Anna Massey CBE passed away peacefully on Sunday 3rd July, with her husband and son by her side.

"She will be remembered as a loving wife and mother, a cherished grandmother, a generous colleague and, always, a consummate professional. She will be greatly missed."

Massey had been suffering from cancer, her agent said.

Her film work included roles in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy, Possession with Gwyneth Paltrow and an adaptation of The Importance Of Being Earnest.

Massey was well-known for her supporting roles, often playing a spurned or repressed maiden aunt. She received a CBE for services to drama at Buckingham Palace in 2005.

Divorced from the late actor Jeremy Brett, she was alone for 27 years until she met the Russian scientist Uri Andres at a dinner party and married him three months later.

Massey's TV period dramas included Tess Of The D'Urbervilles in 2008, Oliver Twist in 2007, and the BBC's version of Anthony Trollope's He Knew He Was Right in 2004.

Most recently, she appeared in Poirot and Midsomer Murders in 2009.
In 2006, she played Baroness Thatcher in the TV film Pinochet In Suburbia.

Massey was born into the business – both of her parents were actors and her godfather was the veteran director John Ford.

[Mr Lick]

Strauss-Kahn to face rape suit by Tristane Banon



French writer Tristane Banon is to file a lawsuit for attempted rape against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, her lawyer says.

The lawyer, David Koubbi, said the suit referred to an incident in 2002 when Ms Banon went to interview Mr Strauss-Kahn in a flat in Paris.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was recently freed from house arrest in New York in a separate alleged sex assault case.

He denies assaulting a hotel maid in the US city on 14 May.

It was shortly after Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York that Ms Banon came forward to say that he had tried to assault her in 2002.

She did not go to the police, but did raise the allegation in a TV chat show in 2007, when Mr Strauss-Kahn's name was bleeped out.

Mr Koubbi said the suit would be filed on Tuesday. He had previously said it would not be filed until Mr Strauss-Kahn's New York trial had finished.

Ms Banon, 32, has claimed that at the 2002 interview, Mr Strauss-Kahn said he would only speak to her if she held his hand.

According to her version of events she eventually had to fight him off as they wrestled on the floor and he tried to unhook her bra and unbutton her jeans.

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been a leading contender to be the French Socialist Party's presidential candidate before his arrest in May.

[Mr Lick]

Nick Watney beats KJ Choi to take Pennsylvania title




66 to win the AT&T National in Pennsylvania, beating KJ Choi by two strokes.

The pair were level going into the final stages but the Korean posted a costly double bogey on the 15th.

American Watney birdied the 16th and parred the final two holes to clinch victory.

Joint overnight leader Rickie Fowler double bogeyed the second and carded a 74 to finish in 13th.

Australia's Robert Allenby almost put himself in contention when he notched a hole-in-one on the par three 14th, but a bogey on the next hole hurt his momentum.

The 39-year-old eventually finished joint sixth with Chris Stroud.

Englishman Justin Rose was the nearest European contender in the pack, finishing in joint 15th place at four under par.

13: N Watney (US)
-11: KJ Choi (Kor)
-9: C Howell III (US), J Overton (US), A Scott (Aus)
Selected others: -5: R Fowler (US), -4: Justin Rose (Eng)

[Mr Lick]

Syria unrest: Arrests in Hama as tanks move into Idlib



Syrian troops are raiding houses and arresting people in the central city of Hama, reports say, after massive anti-government protests there on Friday.

Residents had set tyres on fire and blocked roads to delay the movement of troops, who were arriving in busloads and "firing randomly", residents said.

Meanwhile, tanks that were surrounding Hama have moved towards villages in the north, sparking fears of clashes there.

And in Damascus, two protesters were reportedly shot dead on Sunday.

The killings took place in the Hajjar al-Aswad suburb of the capital amid ongoing arrest campaigns there too, human rights activists said.

The latest deaths and detentions come at a time when the government is pushing for a national dialogue next week, says the BBC's Lina Sinjab in Damascus. The opposition has refused to take part in any dialogue while the violence continues.

Activists say more than 1,350 civilians and 350 security personnel have been killed across Syria since protests began in mid-March.

[Mr Lick]

The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup moves to Imola, Italy



Audi No2 lines up for the start of the race






RML's HPD heads from the start towards Tamburello



The Ayrton Senna memorial at Imola

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[Mr Lick]

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Peugeot No 8 takes the chequered flag to complete a 1-2 for the team