World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Rallying for Reform in Malaysia
Malaysian police face off against thousands of protesters during a mass rally calling for electoral reform in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. Authorities arrested more than 400 people and locked the capital down to quell the unrest.



Putting Their Roots Down
Indian school students participate in a mass tree-planting program on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Saturday. The goal was to plant some 200,000 saplings in a single day.

[Mr Lick]

Deadly Plane Crash in Africa
Rescuers search the debris following the crash of a Boeing 727 during heavy rainfall in Kisangani on Friday. The death toll from the plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo rose to 74, the Red Cross said on Saturday.



Atlantis, From Above
A NASA image shows the space shuttle Atlantis amid a back flip aimed at allowing International Space Station crew members to take pictures of the shuttle's heat shield before docking for the last time with the orbiting lab on Sunday.

[Mr Lick]

US man dies in 'Russian roulette' incident



A man in the US state of Colorado has died after shooting himself in the head during a game of Russian roulette, police said.

Anthony Martin, 21, and other men were drinking and playing with a gun before the incident, Pueblo Police Sgt Eric Bravo told the Pueblo Chieftain.

Mr Martin died at the scene early on Sunday.

Investigators believe he did not know the gun was loaded, Sgt Bravo said. No arrests were made.

"Apparently [Martin] and a group of guys were playing with this gun throughout the night," Sgt Bravo said, the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper reported.

"They saw this young man playing Russian roulette and it went off and killed him."

Investigators concluded Mr Martin had acted alone and the gun was legally registered to one of the men at the party, Sgt Bravo said.

[Mr Lick]

Isabelle Cowley was drowned by her mother



A mother drowned her four-year-old daughter in the grounds of an Inverness hospital after attending the birth of her lover's baby to another woman.

Rachel Cowley, 43, of Shenval, Glenurquhart, cut the baby's umbilical cord at Raigmore Hospital in February.

She then walked off with her own child, Isabelle, and drowned her in a burn.

Cowley was charged with murder, but the Crown has accepted her plea to the reduced charge of culpable homicide on the basis of diminished responsibility.

Judge Lord Bannatyne, sitting at the High Court in Edinburgh, has continued the case until 28 September.

He ordered that Cowley be detained at a psychiatric hospital under an interim compulsion order ahead of sentencing.

The court heard that Cowley and Nicola Charles, 26, were both in a relationship with Christopher Everitt, who fathered the children of both women.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC told the court that in his view, given the accused's personality, "the domestic situation was untenable".

[Mr Lick]

Owl leaves imprint on Kendal woman's window



A woman returned to her Cumbrian home to find a near perfect imprint of an owl on her window.

The bird had apparently crashed into the window of Sally Arnold's Kendal home, leaving the bizarre image - complete with eyes, beak and feathers.

Experts said the silhouette was left by the bird's "powder down" - a substance protecting growing feathers.

Mrs Arnold said she could find no sign of the owl, so assumed it had flown off without serious injury.

She said: "Our first concern was for the welfare of what we suspected was an owl and we opened up the window to check if it was still around.

"Fortunately, there was no sign of the bird and we can only assume that it had flown away probably suffering from a headache."

[bobo746]

^ great pic.

[Mr Lick]

Rhino horn 'kingpin' Lemtongthai in South African court



A Thai man has appeared in a South African court on charges related to smuggling rhino horns.

Chumlong Lemtongthai, 43, has been described as a "leading figure" in international rhino poaching.

He was arrested in Johannesburg after a year-long investigation, officials said.

There has been a sharp increase in rhino killings in recent years to fuel the demand in Asia, where it is used in traditional medicine.

More than 300 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year.

Mr Lemtongthai allegedly obtained trophy hunting permits and used them to organise illegal poaching expeditions - he would then buy back the horns from the hunters for an average of 65,000 rand ($9,700; £6,034) per kilogram and export them, officials say.

[Mr Lick]

Indonesia woman gets suspended term for Facebook libel



An Indonesian woman has been given a six-month suspended jail term for libel, after she complained about treatment she received in a hospital.

Prita Mulyasari criticised the hospital in e-mails that her friends posted on Facebook more than three years ago.

Criminal and civil complaints were both dismissed in earlier hearings, but the Supreme Court overruled the lower courts and sentenced her on Monday.

The case sparked a huge outcry and was an issue in the 2009 general election.
Senior politicians including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono offered his support for her case, and his rival Megawati Sukarnoputri visited her in jail.

Many Indonesians feel that the judicial system favours the rich and powerful over ordinary people, and Ms Mulyasari's case seemed to chime with that view.

Hundreds of thousands joined online petitions declaring her innocence.

Lawyers for the 34-year-old say they have not decided whether to appeal against the Supreme Court's decision.

She told the Jakarta Globe before the verdict was given that she could not understand why prosecutors had been so eager to pursue the case against her.

"I really find it odd that our law-enforcement officials prefer to handle small cases rather than big corruption cases," she said.

"Why are things so backward in the Indonesian legal system?"

[Mr Lick]

French choreographer Roland Petit dies at 87



French choreographer and dancer Roland Petit has died in Geneva at the age of 87, the Paris Opera Ballet has said.

Petit helped set up dance company Les Ballets des Champs-Elysees in 1945 and is credited with revolutionising ballet for his theatrical choreography.

France's Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand paid tribute to him, saying he was "one of the major choreographers of the 20th Century".

Petit is credited with creating more than 100 ballets during his career.

He married dancer Zizi Jeanmaire in 1954 and choreographed a number of pieces for her.

"With his muse Zizi Jeanmaire, he wrote some of the most beautiful pages of contemporary music hall," Mr Mitterrand said.

Born in 1924, Petit joined the Paris Opera Ballet when he was nine years old, but left when he was 20 to create and perform his own works at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris.

After forming Les Ballets des Champs-Elysees, he remained at the company for three years as principal dancer, ballet master, and choreographer.

He then formed the Ballets de Paris in 1948, where he created The Young Girls of the Night for Margot Fonteyn.

In 1949, it was Jeanmaire's performance in Petit's production of Carmen in London that thrust the dancer into the spotlight.



Petit married dancer Zizi Jeanmaire in 1954

[Mr Lick]

Stock markets fall on debt fears



European stock markets fell heavily on Monday, weighed down by fears that the eurozone's debt crisis is spreading.

In Italy shares fell 4%, while leading indices in France, Germany the UK and US all suffered losses.

Fears of contagion spreading to Italy and Spain overshadowed a meeting of eurozone finance ministers, who were discussing a new aid plan for Greece.

The group said they were ready to enhance "the flexibility and the scope" of a 400bn-euro (£353bn) rescue fund.

"Ministers reaffirmed their absolute commitment to safeguard financial stability in the euro area," the group said in a statement after eight hours of talks.

"To this end, ministers stand ready to adopt further measures that will improve the euro area's systemic capacity to resist contagion risk, including enhancing the flexibility and the scope of the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility), lengthening the maturities of the loans and lowering the interest rates, including through a collateral arrangement where appropriate.

[Mr Lick]

Stun gun found on JetBlue Boston-Newark flight



Federal US officials are attempting to determine how a stun gun was brought onboard a JetBlue flight that landed at Newark airport in New Jersey.

Crew members at Liberty International Airport found the stun gun tucked into the back of a seat on the plane following the flight from Boston.

The FBI said on Monday that there was no indication the gun, found on Friday, was intended for an attack.

The gun was handed over to the Transportation Security Administration.

Members of the airline's crew were cleaning the JetBlue aircraft at 2220 local time (0220 GMT) on Friday evening when the gun was discovered.

FBI spokesman Bryan Travers said on Monday it was not clear who may have brought the stun gun on Flight 1179.

"People get caught bringing stuff to the checkpoint all the time," he said.

Authorities said they gave the weapon to the Port Authority of New York, before it was handed over to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the body responsible for carrying out security screening of passengers.

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman told the Newark Star-Ledger newspaper there was no indication the gun had been fired or how it was brought on the flight, which had carried 96 passengers from Boston to Newark.

[Mr Lick]

Bangladesh: at least 44 school children die in crash



At least 44 schoolchildren died after their vehicle crashed into a pond in south-east Bangladesh, police say.

A group of about 60 boys was returning from a soccer tournament in an open truck when it skidded and fell into the pond, they say.

The accident took place in Chittagong district, 216km (136 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.

At least 10 children are in hospital. Officials have been revising the death toll throughout Monday.

"As soon as the accident happened hundreds of people gathered near the area.

Then parents and relatives of the deceased took the bodies away without informing the civil administration," Chittagong District Administrator Foyez Ahmed told the BBC.

"We only had 26 bodies in the hospital initially and then it became 31. Later on we encouraged the relatives of those killed to come forward to give information.

"Police collected information from different areas and now we have revised the [final] death toll."

According to several witnesses the boys were singing and dancing on-board the truck, the Associated Press quoted an official as saying.

Road accidents are common in Bangladesh where an estimated 12,000 people die in various traffic-related accidents every year.

Most are blamed on reckless driving, poor road conditions and old vehicles.

[Mr Lick]

Bolivian snow storm cuts off thousands



The worst snow storms in Bolivia in the last 20 years have left thousands of people stranded.

The Bolivian government has appealed for help from neighbouring countries.

It says it needs helicopters to drop aid to isolated communities and heavy machinery to clear the roads.

The snow took farmers and tourists by surprise in the usually dry highlands of Potosi - a vast area in the south-west of the country

[Mr Lick]

Children play around a bonfire lit in the shadow of the a shipyard to celebrate the start of the loyalist Twelfth of July Celebrations in Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 11. Bonfires are traditionally lit in protestant areas on July 11 to mark the start of the Twelfth Celebrations. Later in the evening, other Nationalist areas saw intence rioting and petrol bombing of police.

[Mr Lick]

Center Point-Urbana High School custodian Colleen Barnes cleans up debris in a hallway at Urbana Elementary School on July 11 in Urbana, Iowa. The roof was blown off of two of the school's classrooms and a water pipe was ruptured causing water damage to several more during an early morning storm



Urbana Elementary School teachers and family members help clean up a damaged classroom at Urbana Elementary School on July 11 in Urbana, Iowa.

[Mr Lick]

Bosnian Muslims carry caskets with remains of their relatives prior to a mass burial ceremony for 613 Srebrenica massacre victims, at Potocari Memorial Center, on July 11. Tens of thousands of people are expected in Potocari to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the moment the UN-protected enclave fell to Bosnian Serb troops. The remains of 613 people will be buried alongside the 4,524 victims of the massacre already interred in the vast cemetery which faces the former UN army base. Some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in just a few days after the eastern town under UN protection was captured by Bosnian Serb forces.



Muslim women pray at the mass funeral for 613 newly-identified victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Potocari cemetery and memorial on July 11. At least 8,300 Bosnian Muslim men and boys who had sought safe heaven at the UN-protected enclave at Srebrenica were killed by members of the Bosnian Serb army under the leadership of General Ratko Mladic, who is currently facing charges of war crimes in The Hague.

[Mr Lick]

Keith Carmickle hangs over the railing above the pool deck after falling over in an attempt to catch a ball during the 2011 State Farm Home Run Derby at Chase Field on July 11 in Phoenix, Ariz

[Mr Lick]

Afghan president's brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, killed



The half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been assassinated in Kandahar, officials say.

Ahmad Wali Karzai, a leading power broker in the country's south, was shot dead at his home in a blow to Nato's battle against the Taliban in the area.

He was shot twice by his long-time head of security Sardar Mohammed, who was himself killed almost immediately.

The Taliban said they carried out the attack, calling it one of their top achievements in 10 years of war.

Sardar Mohammed's motives remain unclear, but the killing will raise questions about securing Afghanistan's top officials. His is the latest and most high-profile in a series of assassinations of senior politicians and security commanders across the country.

The Afghan president said the assassination reflected the suffering of all Afghan people.

"This is the way of life for the people of Afghanistan," said Mr Karzai. "The homes of all Afghans feel this pain. Our hope is this (violence) will come to an end and peace and happiness come to our homes and will come to rule in our country."
Previous assassination attempts

Critics said Ahmad Wali Karzai was a warlord mired in corruption who was openly involved in the drugs trade and had a personal militia at his disposal.

His supporters saw him as a defender of Pashtun rights. The president repeatedly defended him, denouncing accusations that his brother was involved in criminal activities.

Security was intensified in Kandahar following Tuesday morning's shooting, as the body of Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was born in 1961, was taken to a nearby hospital.

[Mr Lick]

Widening scandal at Japan's Kyushu nuclear firm



Dozens of workers at Japan's Kyushu Electric Company posed as citizens and lobbied for a power plant to be reopened, an internal inquiry says.

A whistleblower last week revealed that some 50 workers had sent e-mails to a televised debate backing a plan to restart Kyushu's Genkai plant.

But the firm's internal inquiry has found more than 100 employees may have been involved.

Two-thirds of Japan's 54 reactors have been idle since the 11 March quake.

The 9.0-magnitude tremor, and the massive tsunami it triggered, wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi plant and sparked a review of the country's nuclear industry.

All the nuclear plants that were closed for routine inspections were ordered to stay closed until their safety could be guaranteed.

The plant at Genkai, in the south, was one of the first plants scheduled to be reopened.

But the government's announcement last week of more rigorous tests across the board scuppered the firm's attempts to have the reactors restarted.

[Mr Lick]

Border systems error 'let Sheikh Raed Salah enter UK'



A banned activist was able to fly into the UK because of failings in a multi-million pound computer system designed to protect national security.

A Border Agency insider claims Sheikh Raed Salah's name was flagged up by the e-borders database, but could not be transferred to staff electronically.

Instead the alert system relied on bits of paper, which were passed to immigration officers at the wrong Heathrow Airport terminal.

The Home Office is investigating.

Although it has not commented on the specifics of that case, it has acknowledged there have been other instances of people getting through immigration control who should not have.

The Heathrow insider said he believed half the people named on these "stop lists" or "warnings index" were not turning up.

[Mr Lick]

Belfast riots: Twenty-two police hurt and bus hijacked



Twenty-two police officers were injured during rioting in Belfast on Monday night.
A bus was hijacked and driven at police during the disturbances ahead of the annual Twelfth of July celebrations.

Crowds of nationalists also threw petrol bombs and masonry at police during serious rioting in the west of the city.

Fifty-one plastic bullets were fired in response by police in the Broadway and Oldpark areas.

More than 40 petrol bombs were thrown at police, who said crowds of about 150-200 people were involved in the violence at Broadway and about 200 in both the Oldpark and New Lodge areas of north Belfast.

Police said an ambulance crew was attacked whilst they attended a hoax call in Brighton Street off the Falls Road.

A firefighter was also attacked by youths throwing bricks and bottles whilst attending a fire at the side of the Glen Road in west Belfast.

Police are investigating reports that gunshots were fired in west Belfast but there are no reports of any injuries as a result.

[Mr Lick]

Kenya refugee camp

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Philippine gunmen snatch US citizens on Tictabon



Armed men have abducted two US citizens and their Philippine relative from an island in the southern Philippines, police say.

A gang of about 14 gunmen snatched the 50-year-old woman, her 14-year-old son and her Philippine nephew from a resort on the island of Tictabon.

Reports said the woman owned the resort and was in the Philippines on holiday.

Tictabon is in the country's troubled south, where Islamist militants and Muslim separatists are active.