World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

A rebel fighter runs for cover during an air strike in Ras Lanuf





A Libyan man finds a toddler's shoe inside a civilian car that was hit by an air strike causing casualties, including at least two children








Bangladeshi workers who fled the unrest in Libya queue for food in a refugee camp in Ras Ajdir on the Tunisia-Libya border



Libyan volunteers wait on the outskirts of Brega for a ride to a place where they can sleep the night



Men from Ghana who have fled the violence in Libya wait to be called to deliver their passports during their repatriation process in a Tunisian refugee camp in Ras Ajdir on the Tunisia-Libya border



Libyan rebel fighters run for cover as an air force jet drops a bomb on the outskirts of the oil-rich town of Ras Lanuf

[Mr Lick]

Final day of carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro

Dancers from Rio de Janeiro's 12 samba schools perform in the city's Sambadrome

[Mr Lick]

Michael Foreman – a life in pictures

Michael Foreman is one of the best-known and most prolific writer-illustrators of children's books. He produced his first book 50 years ago. Take a look at some of his work




Illustration from The General (1961)
Foreman's first book is an anti-war story about a powerful military leader who finally sees the light. He ends up in a field, quietly smelling the flowers. The illustrations reflect his graphic wit and his gift for political satire and the 'lit from within' quality that illuminates so many of his books




From War and Peas (1974)
When drought leaves his country barren, and all the birds fly off in search of peas, the Lion King sets off to ask the Fat King for help. Here, he and his page travel through the Mountains of Plenty, where they are dwarfed by piles of cakes in an image typical of Foreman's witty approach to environmental issues.



From Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish (1972)
A man becomes so obsessed with reaching a faraway star that he destroys all the forests to fuel a rocket that can reach it. When he is gone, dinosaurs come out of hibernation and set about cleaning up the planet in a fable that is even more relevant today than when it was written.



From War Boy (1989)
An absorbing, perfectly pitched child's eye view of the second world war, with line drawings, watercolours and diagrams of bombers, barrage balloons and doodlebugs. Here a bombed church trembles against the operatic incandescence of a fiery watercolour sky.



From War Game (1993)
In perhaps his finest book, young soldiers play football one Christmas during the first world war. The innocent lightness of their game is mirrored in this picture when they are blown off the ground by an exploding shell. The figure drawing has a subtle authority and under the atmospheric watercolour washes, the honesty of the pencil line adds to the impact. Football is a recurring motif in his work.



From Arthur, High King of Britain
Because Foreman grew up in a house without books, he's able to approach the classics with a fresh eye. The first of Foreman's many collaborations with Michael Morpurgo was about King Arthur. His stirring full-on illustrations conjure the excitement of pounding hooves, flashing steel, magic and romance



From Arthur, High King of Britain
Foreman uses a lot of blue in his illustrations, and in this battle scene the flashes of orange capture the clash of sword on shield as, in the foreground, a knight is felled by a jauntily striped spear.



From Billy the Kid (2000)
A Chelsea pensioner whose football career was ended by the war looks from his glory days on the pitch to his darkest memories as an army ambulance driver when he's confronted with the horror of Belsen. This compassionate, starkly unsentimental drawing of a dead child inspired Michel Morpurgo to write The Mozart Question.



From Billy the Kid
When Foreman was three an incendiary bomb smashed through his bedroom ceiling, narrowly missing him, and exploding up the chimney. Here he uses watercolour to capture the explosive impact as Billy's army ambulance drives over a landmine.



From The Mozart Question (2007)
Foreman returned to the Holocaust in this collaboration with Michael Morpurgo, though this time it's seen through the prism of music. Here, a camp orchestra plays for concentration camp inmates, their Stars of David glinting on their chests. The dark drawings are almost unbearably painful – “but children do need to see these things”, says Forman.



From Not Bad for a Bad Lad (2010)
Foreman lives in Cornwall, where the light is a constant source of inspiration. His illustrations, whether of land or sea, have a luminosity that rises from the page, as in this redemptive tale of a rebellious teenage lawbreaker in the 1950s. It's a finely produced book and the quality of the full-bleed printing is such that you feel you are looking at original sketchbook watercolours.

[Mr Lick]

More carnival pics



A masquerader from the band "What I Saw" presented by Robert Lakhan poses on the stage on Carnival at Queen's Park Savannah in Port of Spain on March 7.



Rio de Janeiro

Revelers dressed as clowns participate in a carnival parade in Sesimbra village on March 7. The clown parade in Sesimbra village became a tradition after a world record for the biggest clown march was set in 2004



Rio de Janeiro

Revelers of the Porto da Pedra samba school participate in the second night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome on March 7.



Brazilian pop singer Roberto Carlos waves from atop a float of the Beija-flor samba school on the second night of the annual Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome on March 7.

[Mr Lick]

A trader salvages a crate of soda as fire engulfs the Deep Sea slum in the Parklands area of Kenya's capital Nairobi, March 8, displacing thousands of residents.



A man carries his mattresses as fire engulfs the Deep Sea slum in the Parklands area of Kenya's capital Nairobi, March 8, displacing thousands of residents

[Mr Lick]

Britain's Prince William's finacee flips a pancake during their visit on Shrove Tuesday to City Hall in Belfast in this combination photo on March 8, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the 4-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact — and now she hugs everyone.

[Mr Lick]

A giant turtle which is considered a sacred symbol of Vietnam surfaces at Hoan Kiem lake in the heart of Hanoi on March 7. A rescue operation is being carried out by Hanoi municipal authorities to save the endangered turtle whose life is threatened by, among other things, the polluted water of the lake. According to a Vietnamese folklore, the Hoan Kiem Lake turtle helped a Vietnamese king fend off the Chinese agressors nearly six centuries ago.

[Mr Lick]

In this photo taken March 1, a car-sized boulder is seen after smashing Phil Johnson's house in last month's earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Johnson has sold the rock, Rocky, in an online auction for more than 60,000 New Zealand dollars (US$44,300). Johnson said the 30-ton boulder tumbled down from a hill overlooking his home, crunched through the roof of his garage and came to rest in his hallway during the Feb 22 quake. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Red Cross Earthquake Appeal.




In this photo taken March 4, Betty McGrail, 80, sits in her living room next to a large boulder which crashed through her house in the Feb. 22 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

[Mr Lick]

Giant spider crab 'Crabzilla' is transferred by animal handlers from Sea Life in Scheveningen, the Netherlands on March 8. The crowd favourite had to leave its tank because of construction in its Scheveningen home. 'Crabzilla' will be transferred to the Paris branch of Sea Life.

[Mr Lick]

A women's day rally in Kathmandu, Nepal on March 8. Rallies and various functions are being held in Kathmandu to mark the 100th International Women's Day. Hundreds of women who have family members that have disappeared during the Maoist insurgency in Nepal are also staging protest rallies on demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones.

[Mr Lick]

The Gilles of Binche parade in the early morning of the carnival event in Binche, Belgium on March 8. The Binche carnival, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage event, is the biggest and the liveliest such annual event in Belgium. Up to 1,000 Gilles parade in the city centre of Binche, wearing red, yellow and black medieval costumes hung with bells and decorated with fluffy lace at the neck, wrists and ankles.

[Mr Lick]

Rebel fighters run for cover as an airforce jet flying overhead drops a bomb on the outskirts of the oil-rich town of Ras Lanuf, Libya on March 8.

[Mr Lick]

Standoff after 2 US Marshals, 1 officer shot




ST. LOUIS — Two federal marshals and a police officer were shot during a gunfight that left at least one other man wounded at a home in St. Louis, police said Tuesday.

There is now a hostage situation or standoff at the home

[Mr Lick]

Champions League - Barcelona v Arsenal (first leg 1-2)








Off goes Szczesny (injured) and on comes Almunia for the gunners



The game gets a wee bit tasty just before half time



45 + 3 minutes on the board and Lionel strikes to put the Spanish ahead.



However, 8 minutes into the second half and Arsenal are gifted a goal when Sergio Busquets scores in his own net



Quite incredibly, Van Persie gets sent off (second yellow) for playing on after the ref stopped play. A wee bit harsh given that 95,000 people were whistling the Colonel Bogey tune at the time



Xavi gets put through with 21 minutes remaining to make it 2-1 to the Catalans



Barcelona continue to dominate and Pedro (never heard that one before) gets brought down in the box by Koscieiny. Messi scores from the spot 3-1



Arsenal end the match without having a single shot at the Barcelona goal (WHAT?) Quite disgraceful and the Spanish waiters quite deservedly win the tie.

[Mr Lick]

Shaktar 3 Roma 0 (agg.6-2)



Think he's trying to impersonate me (Mr Lick). Quite disgraceful behaviour.



Former Arsenal player Eduardo coolly slots the ball past Doni to secure the Ukraine side a place in the Q/F

[Mr Lick]

Cricket WC - NZ v Pakistan



Akhtar dismisses Brendon McCullum early for just 6 runs



Pakistani wicketkeeper looks to have had a few bets before the match as he makes a couple of elementary mistakes, dropping Ross Taylor in the process



Jamie How having made just 4 runs from 29 balls succumbs to a fine spell from Gul



The captain Alfridi wades in with an important wicket, Guptill out for a fine 57



More joy as Hafeez snares James Franklin, LBW for just 1 run



But Ross Taylor, on his 27th birthday, smashes the Pakistani attack all around the ground scoring 26 runs off one Akhtar over to bring up his century



Taylor and Oram then set about the Pakistani's and score an incredible 92 from the final 4 overs (yes, 92!!!). The bookies wont like that! (or will they??)

NZ finish their innings on 302-7, Taylor unbeaten on 131 off 127 balls. Happy birthday to him!!




Pakistan, having consulted the bookies during the break, get off to a terrible start and are reeling at 23-3 in the 7th over.



The captain Alfidi starts throwing the bat scoring an eventful 17 from 9 balls with 2 fours and a six but is bowled with the score 66-6.



Captain Vettori suffers a serious looking injury and has to be helped off the pitch



Abdul Rassaq helps himself to a fine half century



Rassaq is eventually caught for 62 and the Pakistani's are all out for 192, falling short of the NZ total by 110 runs (now, nobody likes to see that, do they?)

[Mr Lick]

Libya again






Warplanes giving the rebels a hard time for the second consecutive day

[Mr Lick]

Crowds flock to Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans







The throwing of beaded necklaces is apparently a custom of those marching







One of the 60's flower people who has let things get out of control

[Mr Lick]

Buddhas of Bamiyan




For centuries the Buddhas of Bamiyam stood in central Afghanistan until the Taliban started destroying them as un-Islamic representations of the human form




Prior to their destruction th Buggha's were among Asia's great archeological treasures



Gone, the 125 ft statue



All that remains are 2 mounds which were once it's feet



Some of the fragments left by the Taliban






The blasts used to destroy the statue caused cracks to appear in the mountain






Some of the oldest oil paintings in the world



Little is left of the murals after the wars of the past 30 years









The Indiana Jones of Bamiyan searches for a statue he believes remains hidden

[Mr Lick]

Venice Carnival

[Mr Lick]

Belgium's annual Binche carnval



Schoolchildren in the English town of Olny take part in the world famous annual pancake race

[Mr Lick]

A Palestinian worker lights up near a pile of charcoal in the West Bank village of Yabad



Partially obscured by her veil, an Indian woman takes part in International Womens Day in New Dehli

[Mr Lick]

Massive fish die-off




People look at fish lying dead in the harbor area of Redondo Beach, south of Los Angeles, California March 8, 2011. Millions of fish washed up dead early on Tuesday, puzzling authorities and triggering a cleanup effort.




A worker removes dead fish from the harbor area of Redondo Beach, south of Los Angeles, California March 8, 2011.




Amazing!

[Mr Lick]

Town-wide ball game




A man carries beer barrels past boarded up buildings before the annual Shrovetide football match in Ashbourne, central England, March 8, 2011. The aim of the teams, the Up'ards and the Down'ards, is to score by tapping the ball three times on stone goal plinths three miles apart on the banks of the River Henmore. The game dates back to the 17th century.




Workers board up shop windows before the annual Shrovetide football match in Ashbourne, central England, March 8, 2011.




They're off















Not much fun when you're being crushed against a boarded shop by a bunch of hooligans






Thank god that's over for another year