World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Karachi attack: Pakistan officers face court-martial




Three Pakistani naval officers are to face a court martial on charges of negligence after a militant attack on a naval air base in Karachi in May.

Ten soldiers died and 15 were wounded in the attack which took place at the Mehran naval aviation base on 22 May.

It took the security forces some 17 hours to secure the base.

A naval official said the three officers were facing trial because they held positions of responsibility, not because of a connection to the attack.

The accused are Cmdr Raja Tahir, base commander at the time of the attack, and two officials beneath him, at the rank of captain and commander, according to naval sources quoted by several news agencies.

[Mr Lick]

Egypt al-Adly trial: Gun evidence shown in court



Guns, ammunition casings and grenades allegedly used in attacks on Egyptian protesters earlier this year have been shown in court in the capital, Cairo.

The boxes full of evidence were opened at the trial of ex-Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and six other officials.

They are charged with killing demonstrators during the unrest that led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Mr Mubarak pleaded not guilty to the same charges on Wednesday.

The former president is being tried along with his two sons, Alaa and Gamal. The three also deny separate charges of corruption.

The charge of ordering the killing of protesters carries the death penalty

[Mr Lick]

UK group 'in fatal bear attack'



A polar bear has mauled one person to death and seriously injured four other members of a British group in northern Norway, authorities there say.

The governor's office in Svalbard district confirmed four people were in hospital and the bear had been killed.

A spokeswoman said the five had been travelling with a "British group," but was unsure if they were UK citizens.

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed its embassy in Oslo is "urgently" looking into the reports.

The attack at Von Postbreen, about 25 miles (40km) from Longyearbyen, took place early on Friday.

Four people injured in the mauling were flown to Longyearbyen hospital and are due to be airlifted to a hospital in Tromso, the governor's office said.

[Mr Lick]

Brazil Defence Minister Nelson Jobim resigns




President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil has replaced her defence minister after he made disparaging remarks about other senior officials.

Nelson Jobim is the third minister to lose his job since Ms Rousseff took office in January - a turnover that has strained her governing coalition.

He is reported to have called one fellow minister a "weakling" and described others as "idiots".

Mr Jobim will be replaced by the former Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim.

Nelson Jobim is one of several ministers who also served under Ms Rousseff's predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He is said to have been angry that Ms Rousseff overruled him on a multi-billion dollar contract to buy fighter jets.

In recent weeks he been reported as making a series of critical remarks about fellow ministers.

First he said at an opposition event that he was surrounded by "idiots".

Then he said in a television interview that he had voted for Ms Rousseff's opponent Jose Serra in last year's presidential election.

The final straw appears to have been a magazine interview, parts of which have been leaked, in which he reportedly called another minister a "weakling".

Mr Jobim's resignation is the third to shake Ms Rousseff's government since she took office on 1 January.

Last month, her Transport Minister Alfredo Nascimento resigned over a corruption scandal in his department, though he denied any wrongdoing.

And in June her chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, stepped down in the face of questions about his rapid accumulation of personal wealth.

[Mr Lick]

Mexico town's police force resigns over drug attacks




The entire police force of a town in northern Mexico has resigned after two officers were killed by suspected drug traffickers.

The mayor of Ascension in Chihuahua state said the 26 officers quit their posts for fear of further attacks.

State and federal police as well as soldiers have been called in to patrol the town in their place.

Ascension lies on an important drug smuggling route into the US used by the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.

Local police have been the target of several attacks in recent weeks.

"The officers were afraid and resigned," said town Mayor Jaime Dominguez Loya.

Chihuahua is one of the states worst hit by the drugs-related violence afflicting Mexico and includes Ciudad Juarez - the most violent city in the country.

In 2009 the entire police force of another town in the state - Villa Ahumada - resigned after attacks by suspected drugs gangs.

An estimated 40,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon began deploying troops to fight the cartels.

[Mr Lick]

Smolensk air crash: Poland sacks top military officers




Thirteen top Polish military officers have been fired, and a deputy defence minister has resigned, over last year's air disaster in western Russia.

The government announced the dismissals after a report identifying mistakes by poorly trained pilots as the main cause of the crash.

Then-President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 senior officials died when the jet tried to land in heavy fog.

The air force regiment responsible for VIP flights was also disbanded.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was determined to quickly implement the report's recommendations, which heavily criticised the 36th Special Air Transport Regiment.

It had lacked training facilities and instructors and its pilots were continually overworked and had been trained in a hasty and haphazard manner, the report said.

[Mr Lick]

German child killer Magnus Gaefgen awarded damages



Jakob von Metzler suffocated to death in Gaefgen's flat in 2002


A German court has awarded more than 3,000 euros ($4,265) in damages to a child murderer.

Police threatened Magnus Gaefgen with "unimaginable pain" if he did not reveal his victim's whereabouts.

The court in the state of Hesse decided Gaefgen's "human dignity" was violated during questioning on the disappearance of a banker's 11-year-old son.

When Gaefgen was held in 2002, police thought the boy was still alive because his father had paid a 1m-euro ransom.

But the abductor was refusing to disclose the boy's whereabouts. The two questioning officers threatened the arrested man with "unimaginable pain" to try to persuade him to disclose more.

He was later convicted of murdering the boy whom he had bound and gagged to the point of suffocation.

But the killer filed a claim saying that he too had been subjected to inhumane treatment in the interrogation.

A spokesman for the police union said that the ruling was "emotionally very difficult to endure".

He said that torture was not endorsed but "family members, as well as all citizens, have a right to expect that the police will try to question an alleged murderer to such an extent that the potential victim can at least be found quickly, if not rescued".

[Mr Lick]

Government in control as euro crisis rages - minister




David Cameron and George Osborne are "fully in control" of the UK's response to the eurozone debt crisis, a Treasury minister has said.

The prime minister and chancellor have been criticised for both being on holiday as share prices fall amid concerns for the global economy.

But Treasury minister Justine Greening told the BBC they were "aware of exactly what is happening".

It was "absolute rubbish" to suggest otherwise, she added.

[Mr Lick]

Philippine President Benigno Aquino meets Muslim rebels




Philippine President Benigno Aquino has met the chief of the country's main Muslim separatist group, the government has said in a statement.

Mr Aquino met Murad Ibrahim, of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in Tokyo with the aim of pushing forward the peace process.

"Both agreed to fast track the negotiations," the statement said.

The MILF has fought for self-rule in the predominantly Catholic country's southern Mindanao region since 1977.

An estimated 120,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has almost been resolved on several occasions.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 2003.


The government said it was the first time a Philippine president had met with the MILF chairman in 14 years of on-and-off peace negotiations.

Delegates from Mr Aquino's peace panel met MILF representatives in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur in February.

One of Mr Aquino's key pledges ahead of his election last June was to try to negotiate peace with the country's various insurgencies.

[Mr Lick]

Japan sacks three nuclear power officials in shake-up




Three men in charge of nuclear power safety and policy have been sacked amid the ongoing crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Japan's Trade and Industry Minister, Banri Kaieda, said the three senior officials would be held responsible for mishandling the plant and its problems.

Radioactive material is still leaking from the plant nearly five months on.

The crisis has also brought to light the close links between the government and the power industry.

Those sacked are the head of the nuclear safety agency, Nobuaki Terasaka, the head of the agency for natural resources and energy, Tetsuhiro Hosono, and the vice-minister for economy, trade and industry, Kazuo Matsunaga.

Mr Kaieda, who played a key role in handling the Fukushima crisis, has also said he plans to resign to take responsibility.

But he has not said when he will do so, despite a tearful confrontation with opposition lawmakers.

[Mr Lick]

A mother cradling her baby while sitting next to her malnourished child as they are given medical assistance from 'The Gift of the Givers' at a makeshift medical camp for famine stricken Somalis in the Hawlwadag district of Mogadishu, Somalia, on August 4.

[Mr Lick]

Baby mice born from sperm produced from stem cells are seen in this handout photo taken by Kyoto University professor Michinori Saito on November 8, 2010, and released to Reuters on August 5, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

New Delhi, India: Schoolgirls ride on a bicycle rickshaw during a break in the monsoon rains



New York, USA: A trader works on the floor of the stock exchange



Managua, Nicaragua: A boy carries an image of St Dominic of Guzman during a festival



Mogadishu, Somalia: Women and children queue for food at a World Food Programme distribution centre

[Mr Lick]

Labourers unload coal from a supply truck at a wholesale market in Noida, in the outskirts of New Delhi, August 4, 2011.



Teenagers undergo training at a military boot camp, run by local Cossack organisations and set up in the mountains of Crimea near the town of Bakhchisarai, Ukraine, August 4, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A student is detained by riot police during to demand changes in the public state education system in Santiago, August 4, 2011.



Malnourished Somali children are seen inside a paediatric ward at the Banadir hospital in Mogadishu August 4, 2011. Drought, conflict and a lack of food aid have left 3.6 million people at risk of starvation in southern Somalia. The drought, the worst in decades, has affected about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa.

[Mr Lick]

The remnants of an old house are seen after demolition at the old district of Kashgar, in Xinjiang province, China, August 4, 2011.



Bridegroom Kong Qingyang and his bride Shen Likun sit on a forklift, which is transformed into a wedding car, during their wedding in Xingtai, Hebei province, China, August 3, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Maccabi Tel Aviv's Savo Pavicevic (R) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal against Zeljeznicar Sarajevo during their Europa League third round qualifying soccer match in Tel Aviv, August 4, 2011.



Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez salutes from a vehicle as he attends the anniversary ceremony of National Guard in Caracas, August 4, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Tiger Woods of the U.S. hits from a fairway trap on the first hole during the first round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational PGA golf tournament at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, August 4, 2011.



President Barack Obama fist bumps a supporter after he delivers remarks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the Aragon Entertainment Center in Chicago, August 3, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Stocks Tumble Across the Globe
A trader talks on two phones at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany. With weak U.S. economic growth and concerns about the euro, investors are abandoning stocks to invest in bonds and assets perceived as safe.



Bizarre Australian Bomb Hoax
Madeleine Pulver (center) sits in the back of car as she and her family leave their house in Sydney. Pulver, 18, was in her home when a man in a ski mask attached to her neck what turned out to be a fake "collar bomb."

[Mr Lick]

U.S. Jobs Report Improves, Still Major Concerns
Job seekers line up at a career fair in Arlington, Virginia. The U.S. added 117,000 jobs in July (only 46,000 were added in June), but 13.9 million Americans remain unemployed, almost half for six months or more.

[Mr Lick]

Gaddafi's Son Khamis Reportedly Killed
A Libyan rebel spokesman announced an air attack had killed Khamis Gaddafi, a commander for his father Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's military forces. Libya denies the claim. Pictured: Khamis in March 2008.



Got the Look
Parishioners in traditional attire dance during the festivities in honor of Managua's Patron Saint, St Dominic of Guzman, at the Oriental Market in Managua, Nicaragua.

[Mr Lick]

Taking a Close Look
An Afghan woman views an ancient sculpture on display in the Kabul Museum in Kabul, Afghanistan. The sculptures were destroyed during the Taliban regime, but repaired after the collapse of the hardliners in 2001.

[Mr Lick]

These ants can't ever be self-conscious about what they eat! Their transparent abdomens reflect what they've ingested.

[Mr Lick]

Fishing boats take shelter in Zhoushan in eastern China's Zhejiang province on August 5, 2011 in preparation for Typhoon Muifa, one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in recent years. Muifa, which was packing winds of up to 100 miles per hour, is expected to make landfall on China's east coast this weekend.

[Mr Lick]

A trader reacts at the stock market in the central German city of Frankfurt on August 5, 2011. The German Stock Index DAX showed a loss of 2.37 percent in late morning trading, after initially plunging by close to four percent at the open.



A trader works on the dealing floor at IG Index in London August 5, 2011. World stocks sank for an eighth straight session on Friday, wiping $2.5 trillion (1.53 trillion pounds) off their value on the week, as concern ballooned over the slowing global economy and the spread of debt anguish into Italy and Spain.



An investor sits on the trading floor of Karachi Stock Exchange in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday, Aug 5, 2011. Asian stock markets tumbled Friday amid fears the U.S. may be heading back into recession and Europe's debt crisis is worsening.



A foreign currency dealer of the Korea Exchange Bank works in front of a screen displaying the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), at the bank's dealing room in Seoul August 5, 2011. South Korean shares fell on Friday for the fourth consecutive session, with shipbuilders leading declines on concerns over meager global economic growth. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended 3.7 percent lower at 1,943.75 points.