World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

PM defends 'tough' riot sentences handed out by courts



Prime Minister David Cameron has defended courts for handing out tough sentences for those involved in the riots across England.

Some MPs and campaigners say some sentences on the more than 1,200 people who have been in court are too harsh.

On Tuesday, two men were jailed for four years at Chester Crown Court for using Facebook to incite riots. They are to appeal against the sentences.

But the PM said it was good that the courts were sending a "tough message".

Speaking in Warrington, he said: "It's up to the courts to make decisions about sentencing, but they've decided to send a tough message and it's very good that the courts feel able to do that."

[Mr Lick]

Taiwan's HTC sues Apple in patent infringement dispute



The Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has filed a lawsuit in the US against Apple, accusing its American rival of infringing its patents.

HTC is trying to stop US imports of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Mac computers.

It is the latest step in a legal battle over patents between the two companies.

The battle for sales of smartphones took a new twist on Monday when Google agreed to pay $12.5 billion to buy Motorola's mobile unit.

Google wants to move ahead with development of its Android system for mobile telephones, making it more competitive with rivals like Microsoft.

The legal battle over patents between HTC of Taiwan and Apple in the US is part of the sales war.

[Mr Lick]

Man jailed by Chinese court for New Zealand killing




A Chinese court has jailed a man over the death of a taxi driver in New Zealand, in the first case of a person accused of murder in New Zealand being tried in another country.

Xiao Zhen was jailed for 15 years for stabbing Hiren Mohini in Auckland in January 2010.

He fled to China after the killing and was arrested in Shanghai.

China does not extradite its nationals to New Zealand, but worked with detectives there to put Xiao on trial.

New Zealand co-operated with the judicial process after the Chinese government promised not to apply the death penalty.

Xiao, 24, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing intentional injury at the court in Shanghai.

He told the court he stabbed Mr Mohini, 39, after a row erupted.

Officials from New Zealand were in court to hear the verdict.

"I think the verdict was fair. It's what we had hoped for. I think the sentence was according to (the) crime," said Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones.

[Mr Lick]

Spain arrests al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb suspect




Spanish police have arrested a Moroccan man they say is linked to al-Qaeda's North African offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Abdellatif Aoulad Chiba, 37, is suspected of "indoctrination and terrorist training", officials say.

He was arrested in the southern coastal town of Linea de la Conception.

Officials allege that Mr Chiba belonged to an armed group allied to AQIM and managed a website with radical Islamist content, including training manuals.

"Abdellatif is believed to be the general administrator of an internet site which was a jihadist forum with radical content," police said in a statement.

They added that the site was "dedicated to the public distribution of statements and media products designed for the main Islamic terrorist organisations and their leaders".



His specific role, officials said, was the creation of manuals linked to "criminal activity and aimed at encouraging terrorist crimes".

His arrest was ordered by the country's national court after an increase in activity on the website, which is based in Spain. police said

[Mr Lick]

Ecuador police to take lie detector test



President Rafael Correa's relations with the police have been rocky


Police officers in Ecuador will be made to take lie detector tests in an effort to root out corruption in the force, the country's police chief has said.

Gen Wilson Alulema said he wanted all 42,000 officers to take the test.

Under new anti-corruption efforts, officers will also have to declare their assets so investigators can spot illicit payments more easily.

President Rafael Correa ordered a modernisation of the force after a police mutiny last September.

Thousands of police demonstrated against cuts to their benefits as part of a government austerity drive.

The protests turned violent and President Correa had to be rescued by the military after being tear-gassed and held for several hours in a hospital.

He described the events as an attempted coup and vowed to purge the police.

Since then, his administration has taken administrative control of the force.

Gen Alulema said he hoped the government would give senior police officers the power to sack those linked to corruption.

The general complained that 300 agents who had been suspended from their duties over corruption allegations had been re-instated by judges, who argued there had been judicial irregularities.

"Those judges don't understand the gravity of their decisions," Gen Alulema said.

[Mr Lick]

US cigarette makers sue over graphic warning labels





Five tobacco companies have sued the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over a new law that would force them to place graphic health warnings on their cigarette packets.

The firms argue the plan violates their constitutional right to free speech, as it requires firms to promote the government's anti-smoking message.

The FDA has not commented on the lawsuit.

The new warnings will be required on cigarette packs from September 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Somalis receive medical treatment at an outpatient hospital run by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), on Wednsday, August 17 in Mogadishu, Somalia. More than 10,000 people are treated monthly at AMISOM's three hospitals in Mogadishu. Ugandan doctors there say that increasingly many of the ailments, especially among children, are related to malnutrition. The UN estimates that more than 100,000 people have fled to Mogadishu in the last months due to famine and drought conditions in the countryside.

[Mr Lick]

Google team members sail a boat with a 360-degree camera system mounted on its top to record the "Street View for the Amazon" on the Negro River, around Tumbira Community, Amazonas State, on August 17. In partnership with Brazil's Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), Google's Street View for the Amazon project will capture 360-degree imagery of the Amazon's Negro River and the adjacent communities to share the environment and local culture with the world.



A 360-degree camera system mounted on a boat on the Negro River

[Mr Lick]

Gathered in a portable schoolroom, Irving Elementary third grade teacher Patricia Bell reads "First Day Jitters" to her third grade class on the first day of school in Joplin, Mo., Wednesday, Aug. 17. The original school, along with ninety percent of the student's homes, were destroyed in the May 22 tornado.

Today, almost three months later, 100 percent of the students are OK, and most of them are starting their school year at a new, albeit temporary, school three miles northeast from their old school. Six of the classrooms are in trailers, and the rest are in the old Washington Educational building. It was an elementary school years ago but sat abandoned last year.










Trying to give her students a sense of security, Irving Elementary School third grade teacher Shelly Tater gives her students a tour of one of four concrete tornado shelters parked outside their temporary school.



This May 24, 2011 photo shows the Irving Elementary School, constructed in 1927, after being damaged by the May 22 tornado that ripped through Joplin, Mo

[Mr Lick]

Nuns are escorted by a young woman past demonstrators shouting slogans against the visit of Pope Benedict XVI at Madrid's central Sol square Wednesday Aug. 17. The Pope is due to arrive Thursday for a four-day visit to celebrate World Youth Day, and thousands of protesters railing against his visit marched through Madrid to Plaza del Sol where they have held months of demonstrations against the government's anti-austerity policies.



Riot police officers clash with demonstrators following a protest against the next Pope Benedict XVI visit in Madrid on Wednesday, Aug. 17

[Mr Lick]

Tonel (left) of GNK Dinamo Zagreb goes for the the ball while Ivo Pekalski of Malmo FF reacts during their UEFA Champions League's first leg playoff soccer match in Zagreb, Croatia on August 17.

[Mr Lick]

Tourists sit in the art installation "Meeting Bowls" by the Spanish collaborative mmmm in Times Square in New York August 17.

[Mr Lick]

Students of a primary school take shelter under their desks in the schoolroom during a drill, in Toribio, department of Cauca, Colombia on July 25. The school is located near the heavily fortified local police station and has 600 students who have to take cover every time the FARC guerrillas attack and the bullets start flying by. Therefore the teachers are forced to give them also survival lessons as an extracurricular subject.









In this Nov. 21, 1951 file picture, sixth grade students crouch under or beside their desks along with their teacher, Vincent M. Bohan, left, as they act out a scene from the Federal Civil Defense administration film "Duck and Cover" at Public School 152 in the Queens borough of New York City. Even before the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami that led to the current Japanese nuclear crisis, Americans were bombarded with contradictory images and messages that frighten even when they try to reassure. It started with the awesome and deadly mushroom cloud rising from the atomic bomb, which led to fallout shelters and school duck-and-cover drill.

[Mr Lick]

Tourists take a ride in a 1955 Desoto convertible in Havana Aug. 17. The first group of Americans to tour Cuba under new, more liberal U.S. travel regulations have been greeted by hugs, handshakes and a welcoming Cuban government, according to a trip organizer. Cuban-American members of the U.S. Congress already have proposed legislation to roll back the regulations, so it remains to be seen how long the freer travel will last.

[Mr Lick]

Flood affected women jostle for food distributed in Tando Mohammad Khan, near Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province on Wednesday, Aug. 17. According to local officials thousands of people from many villages were displaced by the flood.



Pakistani villagers wade their to way to safe places as their houses are flooded as a result of torrential monsoon rains over a few days in Tando Mohammad Khan, near Hyderabad in Pakistan's Sindh province on Wednesday, Aug. 17. According to local officials thousands of people from many villages were displaced by the flood.

[Mr Lick]

A car is destroyed by US Marines after being detected trafficking drugs by a Royal Navy Sea King Mk 7 surveillance helicopter in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in this picture released on Wednesday, August 17.

[Mr Lick]

Anti-riot police officers use colored water to disperse opposition supporters in the Kireka area on the outskirts of Kampala on August 17. Ugandan police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse opposition supporters who had gathered in a Kampala suburb on Wednesday to mourn people killed during demonstrations earlier this year, witnesses said.

[Mr Lick]

Students take part in an "antigravity" yoga class at the Om Factory in New York on Tuesday, Aug. 16. "Antigravity" yoga makes use of hammocks to help practitioners gain greater flexibility, allowing for a wider range of yoga poses, according to the workshop's website.

[Mr Lick]

An activist of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and supporter of prominent anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare shouts during a protest in Amritsar, India, on Aug. 17. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lashed out at India's most prominent anti-corruption crusader Wednesday, accusing the fasting activist of trying to circumvent democracy by demanding Parliament pass a reform bill he supports.

[Mr Lick]

Men take part in a palm tree race to mark the 66th anniversary of Indonesia's independence day in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 17.

[Mr Lick]

London, UK: An aeroplane flies over the Olympic basketball arena during the London International Basketball Invitational



Seoul, South Korea: A member of the Red Bull Air Force parachute team leaps off the 236.7-metre tall Seoul Tower

[Mr Lick]

Hong Kong: Police stand guard as protesters demand the release of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, outside a hotel where the Chinese vice-premier Li Keqiang is staying during a three-day visit to Hong Kong

[Mr Lick]

Standon Calling festival 2011

Standon Calling rocked to the sounds of Battles and the Africa Express Soundsystem




Standon Calling festival in Hertfordshire, which took place from 12-14 August

[Mr Lick]

Broken Records perform at Standon Calling festival

[Mr Lick]

Battles perform on the main stage