World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Looking ahead to 2012

[Mr Lick]

Spanish duke Inaki Urdangarin to appear before judge

Inaki Urdangarin agreed to step down from official duties amid the accusations

The son-in-law of Spain's King Juan Carlos has been summoned to appear before a judge over allegations of corruption.

A court in Palma, Majorca, has summoned the Duke of Palma, Inaki Urdangarin, to appear on 6 February.

The duke, married to Princess Cristina, is being investigated over claims he misused public funds given to a foundation he ran.

The former Olympic handball player has denied any wrongdoing.

In the wake of the accusations, the Spanish royal family on Wednesday made its accounts publicly available.

[Mr Lick]

Vast crowds at Kim Jong-il memorial - REALLY? You decide

[Mr Lick]

Damian Kerlik gets life for killing family in Israel

Kerlik had confessed to the murders, reportedly telling investigators he wanted to "take revenge"

A man who killed his former employer and five members of his family in the Israeli town of Rishon Lezion near Tel Aviv has been jailed for life.

Damian Kerlik, 39, harboured a grudge against Dmitry Oshrenko after Mr Oshrenko fired him from his restaurant in 2007.

Kerlik was sentenced to six life terms in prison, ensuring that he would never be released, Reuters reports.

[Mr Lick]

James Rizzi, US pop artist, dies aged 61

Times Square - Everyone Should Go There is a typical example of Rizzi's brightly coloured work

US pop artist James Rizzi, best known for his bright, cartoon-like drawings and 3D constructions, has died aged 61.

Alexander Lieventhal, from Art 28 GmbH & Co in Stuttgart, Germany - which exhibits and sells Rizzi's work - said the artist passed away peacefully at his New York studio on Monday.

"With his art, what you see is what you get," Mr Lieventhal said.

Some of Rizzi's creations include images for German postage stamps and a tourist guide published this year.

"Any child can look at it and understand what he's trying to convey, a celebration of life," Mr Lieventhal added.



The Rizzi-House in Braunschweig, Germany

A prolific designer - in 1980 he designed the cover for the first album of new wave band, the Tom Tom Club - a side project of Talking Heads' Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz.

He also animated two music videos for the band.

Moving between the worlds of architecture and graphics, Rizzi also designed the Happy Rizzi House - an office building in Germany, the front page of a newspaper in Hamburg and three versions of the New Beetle for Volkswagen in 1999.

In 1996, he became the first official artist for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta and - a year later - the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

In 1998, he was selected to produce official posters for the Fifa World Cup in France.

[OhOh]

Chinese navy servicemen stand on the Peace Ark, a Chinese naval hospital ship, while sailing into a military port in Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 29, 2011. The naval hospital ship concluded a 105-day trip traveling to four Latin American nations to provide free medical treatment and arrived in Zhoushan on Thursday. (Xinhua/Zha Chunming)

[Mr Lick]

This photo provided by the National Park Service shows an unidentified man standing by an SUV-sized boulder sitting on Yellowstone National Park's West Entrance road approximately nine miles inside the park's west gate Dec. 29, 2011. The boulder apparently broke loose from a mountainside several hundred feet above the road early Thursday. Park crews have pushed the rock from the road and are assessing the slope for the potential of further slides.



Sarah Crane was left stunned when she hung out her laundry to dry and discovered the face of Jesus staring back at her from a crumpled sock. She was so impressed by the clarity of the face she even built a shrine to the sock.

[Mr Lick]

Locals carry a victim killed in airstrikes to the morgue of a hospital in Uludere, Sirnak province on Thursday, Dec. 29. Turkish warplanes launched airstrikes against suspected Kurdish militants in northern Iraq near the Turkish border overnight, the military said on Thursday, but local officials said the attack killed 35 smugglers who were mistaken for guerrillas. The Turkish military confirmed it had launched the strikes after unmanned drones spotted suspected rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), but said there were no civilians in the area and it was investigating the incident.









Pro Kurdish demonstrators clash with riot police during a demonstration, in Istanbul, Turkey on Dec. 29.

[Mr Lick]

An Indian Sikh devotee spits fire as he performs during a religious procession taken out by community members ahead of the birth anniversary of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, in the northern Indian city of Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, on Thursday, Dec. 29. Guru Gobind Singh Ji was the last Sikh Guru who initiated the special order or sect of the Sikhs called the 'Khalsa Panth.' Guru Gobind Singh's birth anniversary will be celebrated on Dec. 31.



An Indian Sikh devotee breaks a tube light with his teeth as he performs during a religious procession by community members ahead of the birth anniversary of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, in the northern Indian city of Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, on Dec. 29.

[Mr Lick]

Exhausted competitors lay on the ground after completing the FIS Tour de Ski Oberhof Men's Prolouge



That is one hell of a tattoo that Denver Nuggets' Chris Andersen is sporting

[Mr Lick]

Crackdown in Syria



This still image taken from video off a social media website uploaded as December 28, 2011, shows purported members of "Free Syrian Army" (military defectors) firing at a convoy of government security buses in the village of Dael, near Deraa.





A girl holds a sign reading: "People want a no fly zone" during a demonstration against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Homs, December 27, 2011.



Anti-government protesters hang effigies of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (2nd R), his brother Maher al-Assad (2nd L) and Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem during a demonstration against Syria's President Assad after Friday prayers in Amude December 23, 2011.









Anti-government protesters carry coffins during the funeral of protesters killed in earlier clashes in Damascus suburb of Zabadani December 21, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

People walk past fallen sign boards and other trash caused by heavy winds in Pondicherry, India, on Dec. 30, 2011. India's weather office has warned residents along parts of the country's southeastern coast that Cyclone Thane is likely to cause heavy rains and gale-force winds.

[Mr Lick]

People line up to buy train tickets at Changsha Railway Station in Changsha, in southern China's Hunan province. Million of Chinese are expected to cramp onto China's train network in the coming weeks to return home for the Chinese lunar new year that starts on Jan. 23, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Maria Ponce, 78, waves to passersby as she stands in the doorway of her home that is constructed from recycled plastic bottles, near El Transito, El Salvador, Thursday Dec. 29, 2011. Ponce, who did not have money to build a traditional house, says in 2005 a dream revealed to her to fashion a home from plastic bottles, which took 3 months. Ponce and her 102-year-old companion survive on about 10 dollars a week which they make from their corn crop and donations from tourists making the journey to see "La Casita Encantada," or "The Enchanted Cottage."

[Mr Lick]

Firemen spray water over a tanker on fire in Caracas on Dec. 29, 2011. At least 14 people were killed and 16 wounded Thursday when a truck carrying gasoline overturned and exploded on the Pan American highway connecting Caracas with the satellite city of Los Teques, authorities said.

[Mr Lick]

New Year Honours



BAFTA-winning actress Helena Bonham Carter has been appointed a CBE for her services to drama

[Mr Lick]

81 year old comedian Ronnie Corbett has been awarded a CBE for his services to entertainment and charity

[Mr Lick]

Lorraine Kelly has been awarded an OBE for her charity and armed forces work

[Mr Lick]

Clive James (CBE) and Stuart Hall (OBE) have received awards for literature/media and broadcasting/charity work respectively

[Mr Lick]

David Harewood has received an MBE for his services to drama

[Mr Lick]

Steve Lillywhite has received a CBE for his services to music. Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ultravox, Talking Heads and U2 are a few of the acts he has worked with over the past 30 years

[Mr Lick]

Los Angeles firefighters rescue a man and his dog from a cliff face after the owner had tried to reach his dog when he had chased a thrown bottle over the edge.

[Mr Lick]

A base jumper leaps off the Skypark at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, during a practise jump. 7 international professional base jumpers will jump off the 57 storey building on 1st january to welcome the new year.

[Mr Lick]

OBE for Darren Clarke and MBE for Rory McIlroy in New Year Honours list

00:01 GMT, Saturday, 31 December 201



US Open winner McIlroy (left) and Open champion Clarke are honoured
Golfers Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy have received awards for their 2011 success in the New Year Honours list.

Open winner Clarke becomes an OBE while fellow Northern Irishman McIlroy is appointed an MBE for his US Open win.

Taekwondo world champion Sarah Stevenson and rugby union players Chris Paterson of Scotland and Wales' Martyn Williams all become MBEs.

Ex-Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis is made a knight, while former cricket umpire Dickie Bird is appointed an OBE.

Former Formula 1 driver Nigel Mansell also becomes a CBE for services to young people as President of UK Youth.

[Mr Lick]

Russell Brand files for divorce from Katy Perry

Russell Brand and Katy Perry married in October 2010.

Russell Brand has announced he has filed for divorce from US singer Katy Perry after 14 months of marriage.

The couple met in 2008 and married in October 2010 at a resort inside a tiger reserve in India.

The comedian filed divorce papers in the Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.

In a statement the 36-year-old said: "Sadly, Katy and I are ending our marriage. I'll always adore her and I know we'll remain friends."