World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Dalziel and Pascoe author Reginald Hill dies at 75

The BBC drama based on Reginald Hill's novels began in 1996

The author of the Dalziel and Pascoe crime novels, Reginald Hill, has died at the age of 75.

His agent said Hill died peacefully at home in Cumbria on Thursday after a year long battle with cancer.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Pat, and two brothers, David and Desmond.
Ian Rankin, the author of the Rebus books, described Hill as a "fine writer and a great wit".

Hill was born in Hartlepool in 1936, where his father was playing professional football for the town's team, before moving to Cumbria with his family at the age of three.

He studied English at Oxford University and worked as a teacher but kept writing.
He eventually saw his first book, A Clubbable Woman, published in 1970.



Reginald Hill

[Mr Lick]

German priest admits 280 counts of sexual abuse



A German Catholic priest has admitted 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys in the past decade, saying he did not think he was doing harm.

Named only as Andreas L, the priest told a court in Braunschweig that he had first abused the nine-year-old son of a widowed woman parishioner.

After being banned by his diocese from making further contact with the boy, he abused two brothers, aged nine and 13.

Thousands of Germans have left the Church over revelations of abuse.

About 180,000 renounced their Catholicism in 2010, up 40% from the previous year, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports.

Pope Benedict XVI, a German by birth, briefly met victims of sexual abuse by priests when he visited his native land in September, expressing "deep compassion and regret" at their suffering.

[Mr Lick]

Iraq suicide bomb kills 50 in Basra pilgrims attack



The attack happened at a checkpoint used by Shia pilgrims

At least 50 killed in a suicide bomb attack on Shia pilgrims in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, Iraqi police and security sources say.


The attack was aimed at pilgrims marking the festival of Arbain, one of the main holy days of the Shia calendar, reports say.

Security had been tight amid fears of insurgent attacks during the festival.
Scores of people have been killed in attacks on pilgrims in the last few weeks, reports say.

Medical sources in Basra say they have also treated 91 people injured in the attack.

The attacker targeted Muslim Shia pilgrims at a checkpoint they use on their way to a major Shia mosque in the Zubeir district, some 20km (12 miles) south-west of Basra.

The area is frequented at this time of the Muslim calendar by Shia Muslims in southern Iraq who are unable to reach the shrines of the main holy city of Karbala further north, says the BBC's Nahed Abouzeid in Baghdad.

[Mr Lick]

Van der Sloot given 28-year sentence for Peru murder

Van der Sloot is also a suspect in the disappearance of US student Natalee Holloway

A Peruvian court has sentenced Dutchman Joran van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for the murder of a young woman he met at a casino in the capital Lima.

The decision comes two days after van der Sloot pleaded guilty to killing Stephany Flores in May 2010.

Ms Flores was found dead in a hotel in the Peruvian capital on 30 May 2010.
Van der Sloot is also a suspect in the 2005 disappearance of US student Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

The court also ordered van der Sloot to pay 200,000 Peruvian soles ($74,000; £49,000) in reparations to Ms Flores's family.

[Mr Lick]

Burmese political prisoners released

The Burmese regime has allowed around 600 inmates to walk free in a mass amnesty



Relatives of blogger and prominent political activist Nay Phone Latt wave upon his release from detention in Hpa-an






Khin Nyunt, former prime minister and military intelligence boss, talks to the media as he is released from house arrest. He was placed in detention after being ousted in a 2004 power struggle






Released pro-democracy activists Jimmy (second right), and his wife, Nilar Thein (third right), carry their daughter as they arrive at the Rangoon airport



Nilar Thein, an activist of the 88 Generation students group, shakes hands with one of her colleagues as she arrives at Rangoon airport



Zaw Thet Htwe (centre) is welcomed by relatives upon his arrival at Rangoon airport









General Mutu Saipo (right), representative of the Karen National Union (KNU) shakes hands with Soe Thein (left), minister for industry, during a press conference after the meeting to agree a ceasefire in Pa-an, capital of the Karen state

[Mr Lick]

Cruise liner runs aground in Italy - more pics

[Mr Lick]

Firefighters aim coloured water at a target during the annual fire drill competition in Mumbai January 9, 2012. Firefighters in Mumbai took part in the annual competition to enhance their emergency response during fire incidents.



An instructor from the Tianjiao Special Guard/Security Consultant Ltd. Co, smashes a bottle over a female recruit's head during a training session for China's first female bodyguards in Beijing January 13, 2012. According to the company, the training session consists of 20 women, mostly college graduates, who will undergo 8-10 months of training to develop sufficient skills to become security guards. The company will then offer the best trainee a chance to attend the International Security Academy in Israel.



A derelict cottage is seen at the side of the A9 near Blackford,Scotland January 10, 2012. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Scotland should hold an independence referendum as early as next year, clashing with the Scottish National Party (SNP) which wants more time to rally support for a break from the United Kingdom. Cameron, who opposes Scottish independence, said uncertainty about the 300-year-old union between England and its smaller northern neighbour was creating problems for business and harming investment.

[Mr Lick]

A fiery crash south of Buellton, Calif. on Highway 101 claimed the life of a truck driver Thursday afternoon, but emergency personnel were able to rescue a family of three from a vehicle dangling over the side of the freeway bridge.

According the California Highway Patrol, the northbound gravel truck, traveling in the fast lane, struck the BMW from behind and then careened off a bridge and into the creek adjacent to the freeway, where it burst into flames, killing the truck driver.

"The BMW was then forced into the center concrete wall where the three parties in the BMW became trapped in the vehicle." said Officer Danny Maher, California Highway Patrol.



A big rig that burned after going off a bridge on Highway 101 in Califormia on Thursday lays covered with fire-extinguishing foam. The truck driver was killed, but firefighters rescued a mother and her two daughters.

[Mr Lick]

School children from the Watkins Elementary School recite the 1963 Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. "I Have a Dream" speech from the exact spot it was delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington January 13, 2012. Dr. King's 83rd birthday will be celebrated as a national holiday on January 16.

[Mr Lick]

An Asian elephant eats a pine tree in her enclosure at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten zoo, on Jan. 13. The elephants are fed pine trees discarded by Berlin residents after Christmas, once a year.

[Mr Lick]

In this Feb. 5, 2011, photo, Sarah Burke, of Canada, competes in the women's halfpipe finals at the freestyle skiing world championships in Park City, Utah. Burke took fourth in the event. Burke was in critical condition Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, a day after she was airlifted from the mountains of Utah to a Salt Lake City hospital with injuries after a training accident in the superpipe.

[Mr Lick]

Russian metals tycoon and New Jersey Nets owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, meets with his supporters at one his campaign offices, on Jan. 13, 2012 in Moscow. Billionaire Prokhorov, who said last month that he intended to challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the March 2012 presidential polls, has collected enough signatures in support of his bid.

[Mr Lick]

A dog tag lost during World War I by U.S. Army soldier Private Kent Potter is seen during a ceremony where it was presented to his son Dale in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, on Jan. 12, 2012.



Dale Potter, center, shows off his father's dog tag after it was presented to him, as his wife Dixie and a member of the honor guard look on.

[Mr Lick]

Faizullah Zaki, left, a spokesman for former Northern Alliance general Abdul Rashid Dostum, speaks as prominent Afghan opposition leader Ahmad Zia Masood, center, and ethnic Hazara leader Mohammad Muhaqiq listen during a press conference at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Jan. 13, 2012. Zaki said Friday that he is in favor of peace talks despite earlier skeptical comments.

[Mr Lick]

A health worker administers a polio drop to a newborn baby at Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya in New Delhi, India, on Jan. 13, 2012. India is marking a full year since its last reported case of polio on Friday. The milestone is seen as a major victory in the global effort to eradicate the crippling disease.

[Mr Lick]

Mist and fog rolls across agricultural fields as the sun rises over the Somerset Levels on Jan. 13 in Glastonbury, England. After unseasonably mild weather, many parts of the UK were waking up to the first frost of the year. Weather forecasters have warned that there will be more hard frosts and freezing fog this weekend and temperatures will plunge across the country. Although the cold spell is only expected to last until Tuesday, the Met Office is also warning of a 'risk of colder conditions' at the beginning of February.



Mist and fog surrounds Glastonbury Tor as the sun rises over the Somerset Levels on January 13 in Glastonbury, England

[Mr Lick]

A soldier checks confiscated fake military vehicle plates which are to be destroyed in Luoyang, China on Jan. 12. More than 270 counterfeited plates, which were confiscated during the past two years, have been destroyed by Luoyang Guard Headquarter.

[Mr Lick]

Chengdu, China: A panda keeper feeds a four-month-old cub at a panda research base



London, England: Workers install artist Monica Bonvicini's RUN sculpture in the plaza of the London 2012 handball arena

[Mr Lick]

Visitors stand outside a church made entirely of snow and ice in southern Bavaria on Jan. 14, in Mitterfirmiansreut, Germany

[Mr Lick]

A Hindu devotee perfoms rituals in a natural hot spring as the sun rises near the banks of the Sutlej River as part of the Hindu festival of Makar Sankranti at Tattapani, India, Jan. 14.

[Mr Lick]

Security forces and people inspect the scene of a bomb attack on Shiite pilgrims, killing and wounding scores of people near the southern port city of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Saturday, Jan. 14. It was the latest in a series of attacks during Shiite religious commemorations that threaten to further increase sectarian tensions just weeks after the U.S. withdrawal.

[Mr Lick]

Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler smiles after being crowned Miss America, Jan. 14, at The Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.

[Mr Lick]

Two South Korean passengers are rescued from the Costa Concordia, Jan. 15.

The two survivors of a cruise ship grounding who were found nearly a day after the ship rolled onto its side have been identinfied as a South Korean couple on their honeymoon.

Prato fire commander Vincenzo Bennardo told The Associated Press that rescuers who had been banging on doors of the ship cabins all night finally heard a reply from one of the rooms early Sunday. He said the two, about 29 years old, were in good condition. He said the rescuers never stopped going door-to-door during the night in the non-submerged part of the ship.

[Mr Lick]

Australia v India: Hosts clinch series in Perth


Third Test, Perth (day three):

Australia 369 beat India 161 & 171 by innings and 37 runs

Match scorecard


Hilfenhaus took three wickets in five deliveries to wrap up victory

Ben Hilfenhaus claimed three wickets in an over as Australia completed an emphatic innings and 37-run victory over India in the third Test at Perth.

The seamer dismissed Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma in five balls as Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match series.

Virat Kohli, who batted through the morning session to keep the hosts' victory push at bay, was last out.

He fell to Peter Siddle for 75 as India slumped from 171-6 to 171 all out.

[Mr Lick]

John Edwards trial delayed over heart condition

John Edwards is charged with misusing campaign funds in an effort to protect his public image

Former US presidential contender John Edwards has a heart condition and needs a delay to his trial on charges of misusing campaign funds, doctors say.

A judge in North Carolina delayed jury selection until 26 March while the former Democratic senator, 58, undergoes tests and treatment.

She said letters from cardiologists treating Mr Edwards showed he had a "serious" condition.

Mr Edwards denies using campaign funds to hide an extra-marital affair.

The former North Carolina senator is charged with using cash from two donors to shelter campaign aide Rielle Hunter, with whom he fathered a child.

He is accused of illegally used the campaign funds to pay her living expenses and hide her from the media.