World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Olympic Pole Vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva sets a new world record of 5.06M

[Mr Lick]

Disabled people clash with Bolivian police during a protest calling for higher state subsidies

[Mr Lick]

A shady looking Iranian woman hands out election leaflets in central Tehran

[Mr Lick]

At least 55 people have been killed and hundreds injured following a spate of bombings in Iraq

[Mr Lick]

Fire has destroyed hundreds of homes at a Burmese refugee camp in Thailand

[Mr Lick]

Lloyds Banking Group makes annual loss of £3.5bn

The average bonus for each of its 100,000 staff will be £3,900

Lloyds Banking Group made a loss of £3.5bn for the year to 31 December after setting aside £3.2bn to cover payment protection insurance claims.

In 2010 the bank, which is 41% owned by the UK taxpayer, had made a pre-tax profit of £281m.

The bank said last year that it was setting money to cover claims over mis-sold PPI - loan repayment insurance for borrowers should they lose their job.

[Mr Lick]

Pub landlady Karen Murphy wins TV football court case

Karen Murphy saved more than £350 per month by using a cheap foreign decoder

A pub landlady has won her court fight with the English Premier League over using a Greek TV decoder to screen games.

Karen Murphy has paid nearly £8,000 in fines and costs for using the cheaper decoder in her Portsmouth pub to bypass controls over match screening.

But she took her case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

It found partly in her favour, and now the High Court in London has also found in her favour.

The case has been closely watched as it could trigger a major shake-up in the way football TV rights are sold, and potentially pave the way to cheaper viewing of foreign broadcasts for fans of top-flight English games.

[Mr Lick]

Dutch prince Johan Friso in coma after avalanche

The prince is seen here at Lech in the Austrian Alps last year

Dutch Prince Johan Friso, injured in an avalanche last week, is in a coma and may never regain consciousness, doctors treating him in Austria say.

Prince Friso, who had been on a skiing holiday in the Austrian resort of Lech, lay buried under snow for about 15 minutes before being rescued.

He was taken to hospital in Innsbruck after the accident, in which nobody else was hurt.

The prince, 43, is the second son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
However, he is not in line for the throne since marrying in 2004 without the government's permission.

Queen Beatrix and the prince's wife, Mabel, have been to visit him at Innsbruck's University Hospital, as have his brothers, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Prince Constantijn.

A friend of the prince who was skiing with him at the time of the avalanche has been questioned by police

'Heart attack'

He had been skiing with between one and three other people off the marked pistes when the avalanche hit shortly after midday local time last Friday, said resort officials.

We cannot say today with certainty whether Prince Friso will one day regain consciousness” Dr Wolfgang Koller Head of trauma unit

He was buried by an avalanche reportedly measuring about 30m (yds) wide by 40m long.

A beeper he was wearing allowed rescuers to locate him quickly.

Speaking to reporters in Innsbruck, Dr Wolfgang Koller said it had taken nearly 50 minutes to revive the prince.

MRI scans have shown his brain suffered "massive damage'' in the avalanche.

The prince will be moved at a later date to a private clinic for further treatment but it may take years before he awakens, if ever, the doctor said.

[Mr Lick]

Barclays worker Gaynor Russ jailed for £167,000 fraud

Counter clerk Gaynor Russ was told she had abused her position of trust

A bank worker who siphoned off £167,000 from customers has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Gaynor Russ, 59, of Treorchy, Rhondda, stole most of the money from elderly or vulnerable people, as well as her best friend, Merthyr Crown Court heard.

Russ, a counter clerk at Barclays' Treherbert branch, had admitted 13 charges of fraud.

The court heard statements from victims of Russ, who was also a charity volunteer and church warden.

The offences were committed over 10 months up to May 2008.

The court heard, Russ, who had worked at at Barclays bank for 40 years, had trouble paying off her credit card in 2007.

[Mr Lick]

Malians flee Tuareg rebels



More than 15,000 Malians have sought refuge in neighbouring Niger after recent attacks by Tuareg rebels who say they are fighting for independence of northern regions of Mali

[Mr Lick]

Mandalay, Burma: residents cross the U Bein bridge – the world's longest and oldest teak bridge – on Taungthaman lake



Mexico City, Mexico: Shy, a six-month-old pet pig, follows his owner as he crosses a street



Stockholm, Sweden: Sweden's Ebba Jungmark at the XL Galan women's high jump event

[Mr Lick]

Ranua, Finland: a male brown bear wakes from hibernation at Ranua zoo



Dakar, Senegal: a Senegalese anti-government demonstrator kicks a burning barricade during pre-election protests



London, UK: a golden sculpture of a young boy riding a rocking horse, produced by the Danish artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, is the latest installation on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth



Denpasar, Bali: an Indonesian soldier checks his mobile phone at a buddhist sculpture workshop outside the Kerobokan prison

[Mr Lick]

Children play with a ball during a flood near their house in Jakarta, February 23, 2012. Heavy rain caused flooding in some parts of the capital



A man weeps next to a damaged vehicle after it was hit by a bomb attack in the outskirts of Peshawar, northwest Pakistan, February 23, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

A commando stands guard during the Turkish Army's annual winter military exercises near the eastern town of Sarikamis, February 23, 2012



A riot policeman arrests a protester during a rally in support for the people of Aysen region, south of Santiago February 23, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Dries Mertens of PSV Eindhoven controls the ball during their second leg Europa League match against Trabzonspor in Eindhoven, February 23, 2012.



Silvia Mendez, 36, cries as her husband Javier Ramirez , 50, watches her while they wait on a street next to their flat, in face of eviction after failing to pay the rent, in Malaga, southern Spain February 23, 2012.

[OhOh]

Hundreds of Tunisians on Friday demonstrated in front of the hotel where the so-called "friends of Syria" meeting is being held and tried to storm the hotel. Demonstrators expressed rejection of the meeting, depicting it as a shame on Tunis. They condemned turning Tunisia into a place for conspiring on the bastion of the nation.

[Mr Lick]

Lee Westwood continued his unprecedented run at the WGC Match Play by moving into the quarter-finals with a victory over Nick Watney.

The Englishman, who had never made it beyond the second round in 11 previous attempts, beat the American 3&2.

He will face Martin Laird, who beat fellow Scot Paul Lawrie 3&1, in Saturday's last-eight match.

Like Westwood, Rory McIlroy, who beat Miguel Angel Jimenez 3&1, will be world number one with a victory this week.

Northern Irishman McIlroy meets Sang-Moon Bae after the South Korean overcame John Senden with a one up win.

[Mr Lick]

Crowd scene from the Man Utd v Ajax football match this week



Officials in Burma lifted restrictions on election campaigning this week

[Mr Lick]

World leaders pledge to boost support for measures to fight piaracy, terrorism and political instability in Somalia

[Mr Lick]

Caroline Spelman's son loses privacy injunction bid

Ms Spelman is the Conservative MP for Meriden in the West Midlands

The High Court has refused to continue a privacy injunction won by the son of Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman.

The order remains in place while Jonathan Spelman, 17, has until next Friday to seek permission to appeal.

The one-time England under 16 rugby player was granted the injunction this month to prevent publication of a story in the Daily Star Sunday related to his sporting career.

Ms Spelman is the Conservative MP for Meriden in the West Midlands.
The Star's publisher, Express Newspapers, claim "an underlying public interest in the story".

The injunction was initially granted at a private hearing by Mr Justice Lindblom, who said privacy could reasonably be expected over the information involved and publication would not advance the public interest.

Last week, Mr Justice Tugendhat was asked to continue the privacy injunction until the Spelmans' legal action against Express Newspapers reaches court.

Christina Michalos, counsel for Express Newspapers, said the case was about "freedom of expression in its purest sense".

[Mr Lick]

Prince Charles visits Rolls-Royce and Bombardier



























The Prince was presented with a model engine during his visit to RR

[Mr Lick]

Doctors to decide on industrial action ballot

Doctors last took action in 1975

Doctors' representatives are holding an emergency meeting to decide whether or not to ballot for industrial action.

If the British Medical Association council decides to go ahead, it will be the first time doctors have been balloted for action since 1975.

The dispute is over pension changes, which would see the highest earning doctors' contributions rising to 14.5%.

The BMA says anger is "running deep". Ministers say the current scheme is unsustainable.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said the NHS pension scheme is "amongst the best available anywhere".

[Mr Lick]

Fatal Koran protests























At least 12 people died in the protests







Muslims also gathered to protest in Malayasia, Bangladesh and Pakistan

[Mr Lick]

Russian jet from Berlin lands safely after wheel scare

The An-148 is a relatively new jet

A Russian passenger jet which lost a wheel on take-off from Berlin has landed safely in St Petersburg, Russian media report.

The An-148 passenger jet of Russia's Rossiya airline, reported to be carrying 44 people, landed after circling to use up fuel.

The crew said the people on board had kept calm, Interfax news agency said.
A security source told Ria-Novosti news agency that chunks of rubber were left on the runway at Berlin after take-off.

None of the 37 passengers and seven crew were hurt during the landing, Rossiya's press office told Interfax.

A Russian investigation into the incident is now under way.

Manufactured jointly by Ukraine and Russia, the An-148 only entered service with Rossiya in 2009 and is newer than many other jets flying in the former Soviet Union