World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Valencia celebrates fire festival

The "Fallas" festival in Valencia, Spain welcomes spring and honored Saint Joseph's Day on March 19 with the burning of giant elaborate sculptures and effigies of wood and plastic.

[OhOh]

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, has called on Lady Ashton to withdraw comments that placed Monday's murder of Jewish children in France alongside recent deaths of young civilian Palestinians in Israeli military operations. "The declarations were not appropriate and he expressed the hope that she would re-examine and reverse them," his spokesman said.
Eli Yishai, Israel's interior minister, called on Lady Ashton to resign because her statement "further harms the ability of the EU to be an honest broker" in the Middle East. "She can no longer serve in her position," he said.

[Mr Lick]

Four dead in French Jewish school shooting

A shooter opened fire on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, Mar. 19 just as students arrived, killing four, including a 30-year-old rabbi and his two children, officials said - more pics































A New York City police vehicle is seen outside the Center for Jewish History in New York, March 19, 2012. The New York City police ramped up security at synagogues and other Jewish institutions citywide on Monday following the deadly attack on Jewish school in Toulouse

[Mr Lick]

Hikers swept away in Norway avalanche

A massive avalanche in northern Norway on Mar. 19 swept away six hikers, possibly French, local police said, adding one person had been dug out alive while four others had been located under the snow.




Rescue personnel prepare Monday March 19, 2012 to go to the mountain area near Kafjord, Norway where an avalanche is reported to have buried 6 tourists. Police said that preliminary information suggests the tourists were French and that they were part of a group of 12 people out skiing Monday near Tromsoe on Norway's Arctic coast. Police and military helicopters were dispatched to the area

[Mr Lick]

Mr. Universe 1952 turns 100

Centenarian Manohar Aich credits his longevity to a healthy lifestyle in which he minimizes stress and focuses on happiness.




Indian body builder Manohar Aich looks on at his residence in Kolkata, India, Sunday, March 18, 2012. Aich, who is only 4 foot 11 inches (150 centimeters) tall, won the Mr. Universe title in London way back in 1952. Happiness and a life without tensions are the key to his longevity, said Aich, who turned 100 on March 17.

[Mr Lick]

Damaged vehicle is seen at the site after an explosion of a bomb car that went off behind a security office in Aleppo city March 18, 2012. A car bomb hit Syria's second city Aleppo on Sunday, a day after blasts killed 27 in Damascus, and security forces arrested and beat activists at a rare anti-government protest in the centre of the capital.

[Mr Lick]

Greece Panathinaikos fans attack police with fire extinguishers and seats. The Athens Superleague derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos was abandoned after home fans set fire to several parts of the stadium and threw missiles and flares at police in Athens, Greece.



Members of a SWAT team and the Border Guards participate in a drill at a military training ground outside of Zamosc, near the Ukrainian border. Various units of Poland's anti-terrorist police, together with a special section of the Border Guards and other emergency services, are participating in a series of joint exercises leading up to the Euro 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Supporters of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr wave Iraqi flags during a rally in Basra, southeast of Baghdad. Up to a million followers of Iraqi cleric Sadr took to the streets on Monday in a massive show of force before an Arab League summit which Iraq's long-oppressed Shi'ite majority view as their debut on the regional stage



In this photo, a wldfire sends up a huge wall of smoke, forcing authorities to temporarily close a section of U.S. Highway 34 east of Yuma, Ariz. when the fire filled the skies with so much smoke that firefighters couldn't see the flames. Evacuated residents of the small Colorado town of Eckley have been allowed to return home after firefighters contained most of the wildfire.

[Mr Lick]

Dubai is seen at night on a photograph taken by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station. The city presents an eye-catching appearance at night that vividly displays the urban development pattern.



A model showcases a creation by the US fashion designer Gottex and Giddeon Oberson during a Skybridge fashion show at the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur

[Mr Lick]

Lawmaker and pro-democracy activist Leung Kwok-hung protests against Hong Kong Chief Executive candidates, demanding universal suffrage, during a debate organized by the election committee members in Hong Kong.



A supporter of former President Mohamed Nasheed throws a stone towards policemen during a protest near the parliament against President Mohammed Waheed Hassan addressing lawmakers in Male, Maldives. The new president of the Maldives addressed lawmakers and opened Parliament amid vehement protests by the opposition on Monday, nearly six weeks after he took office in a contentious power transfer that his predecessor has called a coup. Authorities used tear gas earlier in the day as several hundred demonstrators blocked roads and shouted slogans calling for Hassan's resignation

[Mr Lick]

Smoke rises from the Zhongcai Mansion in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Firefighters tried to extinguish the flames after a fire broke out at the mansion around 3:00 p.m. local time.



Sri Lankan Buddhist monks protest in Colombo. The monks are protesting the US-led move to censure Sri Lanka at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva over its alleged war crimes while crushing Tamil rebels in 2009.

[Mr Lick]

Shootings in Toulouse and Montauban: the victims

Seven people have been killed and two wounded in serial gun attacks in south-western France.
They came from different backgrounds and ranged from sappers in a parachute regiment involved in mine-clearing, to children barely of school age.



Sgt Ibn Ziaten had an unblemished military record



Murder victim Abel Chennouf (left) was due to become a father with his partner (right)

[Mr Lick]

Jonathan Sandler was killed along with his two little sons





Miriam Monsonego. aged 7, the daughter of the schools headmaster was the 4th person shot. She died in her father's arms


Aftermath of shooting at Toulouse school

[Mr Lick]

A syndicate of bus drivers celebrate their 38 million pounds win in the Euromillions lottery, in Corby, Northamptonshire



People gather to celebrate the Afghan New Year in Kabul

[Mr Lick]

Wales Grand Slam party at the Senedd

[Mr Lick]

Queen's Diamond Jubilee speech

[Mr Lick]

Vatican reports on Irish child abuse scandals

The report was published by the Vatican on Tuesday

The Vatican has expressed its "dismay and betrayal" at the "sinful and criminal acts" by Catholic clergy guilty of child abuse across Ireland.

In a report published on Tuesday, it called for a "new focus on the laity" within the Irish Catholic Church.

The scandals had "opened many wounds", it said, and lay people had "lost trust in their pastors".

The report acknowledged "innocent young people" were abused by clerics to whose care they had been entrusted.

It said that "those who should have exercised vigilance often failed to do so effectively".

[Mr Lick]

Wave of deadly Iraq attacks

[OhOh]

China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) handed the recently launched NigComSat 1-R to its Nigeria counterpart on Monday at the Obasanjo Space Center in Abuja. NigComSat 1-R, which was launched on Dec. 20, 2011 and successfully positioned in its geostationary orbit a week later, has completed the in-orbit test and is ready to hand over to Nigeria Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) for commercial operation, said Yin Liming, the CGWIC president.

[Mr Lick]

Shahrakan, Bahrain: riot police prepare to disperse protesters. Clashes erupted after thousands of mourners participated in the politically charged funeral for Sabri Mahfoudh, whose death his family and the opposition blame on teargas



Kolkata, India: women's rights activists hold candles during a rally to protest against recent physical assaults and rapes



Valencia, Spain: effigies burn during the finale of the fiesta of Las Fallas, which welcomes spring and honours Saint Joseph's Day

[Mr Lick]

Manila, Philippines: protesters hold a demonstration near the US embassy to mark the ninth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq



Kathmandu, Nepal: North Korean football player Jang Song Hyok celebrates after scoring a goal against Turkmenistan



Syria: refugees walk through woods, helped by rebels from the Free Syrian Army, as they attempt to cross the north-western part of the Syrian border with neighbouring Turkey

[Mr Lick]

Yogyakarta, Indonesia: police arrest a protester during clashes at a demonstration against oil price increases



Kabul, Afghanistan: people gather for a new year ceremony at the Sakhi Shrine



Lisse, the Netherlands: an aerial view of the Keukenhof flower garden

[OhOh]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) affirmed on Tuesday that some Syrian armed opposition groups have committed serious human rights abuses.

AP reported the Organization as saying in a statement that the abuses included the kidnapping, torture and execution of Syrian civilians and security force members.

HRW stressed that it has received reports of 'executions by armed opposition groups of security force members and civilians'.

[OhOh]

Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko on Tuesday said that Russia is opposed to exerting excessive pressure on Syria and using force to undermine the authority in it, stressing that the Syrian crisis can only be solved by negotiations between the authorities and the opposition without preconditions.

[Mr Lick]

Earthquake in Mexico



A resident evades rubble after an earthquake, in Oaxaca, March 20, 2012