World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Cenon, France: Supporters of Francois Hollande attend the Socialist candidate's last campaign rally before the first round of the presidential elections



Manila, Philippines: Firefighters extinguish a blaze in a slum area

[Mr Lick]

Pyongyang, North Korea: A guide gives a lecture in front of a diorama depicting the 1950 Battle of Taejon, during a tour of the War Museum



Sofia, Bulgaria: Children wearing national costumes chant the name of Stiliyan Petrov during an event in support of the footballer, who was recently diagnosed with acute leukemia

[Mr Lick]

Protesters chant slogans after police used a flashbang stun grenade during an anti-government rally in Manama April 19, 2012. Fears grew ahead of this weekend's Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain on Thursday after members of the Force India F1 team were caught up in a petrol bomb incident and police fired tear gas and bird shot to disperse anti-government protesters.



Space Shuttles Enterprise, left, and Discovery meet nose-to-nose at the beginning of a transfer ceremony at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in Chantilly, Virginia April 19, 2012.



Former Olympus President and CEO Michael Woodford speaks to the media before he attends Olympus Corp's extraordinary shareholders' meeting in Tokyo April 20, 2012. Olympus , a camera maker and the world's biggest manufacturer of endoscopes used for internal medical examinations, sacked its British CEO after he queried staggeringly high advisory fees paid in past acquisitions. In the weeks that followed, regulators uncovered a $1.7 billion accounting fraud stretching back over more than a decade.

[Mr Lick]

A pair of soccer shoes and scarves are seen outside the church before Livorno's soccer player Piermario Morosini's funeral in Bergamo April 19, 2012. Morosini died after collapsing on the pitch with cardiac arrest during an Italian second division game at Pescara on Saturday, prompting the federation to postpone this weekend's professional games.



Police are seen as students leave Vienna University through a side entrance in Vienna April 19, 2012. Police blocked all entrances of the Vienna University after students seized the university's auditorium on Thursday to protest against the abolishment of a subject of study.



KadiatuKauma, 24, sits in hospital with gunshot wounds to her arm, stomach and back after police opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the mining town of Bumbuna April 19, 2012. A woman was shot and killed and several others were wounded when police opened fire on a crowd protesting wages and working conditions at the British mining company African Minerals on Wednesday, according to witnesses, hospital staff and police officials



A burnt-out school is seen after it was set on fire in Narathiwat province, Thailand, April 19, 2012. More than 5,000 people have been killed by insurgents who resurfaced in January 2004 in the Muslim-dominated Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces

[Mr Lick]

FBI agents and a New York City police officer stand near a New York City apartment building, where they were searching a basement for clues in the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, April 19, 2012. The authorities began their search early on Thursday at the SoHo neighborhood building where the 6-year-old boy disappeared, FBI spokesman Peter Donald said. Patz, who was one of the first missing children to appear on a milk carton, was formally declared dead in 2001. His disappearance helped launch a national movement on the issue of missing children. The date May 25 was declared "National Missing Child Day" in his honor.

[Mr Lick]

Police chase students from the Nepal Student Union (NSU) who set fire to a government motorcycle during a protest in Katmandu, Nepal, on April 20, 2012. Reports state that the NSU, a student organization of the Nepal Congress party, and the All Nepal National Free Students' Union (ANNFSU), a student organization of CPN-UML, clashed in Katmandu and in the resulting violence around a dozen people were injured and three government vehicles were set on fire.

[Mr Lick]

Inside a dimly lit barn in northeast Indiana, where the air smells faintly of corn and earth, the future of China's food supply is squealing for attention

In a country where pork is a culinary staple, the demand for a protein-rich diet is growing faster than Chinese farmers can keep up. While Americans cut back on meat consumption to the lowest levels seen in two decades, the Chinese now eat nearly 10 percent more meat than they did five years ago.

China's solution: to super-size its supply by snapping up millions of live animals raised by U.S. farmers as breeding stock - capitalizing on decades of cutting edge agricultural research in America



Three-and-a-half-month-old hogs at Whiteshire Hamroc farm.

[Mr Lick]

Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his goal in the third period against the Florida Panthers in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Prudential Center on April 19.

[Mr Lick]

Self-portraits by 200,000 children are projected April 19 onto Buckingham Palace to form portraits of Queen Elizabeth in central London. The portraits were collected by the Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts to celebrate the nation's children in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

[Mr Lick]

Cruise ship didn't stop for stranded boat

On Thursday, April 19, Princess Cruises, based said a preliminary investigation showed that passengers' reports that they had spotted a boat in distress never made it to Capt. Edward Perrin or the officer on duty.




This March 10, 2012 photo provided by Jeff Gilligan, a passenger of the American-based cruise ship Star Princess, shows a fishing vessel adrift in the Pacific Ocean off the Galapagos Islands. Gilligan and another American aboard the cruise ship, in the same area, believe they saw the fishermen adrift at sea and they alerted the crew, but the luxury liner continued on its course. Two of the three men in the fishing vessel died from exposure. The company that owns the Star Princess cruise ship says it is looking into whether the crew ignored the fishermen's signals that they needed help



Adrian Vasquez pauses during an interview with the Associated Press outside his home in the town of Rio Hato, Panama, Thursday, April 19, 2012. Vasquez, an 18-year-old Panamanian, went on a fishing trip with two friends last Feb. 24 but while returning home, their motor died. They had been drifting for16 days when birdwatchers with powerful spotting scopes on the deck of the luxury cruise ship Star Princess saw their boat adrift miles away and told ship staff about a man desperately waving a red cloth. The cruise ship didn't stop, and the fishing boat drifted another two weeks before it was found. By then, Vasquez's two friends had died



Cruise ship Star Princess failed to aid a stranded boat, which drifted for a further two weeks, leading to the death of two of the three men on board

[Mr Lick]

Syrian troops fire on protesters

Syrian troops fired bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters Apr. 20, activists said, and state media reported that a roadside bomb killed 10 soldiers in the latest violence to defy international efforts to calm the country's crisis.













Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad (R) shakes hand with General Abhijit Guha, the Deputy Military Adviser in the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations, after the signing of an agreement between Syria and the U.N. in Damascus April 19, 2012. Syria and the United Nations signed an agreement on Thursday on the terms of a ceasefire monitoring mission, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said

[Mr Lick]

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of female Russian punk band Pussy Riot, stands inside defendands cage in a Moscow court during the hearings on the Pussy Riot case. Three members of the all-woman punk band "Pussy Riot" were detained two months ago, after they climbed on the altar of Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral -- the country's central place of worship -- and sang a song they called a "Punk Prayer". The women have been charged with hooliganism committed by an organized group -- an unusually harsh charge for protesters.



Riot policemen block "football hooligans" during an exercise at Arena Lviv stadium in western Ukrainian city of Lviv in preparation for EURO-2012 cup.



The DSR Dodge Charger NHRA Funny Car driven by Matt Hagan explodes during the first round of qualifying at the NHRA 4 Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C

[Mr Lick]

Rescue workers help an Indian survivor named Nitesh, who was buried for more than 72 hours, out from the rubble of a factory that collapsed, in Jalandhar, India.



A group of Taiwanese women paratroops pose for photos after a drill held at Taiwan's northern Hsinchu airbase. Taiwan tested its ability to defend one of its largest air bases against Chinese invasion, a scenario experts insisted remained relevant in an age of missile and cyber attacks.

[Mr Lick]

The alleged Colombian call girl at the center of the Secret Service sex scandal strikes a pose on this undated photograph.







The single mom, who has not been identified by name, said she was stiffed by cheap agents who only wanted to pay her just $30, not the $80 she had asked.

[Mr Lick]

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - APRIL 20: Singer-songwriter Marianne Faithfull poses next to artworks as she opens the Innocence And Experience exhibition at Tate Liverpool on April 20, 2012 in Liverpool, England. Marianne Faithfull is the latest co-curator in the acclaimed DLA Piper Series at Tate Liverpool where she worked with the curatorial team to select works from the Tate Collection for a new display

[Mr Lick]

BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 19: (CHINA OUT) Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra visits Reignwood Pine Valley on April 19, 2012 in Beijing, China. Yingluck is on a four-day official visit to China



BEIJING, CHINA - APRIL 19: (CHINA OUT) Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra watches a tree planted by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at Reignwood Pine Valley on April 19, 2012 in Beijing, China. Yingluck is on a four-day official visit to China

[Mr Lick]

Airliner crashes near Islamabad airport



A plane carrying up to 127 people has crashed in a residential area near Islamabad international airport.

Aviation officials said the Bhoja Air jet, flight BHO-213, was flying from Karachi to Islamabad when it crashed in bad weather near Chaklala, Rawalpindi.

Emergency teams were at the crash site, reported to be near Baria Town residential complex.

There have been no reports of any survivors and no comment from the airline.

Reports suggest the plane, believed to be a Boeing 737 carrying 118 passengers and nine crew, was making its final approach to the airport when the crash happened.

Saifur Rehman, from a police rescue team, said it came down in Hussain Abad village, two miles from the main Islamabad highway.

He told Geo TV: "Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed.

[Mr Lick]

Footballer rape trial: Ched Evans jailed five years, Clayton McDonald cleared



Footballer Ched Evans has been jailed for five years for raping a 19-year-old woman, while another player, Clayton McDonald, has been cleared.

Wales and Sheffield United striker Evans, 23, was convicted by a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court.

Both he and Port Vale defender Mr McDonald, also 23, had denied rape at a Premier Inn near Rhyl, Denbighshire.

The men admitted having sex with the woman on 30 May 2011, but said it was consensual.

Court proceedings were disrupted after Mr McDonald was acquitted, prompting a brief adjournment.

Mr McDonald, of Crewe, Cheshire, looked elated when his not guilty verdict was delivered, and family and friends shouted: "Yes, yes".

[Mr Lick]

Judge sets George Zimmerman bail at $150,000




The man accused of murder over the death of an unarmed Florida teenager has been granted bail, set at $150,000 (£93,000).

George Zimmerman's defence lawyer asked that his client be allowed to reside out of state because of safety fears.

In a second appearance in court since his arrest, Mr Zimmerman told Trayvon Martin's parents he was sorry for the loss of their son.

He shot and killed Trayvon Martin in a gated Florida community on 26 February.

Granting bail, the judge said Mr Zimmerman should inform the police of his location every three days and imposed a curfew between the hours of 19:00 and 06:00 each day.

Mr Zimmerman would be tracked electronically, he said, and would be forbidden from carrying firearms, drinking alcohol, or contacting the victim's family personally or through an intermediary.

[Mr Lick]

Pakistani soldiers continue searching into the night for the remains of victims of a plane crash, which happened just outside Islamabad airport



An Israeli border policeman punches a Palestinian during a protest against the expansion of the nearby Jewish settlement of Halamish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

[Mr Lick]

Saying it with flowers: Russian Communist party members and supporters march in Moscow's Red Square to pay their respects at Lenin's mausoleum to mark the 142nd anniversary of his birth on Sunday



The personal toll of the long-running conflict in Kashmir: relatives of Sukhpal Singh, an Indian police officer, mourn in an ambulance in Srinagar. Police said a man carrying a pistol shot Singh at close range. He died on his way to a hospital



A familiar sight returns as protesters once again flock to Cairo's Tahrir Square as they did throughout the Arab spring. This demonstration, the biggest for months, sought to put pressure on the generals to hand over power ahead of presidential elections

[Mr Lick]

Bernie Ecclestone is thronged by journalists at the Bahrain grand prix track. The F1 boss is seen here with Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who has claimed that cancelling the race would empower extremists

[Mr Lick]

Bert Weedon

Influential musician who inspired millions of budding guitarists to 'play in a day' has died aged 91



American guitarist Duane Eddy poses with Bert Weedon in 1960. Weedon was one of the first British musicians to incorporate American rock'n'roll into his guitar style






Bert Weedon with Russ Conway on the Russ Conway Show in 1960






Weedon at Buckingham Palace after receiving his OBE in 2001

[Mr Lick]

The Olympic torch is being taken on a tour of Britain ahead of the Games, causing wholly unnecessary traffic-jams up and down the country



Remus Medley finishes the 116th Boston Marathon in style. His friend less so



In another test event, this time at the Aquatics Centre, Britain's synchronised swimmers are in action. Not sure what's happening here but they all look pretty desperate for air



That's how it should be done. No gasping. Just smile while your team-mate kicks you in the head

[Mr Lick]

Despite the protests and Force India's withdrawal, the Formula One race is going ahead in Bahrain this weekend. Politics and sport are entirely separable, apparently. Cue colourful circuit photographs



The UEFA Champions League trophy stands on a plinth before the official handover ceremony at Munich's Allianz Arena. Do they really need a ceremony for that?