World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

This May 16 photo shows shovels used to load shrimp into containers at Ken Lee's Dock, a seafood dock, in Lafitte, La. The mood on the hard-working shrimp and crab docks of this gritty fishing town in the Barataria estuary, a traditional seafood basket for New Orleans, is gloomy as the second full year of fishing since BP's catastrophic oil spill kicks into high gear.



Tuna Pham, a shrimper, talks as he works on his idle boat in Lafitte, La.






An idle shrimp boats sits in Lafitte, La.

[Mr Lick]

Shaven-headed young boys wearing 3-D glasses watch a movie at SK Telecom T.um Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 24. They are among nine children who entered the temple to have an experience of monks' life for three weeks, called Little Buddha Camp, to celebrate upcoming Buddha's birthday on May 28.



NASA's Opportunity rover catches its own late-afternoon shadow in a view looking eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars. Endeavour measures 14 miles across, encompassing a crater with about as much area as the city of Seattle. The colors in this picture have been tweaked to exaggerate surface differences

[Mr Lick]

A police officer shows a poppy flower during an operation to destroy a plantation in Tuinima village, Tajumulco nunicipality, San Marcos departament, 315 km northeast of Guatemala City, near the border with Mexico, on Wednesday.

[Mr Lick]

Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano spews volcanic lava, accompanied by large clouds of gas and ash near Banos, about 178 km (110 miles) south of Quito on Wednesday. The Tungurahua volcano has been in an active state since October 1999.

[Mr Lick]

Sailors aboard the tall ship from Indonesia "Dewaruci" sail past the Statue of Liberty May 23, in New York. The tall ship is participating in Fleet Week events in New York

[Mr Lick]

Stuntman Gary Connery celebrates after his attempt to become the first skydiver to land without the aid of a parachute on May 23, in Henley-on-Thames, England. Professional Hollywood stuntman performed a 3,000ft BASE jump without the aid of a parachute, landing on 24,000 cardboard boxes in his home town of Henley upon Thames. Gary was wearing a revolutionary wing suit, which lessens the forces of gravity as he descended, requiring him to land at the optimal angle to the boxes as he approached at speeds in excess of 90mph.










Stuntman Gary Connery, wearing a specially developed wingsuit, prepares to land among cardboard boxes in Henley-on-Thames, west of London May 23. He had jumped from a helicopter at 2,400 feet and successfully landed without the use of a parachute.

[Mr Lick]

An AN-30 military aircraft lies off the runway at the Czech air force base in Caslav, some 20 miles east of Prague, Wednesday, May 23. An official says the Russian military plane caught fire after problems during the landing maneuver, injuring at least six people on board. Czech military spokeswoman Jana Ruzickova said the plane had 23 people on board, 14 Russians and 9 Czechs. Five Russians and one Czech national have suffered injuries, mostly burns. The plane and Russian officials were in the Czech Republic on a regular monitoring mission.



PRAGUE — A Russian military jet malfunctioned while landing in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, injuring six people as it rolled off the runway, broke apart and caught fire, Czech and Russian officials said. At least one man was in life-threatening condition.

The Russian-made An-30 plane had 23 people on board — 14 Russians and 9 Czechs, Czech military spokeswoman Jana Ruzickova said

[Mr Lick]

Egypt votes for second day



















The new president will face immense challenges - inheriting a legacy of corruption, poverty, unemployment and security problems

[Mr Lick]

Huhne partner loses privacy case



The partner of the former Liberal Democrat, Cabinet minister Chris Huhne has lost her High Court case against Associated Newspapers for alleged breach of privacy and harassment.

Carina Trimingham, a PR adviser, was "not the purely private figure she had claimed to be", the judge said as he ordered her to pay £250,000 costs.

She said the judgement could become a "blueprint for bullies and bigots".

The Daily Mail's Andrew Pierce said it was a "vindication of our journalism".

Speaking outside court Ms Trimingham said she was disappointed by the judgement and indicated she intended to appeal.

[Mr Lick]

Migration to UK more than double government target



Net migration to the UK remains more than double the government's target of fewer than 100,000 people a year, according to new figures.

In the 12 months to last September, net migration - the number arriving in the UK to stay for more than a year minus those leaving for good - was 252,000.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics reflect a drop of just 3,000 on the previous year.

The government has pledged to cut it to "tens of thousands" by 2015.

[Mr Lick]

Reoffending rates reach record level



A record number of offenders sentenced for serious crimes had committed previous offences, according to figures for 2011.

Some 90% of those sentenced in England and Wales had offended before - and almost a third had committed or were linked to 15 or more crimes.

Reoffending rates were highest among serious offenders who had been jailed.

Ministry of Justice officials say the figures show a "clear trend" of a rising re-offending rate.

The figures show that almost 46% of adults jailed last year had at least 15 previous convictions or cautions - some 38,000 offenders overall. In 2001, fewer than 30% of those sent to jail had the same number of previous convictions.

Taking all offenders together, not just those who were jailed, the figures show that a third had 15 or more previous convictions - approximately 102,000 people.

[Mr Lick]

Sabra Begum, a relative of a victim of an explosion, weeps in a slum area in the north Indian city of Allahabad May 23, 2012. Six people are feared to be dead and a dozen injured in an explosion in a slum area on Wednesday as the nature of the explosion is still unknown, local media reported



A fireman reacts to smoke caused by a fire from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) building in New Delhi May 23, 2012. No casualties were reported and a short-circuit has been suspected as the cause of the fire which occurred on Wednesday, according to fire officials.



A university student fires a homemade mortar during a protest in Managua May 23, 2012. Hundreds of university students marched to the National Assembly building in support of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and against the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that calls for cutting funding for public higher education, the increase of the retirement age and the number of contributions of employees and to implement fiscal adjustment.

[Mr Lick]

A miner on strike stands in front of a burning barricade on the A-66 motorway, on the first day of a strike to protest the government's spending cuts in the mining sector, in Pola de Lena, near Oviedo, northern Spain, May 23, 2012. Spain's economy is contracting for the second time since late 2009 and four years of stagnation and recession have pushed unemployment above 24 percent, the highest rate in the European Union



The pack rides during the 186-km 17th stage of the Giro d'Italia from Falzes to Cortina D'ampezzo May 23, 2012.



Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa laughs with voters as he stands in line outside a polling station in Cairo May 23, 2012. Egyptians queued patiently to vote on Wednesday, eager to pick their leader for the first time in a national history dating to the pharaohs, with Islamists and secular-minded rivals who served under deposed President Hosni Mubarak heading the field.



Shreen Mohammad (C) waits with other recruits during nine weeks of army training at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 13, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. .

[Mr Lick]

West Indies' Kemar Roach and Fidel Edwards (L) stretch on a roller during a training session before Friday's second cricket test match against England at Trent Bridge cricket ground in Nottingham May 23, 2012.



Cast member Kylie Minogue poses during a photocall for the film "Holy Motors", in competition at the 65th Cannes Film Festival, May 23, 2012

[Mr Lick]

Volkswagen AG vehicles are displayed during the media preview of the 2012 Busan International Motor Show in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The motor show takes place from May 25 to June 3












A Renault Samsung Motors Co. Captur concept vehicle sits on display during the media preview of the 2012 Busan International Motor Show in Busan, South Korea






























A Hyundai Motor Co. i-oniq concept

[Mr Lick]

A Lebanese military intelligence agent holds his gun as he runs during clashes between Lebanese troops and a Syrian gunman who had engaged in an hours-long shootout with the security forces, in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 24, 2012.



Lebanese security forces take position as they storm a building in Beirut's Karakass district on May 24, 2012 following a shootout during the night with a man holed up inside a flat.

Two people were killed when Lebanese soldiers stormed an apartment in Beirut on Thursday where a gunman had exchanged fire with security forces, a security source at the scene said.

The source told Reuters the gunman, a Syrian national, was killed when the soldiers broke into the apartment at around 6 a.m. (11 p.m. ET), following several hours of shooting

They found the body of another man in the apartment, along with rifles and grenades, and two men who were arrested.

Four soldiers were wounded, the source said.

It was not immediately clear whether the incident was linked to recent sectarian violence in the Lebanese capital which has been fuelled by the conflict in neighboring Syria









Lebanese security forces detain an unidentified man outside a building in Beirut's Karakass district on May 24, 2012

[Mr Lick]

An Army National Guard helicopter drops water on the Topaz Ranch Estates Fire as it burns in the canyons above Wellington, Nevada, on May 23, 2012.



A motorcycle sits in a burned out home on Sandstone Drive where the Topaz Ranch Estates Fire burned through Wellington, Nevada on May 23, 2012

[Mr Lick]

A tank with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) advances as a battle group prepares to cross an area of bushland in the west of Deynile, north-west of the Somali capital Mogadishu on May 23, 2012.









Civilians flee Afgoye, site of the world's largest displaced people's camp, as African Union and Somali government troops pushed forward their assault on al Shabaab on May 23, 2012

[Mr Lick]

Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, shows how he had his hands tied behind a chair as he tells of being tortured and of reprisals against his family by the authorities after Chen Guangcheng's flight last week to the US. Chen Guangfu has fled his village in north-eastern China, evading a security clampdown



There's such sadness in this woman's expression as Congolese women from a mothers' association meet in the town of Rutshuru in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chronic insecurity, exacerbated by the current conflict between the government army and M23 rebels, has left many dead here. "War has been going on here for a long time, since 1996," says Chiza Ntamenya, a volunteer with the group. "We are fed up with the war



Nicole Kidman has her moment at Cannes during the photocall for her film The Paperboy

[Mr Lick]

Cannes, France: A contortionist performs on the red carpet during the Cannes film festival



Payerne, Switzerland: The flight suit of pilot Andre Borschberg before an attempt to fly a solar-powered plane 1,554 miles to the Moroccan capital, Rabat



Guatemala City, Guatemala: Actors dressed as Lady Justice and a soldier stage a performance outside the supreme court of justice

[Mr Lick]

PC Yvonne Fletcher murder: UK police to fly to Libya



A Metropolitan Police team is to fly to Libya to continue the investigation into the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

PC Fletcher, 25, was shot while policing a protest against the Gaddafi regime at the Libyan embassy in London in 1984 and later died.

Mr Cameron was speaking as Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib visited 10 Downing Street.

He said the visit was a "really positive step forward" in the inquiry.

"I'm delighted that we're working closely together on issues of mutual interest including having a Metropolitan Police team going to Libya to continue the investigation into the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher," he said.

"I think that is a really positive step forward and I know it will be welcomed by everyone in Britain."

[Mr Lick]

US cuts Pakistan aid over jailing of 'Bin Laden doctor'




A US Senate panel has cut $33m (£21m) in aid to Pakistan in response to the jailing of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama Bin Laden.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has said it will cut US aid by $1m for each year of Shakil Afridi's sentence.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said his term was "unjust and unwarranted".

Dr Afridi was tried for treason under a tribal justice system for running a fake vaccination programme to gather information for US intelligence.

Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.

The move from the Senate panel follows earlier cuts to the White House's budget request for Pakistan. The cuts would be part of a bill that would send $1bn in aid to Pakistan in the next financial year.

[Mr Lick]

While David Cameron and Ed Miliband exchange verbal insults during PMQs, Ukrainian politicians resort to their fists during a debate about the government's language policy













The rural folk group Buranovskiye Babushki (Grannies from Buranovo), who are representing Russia in the Eurovision song contest, give an interview at their hotel north-east of Baku. The grannies are the favourite to win this weekend's Eurovision contest. They get my vote



Mourners arrive for the funeral service of Private Christopher Kershaw at Holy Trinity Church, Idle, Bradford

[Mr Lick]

An African National Congress supporter has his forehead painted with the president's name outside the high court in Johannesburg, South Africa. President Jacob Zuma is asking the high court to issue an order that display of the now-defaced penis painting violates his constitutional right to dignity. The gallery and the artist counter that freedom of expression, also protected by the constitution, is at stake



A demonstrator from the campaign group Avaaz wears a mask depicting Jeremy Hunt, while holding a goat wearing a tie. Jeremy Hunt's former special adviser Adam Smith is giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry this afternoon

[Mr Lick]

Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue firefighters and Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife officers hold a tarp to catch the falling bear after it was tranquilized in downtown Steamboat Springs.












After being tranquilized, the bear was caged and awaited transfer out of the city by Division of Parks and Wildlife officers