World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Israeli president Shimon Peres and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton look to be sharing a fond moment after their meeting in Jerusalem. Clinton held top-level talks with Israeli leaders expected to focus on changes sweeping the Middle East, as well as Iran and the stalled peace process



Bradley Wiggins, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, looks to be gaining on a helicopter during today's stage of the 2012 Tour de France between Samatan and Pau



No it's not Bournemouth beach – not with the weather we've been having lately – but a crowded scene at a beach resort in Qingdao, China, where holidaymakers flocked to spend a summer weekend

[Mr Lick]

Thought that Bobcock might appreciate this collection of pics

Up hill and down dale: a photographer's journey through Wales

In his latest collection, published this week, landscape photographer David Wilson turns his attention to his home country of Wales. The result, says Griff Rhys Jones in a foreword to the book, Wales: A Photographer's Journey, is a series of images taking in "knock-kneed and shock-waved sheep, a copse, white-feathered with frost, wet foreshores, black seas and white skies, corrugated iron, fuzzy mist and telegraph poles. David Wilson's photographs don't flatter Wales, but by God they capture her essence.

You have to look at these pictures with your metaphorical coat on. You feel the cold searching sun and the scouring wind and enjoy the harsh abstractions and the bare outlines. These are powerful images. They remind us that rural Wales has a stark and demanding beauty." Take a look at a selection of his pictures




Cnicht mountain from Croesor village, Snowdonia
'Rising to a shapely 689m (2260ft), Cnicht is known affectionately as the 'Welsh Matterhorn'. The brightly lit washing in the foreground acts as a handy scaling device, allowing you to appreciate the full grandeur of the mountain. For the purposes of contrast it helps that it was a white wash!'



Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales
'Throughout Wales you stumble across examples of an industrial heritage in decline. Blaenau Ffestiniog was built on slate, but most of the mines have closed. This image could be a metaphor for those bygone industries: a neat row of workers cottages with the obligatory chapel dwarfed by a mountain of slag'



Cwmorthin Mine, near Blaenau Ffestiniog, north Wales
'The slate in this area was mined rather than quarried. The miners would live in barracks, returning home on weekends. It was a gruelling existence fraught with danger. The valley is now dotted with the empty shells of buildings and there is a quiet hush to Cwmorthin where once there was energised industrial activity'



Eglwys y Grog, Mwnt, Ceredigion I love discovering whitewashed buildings in the landscape especially when they're as evocative as this church at Mwnt. Sitting within an earth and stone embankment and with its simple architecture, the church is redolent of early Christian buildings



Fan Foel, The Black Mountain, south-west Wales
'A late winter's afternoon with the sun dipping westward, a solitary wind-bent tree and some sheep. Wales has its fair share of barren locations; wildernesses where you can escape modern life. The Black Mountain is one such place: an area of rugged, brutal beauty'



Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire
This picture conjures up a traditional image of the Welsh village: cottages hunkered down behind sturdy walls alongside what was once the hub of village life, the chapel. I was drawn by the simplicity of the three pine ends seemingly connected by the telegraph pole. The mist helps soften the image'



Rusty Moggies
'The Welsh weather takes its toll on man's labours; nothing escapes the scourging rain and winds'



Hafod Rhisgl, Nant Gwynant, Snowdonia
'As a Welsh landscape photographer, you have to factor in the odd downpour. It's an element I like to incorporate into my photography whenever possible; provided I have my wife Anna holding a large golfing umbrella over me! The battered old caravan appears to be cowering for shelter under the tree'



The road to Tregaron, Cambrian Mountains, mid-Wales
'I stopped here for a spot of lunch on the old drovers' route back to Tregaron, and was drawn to the incongruity of the phone box marooned in the middle of nowhere. Often referred to as the 'Welsh desert', the Cambrian Mountains roll on for miles: a sea of grassland bisected by the very occasional road'

[Ratchaburi]

I have enjoyed you World New Mr Lick & come to look every day

[Mr Lick]

100 years of Calgary's Stampede



















Chad Besplug (L) of Claresholm, Alberta gets tackled by rodeo bullfighters after he rode the bull Kiss This to win the Bull Riding event and $100,000 during the finals at the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo in Calgary, Alberta July 15, 2012.



Kaycee Feild of Elk Ridge, Utah dives into the mud after he won the Bareback event on the horse Nelly Kelly to win $100,000 during the finals at the 100th Anniversary of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo in Calgary, Alberta, July 15, 2012.
















Claire Sun from China milks a cow during the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta

[Mr Lick]

Border staff 'being cut too fast'



The UK Border Agency has laid off 1,000 more staff than intended and is having to hire extra people and increase overtime to meet its workload, Whitehall's spending watchdog says.

The National Audit Office found the organisation had not slowed cuts even though the introduction of an automated immigration system had run late.

More people than expected wanted to leave the UKBA, it added.

But the government said it had "overhauled" much of the UKBA's work.

In February, the UKBA was split in two following revelations that hundreds of thousands of people were let into the country without appropriate checks.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the UK Border Force would become a separate law-enforcement body with its own distinctive "ethos".

[Mr Lick]

Barclays: FSA regulator criticises 'culture of gaming'



A senior banking regulator has told MPs Barclays had a "culture of gaming" that emanated "from the top".

The Financial Services Authority's Andrew Bailey also said former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond's recent evidence to MPs was "highly selective".

Earlier, ex-Barclays executive Jerry del Missier told MPs he was instructed by Mr Diamond to manipulate the bank's Libor interest rate submissions.

Barclays has been fined £290m after admitting trying to manipulate Libor.

The Treasury Committee has been hearing evidence after it was disclosed Barclays' traders tried to manipulate Libor from 2005 to 2009.

Mr Bailey told the committee there had been strong concerns about the investment bank operations at Barclays and its attitude to risk.

"There was a culture of gaming. It had to change," said Mr Bailey, adding: "We drew the conclusion that there was a problem with this institution."

He said: "You could not escape the conclusion that the culture of this institution was coming from the top." And when asked if "the top" meant Mr Diamond, Mr Bailey replied "yes".

[Mr Lick]

Senate report: HSBC 'allowed drug money laundering'




A US Senate probe has disclosed how lax controls at Europe's largest bank left it vulnerable to being used to launder dirty money from around the world.

The report into HSBC, released ahead of a Senate hearing on Tuesday, says huge sums of Mexican drug money almost certainly passed through the bank.

Suspicious funds from Syria, the Cayman Islands, Iran and Saudi Arabia also passed through the bank.

HSBC said it expected to be held accountable for what went wrong.

The damning report comes at a difficult time for the British banking sector, with standards and practices are under the spotlight.

Critics say the current furore over the manipulation of the Libor inter-bank interest rate is the latest example of a banking system in need of fundamental reform.

The report also concludes that the US bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, failed to properly monitor HSBC.

[Mr Lick]

Workers rescued after New Zealand mine fire




Workers trapped underground in a New Zealand gold mine have been rescued, seven hours after a truck engine caught fire.

All 28 miners were ''accounted for and well'', a spokesman for Newmont Waihi Gold, which operates the Trio mine on the North Island, told reporters.

They were 150m (500ft) underground when the fire broke out early on Tuesday, reports said

One man was being examined by medical officials for smoke inhalation.

The rest of the men were fine and ''raring to go home and have a sleep'', said the spokesman, Kit Wilson.

They had been working for eight hours of a 10-hour overnight shift when the fire broke out.

After five hours 13 of the men, who took refuge in two safety chambers, got out. The rest were rescued from a third safety chamber two hours later, just before noon in New Zealand.

It was not clear what started the fire, Mr Wilson said.

[Mr Lick]

United Nations peacekeepers stand deployed with an armored personnel carrier in Goma on July 10, 2012. The United Nations' Stabilisation Mission for the Congo (MONUSCO) deployed peacekeepers at key positions around the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province following a threat by M23 rebels to advance on the city.



An Indian United Nations peacekeeper digs new defenses on a hill on the outskirts of Goma on July 13, 2012. The commander in charge of this hilltop said that this position would be "the last line of defense" against an advance by M23 rebels, should they threaten Goma.



Brigadier-General Harinder Singh, the United Nations brigade commander for North Kivu, is followed by General Lucien Bahuma, the new commander of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) for North Kivu, following a strategy meeting above the village of Kibumba I, around 20km from the city of Goma, on July 11, 2012.









Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) stand guard on the road between Goma and Rutshuru near the village of Kibumba I on July 11, 2012. The FARDC has deployed forces around Goma to repel any possible advance by M23 rebels on Goma.



Roger Meece, Special Representative to the United Nations Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, left, and Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu province, second left, leave a press conference in Goma on July 12, 2012. Meece said that the mandate of the UN mission in Congo was to protect civilians and therefore the use of force to prevent the advance of M23 is legitimate.



Residents of Kitchanga sit outside a small shop in the small town in Masisi territory on July 16, 2012. M23 rebels are believed to be marching through the Virunga National Park from Rutshuru towards this town, which could potentially be used as a staging ground for a western march on Goma, the provincial capital. The town is currently held by the Congolese government army, but with many soldiers being ex-CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple - a rebel group that was integrated into the army in 2009), there are fears that they could defect to join M23, which is largely formed of former CNDP fighters.

[Mr Lick]

A helicopter releases water above a blazing tower block in Istanbul, Turkey on July 17, 2012. A large fire broke out in a 42-storey tower block in central Istanbul on Tuesday, sending thick smoke billowing into the air before firefighters extinguished the blaze, and there were no reports of casualties, officials said







A large fire broke out in a 42-storey tower block in central Istanbul on Tuesday, sending thick smoke billowing into the air before firefighters extinguished the blaze, and there were no reports of casualties, officials said.

Live images on Turkish television earlier showed debris falling from the upper floors of the building, which is made up of residential apartments and offices, as fire crews fought the blaze.

People wearing breathing masks were led out by fire crews

[Mr Lick]

Afghan police officers listen during a police graduation ceremony at the interior ministry in Kabul on July 17, 2012. Five hundred and thirty five police officers graduated during the ceremony.

[Mr Lick]

Pedestrians look on near the scene of a shooting in Toronto early on July 17, 2012, that left at least 19 people injured and two dead. The shooting took place after an altercation at an outdoor barbecue.






A woman sits on the curb wearing handcuffs following a shooting in Scarborough on July 17, 2012



The shooting raised fresh fears of a rise in gun crime in Canada's largest city.

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair told CBC that a teenage girl and a man aged about 20 had been killed in the violence shortly before 11 p.m. ET Monday.

"I've been a cop for 35 years, this is the worst incidence of gun violence in my memory anywhere in North America," Blair said

[Mr Lick]

Indian artists dressed as characters from the movie Avatar perform during the final procession of the eleven day traditional festival of 'Bonalu', a ritual offering to the goddess MahaKali at Sri Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in Hyderabad on Monday. The Goddess is honoured mostly by women during Bonalu festival with offerings of food and dancing.



A performer blows fire from his mouth as he performs during the annual Hindu religious festival of Bonalu in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. The word "Bonalu" is derived from the Telugu language word "Bhojanalu", the food offered to Goddess Kali, the Hindu goddess of power. The main ritual in the month-long festival involves offering cooked rice, jaggery, curd, water and other dishes, which are brought by women in earthen pots, to the Goddess Kali. Devotees believe that the offerings ward off evils and epidemics during the monsoon season.



Indian artists wait to perform during a procession of "Bonalu" festival in Hyderabad, India. Bonalu is a Hindu folk festival of the Telangana region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

[Mr Lick]

Bangladeshi laborers work with molten metal to make a propeller in a casting factory at a dockyard beside the Buriganga River in Dhaka on Monday, July 16.

Twenty-eight dockyards occupying 30.96 acres of the Buriganga shore have been in operation for the last 50 years without any authorization or guidelines. These dockyards are polluting the river and encroaching into the riverbank, reducing its navigability.

[Mr Lick]

This little dog is wearing a pair of shoes to keep from burning its paws on the scorching pavements of Tokyo



A farmer looks over an ear of corn picked from one of his fields near Ashley, Illinois. The field from which the corn was picked has yielded more than 180 bushels of corn per acre in past years, The farmer expects to get less than 15 bushels per acre from this year's drought-damaged crop. According to the Illinois Farm Bureau the state is experiencing the sixth driest year on record



Activists from the European Union of Jewish Students stand with their hands taped to each other's near Laszlo Csatary's home in Budapest during a protest against Csatary, which was called after a Hungarian prosecutor said that investigating the alleged Nazi war criminal was problematic because the events took place so long ago and in a different country



The British foreign minister, William Hague, is visiting refugees who have fled the violence in Syria, at Bashabsha camp near the Jordanian city of Al Ramtha

[Mr Lick]

Olympic LomoWall at Museum of London

[Mr Lick]

PC Yvonne Fletcher murder: British police visit Libya



Two Metropolitan Police detectives have flown to Libya as part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of PC Yvonne Fletcher.

It follows a request from the Libyan authorities for officers to revisit as soon as possible.

PC Fletcher, 25, was shot while policing a protest against the Muammar Gaddafi regime at the Libyan embassy in St James's Square in London in 1984.

The detectives are expected to be in Tripoli for several days.

The request was made via the Foreign Office, a statement from the Met said.

The officers are due to meet Libyan officials to follow up preliminary discussions held last month on working together to identify who was responsible for PC Fletcher's murder.

The statement said: "It is hoped that the officers will again have the opportunity to meet Libya's Prosecutor General.

"Detectives remain in regular contact with WPC Fletcher's family who will be given an update about the visit

[Mr Lick]

Doctors suspended in India's Rajasthan for 'gender tests'



Medical authorities in India's Rajasthan state have suspended 12 doctors for allegedly carrying out pre-natal sex determination tests.

The action was taken after local courts charged the doctors with violating a 1994 law that banned revealing the sex of the foetus to curb female foeticide.

According to the 2011 census, there are 914 girls to every 1,000 boys in India.

Campaigners say the skewed sex ratio is largely due to the availability of antenatal sex screening.

Despite the 1994 ban, officials say pre-natal sex tests are still widely practised.

Rajasthan has only 883 girls in the 0-6 age group for every 1,000 boys and Sriganganagar district, where 11 of the suspended doctors are based, is one of the worst affected by the problem.

Officials say they have filed 308 cases against doctors and ultrasound clinics in the state for violating the 1994 law and so far, 21 doctors have been suspended.

[Mr Lick]

French paper Liberation prints Mohamed Merah transcript



The French paper Liberation has printed an 173-page long transcript of conversations between the killer Mohamed Merah and police negotiators.

In extracts, Merah, who was shot dead after killing seven people, describes how the murders "soothed his heart".

The move has prompted an inquiry into breach of confidentiality of an investigation, AFP reports.

The authorities are already investigating after a TV channel aired extracts from the tapes a week ago.

Merah, 23, killed three soldiers and four Jews, including three children, in several attacks in March.

[Mr Lick]

Mau Mau case: UK government accepts abuse took place




The British government accepts that colonial forces in Kenya tortured and abused detainees during the Mau Mau rebellion, the High Court has heard.

Three elderly Kenyan men who are suing the government for damages were told it did not dispute that "terrible things" had happened to them.

Their lawyers say it is the first ever official acknowledgement by the UK.

The revolt against British rule in Kenya in the 1950s and 1960s was marked by atrocities, with thousands killed.

The British government argues that too much time has passed for a fair trial to be conducted.

Before starting cross-examination of witnesses at the trial, the QC for the British government, Guy Mansfield, said he did not want to dispute that civilians had suffered torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial administration.

He then directly spoke to one of the witnesses, telling him that he did "not want to dispute the fact that terrible things happened to you".

[Loy Toy]

Over 720,000 views and I bet your thread will reach 1,000,000.

Well done Mr Lick.

[Mr Lick]

Man and woman found in buried car in Dorset



Two people have been found dead in a car buried under a pile of earth near a partly-collapsed tunnel in Dorset.

The man and woman were discovered in the car near the Beaminster Tunnel on Monday evening.

Avon and Somerset Police said two people from the county had been reported missing and were believed to have been in the Beaminster area.

The car was unearthed near the A3066 tunnel, which has been closed since 7 July after a landslip.

Dorset Fire and Rescue began excavating the pile of earth and mud after being contacted by Avon and Somerset Police.

Firefighters found the car about 40 minutes later at about 19:20 BST.

The road has been closed while emergency services excavate the vehicle.

[Mr Lick]

BBC Rogue Traders' Dan Penteado jailed for benefit fraud



A presenter on the BBC consumer affairs show Rogue Traders has been jailed for 12 weeks for benefit fraud totalling more than £24,000.

Dan Penteado, 40, from Bournemouth, admitted eight offences of dishonestly or knowingly claiming housing and council tax benefits.

Bournemouth Magistrates' Court heard he failed to declare his BBC earnings.

A spokesperson for the corporation said Penteado would not be returning to the programme.

He had been the motorbike-riding on-screen sidekick of Rogue Traders star Matt Allwright since 2001.

During a hearing at Bournemouth Magistrate's Court in June, the prosecution said the offences went back to 2007 when Penteado filled out his first claim form and failed to declare he had another bank account.

[Mr Lick]

Barclays sailed close to the wind, Bank governor says



Barclays bank had sailed "close to the wind" too often, the governor of the Bank of England has said.

In evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, Sir Mervyn King said the UK authorities were worried about senior management at Barclays, even before the recent Libor scandal broke.

The governor and the chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) were explaining why they wanted Barclays' chief executive Bob Diamond to resign.

Mr Diamond stepped down last month.

Sir Mervyn told the MPs that the board of Barclays had appeared to be in a "state of denial" about the concerns that the Bank and the financial regulator, the FSA, had had about the way the bank operated.

These had been conveyed in writing to the bank's board of directors in April in a formal letter from Lord Turner of the FSA.

Explaining why the Libor scandal had not been the straw that broke the camel's back but a "bale", Sir Mervyn told the MPs: "They [the bank] have been sailing too close to the wind across a wide number of areas."

He explained that this had made regulating Barclays very difficult, and this in turn had led them to lose confidence in the senior executive management at Barclays, such as Mr Diamond

[Mr Lick]

Nigeria fines Shell $5bn over Bonga oil spill



Nigeria's government has fined oil giant Shell $5bn (£3.2bn) for an oil spill off the country's southern coast last December.

The disclosure was made during a parliamentary hearing on the matter.

A leak at the Bonga field during a transfer of oil to a tanker led to 40,000 barrels spilling into the Atlantic Ocean.

But a Shell spokesperson said the fine was invalid as everything had been done to prevent environmental damage.

The Bonga field, operated by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (Snepco), is approximately 120km (75 miles) offshore and produces 10% of Nigeria's oil exports.

The spill was contained before it reached the shore.

The head of Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency informed MPs on the House of Representatives's environment committee about the fine.

"Although adequate containment measures were put in place to combat the Bonga oil spill, it however posed a serious environmental threat to the offshore environments," Peter Idabor said.