World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Rochdale grooming gang leader gets 22 years




The jailed leader of a Rochdale sex ring has received a further term of 22 years for 30 child rape charges.

Shabir Ahmed, 59, of Oldham, was one of nine men convicted of sex offences against children at Liverpool Crown Court in May.

He was not named at the time because he faced further charges, but was jailed for 19 years.

Ahmed was convicted at Manchester Crown Court in June of raping and sexually abusing a girl for more than a decade.

His sentence will run concurrently with the earlier one.

Judge Mushtaq Khokhar was forced to have Ahmed removed from the dock before passing sentence because he was persistently interrupted by the defendant.

Before his ejection, Ahmed shouted: "It's all lies. It's all concocted by the police."

He then looked over at journalists covering the case and shouted: "What are you looking at?"

[Mr Lick]

The Honduras President has ordered a general disarmament following 78 recent deaths from violence in the Aguan Valley region

[Mr Lick]

Men shelter under umbrellas in the rain during a tide-watching trip to the Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang province, China on August 2, 2012. China's meteorological agency issued typhoon warnings on Thursday for the southern and eastern provinces as Typhoon Saola and Typhoon Damrey approach. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told authorities to be on the highest alert.



A taxi sits half-submerged on a flooded road in New Taipei City, Taiwan on August 2, 2012. Typhoon Saola pounded Taiwan with fierce winds and torrential rain that forced nearly the entire island to shut down on August 2, rescuers said.

Reuters reports — Torrential rain triggered landslides and flooding across Taiwan on Thursday, killing five people and injuring 15, as Typhoon Saola skirted the island's east and north coasts and headed towards China.

The military helped more than 1,000 people flee from the less-populated mountainous north and east of the island, while in main cities including the capital, Taipei, most businesses, schools and financial markets were shut for the day

[Mr Lick]

Environmental activists measure a dead whale shark after it was stranded on Pandansimo beach in Bantul, near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta on August 2, 2012.

The whale shark died after rescue teams failed to drag it back to sea, the European Pressphoto Agency reports. According to the coordinator of local NGO Animal Friends Yogyakarta, the creature ran aground on Baru beach while looking for food. Whale sharks feed on macro-algae, plankton, krill, small squid, or small fish.

[Mr Lick]

Japan's Satoshi Shimizu, in red, reacts as Azerbaijan's Magomed Abdulhamidov, in blue, goes down to his knees in their Men's Bantam (56kg) Round of 16 boxing match during the London 2012 Olympic Games on August 1, 2012.



Japan's bantamweight Satoshi Shimizu, trailing by seven points going into the last round against Magomed Abdulhamidov, knocked the Azerbaijani down six times, the first of which he struggled to get up from. The judges scored the round 10-10, handing Shimizu two extra points for a warning against Abdulhamidov, who propped himself up against the top rope as the referee raised his hand in victory.

The Japanese boxer's team leader Masamori Yamane accused the referee of trying to support Abdulhamidov by attempting to fix his headgear. After deliberating for over an hour, AIBA said that under its rules, the referee should have given the Azerbaijani fighter "at least" three standing counts which would have resulted in the contest being stopped. They, therefore, overturned the result, handing victory to Shimizu, who was staggered by the original decision hours earlier.



Shimizu reacts after losing.



Shimizu reacts as he walks from the ring after losing the bout. He was later awarded victory.

[Mr Lick]

Managua, Nicaragua: A promesante or promiser, with his body coated in a mix of grease and motor oil, takes part in the Santo Domingo festivities

Clearly he hasn't heard of Motor Neuron disease



Hong Kong, China: A woman looks at the city's skyline during sunset as the pollution index in the city hit its worst levels in more than two years



Noblesville, Indiana, USA: A dock extends into a dry cove where grass has begun to grow at Morse Reservoir. The reservoir is six feet below normal levels



Brooklyn, New York, USA: Jennifer Saravia grieves next to a memorial outside the apartment where her brother and another man were shot

[Mr Lick]

Typhoon Saola's destruction




A man walks with his umbrella against strong winds as Typhoon Saola approaches Taiwan in Taipei August 1, 2012. Torrential rain and strong winds triggered landslides and flooding, forcing financial markets to shut and disrupting transport, after Typhoon Saola made landfall in eastern Taiwan on Thursday, authorities said




































Informal settlers pull the roofing of their house out of the water after a barge slammed into houses at the height of typhoon Gener, in Manila bay

[Mr Lick]

Japan's Sayaka Sato falls on the court during her women's singles round of 16 badminton match against Denmark's Tine Baun during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Wembley Arena August 1, 2012.



(L to R) Germany's Judith Arndt, Kristin Armstrong of the U.S and Russia's Olga Zabelinskaya rest while waiting for the victory ceremony after the women's cycling individual time trial at the London 2012 Olympic Games August 1, 2012. Arndt finished second, Armstrong placed first and Zabelinskaya came in third.



Ireland's John Joe Nevin (R) fights against Kazakhstan's Knat Abutalipov in their Men's Bantam (56kg) Round of 16 boxing match during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 1, 2012.



Metropolitan Police arrest a suspected drug addict in downtown Sao Paulo August 1, 2012. The Justice of Sao Paulo issued an injunction on Tuesday that prevents military police from arresting drug addicts on the streets.



The referee enquires after Germany's Kerstin Thiele during her fight with China's Chen Fei in their women's -70kg semi-final B judo match at the London 2012 Olympic Games August 1, 2012.



Members of the Greece's far right Golden Dawn party hand out boxes of milk to residents suffering from the economic crisis at the Syntagma square in Athens August 1, 2012.



Ukraine's Nataliya Smal fights with Spain's Cecilia Blanco (blue) during their women's -70kg elimination round of 32 judo match at the London 2012 Olympic Games August 1, 2012.



Islamic faithful walk past the blood-stained pavement outside the entrance of the Es Salam mosque as they leave afternoon prayers in Montauban, near Toulouse, August 1, 2012. Two pig heads and blood were discovered Thursday morning outside the mosque according to municipal authorities.

[Mr Lick]

U.S. Navy Blue Angels pilots Lt. C.J. Simonsen, back, and Lt. David Tickle, middle, fly in formation with Team Oracle stunt pilot Sean D. Tucker, front, on Aug. 2, 2012, near downtown Seattle. Tucker and the Blue Angels are in town for the annual Seafair summer festival featuring an air show and other events.

[Mr Lick]

U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around competition at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, Aug. 2.



Gabrielle Douglas is hugged by team coordinator Martha Karolyi after winning a gold medal in the women's individual all-around gymnastics final during the London 2012 Olympic Games, Aug. 2, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Michael Phelps, top, and Ryan Lochte of the United States compete in the men's 200-meter individual medley swimming final on Aug. 2.






Debbie Phelps, center, the mother of Michael Phelps and his sisters Hilary Phelps, left, and Whitney Phelps, cheer him on during the men's 200-meter individual medley swimming final on Aug. 2.



Michael Phelps became the first male swimmer to win the same event at three successive Olympics when he clinched the men's 200 meters individual medley gold medal at the London Games on Thursday.

[Mr Lick]

A couple takes a bath in a huge puddle at the summer music festival "Prznek Woodstock" in Kostrzyn, Poland on Aug. 2.



The music festival, Przystanek Woodstock (Polish for Woodstock bus station), officially kicked off Thursday in Kostrzyn, Poland near the Polish-German border. The festival which runs from Aug. 2 - 4 has free entrance and claims to be the largest open air festival in Europe.

[Mr Lick]

Flowers offered by villagers lie near the trunk of wild Asiatic male elephant which was killed after being hit by a train in Kurkuria village about 31 miles east of Gauhati, India on Aug. 2.



Local villagers push an elephant killed by a passenger train near Panbari railway station 31 miles east from Guwahati in the northeastern Indian state of Assam on August 2.



A female elephant died on Wednesday after it was hit by a passenger train while crossing a railway track searching for food, forest officials said. Local Indian villagers buried the Asiatic pachyderm near the Panbari railway station in Assam.

[Mr Lick]

London 2012: the weird world of the Olympics



After forgetting her swimming goggles Canada's Barbara Jardin has to improvise before her 200m freestyle semi-final



Wooah! If you think I'm jumping down there you've got another thing coming. I don't even get a medal!






Jesse Smith's son Brook looks emotional after the US won their water polo Group B match against Montenegro






Stop chewing my finger and I'll let go of your pyjamas






He may be the most successful Olympian ever but Michael Phelps's impression of Edvard Munch's The Scream leaves a lot to be desired

[Mr Lick]

Shafilea Ahmed murder trial: Parents guilty of killing




The parents of Shafilea Ahmed have been found guilty of her murder.

The 17-year-old went missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2003 and was found dead on the banks of the River Kent in Cumbria six months later.

Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, had denied her murder but the jury at Chester Crown Court returned guilty verdicts against them both.

The couple suffocated Shafilea with a plastic bag in an apparent "honour killing".

The prosecution claimed she was killed by her parents because she brought shame on the family.

Shafilea's sister Alesha, now 23, told the jury her parents pushed her on to the settee in their house and she heard her mother say "just finish it here".

The parents then forced a plastic bag into the teenager's mouth and killed her in front of their other children.

Taxi driver Mr Ahmed had claimed Shafilea ran away from home in the middle of the night and he never saw her again.

Mrs Ahmed told the court she had played no part in her daughter's death and that she believed her husband had killed Shafilea.

As the verdicts were delivered by the jury, Iftikhar Ahmed stood impassively. Mrs Ahmed wiped tears from her eyes with a tissue.

Their children Junyad, Mevish and the youngest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all broke down in tears.

[Mr Lick]

Carole Waugh case: Body found in London lock-up garage




The body of a woman has been found in a lock-up garage in London by police investigating the case of missing oil executive Carole Waugh.

The body was found in a blue VW Golf at a lock-up garage at Lime Court in New Malden, south-west London, on Thursday at 19:00 BST, Scotland Yard said.

Miss Waugh, 50, of Harrowby Street, Marylebone, was last seen on 16 April.

Police began a murder inquiry on Wednesday and a 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder.

He was detained at Luton airport on Tuesday on suspicion of kidnap and conspiracy to defraud, but subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder.

A warrant to detain him further was granted at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Thursday, police said.

In total 10 people have been arrested over Miss Waugh's disappearance



The body is yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem examination will take place later.
The lock-up, where the body was found, is in a row of garages behind two detached 1930s-built houses in Kingston.



A body was found in a row of garages in New Malden

There is a police cordon in place on the driveway leading to the garages and a tent has been put up close to one of the garages.

Det Ch Insp John McFarlane, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: "The vehicle is a blue VW Golf, registration number W466 NHL.

"We need to hear from anyone with information on the car, particularly since April this year.

[Mr Lick]

Heywood murder: China sets Bo Xilai wife trial date



Ms Gu is married to Bo Xilai, who was considered a rising star in Chinese politics before the scandal


Gu Kailai, wife of Chinese politician Bo Xilai, will go on trial for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood next Thursday, lawyers say.

Prosecutors announced last week that Ms Gu and Zhang Xiaojun, employed at Mr Bo's home, had been charged with intentional homicide.

Mr Heywood was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing on 15 November 2011.

The alleged murder of Mr Heywood triggered Mr Bo's downfall in a scandal that has rocked Chinese politics.

The trial is expected to take place in the eastern city of Hefei, even though the crime allegedly took place hundreds of miles to the west.

Legal experts have previously told BBC Chinese that authorities would have had concerns about the political influence Mr Bo and his family may still exert in Chongqing and whether that would affect a fair trial.

Local officials initially said Mr Heywood died of excessive drinking, but the government announced in April it was investigating Mr Bo's wife in connection with the case

[Mr Lick]

Fury over transfer of killer Dutroux's ex-wife to convent




Hundreds of people in southern Belgium are protesting against plans to transfer the jailed ex-wife of child killer Marc Dutroux to a convent.

The "conditional release" ruling for Michelle Martin came on Tuesday, after a convent near Namur in southern Belgium agreed to take her in.

Protesters have gathered in the village of Malonne holding white balloons and photos of Dutroux's victims.

Last year France refused to let Martin move to a convent in northern France.

She has spent 16 years in prison, out of a 30-year jail term. She was found complicit in two of Dutroux's four murders of young girls.

She was also convicted of helping Dutroux hold his victims prisoner.

Martin will go to the Clarisses convent in Malonne and has been ordered to "keep her distance" from relatives of the victims.

Some protesters shouted "Shame, shame! Jail, jail! Shame on justice!" as they arrived at the convent, the AFP news agency reported

[Mr Lick]

French judge asks UK to arrest Morocco Olympics chief



A French judge has asked British police to arrest the head of Morocco's Olympic committee in relation to the 1965 disappearance of Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka.

Judge Patrick Ramael has tried to have Housni Benslimane arrested since 2007.

The judge wants to question him, along with three other ex-soldiers, about the kidnapping of Mr Ben Barka in Paris.

The Moroccan embassy in London says Mr Benslimane was in the city last week for the Olympics, but has now left.

Although Mr Ramael issued a warrant for his arrest five years ago, it is no longer in force, as neither French prosecutors nor Interpol have endorsed it, AFP news agency says.

Mr Benslimane is not known to have commented on the case.

Mr Ben Barka was an outspoken critic of Morocco's late King Hassan II.

The exact circumstances of his disappearance are not known and his body has never been found.

In 2001 former members of the Moroccan secret service alleged an ex-interior minister had been involved in a plan to assassinate him.

Mr Benslimane, who is now 77, was an army captain in 1965. He is also head of the Moroccan Football Federation.

[Mr Lick]

A Femen movement protestor is detained by police officers during a naked protest in London August 2, 2012. Two topless women painted with the slogans ''Olympic shame'' and ''No Sharia'' protested in front of London's City Hall on Thursday to draw attention to what they called ''bloody Islamist regimes'' taking part in the Olympics



A young Free Syrian Army fighter rests on a school bench in a street in downtown Aleppo August 2, 2012. Behind him the graffiti reads "Ihsan Sadiq fighting group, Amr bin al-Aas brigade of the Free North."



A baby rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) plays with a tiger cub at a zoo in Hefei, Anhui province, China, August 2, 2012.




China's Zhang Jike celebrates after defeating China's Wang Hao in their men's singles gold medal table tennis match at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 2, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Firefighters and bystanders work to extinguish the flames from burning cars in front of the Nile City Towers during clashes between the police and an unknown mob from a nearby neighbourhood in Cairo August 2, 2012.



Prince William (C), his wife Catherine (L), Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry cheer for the British team as they watch the track cycling event at the Velodrome during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 2, 2012.

John Major looks a wee bit bemused, maybe his hearing aid is turned off.



A driver (R) argues with public health workers as they block traffic during a protest against government austerity measures in Madrid August 2, 2012

[Mr Lick]

Vermont farmer in tractor crushes seven police cars



A farmer in the US state of Vermont who was facing a minor drugs charge is now in more serious trouble after driving a tractor over seven police cars.

Roger Pion crushed the county sheriff's cruisers on Thursday before making his getaway on the farm vehicle.

The 34-year-old was stopped by police in Newport city, northern Vermont, not far from the crime scene.

Sheriff's deputies were unaware of the destruction in their department car park until a resident called 911.

[Mr Lick]

Rico Gordon trial: Two men guilty of fatal shooting




Two men from rival gangs murdered an innocent bystander during a gun battle in Bristol, a jury has ruled.

Rico Gordon, 21, of Notting Hill, west London, was killed on Stapleton Road, Easton, on 3 July 2011 after St Pauls Carnival in the city.

Shakah Anderson, 31, of no fixed address, and Rickel Adams, 27, of Neasden, north London, were found guilty of murder.

Both were given life sentences at Bristol Crown Court.

Jurors also found both men guilty of possession of a firearm.

Adams, of Janson Close, was also found guilty of two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Isabell Brant, 19, and Hekekiah Davies, 22, who were also injured in the shooting.

Adams was ordered to serve a minimum of 35 years, and Anderson was ordered to serve at least 32 years.

[Mr Lick]

London, UK: police arrest activists from FEMEN during a protest in front of City Hall



Brasília, Brazil: A man lifts up his shorts as he protests against corruption in front of the supreme court



Aksu, China: An ethnic Uighur man receives traditional Chinese medical treatment to cure cervical spondylosis, a disorder in which there is abnormal wear on the cartilage and bones of the neck



Toronto, Canada: white African lion cubs Lemon and Fintan rest in the heat at the city zoo

[Mr Lick]

London 2012 Olympic Games - Day Seven



Soldiers were drafted in to fill the empty seats for the first day of the athletics at the Olympic Stadium







Jessica Ennis who missed out on the Bejiing Olympics because of injury sets a new British record for the 100 metres hurdles in the Heptathlon



Lords cricket ground



Denmarks Joachim Fischer throws his shirt into the crowd after winning a bronze medal in the Badminton mixed doubles



Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger win Gold for GBR in the women's double sculls