World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev 'expects jail' over punch-up






Evgeny Lebedev, speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "We believe there's been a contract taken out on his head"


Russian media mogul Alexander Lebedev thinks he "probably will" be jailed in Russia over a punch-up live on TV last year, his son has told the BBC.

Evgeny Lebedev said he feared his father could be killed in jail because of his anti-corruption campaign.

Alexander Lebedev owns two UK newspapers and holds a major stake in Russia's opposition Novaya Gazeta.

Mr Lebedev is a critic of President Vladimir Putin. Moscow denies it is behind the criminal case against him.

If convicted for knocking another businessman off his chair during a heated TV debate in September 2011, Mr Lebedev faces up to seven years in prison.

He is the owner of Britain's Evening Standard and the Independent newspapers.



Russian billionaire Lebedev punches fellow TV guest

[Mr Lick]

High winds and rain hit Britain - more pics






























At least someone's enjoying it all

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Rory McIlroy wins DP World Tour Championship in Dubai


DP World Tour Championship final leaderboard:

• -23: R McIlroy (NI)
• -21: J Rose (Eng)
• -18: L Donald (Eng), C Schwartzel (SA)
• Selected others -14: J Donaldson (Wal), P Harrington (Ire), S Garcia (Spa)
• -13: S Jamieson (Sco)
• -12: S Gallacher (Sco)
• -11: R Rock (Eng)
• -10: I Poulter (Eng), D Willett (Eng), C Wood (Eng), M Warren (Sco), R Ramsay (Sco)
• -4: L Westwood (Eng), P Lawrie (Sco), D Drysdale (Sco)

World number one Rory McIlroy capped a sensational 2012 by birdieing the last five holes to win the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

The Northern Irishman won his fifth title of the year after a 66 took him to 23 under, two clear of Justin Rose.

“I've won one major in '11 and one in '12. It would be nice to keep that run going next year” - Rory McIlroy

Rose holed eight birdies and an eagle in a course record 10-under-par 62.

Fellow Englishman Luke Donald, who led overnight with McIlroy, shared third with Charl Schwartzel on 18 under after closing with a one-under 71

[Mr Lick]

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won a third consecutive world drivers' title by three points in the Brazilian GP.

In an incident-packed, rain-affected race, Vettel fought back to finish sixth after dropping to last on lap one following a collision.

His rival Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished second, meaning he needed Vettel to be lower than seventh.

McLaren's was hit by Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.
Three-time record

• Vettel is only the third driver to win three titles in a row
• Juan Manuel Fangio won four in a row between 1954 and 1957
• Michael Schumacher won five in a row between 2000 and 2004

The German was trying to pass Hamilton for the lead with 27 laps to go but lost control on the slippery track and slid into the side of Hamilton's car.

Hulkenberg, driving the race of his career up to that point, was given a drive-through penalty and finished fifth, behind Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa in third and Red Bull's Mark Webber in fourth.

Final Brazilian GP top 10

1. Jenson Button - McLaren 1:45:22.656
2. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari +2.754
3. Felipe Massa - Ferrari +3.615
4. Mark Webber - Red Bull +4.936
5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India +5.708
6. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull +9.453
7. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes +11.907
8. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso +28.653
9. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber +31.250
10. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus +1 lap


Final F1 Driver's Championship standings top 10

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull 281
2. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari 278
3. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus 207
4. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren 190
5. Jenson Button - McLaren 188
6. Mark Webber - Red Bull 179
7. Felipe Massa - Ferrari 122
8. Romain Grosjean - Lotus 96
9. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes 93
10 Sergio Perez - Sauber 66

[Mr Lick]

A Bangladeshi woman cries as she claims the body of her relative killed in a fire at a garment factory outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, Nov. 25.



Village women cover their noses to avoid smell of the burnt bodies as they gather near the ground where the bodies are kept for identification

[Mr Lick]

A Christmas teddy bear is wheeled along on a trolley at the Steiff stuffed toy factory, Nov. 23, in Giengen an der Brenz, Germany. Founded by seamstress Margarethe Steiff in 1880, Steiff has been making stuffed teddy bears since the early 20th century after her nephew Richard Steiff exhibited the first commercially produced teddy bear in Europe in 1903. Teddy bears are among the most popular children's toys and the company is hoping for a strong Christmas season

[Mr Lick]

Guatemala City, Guatemala: Women carry lanterns during an annual rally to commemorate the international day for the elimination of violence against women



Hanoi, Vietnam: Monks attend the closing ceremony of the seventh congress of Vietnam's Buddhist Sangha Association



Lopburi, Thailand: A monkey licks a block of ice containing bananas during the annual monkey buffet festival



Atlanta, Georgia, US: Cash Barnes's public art project, Take Me To Your Leader, stands on the Atlanta BeltLine

[Mr Lick]

Mugunga, Democratic Republic of the Congo: An elderly woman stands outside her makeshift shelter during a food aid distribution exercise conducted by humanitarian agencies at a camp for the internally displaced



Tokyo, Japan: A baby has a snooze in a stroller at a rally demanding the end of nuclear power



Khorramabad, Iran: Shia Muslims beat their chests after rubbing mud on their bodies during the Kharrah Mali (Mud Rubbing) ritual to mark the Ashura religious ceremony

He looks a wee bit off colour



New Delhi, India: A member of an Indian band drinks tea as he takes a break during a Sikh religious procession to mark the martyrdom of the ninth guru, Tegh Bahadur

[Mr Lick]

Dancers Maylin Daza, right, Barbara Paula, center and Rubi Amaro get dressed and apply make up before dancing with their group Danza Voluminosa, or Voluminous Dance, in Havana, Cuba, Nov. 24. Voluminous Dance is a theater company with overweight dancers founded by dancer, choreographer and director Juan Miguel Mas.

[Mr Lick]

lood water can be seen in fields surrounding the Glastonbury Tor on the Somerset Levels, Nov. 25, near Glastonbury, England.

Severe flood warnings were issued as already sodden parts of southwest England were soaked by rain and battered by strong winds. Emergency services warned lives were at risk.

[Mr Lick]

A good days for hippos: Head groundsman Ian Ward wades through floodwater on the track following torrential rain at Wetherby Racecourse, Yorkshire



The dramatic moments when David and his son Cameron drove their Landrover into the flood to rescue a pensioner after spotting the elderly man floating down the swollen river in his car. The man was wet and shaken but otherwise unhurt

[Mr Lick]

A road is completely submerged near East Lyng, Somerset.






























Oh no!!

[Mr Lick]

Health workers gather to protest outside La Paz Hospital in Madrid, Spain. Trade unions have called for a 48 hour health workers' general strike in the Madrid Region after the regional government announced severe cuts and privatization of medical centres



Looking like a statue a French riot police officer guards an area where protesters are squatting on protected swamp land near Notre-Dames-des-Landes not far from the French western city of Nantes, where the prime minister wants to build a new airport

[Mr Lick]

A Syrian boy picks up parts of explosive devices that landed on his front garden in the village of Atme, near the Turkish border in Syria's Idlib province



People in their 'rooms' at a capsule hotel in Chongqing, China. The capsule hotel features 16 rooms, with each measuring 1.2 meters wide and 2.2 meters long. Each room comes equipped with power supply, clock, wall lamp, TV, air conditioner and WIFI. An overnight stay costs £3.80

[Mr Lick]

Former director-general of the BBC George Entwistle, left, arrives at the solicitors' office in central London, the venue for the BBC's Pollard Review



Deepak Sharma, who claims to use magic, appears to levitate as passers by look on at the Lodhi gardens in Delhi, India in this Hipstamatic



A worker cries during a protest against the death of her colleagues after a devastating fire in a garment factory which killed more than 100 people, in Savar, near Dakar, Bangladesh



Two grey seals appear to be sharing a joke on the beach in Heligoland, Germany

[Mr Lick]

A Palestinian woman walks past as Hamas policemen sit atop their destroyed headquarters in Gaza City, November 25, 2012






A monkey nips a woman's hair at the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple during the Monkey Buffet Festival in Lopburi province, north of Bangkok, November 25, 2012



Protesters run from the riot police during clashes at Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, November 25, 2012



People take part in a protest against violence directed at women, in front of a church at the town hall in Oviedo, Spain, November 25, 2012.



Russian physicist Valentin Danilov embraces a friend near a train before leaving for Novosibirsk, the day after he was released from a penal colony, at a railway station in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, November 25, 2012.



Shi'ite Muslims living in Greece take part in a Muharram procession marking Ashura in Piraeus town near Athens, November 25, 2012



Mick Jagger performs with the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena in London, November 25, 2012. The Stones took to the stage after a five-year hiatus to celebrate the golden jubilee of one of the most successful and enduring bands in rock and roll history.

[Mr Lick]

Flooding in the UK

[Mr Lick]

Shia mark Ashura

[Mr Lick]

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez banned from driving

Tevez was not present at Lancaster Magistrates' Court for the hearing

Manchester City footballer Carlos Tevez has been banned from driving for failing to provide information when he was stopped for speeding in Lancashire.

The Premier League striker was stopped by police for breaking the speed limit in Morecambe on 28 March.

He had been in the town playing in a reserve team game.

Tevez, from Prestbury in Cheshire, was given an interim ban by Lancaster magistrates. He will have the length of his suspension set in December.

The striker's solicitor Gwyn Lewis told the court Tevez accepted he had not provided identification, which carries a punishment of six penalty points, and as a result was liable for disqualification, due to the "totting up procedure".

The court agreed with a request from Mr Lewis to impose a temporary ban on the striker, who did not attend court, until a second offence of failing to produce a full UK driving licence was dealt with.

The striker's car - a Porsche Panamera - was impounded in Manchester on 15 November when he was unable to produce the document.

As a driver from outside the European Union, Tevez is allowed to drive in the UK for 12 months on his Argentine driving licence but is then required to apply for a provisional licence and pass the British theory and practical driving tests.

Sentencing for both offences will take place at Lancaster Magistrates on 20 December.

[Mr Lick]

Trial of Austrian ex-MEP Ernst Strasser opens

Mr Strasser was surrounded by reporters as he arrived in court

A former Austrian interior minister and Euro MP, Ernst Strasser, has gone on trial in Vienna on corruption charges, after being secretly filmed by British journalists posing as lobbyists.

Mr Strasser, of the conservative Austrian People's Party (OeVP), resigned as an MEP in March 2011.

The UK's Sunday Times newspaper alleged he had accepted offers of cash in exchange for influencing EU laws.

He has denied wrongdoing, saying he guessed that the "lobbyists" were fake.

He says he played along with the ruse in order to find out what was actually motivating the British pair, who dined with him before the Sunday Times expose in March 2011.

Prosecutors accuse him of having asked for a 100,000-euro (£81,000; $130,000) annual payment in exchange for influencing EU legislation in the European Parliament.

Eight days of hearings have been allotted for the trial, and a verdict is expected on 13 December. Mr Strasser, 56, faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty.

He served as Austrian interior minister from 2000 to 2004.

[Mr Lick]

Fire at German workshop for disabled people




Some 50 people were said to be in the building when the fire broke out











Several people were taken to hospital, suffering mainly from smoke inhalation problems







Woodwork and metalwork were among the activities undertaken at the centre



Police confirmed that 14 people had died

[Mr Lick]

Cockroach-eating competition man 'choked to death'

No-one else fell ill after the contest

A Florida man choked to death in October after eating dozens of live cockroaches in a contest to win a python, an autopsy has found.

The body of Edward Archbold, 32, tested negative for drugs and Broward County medical examiner ruled the death was an accident caused by "asphyxia".

Archbold collapsed and died soon after the promotional event at a pet store in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

No other illnesses were reported among some 30 competitors.

Archbold died of "asphyxia due to choking and aspiration of gastric contents", the Broward County medical examiner's office found.

His airway became obstructed with "arthropod body parts".

The grand prize for the contest winner was a python, and Archbold had planned to sell the snake to a friend, according to the owner of the Ben Siegel Reptile Store.

[Mr Lick]

Flooding in the UK

[Mr Lick]

Police officers are sprayed with milk by European milk farmers during a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels on Nov. 26.




Dairy farmers sprayed thousands of gallons of fresh milk at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday in protest at what they say are excessive milk quotas and prices below the cost of production.

Hundreds of farmers and tractors from across Europe took up position in a park near the European Commission and a square in front of the parliament in the early afternoon, after blocking traffic along several of Brussels' busiest streets.