World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Thousands of Egyptians on Monday gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to attend the funeral of youth activist Gaber Salah, who was severely injured during clashes with security forces last Monday and died Sunday night. Activists have been gathering in the square to protest the seizure of new powers by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi. The demonstrations have been reminiscent of an uprising last year that led to the rise of Mursi's Islamist movement






Egyptian protesters react during the funeral of Gaber Salah.

[Mr Lick]

Just two days after a garment-factory fire that killed at least 112 people, another fire broke out at a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Monday. This time, there were no reports that anyone had died in the blaze, but the chaos at the scene, were workers and civilians struggled to put the fire out themselves, highlighted unsafe conditions in an industry rushing to produce for major retailers around the world












Hundreds of people watch the rescue effort after a fire at a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Nov. 26.

[Mr Lick]

A boy on his way to school rides a bicycle across planks on an aqueduct that separates Plempungan Village and Suro Village in Karanganyar, central Java, Indonesia, on Nov. 26. As rickety as it looks, residents prefer to use the old aqueduct as a shortcut. The alternative route requires walking 3.5 miles.

[Mr Lick]

Palestinians wielded shovels and planks Monday to reopen tunnels used to smuggle in goods from Egypt to the Gaza Strip after Israel's eight-day offensive against Hamas. Israeli airstrikes have heavily targeted the network of tunnels, which smugglers use to bring in various items -- including food, fuel, construction materials and weapons -- to Gaza's 1.6 million residents.

While many Gazans depend on the tunnels for basic food and supplies, the underground facilities have also been crucial to arming Hamas and other militant groups



An excavator operates at the site of a destroyed smuggling tunnel dug beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Nov. 26.

[Mr Lick]

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 shortlist



Nicola Adams
The Guardian diarist from Leeds made history by becoming the first woman to win Olympic boxing gold with victory over China's Ren Cancan in the flyweight division. Odds: 200-1



Ben Ainslie
Ainslie's dramatic gold in the Finn class made him the first sailor to win medals in five different Olympics, four of them gold. He was given the honour of carrying the British flag in the closing ceremony. Odds: 150-1



Jessica Ennis
The poster girl of London 2012 certainly did not disappoint, bringing the Olympic Stadium to its feet with a dominant victory in the heptathlon. Odds: 10-1



Mo Farah
Farah won his first gold medal in the 10,000 metres on a glorious night that also saw victories for Ennis and Greg Rutherford in the long jump. He added a second gold in the 5,000m, becoming only the seventh man in Olympic history to do the double. Hugely popular and could well improve on last year's third place. Odds: 5-1



Katherine Grainger
Three times a silver medallist at previous Games, the 37-year-old Scottish rower finally won gold in London in the double sculls with Anna Watkins. Odds: 200-1



Sir Chris Hoy
The Scot successfully defended two of his three Olympic titles from Beijing. That gave the 36-year-old six gold medals, making him the most successful British Olympian of all time. Odds: 150-1



Rory McIlroy
The world No1 golfer is the only non-Olympian or Paralympian on the list. He has had a superb year, winning his second major at the USPGA Championship, topping the money lists in both the United States and Europe and helping Europe win the Ryder Cup. Odds: 100-1



Andy Murray
After so many near-misses, Murray hit the jackpot in 2012, beating Roger Federer to win Olympic singles gold on the same court he had tearfully lost to the Swiss four weeks earlier in the Wimbledon final. He then ended Fred Perry's 76-year reign as the last British man to claim a grand slam singles title, by winning the US Open. It still may not be enough to make him Sports Personality of the Year. Odds: 8-1



Ellie Simmonds
Simmonds emerged as a star at the Beijing Paralympics when she was only 13, winning two gold medals. She added two more golds, a silver and a bronze in London, where she was one of the star attractions. Odds: 50-1



Sarah Storey
Storey's extraordinary dominance of women's cycling at the Paralympics landed her four gold medals and cemented her reputation as one of Britain's finest Paralympians, having switched from swimming after Athens 2004 – a sport in which she won five gold medals. Odds: 200-1



David Weir
The Londoner stole the show where Paralympic athletics was concerned, winning four gold medals at distances from 800m all the way up to the marathon, taking his tally to 10 medals overall, six of them gold. Odds: 25-1



Bradley Wiggins
The hot favourite to win the award, the Guardian columnist has been one of the faces of 2012. He became the first British rider to win the Tour de France and then added Olympic gold in the time trial, his seventh medal overall. He certainly fulfills the personality element. Odds: 2-5

[Mr Lick]

Pahalgam, India: a woman looks at the damage in a village after a fire gutted 46 structures including residential houses and cow sheds



Kathmandu, Nepal: visually impaired cricket players exercise during a practice session for the Twenty20 Blind Cricket World Cup



IJmuiden, the Netherlands: brave – or reckless – morning strollers stand on a breakwater as powerful winds whip up the waves

[Mr Lick]

Mexico City, Mexico: people participate in an early morning Naam yoga super class. At least 15,000 people took part in the event aimed at promoting health and wellbeing



Amsterdam, the Netherlands: a man sleeps with his dog in his lap during the Winner Dog Show



Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip: a Palestinian boy sits among the rubble in a house destroyed during a recent Israeli air strike



Indianapolis, Indiana, US: the recording artist Chris Isaak performs at the Murat Theatre



San Salvador, El Salvador: runners throw paint powder at the end of the Kolorfest race

[Mr Lick]

New Delhi, India: blood covers the floor of a mosque as Indian Shia Muslims flagellate themselves during a Muharram procession marking Ashura



Leishan, China: an ethnic Miao woman carries a baby in a celebration parade for the Miao new year's day



Savar, Bangladesh: a worker visits a burnt garment factory after a fire which killed more than a hundred people

[Mr Lick]

Protests erupt in Egypt

[Mr Lick]

England under water

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

The Rolling Stones at 50



Mick Jager, Charlie Watts, and filmmakers Albert and David Maysles pose during the shooting of the 1970 documentary 'Gimme Shelter'



Ohio 2007



Zurich 2003



Chicago 1997



Shanghai 2006



Detroit 2006



Mick Jagger performs at the halftime show of Super Bowl XL in Detroit, February 5, 2006.



Milan 2006



NY 2010



Ronnie Wood discusses his art at his gallery show in NY 2012






O2 Arena, London, November 25th 2012

[Mr Lick]

Uzbekistan's Gulnara Karimova linked to telecoms scandal

Gulnara Karimova is believed to have major commercial interests in Uzbekistan - including in the telecoms sector

Investigators in Switzerland and Sweden are probing alleged links between a leading European telecommunications company and a high-level multi-million dollar fraud and corruption scandal in Uzbekistan.

The allegations stretch all the way to businesswoman, pop diva and one-time UN ambassador Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

She has so far not commented on the claims and the BBC's efforts for her to do so have remained unanswered.

Swedish-based TeliaSonera, which is partly state-owned, has been at the centre of a huge political storm since Swedish TV broadcast a report accusing it of making a $300m payment to an intermediary company for the rights to operate a 3G mobile phone service in the Central Asian republic.

Those payments seem to have disappeared.

TeliaSonera strongly denies any wrongdoing, but the case, which is now the subject of a major Swedish prosecutor's investigation, has been discussed in parliament and continues to make headlines in Sweden.

[Mr Lick]

Ice cream man guilty of assaulting rival in Blackburn






The fracas broke out between Mr Yummy, run by Zeheer Ramzan, and Mr Whippy, run by Mohammed Mulla


An ice cream seller caught on film in a fracas with a rival in Lancashire has been convicted of assault.

Zeheer Ramzan, 34, of Halifax, admitted possessing an offensive weapon - a crowbar - and causing criminal damage.

The video, seen in court, showed a row between Ramzan, who ran a Mr Yummy van, and Mohammed Mulla, who ran Mr Whippy, in Palatine Road, Blackburn, on 2 June.

Ramzan was remanded on bail to be sentenced at Blackburn Magistrates Court on 17 December.

Ramzan, who denied assault, was seen breaking a window in the van of Mr Mulla, who then drove into the back of Ramzan's van.

Zeheer Ramzan denied assault

The court was told that prior to the incident being filmed Ramzan had hit his rival ice cream seller on the arm with the crowbar causing a bruise.

He also lied to police and tried to blacken Mr Mulla's reputation, the court heard.
Tahir Mahmood, defending, claimed his client had been intimidated by Mr Mulla since he started selling ice creams in Blackburn in March.

Ramzan alleged Mr Mulla had tried to stop him selling ice creams on his patch.
The film of the incident has attracted more than a million views on the website YouTube.

[Mr Lick]

Wales floods: St Asaph and Ruthin scenes



































The fuel station has an appropriate name

[Mr Lick]

People react at the scene of a bomb attack in Kirkuk, Iraq on Nov. 27, 2012. Three parked car bombs exploded Tuesday morning simultaneously in the city of Kirkuk, home to a combustible mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkomen who all claim rights to the city, police said.



Reuters reports — Bombs targeting ethnic Kurds killed four people on Tuesday in the city of Kirkuk in Iraq's disputed northern territories, where the Iraqi army and troops from the autonomous Kurdistan region have been in stand-off for more than a week.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks although Sunni Islamist insurgents including a local affiliate of al Qaeda continue to strike regularly, killing 144 people across Iraq in October alone.

[Mr Lick]

Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach and Clovelly Beach were closed to swimmers on Tuesday as a red algae bloom drifted close to shore, Agence France-Presse reports.

While the red algae, known as Noctiluca scintillans or sea sparkle, has no toxic effects, people are still advised to avoid swimming in areas with discolored water because the algae, which can be high in ammonia, can cause skin irritation.

"It has got quite a fishy smell to it," lifeguard Bruce Hopkins told the Australian Associated Press. "It can irritate some people's skin but generally not much more than that."

[Mr Lick]

Eternal peace does not last long in Singapore.

Starting early next year, workers with heavy machinery will begin constructing an eight-lane highway across the small country's oldest surviving major cemetery, overriding the objections of nature lovers and heritage buffs.

Singapore, with its 5.3 million people crammed onto an island less than half the size of London, is already more densely populated than rival Asian business center Hong Kong, making permanent burial space unfeasible.






Mr Sim holds two coffin nails found when exhuming a grave at Bukit Brown cemetery.

[Mr Lick]

The Queen talks to the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, after his arrival at a wet Windsor Castle on a state visit



A snake snatches a Tree Frog in the banana trees in Jombang, East Java. Indonesia. The frog struggled and tried to kick free for several minutes, even hanging on to a branch while the snake continued to bite its leg and drag it up a tree. But the struggle was in vain as the Painted Bronze Back tree snake eventually got its meal



Bangladeshis prepare to bury the bodies of some of the 112 victims of Saturday's fire in a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

[Mr Lick]

More flooding, this time it's the River Trent at Gunthorpe, Nottinghamshire



Egyptian security forces arrest a protester during clashes near Tahrir square in Cairo



Demonstrators shout slogans during an anti-austerity protest in front of Portugal's parliament in Lisbon



Meanwhile inside the parliament building, the Portuguese prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, left, speaks with state and foreign affairs minister, Paulo Portas during the parliamentary debate on the state budget for 2013

[Mr Lick]

Cruelty to penguins: clad in Christmas-themed outfits they walk about at that Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama



Another scene from St Asaph as a man pushes a bike through the flood waters



Tewkesbury Abbey in Gloucestershire is surrounded by floodwater as the River Severn swells after days of heavy rain



Palestinian workers stand in front of the mausoleum of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat's remains were exhumed from his grave on Tuesday so international forensic experts could search for additional clues to his death, Palestinian officials said

[Mr Lick]

A man stands next to a charred trailer set on fire by dairy farmers in front of the European parliament at Place du Luxembourg, on the second day of a protest against falling milk prices in Europe, in Brussels



Brad Pitt at the US screening of his new film, Killing Them Softly, in New York

[Mr Lick]

Kabul Bank fraud profited elite, leaked audit says

Investors withdrew their savings amid claims of corruption and mismanagement

Afghanistan's failed Kabul Bank was involved in a fraud that funnelled almost $900m into the pockets of a small number of the political elite, an independent auditors' report says.

One of President Hamid Karzai's brothers, Mahmoud, is said to be a beneficiary. He denies any wrongdoing.

Details of the audit were revealed in a leaked report seen by the New York Times newspaper.

Revelations of corruption led to a run on the bank in 2010.

Foreign donors bailed it out fearing its failure could lead to the collapse of Afghanistan's fragile economy.

But according to the report by Kroll Associates, when the bank's assets were seized, the vast majority of its loans - almost $900m (£561m) - were made to just 19 people and companies.

Investigators from Kroll found 114 rubber stamps for fake companies used to give forged documents a more legitimate look, the Times reported.

[Mr Lick]

Locally hired contractors work to clean sand, deposited by the storm surge of Superstorm Sandy, out of a pool in the Rockaways section of Queens, New York City on Nov. 27.

Reuters reports, New York state and New Jersey need at least $71.3 billion to recover from the devastation wrought by superstorm Sandy and prevent similar damage from future storms, according to their latest estimates.

[Mr Lick]

Anti-Morsi protesters chant anti-government and anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans as they gather at Tahrir Square in Cairo Nov. 27.









Egyptian protesters shout slogans against President Mohammed Morsi, during a rally against his decree, in Tahrir square, Cairo, Nov. 27.



Opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a fifth day on Tuesday, stepping up calls to scrap a decree they say threatens Egypt with a new era of autocracy.