World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon gather outside the UN headquarters in Beirut in support of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas who is heading to the General Assembly today with huge backing for his bid for UN recognition of statehood despite strong US and Israeli opposition



London Mayor Boris Johnson swings into action with a local Mumbai school cricket team on Juhu Beach in India. The Mayor is in Mumbai as part of a week long tour of India where he is trying to persuade Indian businesses to invest in London



US singer Taylor Swift meets fans on her arrival for the 26th ARIA Awards at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, in Sydney, Australia. The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry

[Mr Lick]

Supporters of ruling Saenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye give a seasonal performance during her presidential election campaign in Seoul, South Korea. Presidential candidates kicked off their official campaigns on Tuesday ahead of the election on December 19.



On trend: Members of the media wear polarized glasses at the Volkswagen Beetle convertible world debut at the LA Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center

[Mr Lick]

Cairo, Egypt: A man passes through a police line with his bicycle during a lull in clashes



Manila, Philippines: Greenpeace activists wearing cardboard tuna cutouts protest in front of South Korea's embassy



Muti, Rwanda: Journalists interview a wounded FDLR rebel fighter at a military base

[Mr Lick]

New York: Houses pushed into marshland, almost a month after hurricane Sandy



Sanaa, Yemen: A female protester displays her painted hands during a demonstration

[Mr Lick]

Boris Johnson visits India

London's mayor plays cricket, poses with children and talks about investing in the capital during five-day tour



Boris Johnson walks with the British high commissioner, Sir James Bevan, in the garden of the high commission

[Mr Lick]

It's a bit chilly in Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia!



Snow is also falling in Switzerland, this lake is near Pfaeffikon, but there has been snowfall in many regions

[Mr Lick]

Protesters dressed as Rupert Murdoch and David Cameron demonstrate outside the venue where Lord Justice Leveson is releasing his report on media practices in central London



A Tunisian protester gestures during a demonstration in Siliana calling for the resignation of Ahmed Ezzine Mahjoubi, the town's governor. More than 250 people have been wounded in a second day of clashes between Tunisian security forces and thousands of protesters in the southwestern town.

[Mr Lick]

Buildings of a housing project stand unfinished and empty in a neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez November 28, 2012. Once best known as a party town for Americans hopping across the border for cheap thrills, Ciudad Juarez fell into chaos with about one in every six of the 60,000 victims of Mexico's bloody drug war over the last six years dying here. This year, though, the violence in Ciudad Juarez has fallen dramatically, prompting political leaders to hold up the city as a symbol of progress and offering hope to Mexico's incoming president, Enrique Pena Nieto, in the fight against crime.



A protester holds a shield which belongs to a riot policeman during clashes along a road which leads to the U.S. embassy, near Tahrir Square in Cairo November 28, 2012. Hundreds of demonstrators were in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a sixth day on Wednesday to demand that President Mohamed Mursi rescind a decree they say gives him dictatorial powers, and two of Egypt's top courts stopped work in protest. Protesters earlier beat up at least two riot police officers, whose bullet-proof vests and shields were taken away from them



Spacesuits are seen laid out for U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko before an exam on a simulator of the International Space Station at the Russian cosmonaut training centre at Star City outside Moscow November 28, 2012. The three-man crew is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station in December



A protester gestures during clashes with riot police along a road which leads to the U.S. embassy, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, November 28, 2012. Hundreds of demonstrators were in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a sixth day on Wednesday to demand that President Mohamed Mursi rescind a decree they say gives him dictatorial powers, and two of Egypt's top courts stopped work in protest.



U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice smiles after U.S. President Barack Obama gave her his full support in response to a question from a reporter, during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington November 28, 2012. Obama gave a show of moral support to his embattled ambassador to the United Nations on Wednesday, calling Rice "extraordinary" and prompting applause from his Cabinet during a meeting at the White House. Rice, who is considered a top candidate to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been meeting this week with senators on Capitol Hill who have been critical of her initial remarks about what prompted the Sept. 11 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.



A man takes a picture of a giant "Kuratas" robot at an exhibition in Tokyo November 28, 2012. The four-meter-high, limited edition, made-to-order robot is controlled through a pilot in its cockpit, or via a smartphone. The four-tonne (4,000 kg) "Kuratas" can be customised in 16 different colours, and is armed with a futuristic weapons system, including a multi-rocket launcher that fires plastic rockets filled with compressed water.



Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy jogs in Paris, November 28, 2012. France's main conservative UMP party edged closer to a formal split on Wednesday as the winner of a leadership contest broke a fragile truce between him and his rival brokered hours earlier by former president Nicolas Sarkozy.



New Zealand's Brendon McCullum (L) stumped out by Sri Lanka's Prasanna Jayawardene during the fourth day of second and final test cricket match in Colombo, November 28, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

A perilous daily journey undertaken by a group of Indonesian schoolchildren just got a whole lot easier.

In January, PhotoBlog reported on the dangerous river crossing the children faced after a bridge collapsed. Ten months on, Reuters reports that a new bridge has opened.

Epi Sopian, the head of Sanghiang Tanjung village, said the bridge had been built with the assistance of non-governmental organizations and the country's largest steel producer, PT Krakatau Steel.



Before and After

[Mr Lick]

Reuters reports — Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla fighter in Kosovo who served briefly as prime minister, was acquitted of war crimes for a second time on Thursday, clearing the way for his return to mainstream politics but angering Serbia.

The retrial verdict by a United Nations court in The Hague comes on the heels of the acquittal on appeal two weeks ago of top Croatian general Ante Gotovina, fuelling nationalist accusations in Serbia that the court is biased against them.

The verdict, and Haradinaj's return to frontline campaigning, could undermine a new effort by the European Union to encourage Serbia and Kosovo to mend ties almost five years after the former southern Serbian province declared independence with the backing of the West



Former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj in a courtroom in The Hague on Nov. 29, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

This picture taken on November 27, 2012 shows the Wanshou Temple Pagoda, built during China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), supported by steel frames at the Xiguang School in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province. Xi'an cultural heritage authorities are working on plans to set it upright after December 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Floods in Britain



The Brazillian Indian Chief (L) and the Amazonian Indian Chief meet the French Chief

[Mr Lick]

A picture of Mexican President Felipe Calderon has been symbolically bloodstained during a farewell protest. He is due to stand down on December 1st



A Philippine guest house owner has officially had her collection of jigsaw's declared the world's largest

[OhOh]

UNITED NATIONS — More than 130 countries voted on Thursday to grant Palestine the upgraded status of non-member observer state in the United Nations, a stinging defeat for Israel and the United States and a boost for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who was weakened by the recent eight days of fighting in Gaza. The new ranking could make it easier for the Palestinians to pursue Israel in international legal forums, but it remained unclear what effect it would have on attaining what both sides say they want — a two-state solution.

[Mr Lick]

The Mexican synchronized swimming team performs during the Synchronized Swimming World Trophy 2012 held at the Mexican Olympic Committee in Mexico City, Nov. 30, 2012. With the participation of teams from Brazil, Russia, China, U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Japan, Ukraine and Mexico, the event is a gathering of the swimming world with a different concept from the skills of the Olympic Games or World Championships and more emphasis on an artistic side

[Mr Lick]

Soldiers stand guard during a public destruction of confiscated weapons in Lara, Venezuela, Nov. 30, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

M23 rebels withdraw from the Masisi and Sake areas in the eastern Congo town of Sake, some 27 kms west of Goma, Nov. 30.










A reluctance of some rank and file fighters in Congo's M23 rebel movement to withdraw from the eastern border city of Goma is complicating a deal their commanders agreed with regional governments, a rebel spokesman said on Friday.

A rebel pullback from Goma, seized by M23 from fleeing United Nations-backed government forces on November 20, would signal some progress in international efforts to halt the eight-month-old insurgency in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Goma is an important hub in Congo's eastern borderlands which have suffered years of recurring conflict stoked by long-standing ethnic and political enmities and fighting over the region's rich resources of gold, tin, tungsten and coltan. The latter is a precious metal used to make mobile phones.

Rebel leaders, who have declared their intention to fight to topple President Joseph Kabila, said earlier this week they would vacate Goma and other captured positions west and south of the North Kivu provincial capital

[Mr Lick]

Night falls on a Syrian rebel-controlled area as destroyed buildings, including Dar Al-Shifa hospital, are seen on Sa'ar street after airstrikes targeted the area last week, killing dozens in Aleppo, Syria.

[Mr Lick]

Jimmie Johnson. driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, performs a burnout during the NASCAR Victory Lap on the Las Vegas Strip on November 29, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada.






Jeff Gordon stops for a tire change while driving down the Las Vegas Strip for the Nascar Awards Week victory lap, Thursday.

[Mr Lick]

Indigenous Guatemalan women take part in a protest demanding the passing of a rural development law in Guatemala City, Nov. 29, 2012. Protestors gathered outside of the Congress building, on the same day as the opening ceremony of the X General Assembly of the Indigenous Fund.

[Mr Lick]

The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution on Thursday giving implicit recognition to Palestinian statehood despite threats by the United States and Israel to punish the Palestinian Authority by withholding funds for the West Bank government.

A resolution that lifts the Palestinian Authority's U.N. observer status from "entity" to "non-member state," like the Vatican, easily passed the 193-nation General Assembly with 138 nations voting in favor, with 41 abstaining, including the United Kingdom. Nine were opposed

[Mr Lick]

Vice President Joe Biden samples food while shopping at a Costco in Washington D.C. on Nov. 29.






Vice President Joe Biden made an appearance at a Washington D.C. Costco, during its grand opening on Thursday.

Before getting down to the business of shopping, Biden paused to speak with Costco co-founder and former CEO James Sinegal.

"Thank you so much for being here," Sinegal told him.

"Are you kidding me?" an affable Biden responded. We go to your store between Stanton and Newark in Delaware... all the time."

[Mr Lick]

Vancouver, Canada: Bruce Springsteen surfs the crowd as he performs at Rogers Arena as part of his Wrecking Ball world tour



Barcelona, Spain: a protester who had an anxiety attack gets medical assistance during a protest inside a Caixa bank office



Aung San Suu Kyi reaches for supporters as she leaves a public meeting at the Letpadaung mine in Monywa, northwestern Burma. Suu Kyi has criticised the government's strong response to protests at the mine that injured dozens of monks

[Mr Lick]

No one can say that Boris Johnson doesn't grab life by the horns. The Mayor of London poses with the bronze statue of a bull outside the Bombay Stock Exchange after the launch of new carbon market index at an event in Mumbai, India



Boris then rode a bike around the Gate of India in Mumbai. Johnson is in India to promote London as the destination of choice for investors and international trade

[Mr Lick]

Policemen carry away a protester who blocked the entrance to a makeshift camp for asylum seekers in Amsterdam. The courts ordered a group of asylum seekers to leave the site after they had exhausted their final options against deportation



Tahrir square is bustling with activity as protesters stage a sit-in protest against a decree by President Mohamed Morsi granting himself broad powers that shield his decisions from judicial review