World News in Pictures

[Albert Shagnastier]

Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Brides and grooms sit inside a bus before participating in a parade during a mass wedding ceremony organised for the poor. The event was held at exactly at 12 o'clock on 12/12/12, a date seen as auspicious by many astrologers

Bundle of laughs that mob. Geezer front left looks like he's being taken to be executed.

[OhOh]

Haven't you ever felt the same after visiting the gold shop? There must me a few million baht's worth on that bus.

[Mr Lick]

Newtown school shooting vigils held around the US



























Twenty white balloons are tied to the sign for Sandy Hook elementary school after the shooting

[Mr Lick]

Karachi, Pakistan: A boy holds a banner at a sit-in protest to condemn the ongoing killing of Shia Muslims



Sao Paulo, Brazil: A member of Brazil's Movimento dos Sem-Teto (Homeless Movement) watches TV inside an empty building taken over by the movement



Cairo, Egypt: People wait outside a polling station to vote in a referendum on a constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of president Mohamed Morsi



Yucatan, Mexico: People take part in a Mayan ritual on a street in Merida. Several states and cities are staging events as the day of the Mayan prophecy comes closer

[Mr Lick]

A triathlete runs out of the Red Sea during the Elite Men's Triathlon ETU European Championships in the southern Israeli city of Eilat April 21, 2012



U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama reads "The Night Before Christmas" to children at the Children's National Medical Center, with First Dog Bo, in Washington December 14, 2012

[Mr Lick]

Holiday season lights up






Nice, France



Vancouver



Saxony



Melksham, England



WH



Kobe, Japan



Warsaw



Moscow



Medelin, Columbia



Little Rock



Lisbon



Rio



Strasbourg



Tokyo

[Mr Lick]

Firefighters and RSPCA rescue fox trapped in car wheel in Grays

Fire fighters removed the wheel to free the fox's head

A fox was rescued by firefighters after it was found with its head stuck in the wheel of a parked car.

The Volkswagen vehicle was on the driveway of a house in Ward Avenue, Grays, when the animal became trapped.

Firefighters from Orsett and an officer from the RSPCA were sent to help free the fox on Friday.

The car was lifted using a jack before the wheel - with the fox's head trapped inside - was removed.

It took officers nearly 45 minutes to separate the fox from the car wheel.

Once freed, the fox was taken by the RSPCA.

[Mr Lick]

Internet porn: Automatic block rejected


Campaigners say it is too easy for children to access explicit adult content

Ministers have rejected plans to automatically block internet access to pornography on all computers, saying the move is not widely supported.

A public consultation found 35% of parents wanted an automatic bar while 15% wanted some content filtered, and an option to block other material.

But the government says internet providers should encourage parents to switch on parental controls.

Claire Perry, the MP who led the campaign, said she was "disappointed".
The NSPCC said parents' voices were not being heard.

There were more than 3,500 responses to the 10-week consultation - which included those from members of the public, academics, charities and communication firms as well as 757 from parents.

Respondents were asked to answer "yes", "no" or "maybe" to three separate questions about how internet service providers (ISP) could play a role in limiting access.

An automatic block would mean users would have to actively request that pornographic content was made available by their ISP.

Mrs Perry, the Conservative MP for Devizes in Wiltshire, led the campaign and handed over a petition to Downing Street containing more than 115,000 names.

[OhOh]

A commander of foreign-sponsored Syrian militants has been killed in an operation conducted by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo.

The leader of Liwa al-Tawhid militant group, Yusef al-Jader, also known as Abu Furat, was killed during fighting to take control of Muslimiyeh military academy just north of Aleppo on Saturday, the group said in a statement.

He was also reportedly involved in heavy fighting in Aleppo's Salaheddin and Saif al-Dawlah neighborhoods, which have been the scene of some of the fiercest clashes over the past few months.

However, the fighting ended when the Syrian army drove foreign-backed insurgents out of the city. An undisclosed number of militants have also been killed during the clashes.

[Mr Lick]

Fans of Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg held black cards and lit flares Saturday as they protested new security measures to be introduced in German soccer stadiums.

German clubs have agreed a toughened set of rules for supporters due to concerns over a rise in violence connected to the sport, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The Guardian's David Conn reported earlier this month that supporters groups "have interpreted the suggestions ... as a means by stealth to sedate German football's raucous, standing fan culture."

[Mr Lick]

Soldiers check the identity of voters and monitor flow into a polling station as Egyptian women line-up to cast their vote during a referendum on the new Egyptian constitution on December 15, 2012 in Cairo.






A woman proudly shows her ink-marked finger after voting for the referendum for a new constitution, at a polling station in Cairo on December 15, 2012.






Voting today are we?

[Mr Lick]

Sandy Hook elementary school shooting victims



Emilie Parker, aged 6. Her father, Robbie, extended his support to Lanza's family as well: "It is a horrific tragedy and I want everyone to know that our hearts and prayers go out to them. This includes the family of the shooter. I cannot imagine how hard this experience is for you. Our love and support goes out to you as well"



Lauren Rousseau, a 30-year-old teacher, died in the massacre. Her father, Gilles, said: "She was like a kid in many ways. That's why she liked working with kids so much. She died with her little kids"



Ana Marquez-Greene, aged 6. Her father said on Facebook: "As much as she's needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me … Ana beat us all to paradise … I love you, sweetie girl"



Dawn Hochsprung was the principal at Sandy Hook. A friend remembered her as "a mature and very smart young lady full of life [who] always had a smile on her face that could only warm your heart"




Noah Pozner, who had celebrated his sixth birthday less than a month earlier on 20 November



Mary Sherlach, the school psychologist, had worked at the school for 18 years. A friend of her husband said "It was going to be her last year — that's what she said. She loved her job. She's done this for her whole career"



Jesse Lewis, aged 6. His father had been planning to visit the school that afternoon to make gingerbread houses



Nancy Lanza, mother of the gunman, Adam Lanza. It is thought that he killed her at their house before taking her guns with him to the school

[Mr Lick]

Newtown school shootings - the day after















Bags in a park in Newtown decorated with Christmas trees and stars, in memory of the victims killed at Sandy Hook elementary school

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

George Osborne host's an Elves workshop at No 11 Downing St. His staff don't appear to be very good at putting sentences together either. Hope the kids pointed that one out.



The Morph Twins and others at the TV reality show, America's got talent



Jatenderpal Singh Bhullar becomes the first guardsman to parade outside Buck House wearing a turban instaed of a bearskin

[Mr Lick]

Clean-up after gales batter coast of eastern Scotland

Locals said the gales in Lossiemouth were among the strongest in the past 30 years

Clean-up operations have been taking place in communities along the east coast of Scotland after severe gales hit on Friday night.

Strong winds, huge waves and high tides caused damage from Shetland down to North Berwick.

One oil worker died and 11 were rescued from an emergency standby vessel in the North Sea.

The Scottish government said damage in some parts of the country had been extensive.

Waves of up to 6m (20ft) were reported to have deluged the Vos Sailor standby vessel. It is now being towed to port, as efforts continue to recover the body of the missing crewman.

Enormous waves battered towns along the coast of the North Sea

Sea defences were swept away in North Berwick harbour in East Lothian, a 15m (49ft) section of the harbour wall collapsed in Lossiemouth and residents of a sheltered housing complex were evacuated in Stonehaven.

In Peterhead, the town's RNLI lifeboat launched in what were described as "horrendous" conditions during the night to rescue three people stranded on one side of the harbour.

The village of Kingston in Moray was said to have been completely cut off after its sea defences were breached.

In Wick, on the far north coast, roads were closed and fishing boats were damaged in high winds.

[Mr Lick]

Egypt's constitutional referendum











''The fine beard queue is over there sir''.



























A ballpoint pen? Really!!



Not much of a referendum in Egypt without a wee bit of stone throwing eh?

[Mr Lick]

An Evanston police officer holds a firearm that was turned in as part of an amnesty-based gun buyback program in Evanston, Illinois December 15, 2012



Brooklyn Nets' Gerald Wallace leaps into the stands over fans as he chases down a loose ball against the Chicago Bulls during the second half of their NBA basketball game in Chicago, December 15, 2012.



Protesters wave Union Flags in front of the City Hall provoked by a decision to remove the British flag from Belfast's City Hall December 15, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

A girl who was injured during a rocket attack receives medical treatment at a hospital in Peshawar December 15, 2012



People dressed as clowns, one with a hat (C) shaped like the logo of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, protest against TEPCO in front of their headquarters during an anti-nuclear demonstration, a day before Sunday's general election, in Tokyo December 15, 2012.



New Jersey resident Steve Wruble, who was moved to drive out to Connecticut to support local residents, grieves for victims of an elementary school mass shooting at the entrance to Sandy Hook village in Newtown, Connecticut December 15, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

An aerial view of the snow-covered Bhadarwah valley is seen about 205 km from Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, India, on Dec. 16. Six Indian Army soldiers were killed and one is missing in an avalanche that struck the Siachen Glacier on Dec. 16, in Sub-sector Hanief of the glacier when troops were moving between posts at 19,000 feet. A rescue operation is underway to trace the missing soldier. A medium danger avalanche warning was issued for the area close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir and Banihal town on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway as one-way traffic was restored on the arterial road connecting the valley with rest of the country.

[Mr Lick]

According to Sao Paulo, Brazil's, City Hall, there are some 400,000 people in need of stable housing, including the 4,000 families of the Movimento dos Sem-Teto (Roofless Movement) who are squatting in abandoned or vacant buildings that range from apartment blocks to hotels, in Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America.









Police arrive as members of Brazil's Roofless Movement begin the occupation of an empty buildings that the movement took over



Members of Brazil's Roofless Movement block the front door of a vacant building from the inside during the occupation of one of the structures that the movement took over









A leader (second right, white smock) of Brazil's Movimento dos Sem-Teto (Roofless Movement) speaks to a state health worker (in blue) and a policeman, outside one of the 11 empty buildings that the movement took over in the centre of Sao Paulo,

[Mr Lick]

BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Bradley Wiggins capped his remarkable sporting year by taking home the big prize at the ceremony in London






Sailor Ben Ainslie, who won Olympic gold in the Finn class for the third time this year, enters the stage carrying a flare



Sue and Jim Houghton, winners of the unsung hero award, with Sue Barker and Fabrice Muamba. The Houghtons have spent 25 years helping to transform a derelict Leicestershire sports ground into a community centre



Paralympic swimmer Josef Craig (centre), winner of the young sports personality of the year award, receives his trophy from Ian Thorpe and Tom Daley

[Mr Lick]

Jessica Ennis shares the stage with Sue Barker



Mo Farah with Gary



Wheelchair athlete David Weir – winner of four golds at the 2012 Paralympics – looks out over the audience



Bradley Wiggins poses alongside David Beckham and the Duchess of Cambridge with his BBC Sports Personality of the Year award



He's the man!

[Mr Lick]

Pyongyang, North Korea: residents and a soldier take public transport during the first anniversary of the death of the former leader Kim Jong-il



New Jersey, US: Mick Jagger reaches for a bottle as he performs onstage during the final concert of the Rolling Stones' 50 and Counting tour in Newark



Karnataka, India: workers prepare a grave for the last rites of the nurse Jacintha Saldanha at a cemetery in Shirva



London, UK: people wearing Santa Claus costumes gather in Trafalgar Square for the Santacon festival

[Mr Lick]

More than 3,500 people evacuated to emergency shelters in Fiji as the biggest cyclone in 20 years swept across the Pacific island nation on Monday, three days after the storm killed four people and destroyed thousands of homes in nearby Samoa.

Tourist resorts on many of Fiji's palm-fringed islands have been evacuated and authorities warned people to remain under shelter as Tropical Cyclone Evan battered the country, blowing over trees and destroying houses