World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) director Okay Machisa (R) is welcomed by his daughter Thandikile outside the prison in Harare January 29, 2013. Machisa was detained by the police earlier in January on charges of producing fake voter registration forms to discredit President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, which has been accused of hanging onto power in the last four elections through poll rigging. Machisa denied the charges.



An indigenous Garifuna woman waves a pot containing burning incense outside congress in Tegucigalpa January 29, 2013. Farmers and members of the Garifuna ethnic tribe gathered outside congress to protest against the planned construction of a privately run "model city" near their territory. Honduras' congress recently approved the building of at least three cities that will have their own tax system, police force and laws, according to local media.



Former Interior Ministry General Oleksiy Pukach reacts inside a defendant's cage after the verdict was announced during a court session in Kiev January 29, 2013. The court announced the verdict to Pukach, who had been charged with murder of opposition journalist Georgiy Gongadze, a well-known reporter who criticized top-level authorities for corruption and fraud, according to local media. Gongadze was kidnapped in central Kiev in 2000 and found dead in a forest outside the capital more than a month later. Pukach was sentenced to life imprisonment, according to local media.



Protesters opposing Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi try to hide from firing from riot policemen along Kasr El Nile bridge, which leads to Tahrir square, in Cairo January 29, 2013. Egypt's army chief said political unrest was pushing the state to the brink of collapse - a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to curb bloody street violence



An overturned car lies in the snow wrapped in police crime scene tape, in the aftermath of a fast-moving winter storm that moved through Denver, Colorado January 29, 2013



Free Syrian Army fighters use a homemade catapult in old Aleppo, January 29, 2013.

[Mr Lick]

South Korea puts a satellite into space



2 people have been shot dead in Cairo during protests



Teresa Palmer arrives at the premier of the romantic zombie film, Warm Bodies

[Mr Lick]

Up Helly Aa fire festival on Shetland

[Mr Lick]

Bedspaces in Afghanistan



2 Para'

[Mr Lick]

Cairo, Egypt: Egyptian protesters celebrate the capture of a state security armoured vehicle that demonstrators commandeered during clashes with security forces and brought to Tahrir Square



Gao, northern Mali: A suspected Islamist extremist who was beaten by the crowd lies in the back of an army truck



Krasnoyarsk, Siberia: Anfisa, an eight-year-old female chimpanzee, at the Royev Ruchey zoo

[Mr Lick]

The daughter of Eusebio Gonzalez, a policeman who was shot Tuesday while trying to stop a group of assailants, cries during a tribute to her father as she stands next to a folded Mexican flag in Ecatepec, Jan. 30, 2013.
The government of Mexico state -- the state that surrounds Mexico City -- has started a joint security operation with the Mexican army and federal police in areas of the Mexican state with high rates of violence, where more than 80 murders have been reported in January.

[Mr Lick]

A Free Syrian Army fighter looks at his comrade as he gets shot by sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan 30. The Free Syrian Army fighter on the left was wounded moments later. The fighter on the right died soon after being shot.



Free Syrian Army fighters take position just before they were hit by Syrian Army sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30. The fighter on the right died soon after, while his comrade was wounded.



Free Syrian Army fighters carry a comrade who was shot by sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.



Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover as a tank shell explodes on a wall during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.












A wounded Free Syrian Army fighter cries after hearing that his friend died in a mission in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

[Mr Lick]

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' words during a brief opening statement at a Senate hearing on gun violence were careful, slow and deliberate.

But they were firm: "Too many children are dying," she said Wednesday, breaking up the syllables during her testimony to open a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun laws.

"It will be hard, but the time is NOW," said Giffords, who has embarked on an arduous recovery after being critically wounded at Tucson Safeway while meeting with constituents in early 2011. "You. Must. Act. Be bold. Be cour-ag-eous. Amer-i-cans are count-ing on you."



Senate Judiciary Committee members, from left, Sen. John Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Sen. John Orrin Hatch (R-UT), ranking member Sen. John Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sen. John Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. John Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. John Richard Durbin (D-IL) listen to testimony during a hearing about gun control on Capitol Hill on Jan. 30 in Washington, D.C.

[Mr Lick]

Love was in the air in a Tokyo park as normally staid Japanese husbands gathered to scream out their feelings for their wives, promising gratitude and extra tight hugs.

With modesty and reticence traditionally valued over outspokenness, expressing deeper feelings such as love has long been hard in Japan.


That's why dozens of Japanese men gather once a year ahead of Jan. 31, which in Japanese is a play on the words for "beloved wife," to let their feelings fly.
Declarations at the Tuesday night event ranged from a simple "I'll love you forever" to expressions of gratitude for homemade boxed lunches.


"I'm sorry that I've gained weight over the last seven years," a suit-clad man yelled. "But that's because the meals you cook are so delicious."

The event, now in its fifth year, was thought up by Kiyotaka Yamana with the support of a local flower shop to urge Japanese men to show their affection in more explicit ways.

[Mr Lick]

A lighter look

A sideways glance, or two, at some of the week's more entertaining pictures




97, 98, 99 … a sea otter gives the fish a fighting chance in Washington state, US



Looking a lot like the Austin Allegro assembly line in Longbridge in the 70s, workers take a break in a car at the PSA Peugeot Citroen plant, in Aulnay-sous-Bois, north of Paris, as the company saw sales fall



Finland's Maiju Mallat leaves his steed Gran Carthago 'through the front door' during the Rolex Grand Prix in Zurich, Switzerland

[Mr Lick]

Absolutely hair-raising: sixth-grade students from the Park school in Maitland, Florida, watch as Marine One carrying the US president, Barack Obama, takes off from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington DC



Absolutely hair-raising II: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall's umbrella folds up in the wind during a visit to Ward Barracks in Bulford, Wiltshire



We're not sure how this was allowed to happen, but those kids have another 90 minutes of football to look forward to as the players enter the pitch for their Africa Cup of Nations group C match against Nigeria at the Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa

[Mr Lick]

But what's under the red towel? Swimmers prepare to get into the water during the UK Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido in south London



In an attempt to look younger, the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, surrounds himself with second world war veterans during photocalls these days



Taking a break from raping and pillaging through the streets of Lerwick, the Jarl Squad have a quick coffee before the parade during the Up Helly Aa Viking fire festival on Shetland

[Mr Lick]

Mexico's community police



Members of the Community Police stand on the bed of a pickup truck during a night patrol in the town of Ayutla de los Libres, in the Costa Chica (small coast) region of the southern state of Guerrero January 27, 2013. Residents of Ayutla de los Libres, joined by the Community Police, took up arms three weeks ago to patrol and defend their communities from organized crime gangs that have plagued the region, local media reported. The Community Police, a police force made up of volunteers from the communities of Costa Chica and the mountains of Guerrero, was created in 1995 in response to the spate of violence in the region, and is based on the traditional indigenous justice system.


















Members of the Community Police keep watch as they stand next to women selling food outside their home in the town of Ayutla de los Libres, Mexico, January 27, 2013.



A member of the Community Police reads a newspaper showing a picture of people they had detained a day before during a patrol in the town of Ayutla de los Libres, Mexico, January 28, 2013.

[Mr Lick]

The Associated Press reports — A Vietnamese-American pro-democracy activist returned to the United States on Wednesday night after a nine-month detention on accusations of conspiring to overthrow the communist government of Vietnam.

Nguyen Quoc Quan smiled broadly as he was greeted by his wife, children and other family members, who bore balloons and placed leis around his neck shortly after 8 p.m. as he exited a plane at Los Angeles International Airport.

"I love you a lot, and I feel very near you every minute of jail," he told his wife, Huong Mai Ngo, in Vietnamese, then repeated in broken English for reporters. He pulled her to his side. "Now even closer," he said with a smile.

[Mr Lick]

An Atlas V 401 rocket streaks into the sky from the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. The spacecraft carries NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K (TDRS-K) into orbit. According to NASA the TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services

[Mr Lick]

Will Carter, 15, surveys the damage to his house upon arriving home from school following a tornado, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Adairsville, Ga

[Mr Lick]

Beijing, China: A woman stands at a bus stop wearing a mask, after the meteorological observatory issued an orange alert for heavy fog and haze



Allahabad, India: Hindu holy men of the Juna Akhara sect participate in rituals believed to rid them of all ties in this life, as they dedicate themselves to serving God during the Maha Kumbh festival in Sangam

[Mr Lick]

Hanoi, Vietnam: A woman tends to her peach blossom orchard. Vietnam is preparing for Tet, or Lunar New Year, which falls on 10 February. Many people buy peach blossoms to decorate their houses to celebrate the new year



Islamabad, Pakistan: A health worker gives a polio vaccine to a child. Some Islamic militants oppose the vaccination campaign, accusing health workers of acting as spies for the US and claim the vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile. Pakistan is one of the few remaining places where polio is still rampant



Laiza, Burma: Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers guard a post on a hilltop facing China in northern Burma's Kachin-controlled region

[Mr Lick]

Soccer player David Beckham is seen at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris for his medical examination. David Beckham is poised to join the Ligue 1 club Paris St Germain, it's been reported



Rescuers work at the site of a train accident near Kalefong station, Attridgeville, to the west of Pretoria in South Africa. The collision between two passenger trains packed with school children and rush-hour commuters that injured up to 300 people has being blamed on cable theft, the authorities said

[Mr Lick]

Sotheby's auction house staff member with Nympheas, a painting by French artist Claude Monet, during preparations for an Impressionist and modern art sale in London. The painting is estimated to fetch 15-22M euros at the auction on 5 February



Waiting for service: world No1 men's tennis player, Novak Djokovic, second from the left, waits with rest of the Serbian team during a draw for the Davis Cup iie between Belgium and Serbia in Charleroi



David Cameron takes part in a graduation ceremony for Libyan police officers with the country's interior minister, Ashour Shuail, as part of his visit in Tripoli

[Mr Lick]

Where do you put your oyster card? During the Spring Festival travel season, a lady wearing a panda costume has her ticket checked before taking her train from Beijing

[Mr Lick]

The caterpillar of an Attacus atlas, considered to be among the largest moths in the world, looks in need of something more sturdy to take it's load at the botanical gardens in Bern, Switzerland



An exiled Tibetan takes part in a rally in New Delhi



Where thousands of Tibetans people and monks gathered at Rajghat Mahatma Gandhi memorial in Indian capital

[Mr Lick]

An aerial view of a property surrounded by floodwaters from the Clarence river in Cowpe, New South Wales, Australia



Welcome to my little show: Diana Ross performs at ACL Live in Austin, Texas last night

[Mr Lick]

A car is tied to a lamp post like a boat during floods in Hamburg, Germany. Stormy weather caused the Elbe to burst its banks.



Soldiers help each other put white armbands on their dark suits as the country prepares for the funeral of Cambodia's late King Norodom Sihanouk near the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.

[Mr Lick]

Why Malians now love France