World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

A man is reflected on the window of a closed shop in a non-designated tourist area during a Sunday morning at the Butte Montmartre in Paris, July 28, 2013. Under France's Byzantine rules on Sunday trading, shops at the top of the hill are in a designated tourist area and so can open, but those at the bottom cannot. The battle over Sunday trading in this neighbourhood is part of a broader fight in France between the champions of deregulation and those defending a deep-rooted social model that treasures leisure time.



Police officials expel members of the public after they wore red clown noses during the debate to vote on a motion of confidence in Lisbon July 30, 2013. Portugal's Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho ruled out any backtracking on its bailout terms on Tuesday as his revamped government easily won a confidence vote intended to show it has repaired an internal rift over austerity. A dozen protesters in the parliament's gallery put on red clown noses to show their disdain for the vote.



Papers and a box representing 60,000 signatures protesting against indefinite solitary confinement in California prisons sit outside Governor Jerry Brown's office at the State Capitol in Sacramento, California July 30, 2013. Hundreds of inmates are in the 23rd day of a hunger strike in protest of indefinite solitary confinement.

[Mr Lick]

The exact times for the five daily prayers are written on a small board at a makeshift mosque on the banks of Mekong river in Phnom Penh July 27, 2013. About 100 ethnic Cham families, made up of nomads and fishermen without houses or land who arrived at the Cambodian capital in search of better lives, live on their small boats on a peninsula where the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers meet, just opposite the city's centre. The community has been forced to move several times from their locations in Phnom Penh as the land becomes more valuable. They fear that their current home, just behind a new luxurious hotel under construction at the Chroy Changva district is only temporary and that they would have to move again soon.



Hungary's Katinka Hosszu swims in the women's 200m freestyle semi-final during the World Swimming Championships at the Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona July 30, 2013.

[Mr Lick]

Residents of the high-density suburb of Mbare in the Zimbabwean capital Harare line up in the early hours to cast their ballots in presidential elections on July 31,











Chizema Najika, 80, shows her card as she leaves in a cart after voting at a polling station in Harare on July 31.

[Mr Lick]

Cesilie Carlton from the United States performs during the Women's 20m high dive final at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, on July 30. Carlton won the inaugural gold medal for the event.



Yuanhui Fu of China prepares to compete in the Women's 100m backstroke final



Missy Franklin of the United States, left, and Emily Seebohm of Australia, center, compete in the Women's 100m backstroke final



Katie Ledecky of the United States celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women's 1500m freestyle final. Ledecky set a new word record of 15:36.53.



Yannick Agnel of France celebrates winning the Men's 200m freestyle final.

[Mr Lick]

A series of explosions engulfed a propane plant in flames in Tavares, Florida, late July 30. This photo was taken at 11.36 p.m. from a location between 1-2 miles from the blast

[Mr Lick]

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad joins photo-sharing internet tool Instagram



Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has created an account with photo sharing social media tool Instagram, in an attempt to show his more likeable side

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

All together now...Up, up and away, my beautiful, my beautiful balloon. Hot air-balloons take off from Chambley-Bussieres, eastern France, during the Lorraine Mondial Air Balloon International Festival, as they attempt to set up a world record of 408 balloons airborne at one time



Out and about in New York, actors Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Aniston are spotted on the film set of Squirrels to the Nuts. Wonder if they are talking to each other...?



Ooh, bet that's about to really hurt... Ricardo Verdugo from Chile struggles to keep on his feet as he competes in the 300 meters individual time in Track Speed Roller Skating in the IX World Games Cali, Colombia.

[Mr Lick]

Trouble continues to flare up in Turkey. An anti-government protestor makes her point as she shouts at a riot police chief during more demonstrations in Taksim Square, Istanbul. Turkish riot police on Wednesday fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters at Istanbul's Taksim square, the epicentre of violent demonstrations which rocked the country in June



Beachgoers look at a trio of wrapped mannequins that are part of a protest staged by Rio de Paz activists on Copacabana beach to press for clarifications on missing persons including a bricklayer who recently disappeared, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 42-year-old father of six was picked up for police questioning on suspicions of involvement in drug trafficking, but was released shortly thereafter. He has not been seen since. The Rio de Paz civic organization cites official statistics showing that nearly 35,000 people were reported as missing in Rio state alone over the past five years



Detained opposition activists look on during a protest rally defending Article 31 of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly, in St. Petersburg.

[Mr Lick]

Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK demonstrates during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was to focus on oversights of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance programs



Edinburgh festival is getting under way. Joey, the life-size horse puppet from the internationally acclaimed production War Horse takes part in a working rehearsal at Redford Barracks for the 2013 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, Scotland



Lost Boys Productions perform an excerpt of their show The Revenge of the Gargantuan Poo Monster during the Greenside Press Launch at Day 1 of The Edinburgh Festival Fringe

[Mr Lick]

A flood-affected villager holds an item above water as she attempts to reach higher ground on the outskirts of Patna in India. The monsoon, which covers the subcontinent from June to September and usually brings flooding, accounts for about 80 percent of India's annual rainfall



It's quiet out there so let's take the opportunity to wish Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, Happy 50th Birthday



A shoe factory operates on the ground floor of the flat of Badar Azim; who enjoyed world-wide fame on the day of the birth of Prince George, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge; in Calcutta, India. The 25-year-old hospitality management graduate, who placed the announcement of the birth on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace on the 22 July, had to return to India after his visa expired

[Mr Lick]

Anti-fracking protests



A police officer and a protestor confront each other at the entrance gate of a site run by Cuadrilla Resources outside the village of Balcombe in southern England July 31, 2013. Protesters have been blocking access to a drilling site in southern England as part of a campaign against the controversial "fracking" process used in shale gas exploration, illustrating the potential battle ahead for Britain's nascent shale industry

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Last Saturday, July 27, about 13,200 gallons (50,000 liters) of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Thailand, pouring from a leaky pipeline, creating a huge slick miles wide. The oil slick soon began washing ashore on the tourist island of Samet, fouling several popular white sand beaches, and now has spread to nearby smaller islands. Pipeline operator PTT Global Chemical Plc. has apologized and pledges to have the spill cleaned within days, as tourism officials have raised alarms about the sharp drop in tourist dollars. Gathered here are images of the early clean-up work taking place on Thailand's Samet Island

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

A Thai soldier rolls out a ream of absorbent paper in a clean-up operation on Ao Prao Beach, on July 30, 2013

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Thar' she blows: An ariel view over the new Centrica Energy offshore wind farm off the Lincolnshire coast on near Grimbsy, England.



Doctors evacuate a baby from a hospital when a fire is breaks out in the center of Diyarbakir, Turkey

[Mr Lick]

Men transport a bucket filled with kitchen equipment, after heavy monsoon rains caused a rise in the water levels of the river Ganges, in the northern Indian city of Allahabad



Wild Chillingham Cattle at Chillingham castle in Northumberland. Conservationists were celebrating after the number of the ancient breed of cattle rose above 100 for the first time since records began. Wild Chillingham Cattle, with their white skin and red ears, have lived for at least 800 years in an enclosed space near Wooler, close to the Scottish Borders, in Northumberland. They are rarer than giant pandas!

[Mr Lick]

Afghan policemen inspect a destroyed police checkpoint, which a NATO aircraft had allegedly mistakenly attacked during a clash between Afghan special forces and a group of Taliban fighters, at the Bati Kot district of Nangarhar province. Five policemen were killed



A man carries his television set after heavy monsoon rains caused a rise in the water levels of the river Ganges, in Allahabad



Racegoers enjoy a cool drink on a hot Ladies Day at Goodwood racecourse near Chichester

[Mr Lick]

Staff of the Veterinary Epidemiology Centre (VEC) carry sacks containing culled chickens at a farm in Naghkhel village on the outskirt of Kathmandu, Nepal. The Nepalese government announced a ban on the sale of poultry in the capital Kathmandu today in a bid to curb the spread of the bird flu virus



Howzat?! England's Tim Bresnan celebrates taking the wicket of Shane Watson of Australia during day one of the 3rd Investec Ashes Test match at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester



Zimbabwean presidential hopeful Morgan Tsvangirai speaks in Harare. Tsvangirai on Thursday described the election as a 'huge farce' just hours after Robert Mugabe's allies claimed victory

[Mr Lick]

A boy stands on the ruins of the former Somali parliament building in the capital Mogadishu



Two hippopotamus fight in the Rutchuru river, Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Africa's oldest national park could be worth $1.1 billion per year if developed sustainably, rather than being given over to potentially-damaging oil extraction, says a report released by WWF



A Dalek made of straw created by Snugburys ice cream shop in a field near Nantwich in Cheshire. For over 10 years the owners of the ice cream shop have been building amazing straw sculptures in their field along side Chester Road. This years sculpture coincides with the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who