World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Space shuttle Endeavour lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on May 16 in Cape Canaveral, Fla, on Monday, May 16.

[Mr Lick]

Inner Mongolia, China's third largest province, is fighting severe desertification. Over-grazing, logging, deforestation of land for expanding farms and population pressure, along with droughts have steadily turned vast fertile grasslands into sandy dunes.






A Mongolian ethnic minority farmer with her child on a farm in Kunlun Qi.



Local farmer Chen Guo fen holds her daughter as they look around at their field where volunteers of non-government organization Shanghai Roots and Shoots are helping to plant tree saplings in Kunlun Qi.

[Mr Lick]

Israeli soldiers fix the border fence between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights on May 16. Mobilized by calls on Facebook, thousands of Arab protesters marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations, sparking clashes that left 15 people dead in an annual Palestinian mourning ritual marking the anniversary of Israel's birth.

[Mr Lick]

A policeman is reflected in a window of a car shattered by bullets, currently parked in a police station, in which a Saudi diplomat was travelling in when he came under attack by gunmen, in Karachi, Pakistan on May 16. Gunmen on motorcycles attacked the car belonging to the Saudi Arabian consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Monday killing a Saudi diplomat, police and the Saudi ambassador said.

[Mr Lick]

Terrified passengers aboard a blazing jetliner prayed together before the plane made an emergency landing on Monday. An engine on a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 caught fire in midair.



Passengers on Cathay Pacific flight CX715 prepare to disembark from the aeroplane after it landed safely at Changi Airport in Singapore on May 16. The A330 flight, which was enroute to Jakarta, experienced engine trouble shortly after takeoff and had to return to Singapore. Its right engine was burnt, according to pilot Bradley Chic.

[Mr Lick]

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn leaves the New York Police Department Special Victims Unit headquarters in Harlem on May 15. Strauss-Kahn was charged on Sunday with trying to rape a New York hotel maid in a scandal that appeared to wreck his hopes of becoming France's next president. The hotel maid, 32, said Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted her in his suite at the upscale Sofitel in Times Square on Saturday, police spokesman Paul Browne said.

[Mr Lick]

A civilian volunteer of the rebel army clears an obstacle course during training in Benghazi, May 15, 2011.




Police charge at a man they suspect of creating trouble during celebrations of the Red Machindranath chariot festival in Lalitpur, May 15, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A wounded Palestinian demonstrator is helped by his colleague after clashes with Israeli soldiers while commemorating "Nakba" in Maroun al-Rass, near the Israeli border in south Lebanon, May 15, 2011.



A priest throws a coconut from the chariot of God Minnath during the Red Machindranath chariot festival in Lalitpur, May 15, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Relatives of victims of late Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's repression attend a commemoration ceremony in a forest outside the small village of Bykivnya near the capital Kiev, May 15, 2011.



Palestinian protesters and a member of the media hide behind cement blocks during clashes between Israeli security forces at a protest against the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah, May 13, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn (C), head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), departs a New York Police Department precinct in New York, May 15, 2011.



A car is parked in front of a building in Cacique Tiuna 'Socialist City', one of the flagship projects of President Hugo Chavez's government, in Caracas,



Protesters set fire to vehicles and hurl rocks at Christian demonstrators in front of the state television building in Cairo, May 15, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Melbourne Rebels' center Lachlan Mitchell is kicked in the face by Bjorn Basson of South Africa's Bulls during their Super 15 rugby union match in Pretoria, May 14, 2011.



A man lies dead after a shooting at Oscar A. Flores neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, May 14, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Palestinian boys dressed in uniforms of Palestinian security forces and holding plastic toy guns take part during a rally marking "Nakba" in the West Bank city of Nablus, May 15, 2011.



A woman stands next a contestant who is reflected in a mirror as he prepares for a national bodybuilding competition in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, May 12, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Wooden statues replicating UN military troops line a table on a roadside stand in Port-au-Prince, May 11, 2011.



Police detain an activist during a rally to protest against policies, conducted by Ukrainian authorities, and to demand the resignation of President Viktor Yanukovich and the Ministers' Cabinet in front of the Parliament headquarters in Kiev, May 14, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Cast member Johnny Depp poses during a photocall for the film "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" at the 64th Cannes Film Festival, May 14, 2011.



Supporters of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh climb pillars of the Unknown Soldier Monument during a rally to show support in Sanaa May 13, 2011. The banner (C) reads: "We are steadfast."

[Mr Lick]

Inmates fill sandbags for the construction of temporary levees in Butte LaRose, Louisiana May 13, 2011.



A giant sized South Korean national flag is carried over spectators during an event in support of Pyeongchang's bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, at the Seoul City Hall Plaza, May 14, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A demonstrator covers her eyes with a mock currency note during a demonstration calling for "Democracia Real , Ya! (Real Democracy, Now!)" in Malaga, southern Spain, May 15, 2011.



An Israeli soldier and an undercover police officer detain a Palestinian protester during clashes at Qalandiya checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, May 15, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A Palestinian demonstrator wounded in his arm keeps low as fellow protesters lie on the ground during clashes with Israeli soldiers in Maroun al-Rass near the Israeli border in south Lebanon, May 15, 2011.



A Palestinian uses a home-made weapon during clashes with Israeli security forces at a protest in the mostly Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, May 13, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Supporters of the Trinamool Congress party release pigeons into the air as they celebrate beneath the tri-coloured flowers, the symbol of the party, on a street in Kolkata, May 13, 2011.



Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian protester during clashes in Shuafat refugee camp, in the West Bank near Jerusalem May 15, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A captured elephant being relocated to the Kuala Ganha elephant sanctuary in Pahang, Malaysia

[Mr Lick]

A child stands in front of anti-government protesters in Sanaa



Flooded streets of Ishinamaki, northern Japan. The land was forced down during March's huge earthquake meaning it now floods regularly at high tide.

[Mr Lick]

Detained China artist Ai Weiwei gets first family visit



The detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been allowed his first contact with his family since his arrest more than 40 days ago.

The artist met his wife at an unknown location on Sunday and told her he is well, his sister told the BBC.

Mr Ai is said to be under investigation for suspected "economic crimes".

The artist is a vocal critic of the government, complaining about a lack of basic freedoms and often incorporating these political themes into his work.

Ai Weiwei's wife Lu Qing was taken by Chinese police to meet her husband on Sunday afternoon.

The artist's sister told the BBC Lu Qing was summoned to a police station and taken to another location where she was allowed a brief meeting with her husband.

[Mr Lick]

Newcastle player Nile Ranger 'regrets' handgun photo



Premier League footballer Nile Ranger has expressed "regret" after being photographed in a gangster-like pose holding a replica handgun.

The Newcastle United striker appeared in The Sun newspaper wearing a hooded top holding the silver handgun in front of his face.

The photograph was apparently taken at his home by his girlfriend.

In a statement, the club said officials had spoken to the 20-year-old, who now regretted posing for the photograph.


Maybe he thought he was the 'Lone Ranger'

[Mr Lick]

Bomb warning received in London



A bomb threat for London has been issued by Irish dissidents in the first coded warning outside Northern Ireland in 10 years, officials say.

Streets around the Mall were closed for five hours on Monday morning amid a major security alert.

Whitehall officials said the call with the coded warning came from a number in the Irish Republic on Sunday evening.

The threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism, which stands at severe, has not been changed.

The warning comes ahead of the Queen's historic visit to the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday, amid a massive security operation.

[Mr Lick]

Donald Trump says he won't run for US president in 2012



US tycoon Donald Trump says he will not be running for the US presidency in 2012, ending weeks of speculation.

Mr Trump said he was not ready to leave the private sector and that his ultimate passion remained in business.

"This decision does not come easily or without regret," he said in a brief statement.

"I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election," Mr Trump added.

The statement went on to say: "I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly.

"Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector."



'No man could have done more to save the world than by Donald Trump refusing the Presidency'.

[Mr Lick]

Footballer 'entitled to anonymity', says judge



Imogen Thomas said her reputation had been 'trashed'


A footballer granted a temporary injunction to stop publication about a relationship with a reality TV star was "fully entitled" to anonymity, a High Court judge says.

Justice Eady has reserved judgement on lifting the injunction after a private hearing with the man's lawyers, the Sun and Imogen Thomas in London.

He said the footballer was married with a family and the court had to consider his privacy rights under European law.

Ms Thomas said she had been "gagged". ( Apparently also during the sexual encounter not just after )

Justice Eady granted the temporary injunction last month and said Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms applied to the man's right to privacy.