World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Revellers throw tomatoes during the annual "Tomatina" (tomato fight) in the Mediterranean village of Bunol, near Valencia, August 31. The origin of the tomato fight is disputed - everyone in Bunol seems to have a favorite story - but most agree it started around 1940, in the early years of General Francisco Franco's dictatorship

[Mr Lick]

Residents run away as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier and a vehicle on the banks of the Qiantang river in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, on August 31.

[Mr Lick]

When you think of taking a cruise, usually it's the Bahamas, Fiji or the Maldives that generally come to mind. How about North Korea?

On Tuesday, the mysterious state launched itself into the glitzy world of cruise tourism when about 130 passengers set sail from the rundown port of Rajin, near the China-Russia border, for the scenic Mount Kumgang resort near the South Korean border.




A visitor posses with a cruise ship at the port of Rason, in the North Korean special economic zone northeast of Pyongyang on August 30









Visitors enjoy the view along the coastline in Mount Kumgang in North Korea on Aug. 31.

[Mr Lick]

Belarussians wait in line to buy meat at considerably cheaper prices than at the market, in front of the closed door of a shop before it opens in Minsk on Aug. 31. Belarus is mired in its worst financial crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union. The government devalued the ruble by some 50 percent this year, causing panic buying of staples and huge lines at foreign exchange offices. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko says the ex-Soviet nation will allow a free float of its currency in mid-September.

[Mr Lick]

Informal settlers try to block advancing police as authorities attempt to implement a court order to demolish shanties in Quezon City, east of Manila, Philippines, on August 31.

[Mr Lick]

A suicide car bomber attacked Shiite Muslims in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday as they were heading home after morning prayers at the start of an Islamic holiday. The blast killed 10 people, officials said.

[Amina]

Kosovo Islamist admits Frankfurt attack on US airmen



A Kosovo man has told a German court he regrets shooting dead two US servicemen at Frankfurt airport and does not understand why he did it.

Arid Uka, 21, told the court he had been radicalised by jihadist propaganda videos he watched online.

Prosecutors believe he acted alone in carrying out the first deadly attack by an Islamist on German soil.

Two other US airmen were seriously injured in the attack on an air force bus in March.

"What I did was wrong, but I cannot undo what I did," Mr Uka told the court in Frankfurt at the opening of his trial.

Prosecutors said he had wanted to kill the airmen because they were going to join the Nato-led force in Afghanistan.



Two men were killed and two others seriously hurt in the attack

"Regret" is NOT good enough Arid! I hope they throw the book at you using the full extend of the law. Also, please note there is no apology mentionerd anywhere. He deserves what he is getting. - Amina

[Mr Lick]

Krystal Restaurant reopened Tuesday, Aug. 29 in Decatur, Ala., with a somber ceremony involving civic leaders and restaurant officials with family members present. Killed in the robbery August 24 were night shift manager Jeff Graff, 49, and employee Jessie Aguilar, 23. Three people have been charged in the murders, two of whom worked for Krystal. The shooter, Jordaan Creque, worked on the shift wtih Graff and Aguilar. Many faces of people attending the reopening are reflected in the plate glass windows of the restaurant.



Krystal Restaurant reopened Tuesday, Aug. 29 in Decatur, Ala., with a somber ceremony involving civic leaders and restaurant officials with family members present. Decatur Mayor Don Stanford speaks during the reopening with a wreath of flowers honoring the slain workers in front.

[Mr Lick]

Two cheetah cubs peek through wild flowers at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., Wednesday, Aug. 31. The five cubs in the litter are 13-weeks-old. When they mature the cubs will become part of a national breeding program for the endangered species.

[Mr Lick]

Arab Israeli children pose with a pet snake at an amusement park in the northern Israeli city of Acre on August 31 as Muslims celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan

[Mr Lick]

Dale Marshall is dwarfed by an Atlantic Giant Pumpkin that he estimates to be around 1,780-pounds inside a greenhouse in Anchorage on Aug. 29. The giant pumpkin was started by seed on April 1 and has a 202-inch circumference. He plans to enter the pumpkin in the Alaska State Fair during the weigh-off on Wednesday in Palmer. Marshall holds the state record with a 1,101 pound pumpkin that he entered in the state fair last year.



Dale Marshall of Anchorage closes the door to the 500-square-foot greenhouse where he's growing an Atlantic Giant Pumpkin that he estimates to be around 1,780-pounds on Aug. 29.

[Mr Lick]

Tahrir square, Cairo: Revellers enjoy celebrations for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan



Hyderabad, India: Indian Muslim girls hold out their decorated hands during Eid al-Fitr celebrations at the Qutub Shahi tomb



Kathmandu, Nepal: A family member lights candles during a commemorative service, on the 28th International Day of the Disappeared

[Mr Lick]

Migron, West Bank: Jewish settlers at the unauthorised settlement outpost



Srinagar, India: Muslim women offer Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Hazratbal shrine



Weston-super-Mare, England: Rain clouds gather above the big wheel on the seafront. According to weather experts the UK's summer has been one of the coldest for 20 years

[Mr Lick]

UK's coldest summer since 1993

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Sandwich, Kent: Golf fans watch the action in heavy rain on the third day of the British Open at Royal St George



Wimbledon, London: A downpour brings mid-afternoon play to a halt on Day 8 of the All England Lawn Tennis Club championships in June



Glastonbury, Somerset: Storm clouds gather over the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival site at Worthy Farm, Pilton, in June

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Aftermath of Irene

[Mr Lick]

When your day sucks - have a beer

[Mr Lick]

US Files Suit to Block Merger Between AT&T, T-Mobile
AT&T's bid to purchase T-Mobile USA hit a major snag on Wednesday when the Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block the deal. The government said the proposed $39 billion acquisition would "substantially lessen competition."



Shoe Bomber's Footwear Goes on Display
The shoes used in the failed attempt to blow up an airplane in December 2001 are displayed Wednesday alongside an FBI model of the one of them -- all part of a new 9/11 exhibit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.



The Tide Has Turned ... Against Them!
Tourists in Haining, China, run away as a tidal bore breaks through the dam by the Qiantang River on Wednesday. The surging water is a natural phenomenon that draws onlookers every year around this time.

[Mr Lick]

Unlimited Access
In Ain Zara, Libya, on Wednesday, two rebel fighters climb a security fence to access a luxurious complex that local residents and anti-government forces claim is the holiday home of the Gaddafi family.



Mel Gibson, Oksana Grigorieva Settle Split, Child Custody

The actor and his ex-girlfriend ended their bitter split in court Wednesday when he agreed to pay her $750,000 over five years. The pair will split custody of their daughter 50-50, and agreed to keep mum about the relationship.

[Mr Lick]

A Paris Firefighter drags a hose behind an engine while trying to contain a large grass fire along Northwest Loop 286 in Paris, Texas Wednesday, August 31, 2011. With little to no rainfall, grass fires have been burning thousands of acres around the state for the past three months.

[Mr Lick]

Visitors look at an octopus made out of pumpkins at the pumkin exhibition of the asparagus and experience farm Buschmann and Winkelmann in Klaistow near Beelitz, northeastern Germany on August 31, 2011.






Visitors look at a whale made out of pumpkins at the pumkin exhibition of the asparagus and experience farm Buschmann and Winkelmann in Klaistow near Beelitz, northeastern Germany on August 31, 2011. The exhibition which opens on September 1 , 2011, contains over 100,000 pumkins in 400 different varieties.

[Mr Lick]

A combination photo shows an undated photograph of Ned Kelly (top), and his headless remains in Melbourne by the Victorian Forensic Medicine on September 1, 2011. Australian authorities have identified the remains of bushranger Ned Kelly, 131 years after the iconic outcast was hanged for murder and his body buried in the yard of a Melbourne gaol.

[Mr Lick]

Elementary school children wearing fire proof hoods gather in their playground as part of a nationwide earthquake drill at a Tokyo elementary school on September 1, 2011. Japan conducted its first national earthquake drill since the March 11 disasters that left 20,000 dead or missing and triggered a nuclear crisis.




People across Japan hold drills every year on September 1st, but this year it's being taken more seriously since the quake and tsunami that devastated large parts of the country in March