World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Pakistan: Preparing for disaster in south Punjab



Wading into floodwaters spreading 3km from the banks of the Indus river, a man checks fishing traps near a submerged clump of trees. Last year's floods swept away whole villages in south Punjab, leaving affected communities struggling to prepare for the monsoon season. Many flood defences destroyed then remain in disrepair



Crowded into Lashkar Pur's community shelter, women and children watch as Muhammad, a farmer, demonstrates his newly acquired resuscitation skills



Families camping out in makeshift shelters on Layyah's mud-built flood protection barrier have again found themselves surrounded by floodwaters



Using a bamboo pole, a boy makes his way to his flooded home in a karahi, a cast-iron pan usually used for making sugar

[Mr Lick]

Texas wildfires leave trail of destruction

More than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in at least 57 wildfires across rain-starved Texas









The paint bubbles on the door of a burnt car near Bastrop

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Melted aluminium leaks from inside a burnt shed near Bastrop. The fire has destroyed up to 600 homes, the most of any single fire in Texas history

[Mr Lick]

Police officers rescue a girl who was held hostage by a man in Parramatta, an outer Sydney suburb, September 6, 2011. A man claiming to be carrying a bomb occupied a legal office in Sydney, holding his daughter captive in a security scare believed to be linked to a custody dispute, Australian media said.



A policeman jumps down from a pickup truck carrying the bodies of two German civilians, near the Salang Pass north of Kabul, September 6, 2011.



Revellers covered in grease take part in the annual "Cascamorras" festival in Baza, southern Spain, September 6, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A man stands in front of a member of the Pakistan's air force during the Defense Day ceremonies, or Pakistan's memorial day, at the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi on September 6, 2011. Jinnah is generally regarded as the founder of Pakistan



Anti-Gaddafi fighters celebrate as Libya's National Transition Council (NTC) negotiators meet tribal elders from Bani Walid in a mosque near the besieged town city, as talks resume on the peaceful surrender of one of Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds, September 6, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Opposition deputies stand near a placard of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the chamber during the opening session of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev, September 6, 2011. The placard reads "No political repression. Freedom to Ukraine".



Former France's President Jacques Chirac (C) sits in his car as he leaves his apartment in Paris, September 6, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

A refugee from Somalia holds up his temporary ID card for foreigners Switzerland category (N) during a protest on the Federal Square outside the Swiss parliament building in Bern, September 6, 2011.



Soldiers look at the body of a dead soldier after a truck accident in the motorway in the outskirts of Mexico City, September 6, 2011. The military truck crashed on the motorway with another car and a truck carrying corn, leaving at least four soldiers and two civilians, according to the local media

[Mr Lick]

Mubarak on trial



Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak lies on his bed while being taken to the courtroom at the police academy in Cairo, September 7, 2011



Riot policemen take cover as an anti-Mubarak protesters throw stones at Mubarak supporters behind the police, during clashes in front of the police academy where former Egyptian president Hosni Murbarak is on trial, in Cairo

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron plays tennis with London mayor Boris Johnson in Trafalgar Square in London, on Thursday, Sept. 8.

[Mr Lick]

A worker walks through the Hacker Pschorr beer tent during preparations for the 178th Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany, on Sept. 8

[Mr Lick]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visits the site of Wednesday's plane crash near Yaroslavl, Russia, on Sept. 8. Investigators on Thursday searched for flight recorders in the shattered remains of an airliner that crashed, killing 43 people including most of one of Russia's premier hockey teams.

[Mr Lick]

A moose is seen stuck in an apple tree in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Sept. 6. The police believe the moose was trying to eat apples from the tree and became intoxicated by fermented apples. The moose was freed by police officers and after a doze on the lawn, he sobered up and returned to the woods.



"We are ready to start the fight in Tripoli and everywhere else, and rise against them," Moammar Gadhafi said in a new audio message broadcast on Thursday. "All of these germs, rats and scumbags, they are not Libyans, ask anyone. They have cooperated with NATO... Gadhafi won't leave the land of his ancestors."

[Mr Lick]

Grim Scene in Thailand
Police gather near a ranger who was shot dead by suspected Muslim separatists in Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on Thursday. Thousands in the region have died since a militant uprising began in 2004.



A Fiery End
On Thursday in New Delhi, relatives leave after the cremation of Inder Singh, an Indian man who was killed in the deadly bomb blast near the crowded entrance of the city's High Court on Wednesday.

[Mr Lick]

Grounded in Reality?
In Medellin, Colombia, on Wednesday, a man lies on the ground in front of policemen during a demonstration that's part of a national march in support of public education.

[Mr Lick]

US Spending Billions on Aid in Afghanistan
A volunteer weighs a child at a USAID-funded health center in Farza on Wednesday. The U.S. government funds some 500 health facilities in Afghanistan with some of the $2 billion it has set aside for development and aid projects.



He's Definitely Got Flare
On the outskirts of Cairo, an anti-Hosni Mubarak protester carries a flare outside the police academy where the ousted leader's trial resumed off camera on Wednesday.



Sign of Hope in Fight Against Dengue Fever
Pakistani patients with dengue fever share beds at a hospital in Lahore on Wednesday. Scientists combating the deadly ailment have reported some progress after stealthily targeting mosquitoes that spread the disease.

[Mr Lick]

Gaddafi Surrounded in Libya, Fighters Say
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Tripoli's new military council said that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi is surrounded in Libya. Here: Fighters load abandoned military tanks onto a vehicle near the city of Bani Walid.



Berlin Wall
A woman does her laundry at a wall of washing machines and dryers in Berlin on Wednesday. The devices -- free to use -- are part of a promotional event put on by Siemens, the German home appliance firm.



Famine Spreading in Somalia
Internally displaced women carry cans of water from a well in Mogadishu on Tuesday. Famine has spread to six out of eight regions in southern Somalia, with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation, the U.N. said Monday.

[Mr Lick]

Bartz Out as CEO of Yahoo
Struggling Internet company Yahoo Inc. fired CEO Carol Bartz on Tuesday and said its chief financial officer, Tim Morse, would fill her shoes in the interim. The 63-year-old Bartz is pictured above in 2010.

[Mr Lick]

Cranes are at a standstill as they loom over full container ships in the Port of Seattle on Sept. 8, 2011 in Seattle, Wash. The longshoremen who work at the port reportedly walked off the job Thursday at 1:30 a.m., and their union hasn't said when they'll return.



Truck driver Paul Bauermeister has been waiting outside the locked gate at the Port of Seattle since early this morning, Thursday, Sep. 8, 2011. The longshoremen walked off the job at 1:30AM today, and Bauermeister has lost a day's wages waiting for it to reopen.






Loading cranes are at a standstill in the Port of Seattle.

[Mr Lick]

US President Barack Obama takes the podium before addressing a Joint Session of Congress on Sept. 8, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Obama laid out a jobs plan before the US Congress that includes middle class tax cuts, infrastructure spending, help for the unemployed and the passage of trade deals designed to boost US exports.



Fred Kuehne searches for a job at the Suffolk County One Stop Employment Center on Sept. 8 in Hauppauge, New York. President Barack Obama will address Congress and the nation tonight on his plan for job growth in America. With unemployment still above 9 percent across the nation, job growth has become the center piece to the administration

[Mr Lick]

An Israeli boy lies on a hammock at a coffee shop next to a part of Israel's separation barrier on Sept. 8, near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit Horon. The United States is to send a diplomat to visit the West Bank in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade the Palestinians from going to the UN to try to become a full member state with the U.S. saying it would veto the move at the UN security council.

[Mr Lick]

John Blackburn, foreground, watches with other neighbors as flood waters rise on Main Street in Port Deposit, Md., Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. The waters were expected to keep rising as more flood gates on the nearby Conowingo Dam are opened to deal with heavy rains swelling the Susquehanna River. Others shown are unidentified



View of the Susquehanna River from the fifth floor of the Guard Insurance Building Thursday, September 8, 2011, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Susquehanna is projected to crest in northeastern Pennsylvania between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Thursday at 41 feet — the same height as the levee system protecting riverfront communities including Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, officials said. More than 100,000 residents were ordered to flee the rising Susquehanna River on Thursday.