World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Greece PM Papandreou faces fresh call to resign




Greece's centre-right opposition has demanded Prime Minister George Papandreou resign, throwing into disarray plans for a unity government.

Opposition leader Antonis Samaras also called for snap elections before leading his MPs in a dramatic walkout of parliament.

Mr Papandreou's government faces a crucial confidence vote on Friday.

He earlier said that opposition support could mean dropping controversial plans for a referendum on an EU bailout.

Mr Papandreou had faced a rebellion in his governing Socialist party (Pasok) over the proposed referendum, which sent markets into turmoil.

The BBC's Gavin Hewitt in Athens says Greece had seen 24 hours of political horse trading and power struggles.

Mr Papandreou's party holds a tiny majority in parliament - 152 out of 300 seats.
Last week's hard-fought EU deal to bail out debt-ridden Greece was heralded as a breakthrough.

But Mr Papandreou threw it into doubt by announcing on Monday that Greece would put the deal - which would mean crushing austerity measures - to a referendum.

[Mr Lick]

Ireland to close embassies to Vatican, Iran and E Timor

Predominantly Catholic Ireland has traditionally had close relations with the Vatican


The Irish Republic has decided to close its embassies to the Vatican and two other nations on cost-saving grounds.

It said the closure of the missions in Vatican City and also in Iran and East Timor would save about 1.25m euros (£1.1m; $1.7m) a year.

But Dublin stressed that the move was not related to a clerical child abuse row between Ireland and the Holy See.

In July, a report accused the Vatican of aiding child-abuse cover-ups in Cork - a claim denied by the Holy See.

The Vatican later recalled its special envoy in Dublin to discuss the impact of the damning Cloyne Report.

[Mr Lick]

EDL leader suspended sentence for headbutt

Stephen Lennon had denied common assault

The leader and founder of the English Defence League (EDL) has received a suspended jail sentence for assaulting a fellow-member of the group.

Stephen Lennon, 28, from Luton, headbutted his victim shortly after speaking at a rally of 2,000 followers in Blackburn on 2 April.

Lennon, who denied assault, received a 12-week sentence suspended for a year at Preston Magistrates Court.

A police application for an anti-social behaviour order was rejected.

Lennon, who was convicted at an earlier hearing, also received a 150-hour community order and was ordered to pay £200 costs.

[Mr Lick]

Three arrested over fatal East Dulwich 'funeral' shooting

Officers have searched the surrounding area for evidence linked to the shooting


One person has been killed and another injured in a double shooting near a funeral in south London.

Police were called to the area near Camberwell Old Cemetery, in East Dulwich, shortly after 15:00 GMT.

London Ambulance Service (LAS) said one person died at the scene and another suffered bullet wounds.

Three males have been arrested in connection with the incident and remain in custody, the Metropolitan Police said.

Detectives are understood to be trying to establish whether the victims were among mourners attending a funeral nearby for a car crash victim

[Mr Lick]

Jet from Manchester slides off runway in Munich

Two hundred passengers were on board the jet


Two hundred passengers flying from Manchester to Germany escaped unhurt after their plane slid off the runway in Munich.

The Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER veered off the runway on landing at 12:10 local time, coming to a rest on grass.

The flight, SQ327, left Manchester at 09:00 GMT and was due to depart Munich for Singapore at 13:10 local time.

Alternative arrangements have been made for passengers travelling to Singapore.

A Singapore Airlines spokesman said no emergency evacuation had been needed.

He said the cause of the incident was not known but the airline would co-operate fully with an investigation into the incident.

[Mr Lick]

Solyndra subpoena for White House

President Obama visited Solyndra in May 2010, shortly after the approval of a federal loan

A US congressional committee has voted to subpoena the White House for an investigation into a loan granted to failed solar-panel maker Solyndra.

The House lawmakers voted along party lines to subpoena files and officials.

Democrats called the move an overreach, while Republicans said the White House had been "downright obstructionist" to the investigation.

The energy department approved a $528m (£329m) loan in 2010 to Solyndra, which later closed, laying off 1,100 workers.

Republicans say the White House has repeatedly denied or delayed requests for thousands of documents relating to the loan.

[OhOh]

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The successful docking of the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 with the space lab module Tiangong-1 on Thursday is a major technological breakthrough for the country, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program said.

At 1:36 a.m. Thursday, Shenzhou-8, which was launched two days earlier, successfully rendezvoused and docked with Tiangong-1 target module, spokeswoman Wu Ping told a press conference. The country has never before joined two spacecraft together in space.

Tiangong-1, an unmanned module of a planned space lab, has been in orbit since its launch on Sept. 29.

[OhOh]

CANNES, France, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa met Thursday in Cannes, France, ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) summit. Hu said that the world's current economic situation is severe and complicated while the prominent sovereign debt issues in some developed countries have created turbulence in the financial markets.

Many developing countries also face inflationary pressure and world economic growth has slowed to some extent, Hu said during the meeting.

Under the current circumstances, Hu said, the G-20 countries should work together better to ride out the hard times and boost robust, sustainable and balanced growth of the world economy. Both developed and developing countries should keep a balanced and relatively rapid economic growth, Hu said. Only in this way, he said, could the world economy achieve recovering growth.

The Chinese president stressed that Europe is the largest economy in the world and the global economy can realize recovery only if Europe understands that.

[OhOh]

CANNES, France, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) – China has been engaging in the exchange rate regime reform of the Renminbi (RMB), or the Chinese yuan, and will continue its efforts to further increase the flexibility of its currency, a high-level official with the People’s Bank of China said here Wednesday on the eve of the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders’ summit.

"China will also continue its efforts to transform the mode of its economic development, especially in the aspect of boosting domestic consumption," Zhang Tao, the international department director with the central bank, told a press briefing by the Chinese delegation to the summit.

[OhOh]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday downwardly revised its projection of the country's economic outlook and reaffirmed openness to further stimulating policy if needed.

The economy is expected to grow by 1.6 to 1.7 percent in 2011 and 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent next year, said the U.S. central bank in an update projection released at a press conference after the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the interest rate policy making body of the Fed.

The economic growth remains "frustratingly slow" although it strengthened in the third quarter, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters.

He said the central bank is looking for growth and the job market is expected to improve gradually over the next two years, but at a sluggish pace.

In its June projection, the Fed said that the economy would increase by 2.7 percent to 2.9 percent in 2011, and 3.3 percent to 3.7 percent in 2012.

In Wednesday's forecast, the central bank saw the unemployment rate will stay at 9.0 percent to 9.1 percent in 2011, and 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent in 2012. These numbers are worse than the June projection, which expected the widely watched unemployment rate to fall to 8.6 percent to 8.9 percent in 2011, and 7.8 percent to 8.2 percent in 2012.

[Mr Lick]

A newspaper salesman holds a copy of the latest 'Granma' edition on Nov. 3, 2011, which announces the Cuban government's approval for individuals to be able to buy and sell homes legally for the first time since the revolution.

[Mr Lick]

This image provided by NASA shows giant sunspot activity Thursday, Nov. 3, from a region on the sun that scientists are calling a "benevolent monster."

[Mr Lick]

Ride 'em cowboy! Brazilian bull rider Robson Palermo on his way to winning the Professional Bull Riders' World Finals in Las Vegas and trousering (or should that be chapping?) $250,000 prize money



Surf legend Kelly Slater rides the San Francisco waves on his way to winning his 11th ASP world title

[Mr Lick]

Boston Bruins right wing Shawn Thornton, top, gets bopped in the eye by Ottawa Senators center Zenon Konopka



Basel's Benjamin Huggel knows how Shawn Thornton feels after tussling with Benfica's Matic

[Mr Lick]

It's not only the interim WBO lightweight title that's at stake at Wembley Arena on 5 November when Ricky Burns takes on Michael Katsidis, there's the important matter of who's got the best tattoos

[Mr Lick]

From Russia with love: Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, glances at his press secretary Natalya Timakova, in a manner more usually associated with Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, as he arrives at the G20 Summit in Cannes



Four's a crowd: US president Barack Obama leans towards his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy. Chancellor Angela Merkel can just be seen with her hand on Sarkozy's shoulder, completing a tight triangle between the three. While David Cameron is making eye contact and sharing a joke with Sarkozy, the British PM holds his body back as he leans in, suggesting a certain distance

[Mr Lick]

Italian leerer: Berlusconi adjusts his tie as he admires an unwitting Kirchner during the group photo shoot



I have to meet non-G20 leaders too? Sarkozy give a rather lacklustre handshake to Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema at the summit's welcoming ceremony, as French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé looks on



What would I do without her? Sarkozy fixes Merkel with an admiring gaze as she answers questions

[Mr Lick]

People gather around a dead whale after it beached on the Maule beach at the gulf of Arauco, near Concepcion city, Chile, November 3, 2011



A Canadian National freight train is seen on fire after several cars derailed between the Chicago Suburbs of Bartlett and Elgin, Illinois, November 3, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

The European Central Bank President Mario Draghi arrives for his first news conference in Frankfurt, November 3, 2011.



Agent Mazhar Majeed (L) looks down as he arrives at Southwark Crown court for sentencing after being found guilty of conspiracy to cheat and also guilty of conspiring to accept corrupt payments in London, November 3, 2011. He was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months jail.

[Mr Lick]

Almost Over
Dr. Conrad Murray looks on during the closing arguments of his involuntary manslaughter trial for Michael Jackson's death in Los Angeles. Murray faces four years in prison.



One of the Lucky Ones
Medical personnel attend to a coal miner rescued after an explosion occurred in a mine shaft in Yima, China. Four miners died and 50 were left trapped by the blast.

[Mr Lick]

Occupy Protests Continue
Protesters demonstrate by the Wells Fargo Bank headquarters in San Francisco, California. They demanded considering a tax on Wall Street to help end America's financial woes.



Saluting the Soldier
Italian Carabinieri military police parade in front of the Unknown Soldier monument in Rome on November 4, 2011.

[Mr Lick]

Simulated Mars mission 'lands' back on Earth




Six men locked away in steel tubes for a year-and-a-half to simulate a mission to Mars have emerged from isolation.

The Mars500 project, undertaken at a Moscow institute, was intended to find out how the human mind and body would cope on a long-duration spaceflight.

It is a venture that has fascinated all who have followed it around the globe.

The study even saw three of the men carry out a pretend landing on Mars, donning real spacesuits and walking across an enclosed sandy yard.
MARS SIMULATION PROJECT

• Aim was to gather knowledge and experience to help prepare for real Mars mission
• This meant probing the psychological and physiological effects of extended isolation
• Project simulated outward cruise, landing operations and return journey to Earth
• About 100 experiments were planned; crew partook in a series of medical studies
• Resources restricted at departure; crew had to manage food consumption
• Text communications only were possible with the ground; max 25min delay in round signal time

"It's really great to see you all again - rather overwhelming," said European Space Agency (Esa) participant Diego Urbina after stepping through the opened hatch of the Mars500 "spaceship".

"On the Mars500 mission, we have achieved on Earth the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the surface of a distant, but reachable, planet."

The rest of the crew - Russians Alexey Sitev, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Sukhrob Kamolov; European Romain Charles; and Chinese national Wang Yue - smiled and waved to family members who had come to greet them at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP).

The crew has now been taken away into quarantine for medical checks.

For much of the Mars500 project, the six had only limited contact with the outside world. Their spaceship had no windows, and the protocols demanded their communications endured a similar time lag to that encountered by real messages as they travelled the vast distance between Earth and Mars.

At its maximum, the round travel time for a question to be sent and for an answer to be received was about 25 minutes.

This meant having to resort to text media, such as email and Twitter, and video blogs.

Asked before he came out what he was most looking forward to, Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina had told BBC News via Twitter: "Meeting my family, calling my friends, bumping into strangers, going to the beach."

[Mr Lick]

China mine disaster: Dozens trapped by 'rock burst'

Four miners were killed and 50 more are missing after the accident, which happened late on Thursday in the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province.

State media reported that the rock burst - an explosion caused by the sudden release of built-up pressure - happened shortly after an earthquake.

Hundreds of Chinese miners die every year in pit accidents.

The industry is one of the most dangerous in the world, and is notorious for its lax safety standards.

Earlier this week a gas explosion at a mine in neighbouring Hunan province killed 29 people.

But officials insist the country's record is improving, and say they have taken action by closing many illegal mines.

[Mr Lick]

France's Charlie Hebdo plans reprint of Islam edition



Charlie Hebdo staff spoke to reporters in Paris on Thursday


French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has said it plans a big reprint of its edition mocking Islamists, days after its offices in Paris were fire-bombed.

Its editor, Stephane Charbonnier, told Reuters news agency it planned to print 175,000 extra copies, after its first print run of 75,000 sold out fast.

The paper has been housed by French daily Liberation since fire bombs gutted its own offices.

French Muslim leaders have spoken out in defence of press freedom.

Charlie Hebdo, long known for its scathing attacks on the French establishment including religious institutions, caused controversy when it announced its latest edition would target Islamists, after their recent electoral gains in Tunisia.

It named the Prophet Muhammad as "guest editor" for Wednesday's edition and put a cartoon of him on the cover. Depiction of the Prophet is strictly prohibited in Islam.

On Tuesday night, two fire bombs were hurled at the offices. Nobody was hurt but the paper's office equipment was destroyed.

[tomswi]

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