World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

London 2012: the weird world of the Olympics



Dude with an enormous comb. He needs it for that quiff






The contestants in the Poindexter final make their way into the arena












Weightlifter Whaseung Kim's room-mate has come to rue the decision to make Coca-Cola one of the official sponsors



The Italian synchronised Macarena team need a bit more practice if they're to stand a chance of a medal






Big box, little box. Nice one. 'Ave it. Sorted etc



Italy's Domenico Valentino auditions for the next Hulk movie



The simian Olympic team is ready for action



Reese Hoffa forgot his shot put so has to use a bar of soap instead



No matter how hard he tried Britain's Peter Wilson couldn't master the Vulcan "live long and prosper" gesture

[Mr Lick]

Typhoon Haikui



Pedestrians hold on to their umbrellas against strong winds and heavy rainfall on a street as Typhoon Haikui hits Shanghai, August 8, 2012. Typhoon Haikui struck China on Wednesday, packing winds of up to 110 km per hour (68 mph), prompting officials to evacuate nearly 2 million people and grounding hundreds of flights to and from Shanghai and other cities.












A man fishes on a flooded street after Typhoon Haikui hit Taizhou, Zhejiang province August 8, 2012

[OhOh]

Representatives of 27 world and regional states as well as the UN envoy to Tehran are participating in the international consultative conference on the developments in Syria which started work here in Tehran on Thursday.

At the beginning of the Tehran conference on Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi addressed the audience on Iran's position and policies to settle the crisis in the Arab country.

He underscored that the settlement of the crisis in Syria needs serious and comprehensive talks between the Syrian government and the opposition groups.

[Mr Lick]

Chu Thanh Nhan, 12, sits in an empty classroom at a rehabilitation center in Danang, Vietnam. The children were born with physical and mental disabilities that the center's director says were caused by their parents' exposure to the chemical dioxin in the defoliant Agent Orange.






The U.S. for the first time will begin cleaning up leftover dioxin that was stored at the former military base that's now part of Danang's airport in central Vietnam. Dioxin, which has been linked to cancer, birth defects and other disabilities, is the dangerous chemical left from the defoliant Agent Orange.

The U.S. military dumped some 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on about a quarter of former South Vietnam between 1962 and 1971, decimating about 5 million acres of forest.


The Agent Orange issue has continued to blight the U.S.-Vietnam relationship because dioxin can linger in the environment for decades, entering the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals

[Mr Lick]

A resident traverses between two buildings on a rope in Pasig City, east of Manila, Philippines, on August 9, 2012.



The Philippines began a massive clean-up on Thursday after floods swept the capital and nearby provinces, forcing residents to wade through shoulder-deep waters in some places after nearly two weeks of monsoon rains killed 91 people.

Power, water and communications services were restored as floodwaters started to recede, allowing many to return home to fix their houses. Nearly 300,000 people remained in temporary shelters, disaster officials said

[Mr Lick]

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires an anti-aircraft gun as a Syrian Air Force fighter bomber fires rockets in the village of Tel Rifaat on August 9, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Fans react as a bat from Tampa Bay Rays' Jose Molina flies into the stands near third base during the sixth inning of their MLB American League baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in St. Petersburg, Florida, August 8, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Tel Aviv, Israel: A bat is held in a university lab for a study examining alterations to its nose – changes that reflect the focus, direction and span of the animal's sonar beam



Berlin, Germany: Protesters backing imprisoned punk group Pussy Riot wear balaclavas, in solidarity with the trio, as German Green party activists urge the Russian embassy to release the band



Santiago, Chile: A girl is restrained by a police officer during a student demonstration demanding free public education



Afgoye district, Somalia: A soldier of the African Union force, which is fighting al-Shabaab militia in the country, peers through the bullet-struck windscreen of a truck in the Lower Shabelle region, about 30 miles from Mogadishu

[Mr Lick]

London, England: A woman wears a sculpture created by Catalonian performance artists Osadia, in tribute to the achievements of TeamGB at the 2012 Olympics



A boy dives into the Treska river for a swim as temperatures soared to 43 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit), near the capital Skopje August 8, 2012.



Defected Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab (L) sits with members of the Free Syrian Army in Deraa August 7, 2012. Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Hijab entered Jordan in the early hours of Wednesday August 8, 2012 along with family members, according to Jordanian Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Sameeh Mayta. Opposition activists said Hijab crossed into Jordan on Monday from the city of Deraa in southern Syria, but said they retracted their claim on Wednesday after Hijab had secured safe passage to Jordan.



An Israeli Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) drives along the border with Egypt (L) at the Kerem Shalom crossing into the southern Gaza Strip, a military zone where the borders of Israel, Egypt and Gaza intersect, and where an Egyptian military vehicle that was seized by Islamist gunmen tried to storm the border into Israel on Sunday, August 8, 2012.



Turkey's Merve Aydin cries after she came in last in her women's 800m round 1 heat at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium August 8, 2012.



A man waves as he walks past an unexploded mortar embedded along a street after shelling by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al Assad in the centre of Anadan, northwest of Aleppo, August 8, 2012.



Men search for bodies under rubble of a house, destroyed by a Syrian Air force air strike, in a village of Tel Rafat, north of Aleppo, August 8, 2012



Soldiers remove fallen branches off a beach after the passing of Hurricane Ernesto in Mahahual, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo August 8, 2012.



Senegal's Isabelle Sambou (in blue) fights with Tunisia's Maroi Mezien on the repechage of the Women's 48Kg Greco-Roman wrestling at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 8, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

Germany win the Gold medal in the men's kayak double 1000m canoe sprint final



Russia competes in the men's Decathlon event



Romania clear the bar in the womens high jump qualification event



The 4 x 400m men's relay qualfication event



Competitors commence the women's swimming marathon - 10 kms at Hyde park



South Korea perform in the gymnastics at Wembley Arena



Canada score in added time to win 1-0 against France in the women's football Bronze medal play- off



Spain's synchronised swimming team commence their routine



Riders clear a jump during the men's BMX cycling Q/F's



Whoops!!



Nicola Adams of Team GB wins the Gold medal in the women's flyweight division and becomes the first female Olympic boxing champion



Katie Taylor of Ireland follows Nicola when she wins Gold in the lightweight division



Charlotte Dujardin wins gold for Team GB in the Equestrian Individual Dressage event



Germany celebrate winnng 4-2 against Australia to progress to the men's hockey final

[Mr Lick]

The 'crying Games'

[OhOh]

Chiang Pin-kung (front, R), chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation(SEF), presents a gift to Chen Yunlin (front, L), president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, Aug. 9, 2012. Chinese mainland and Taiwanese negotiators on Thursday signed two cross-Strait agreements on investment protection and promotion, as well as customs cooperation.

[Mr Lick]

People try to recover things that are being washed away by the flood in Boca Del Rio on the outskirts of Veracruz on Thursday, August 9, 2012. Tropical Storm Ernesto skirted the coast of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, sending wind gusts and showers across the state of Veracruz, home to some of Mexico's busiest ports and oil installations.

[Mr Lick]

Usain Bolt of Jamaica takes photographs with a photographers' cameras as he celebrates winning gold in the men's 200m final next to Yohan Blake of Jamaica.

[Mr Lick]

Daredevil Nik Wallenda walks across his 1,500-foot tightrope 100 feet above the beach in Atlantic City on Aug. 9, 2012.






Volunteers hold ropes to steady the wire during daredevil Nik Wallenda's 1,500-foot tightrope walk 100 feet above the beach in Atlantic City on Aug. 9.

[Mr Lick]

A low-resolution mosaic of images from NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars shows part of a 360-degree panorama in Gale Crater. The shadow of the rover's camera mast can be seen in the lower left corner, and a rover wheel is visible in the lower right corner. The foothills of 3-mile-high Aeolis Mons, also known as Mount Sharp, stretch out in the background

[Mr Lick]

A helicopter fights flames from a forest fire near Figuero dos Vinhos, Portugal on Aug. 9, 2012.



Firemen try to extinguish flames during a forest fire at Dornas, Portugal on Aug. 9. Reportedly a total of 254 firemen, 70 fire engines, two firefighting airplanes and two helicopters were mobilized to fight the fires






A destroyed greenhouse still burns after a forest fire near Figuero dos Vinhos, Portugal on Aug. 9.

[Mr Lick]

Carli Lloyd celebrates after scoring the 1-0 lead against Japan during the women's gold medal match at the London 2012 Olympic Games on Aug. 9.



Christie Rampone, left, and Hope Solo celebrate their victory over Japan.



Hope Solo found herself enveloped in a group hug at the final whistle. Abby Wambach ran to join the fun in a celebration that unleashed a year of bottled-up frustration.

The U.S. women's soccer team won its third straight Olympic gold medal Thursday, beating Japan 2-1 in a rematch of last year's World Cup final and avenging the most painful loss in its history.

[Mr Lick]

A stranded motorist waits for the fire department to come to his aid in Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 9, after heavy rains flooded many sections of the metropolitan area.

[Mr Lick]

Ashton Eaton of the U.S. reacts as he competes in the javelin throw of the men's decathlon. Eaton won gold in the decathlon



Jamaica's Usain Bolt, second from the left, reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the men's 200-meter final. Bolt, who won in 19.32 seconds, is the first man to win both the 100 and 200 in consecutive Olympics






Jonas Reckermann, left, and Julius Brink of Germany celebrate after they beat Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego of Brazil during the men's beach volleyball gold medal match.



The U.S. team celebrates after winning the women's water polo final against Spain.



David Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya celebrates with his country's national flag after setting a world record of 1.40.91 in the men's 800m final.



Referee Kheira Sidi Yakoub, left, announces Claressa Shields of the United States the winner over Nadezda Torlopova of Russia during the women's 75kg boxing final.



Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpah stands over Iran's Mohammad Bagheri Motamed during their quarterfinal round match in men's 68kg taekwondo.



German players celebrate defeating Australia in their men's semifinal hockey match.



The United States' Alysia Johnson Montano, left, Grenada's Neisha Bernard-Thomas and Romania's Elena Mirela Lavric react unwind after competing in the women's 800m semifinals



Cancan Ren of China, in red, is knocked down by Nicola Adams of Great Britain during the women's boxing flyweight final. Nicola Adams defeated Cancan Ren



Germany's Ariane Friedrich celebrates after clearing the bar during the women's high jump qualifying.



Peter Kretschmer, right, and Kurt Kuschela of Germany react after winning the gold medal the canoe double (C2) 1,000 men sprint final race



South Africa's Oscar Pistorius looks dejected as he leaves the track while competing in the men's 4x400m relay heats. Pistorius' team did not finish the heat after a Kenyan runner collided with South Africa's Ofentse Mogawane, but the International Association of Athletics Federations said that the South African team would compete in the finals.



Valeriia Zholobova of Russia, in red, fights against Sofia Mattsson of Sweden in the women's 55kg freestyle wrestling quarterfinal match.



Chile's Yeny Contreras Loyola fights France's Marlene Harnois, in red, during their match in the women's 57-kg taekwondo competition

[Mr Lick]

New Yorkers remember Wisconsin shooting victims in evening vigil

A vigil in Union Square – where a range of religious and civic figures spoke to a crowd of more than 500 people – was among scores of memorial events that took place across America on Wednesday evening



























Lt Brian Murphy, the officer who was injured in the attack has been greatly praised in the community. A Sikh organisation in Delhi, India has said it would like to give him a $5,000 award to express gratitude for his bravery during the shooting



Sikh civil rights groups have tried to draw attention to a series of hate crimes such as physical attacks and verbal abuse, experienced by individuals from the community

[Mr Lick]

A Syrian Air Force fighter plane fires a rocket during an air strike in the village of Tel Rafat, north of Aleppo, August 9, 2012.



An Indian security personnel detains a member of the All India Students' Association (AISA) during a protest in New Delhi August 9, 2012



Britain's Jade Jones (R) celebrates as she wins against Taiwan's Li-Cheng Tseng in their women's -57kg semifinal taekwondo match at the ExCel venue during the London Olympic Games, August 9, 2012.



A sculpture by the street art group Bosso Fataka is seen at a street in Berlin, July 4, 2012. Bosso Fataka is a Berlin based urban art group that creates improvised sculptures using cling film and rubbish from the street. The name of the group is derived from a dada poem by Hugo Ball.



A body of what Free Syrian Army members claim to be a Shabiha, a civilian loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad, lies on the ground at Aleppo's disctrict of Al Sukari August 9, 2012.

[Mr Lick]

South Korea's players toss coach Myung Bo Hong into the air to celebrate their 2-0 victory over Japan in the men's bronze medal soccer match at the London 2012 Olympic Games at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Aug. 10.



A man looks for meteorites while standing on the Col du Tronc path above Verbier, Switzerland on Aug. 10, 2012. The Mont Blanc massif mountain range lies in the background of this one-second-exposure photograph.



Spain's Marc Gasol, right, fouls Russia's Vitaliy Fridzon during their men's basketball semifinal match at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Aug. 10. Spain won 67-59.

[Mr Lick]

U.S. wrestler Jordan Ernest Burroughs reacts after defeating Iran's Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi in the final of the men's 74Kg Freestyle wrestling at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games on Aug. 10.



U.S. wrestler Jordan Ernest Burroughs, left, celebrates after a winning move against Iran's Sadegh Saeed Goudarzi during their gold medal match at a 74-kg men's freestyle wrestling competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics on Aug. 10, in London.

[Mr Lick]

A man covered in motor oil takes part in the festivities honoring Santo Domingo de Guzman, Managua's patron saint on Aug. 10, 2012. Domingo's image spent ten days in the Santo Domingo church and will return to his shrine at the church of Las Sierritas, Managua.