World News in Pictures

[Mr Lick]

Samba dancer Diana Prado, right, adjusts her costume as she prepares for a carnival parade at central station in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 2.



Though samba dancers, or "passistas," as they're known in Portuguese, are unquestionably the star attractions of the world's most iconic Carnival celebrations, they're not on the payroll of the samba school they represent. Diana Prado made her Carnival debut at age 19, after auditioning for a spot with the Sao Clemente, one of 13 top-tier schools that will compete for the annual titles at the Sambadrome this weekend.

Prado spends her daylight hours working at a call center. At night, she is a samba dancer for the Sao Clemente group. Although her hectic schedule of pre-Carnival preparations often requires her to apply her extravagant glitter stage makeup in the office bathroom, Prado insists being a "passista" doesn't undermine her authority with the 15 telemarketers she supervises.

[Mr Lick]

Soldiers help mourners carry the coffin of slain opposition leader Chokri Belaid during his funeral procession towards the nearby cemetery of El-Jellaz, where he is to be buried, in the Jebel Jelloud district of Tunis, on Feb. 8. Tens of thousands of mourners chanted anti-Islamist slogans on Friday at the Tunis funeral of secular opposition leader Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis.



A couple mourns next to a Tunisian flag during the funeral procession for the late secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid in the Jebel Jelloud district in Tunis, on Feb. 8.






Tunisians cover their faces as they stand at Jellaz cemetery amid teargas fired by police during the funeral of slain opposition politician Chokri Belaid, in Tunis, Tunisia, on Feb 8. Media reports state that Tunisian police fired tear gas outside the cemetery in the capital Tunis where thousands of people had gathered for the funeral of opposition leader Chokri Belaid. Belaid was shot dead by an unknown attacker outside his home on Feb. 6.

[Mr Lick]

"Hmm is it a burger or lasagne?": A visitor touches a horse during an International Fair for Livestock and Poultry in Thessaloniki, Greece.



Berndt Heidenreich works on Jacob, Germany's biggest snowman, in Bischofsgruen. The city is celebrating Shrove Monday with Germany's biggest snowman in the last 28 years, standing at a height of 10.5 metres



King Momo (C) joins in the dancing after receiving the Key of Rio de Janeiro from the city's Mayor Eduardo Paes at the official opening ceremony of Rio De Janeiro's annual Carnival and five days of festivities



People use umbrellas to shelter from the snow in El Espinal, Spain. A cold spell has reached northern Spain with temperatures plummeting far below zero

[Mr Lick]

A ski jump is reflected in Japan's Reruhi Shimizu's mask as he prepares for a training session at the Team Tour World Cup in Willingen, Germany.



Battling the bad weather, a LA SWAT member continues the search for Christopher Dorner at the Bear Mountain ski resort at Big Bear Lake. Dorner, a former police officer, is wanted as a suspect in three murders.



A pony enjoys a canter in a snowy field near Warsaw, Poland



Camilo Villegas lines up a shot on the 16th green of the Spyglass Hill Golf Course during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, California

[Mr Lick]

Protesters run as tear gas canisters are fired by Israeli security forces during clashes at a weekly protest against a nearby Jewish settlement, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah February 8, 2013.



Free Syrian Army fighters and civilians transport a wounded man into a hospital in Aleppo's al-Shaar district after what activists said was from a ground-to ground missile attack by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Aleppo's Hanano district, February 8, 2013.



The waters of the Seine River flow out of its banks near the Pont Royal bridge after days of rainy weather, in Paris February 8, 2013

[Mr Lick]

A policeman confronts a protester during a demonstration near the Interior Ministry in Tunis February 8, 2013. Tens of thousands of mourners chanted anti-Islamists, on Friday in Tunis, at the funeral of the head of the secular opposition Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged deeper into Tunisia's political crisis.



A protester, who opposes Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, is seen amidst teargas released by riot police during clashes in front of the presidential palace in Cairo February 8, 2013. Egyptians marched and chanted against Islamist President Mursi in cities across the country on Friday and several hundred attacked the presidential palace with petrol bombs and rocks.



A Palestinian protester gestures in front of Israeli border police during clashes at a weekly protest against Jewish settlements, in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah February 8, 2013



A member of the presidential guard walks past a wreath placed in front of a wall with the names of the victims of an explosion at the headquarters of the state oil monopoly Pemex in Mexico City February 8, 2013. Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto led a tribute to rescue workers and the 37 victims of the January 31 explosion at the Pemex headquarters, local media reported.

[Mr Lick]

Bamako, Mali: Malians move past a burning barricade near a military base after government forces clashed with mutinous soldiers in the capital



Cairo, Egypt: Anti-government protesters wave the national flag outside the presidential palace during a demonstration against President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood



Allahabad, India: Hindu pilgrims arrive for a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, during the Maha Kumbh festival

[Mr Lick]

Jerusalem, Israel: Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian man during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators in the Arab Jerusalem neighbourhood of al-Issawiya



Tbilisi, Georgia: Protesters scuffle outside the National Library in an attempt to block President Mikheil Saakashvili from entering the building to deliver his last annual address to the nation



São Paulo, Brazil: Revellers of Rosas de Ouro samba school perform atop a float during the first night of carnival parades



New York, USA: A woman loses her umbrella during a storm which brought heavy snow to the country's densely populated north-east corridor

[Mr Lick]

Rio carnival revellers take to the streets

The annual carnival in Brazil begins with street parties and Samba parades






Topless activists of the women's rights group Femen Brazil stage a protest at Rio de Janeiro's international airport Tom Jobim. They are protesting against 'tourist sex' which they claim rises by about 30% with the arrival of European tourists for the carnival


















She's put on a wee bit of weight since last year's parade

[Mr Lick]

Snowstorm buries north-east US

Snow began falling across the north-east on Friday, ushering in a huge, possibly historic blizzard. The storm prompted the governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Maine to declare states of emergency as up to three feet of snow brought down power lines from New Jersey to southern Maine

[Mr Lick]

[Mr Lick]

Lunar New Year celebrations

The Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the 15th day












Stuck darling?






















Performers take part in a traditional Qing dynasty ceremony, in which emperors prayed for good fortune, at the Temple of Earth park in Beijing

[Mr Lick]

Sydney, Australia … where competitive surf life-saver crews are the ones who need looking after



Ottawa Senators' Peter Regin gets a face full of the boards during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa



Black Caviar licks her lips before her exhibition gallop in between races at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne

[Mr Lick]

An England player wears a furry mascot's head as his side celebrate victory in the international sevens tournament in Wellington, New Zealand. Can you guess who it is yet? No, nor could we … though an unnamed Guardian employee proudly supposed it was 'Danny Care Bear'



The Strawberry pub in Newcastle has gone all continental following news that Alan Pardew has made eight new signings from French Ligue 1 clubs



Bernhard Gruber of Austria looks knackered, to say the least, after winning the 10km race of the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup in Sochi



Competitors ride on the beach during the eighth edition of the Touquet Enduropal motorcycling race in northern France

[Mr Lick]

Men light fireworks as residents celebrate the start of the New Year in Shanghai, Feb. 9. The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, begins on Feb. 10 and marks the start of the Year of the Snake, according to the Chinese zodiac.

[Mr Lick]

A snow-covered Long Island Expressway is seen from an overpass.









Snow partially covers the front of an auto parts store in Holbrook, N.Y.

[Mr Lick]

An activist from the animal rights group AnimaNaturalis holds a placard that reads “Stop! no more bullfighting” as protesters lie covered in fake blood during a demonstration in Mexico City



Sri Lankan navy personnel in Colombo fire a 21-gun salute on the seafront in Galle to mark the island nation's 65th independence day



A Palestinian child cries after his family's home was demolished in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem. The building was said to have been constructed without proper permits. Members of the 33-member family said that they had been waiting to receive permits



Cosmic clouds and stellar winds seen in an image provided by Nasa of LL Orionis and the Orion Nebula



Raphael Slawinski hangs upside down as he climbs the Heimcken Falls in British Columbia, Canada. They have been dubbed the world's hardest climb and are 450ft (140 metres) tall



Hindu holy men of the Juna Akhara sect participate in a ritual to rid them of all ties in this life and dedicate themselves to serving God as a “Naga” or naked holy man, at Sangam in India

[Mr Lick]

Political spoofs at Hong Kong New Year fair






Smartphone cases depicting mainland China's attempts to brainwash HK schoolchildren



" I never said that, you liar". Chun-Ying Leung's reply to Henry Tang's accusation that he suggested a riot police crackdown on protesters



"Honesty Red bean Paste' used as headphones in reaction to Chun-Ying Leung's alleged lies about not using illegal structures in his home



'Race to step down first' political board game

[Mr Lick]

Belgium plane crash closes Charleroi airport






Five people have been killed in a plane crash at Charleroi airport in Belgium, officials say.


Five people have been killed in a plane crash at Charleroi airport in Belgium, officials say.

The small Cessna aircraft suffered difficulties on take-off and crashed on the edge of the runway.

Officials said operations had been suspended at the airport, which is a hub for low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.

The officials said they hoped operations would resume in the afternoon but could give no timetable.

The twisted wreckage of the plane could be seen on the runway, with little but the rear section intact.



Airport spokeswoman Melissa Milioto said: "There was a problem on take-off and they tried to come back, but unfortunately the plane crashed."

She added: "Our priority is dealing with this drama. Flights are being diverted to Liege and Brussels."

Belgian media reported that the five people on board were from the same family - three young children, their mother and grandfather.

They were said to be Belgian nationals from Uccle.

On his Twitter account, Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims.

Flying conditions at the time were reported to be poor, with freezing fog causing difficulties.

Charleroi is Belgium's second international airport after Zaventem in Brussels, and is busy with half-term travel.

On its website, Ryanair listed five flight cancellations for Saturday - all flying out of Charleroi.

[Mr Lick]

German minister Annette Schavan quits over 'plagiarism'



Analysts say Ms Schavan's resignation will be hugely embarrassing to Chancellor Merkel



Related Stories

• German minister stripped of thesis
• Europe's plague of plagiarism
• Germany country profile

German Education Minister Annette Schavan has resigned after a university stripped her of her doctorate for plagiarism.

Duesseldorf's Heinrich Heine University voted last Tuesday to remove her doctorate following a review.

Ms Schavan, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, insisted she would still fight the university's ruling.

In 2011, Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg also quit after allegations he plagiarised his thesis.

Johanna Wanka, the culture and science minister of the state of Lower Saxony, has been appointed as Ms Schavan's successor.


Analysis

Stephen Evans BBC News


Germany's biggest selling newspaper, Bild, said that the education minister being caught plagiarising was as though the finance minister was revealed to have a secret Swiss bank account or the transport minister being caught drinking and driving.

Germany has some form when it comes to politicians and plagiarism. The latest scandal follows that of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who was similarly caught with sections of his dissertation being the work of others. It led to him being dubbed in the press Dr Cut-and-Paste and Dr zu Googleberg.

These cases occur in Germany partly because of the German obsession with titles. German politicians take them very seriously, seeing them as a mark of intellectual respectability. It is not uncommon, for example, for a professor with two doctorates to expect to be called 'Professor, Doctor, Doctor'.


Part of the education minister's brief is to oversee German universities




One has to laugh doesn't one

[Mr Lick]

Building sites reveal unseen London

[Mr Lick]

Afghan Isaf commander John Allen sees 'road to winning'



Gen John Allen said there would most probably be a US military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014


Taliban Conflict

• Who are the Taliban?
• Militant nexus
• Afghan peace hopes
• Security after Nato

The outgoing commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan has said the alliance is on the road to winning the war.

Gen John Allen said troops had gone "a long way" towards creating conditions for winning in a counter-insurgency.

The White House has said it will nominate Gen Allen as the alliance's supreme commander in Europe.

Last month, he was cleared of misconduct by the Pentagon in a scandal that led former CIA director David Petraeus to resign.

Gen Allen is handing over command to Marine Corps Gen Joseph Dunford.

[Mr Lick]

Christopher Dorner manhunt moves to ski mountain




The hunt for Christopher Dorner


The hunt for a fired Los Angeles policeman accused of a shooting rampage has moved to a snowy mountain range.

Search teams combed Big Bear Lake for Christopher Dorner, 33, after his torched truck was found by a ski area.

Though the focus is on the resort area, the huge manhunt spans California, Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico.

He is wanted over the shooting deaths of a couple at the weekend and attacks on Thursday that left one policeman dead and another seriously wounded.

Police used search dogs and helicopters with infrared equipment overnight in an attempt to track down the suspect in Big Bear Lake, 80 miles (128km) east of Los Angeles.







Former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told CBS News on Friday the destroyed truck was "possibly a diversionary tactic to draw people into that area while he's actually heading south".

Investigators are examining a parcel sent - possibly by the suspect - to CNN presenter Anderson Cooper, which contained a note saying: "I never lied."

Mr Dorner is also said separately to have written a 14-page essay that made threats against Los Angeles police employees and their families.

Officials have assigned more than 40 protection details to his potential targets.

He was with the police department between 2005-08, but lost his job for making false statements.


'Asymmetrical warfare'

Mr Dorner is accused of killing Monica Quan, whose father represented him before a disciplinary tribunal that ruled against the suspect at the time of his dismissal.




Sheriff: 'Either we discover he left the mountain or we find him'


Quan, 28, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, 27, were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds on Sunday night in their car at their home in Irvine, California.

According to court documents, Mr Dorner was fired in 2008 after making a complaint against his field training officer, saying she had kicked a suspect, a schizophrenic man with severe dementia, during an arrest.

On Thursday near Los Angeles, he allegedly shot at two police officers, grazing one, before ambushing another two in a patrol car, killing one and seriously wounding another.

Later in the day, on-edge Los Angeles police fired on a vehicle they mistook for Mr Dorner's, injuring two innocent women who were delivering newspapers.

San Diego police said a man matching the suspect's description had tried to steal a boat from one of the city's marinas on Wednesday night.

Mr Dorner's rambling "manifesto" contains a number of allegations against former colleagues.

The essay warns of "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty".

His grievances include alleged racism he encountered at the LAPD and while growing up in southern California.

[Mr Lick]

Rio de Janeiro carnival

[Mr Lick]

Peru, Chile and Bolivia hit by floods after heavy rain



Authorities said at least two bodies were found in a car that sunk in the mud

Torrential rain has been creating havoc along the Pacific coast side of South America, with flooding causing the deaths of at least six people in Peru.

In the southern city of Arequipa, thousands of people were left without electricity and drinking water.

In Bolivia, nearly 9,000 families across the country were affected by flooding, said the authorities.


A downpour in the Andean region of Chile has also led to fresh water shortages in the capital, Santiago.

Authorities say four million people were affected by the cuts to freshwater supplies caused by landslides near San Jose de Maipo.

They reportedly contaminated two rivers that supply the city's water plants.

Aguas Andinas water company said it would start restoring the supply on Saturday night and expected to bring it back to normal by Sunday afternoon.



The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency following the flooding in Arequipa

Last week, even Chile's Atacama desert, one of the driest places in the world, suffered with heavy rain.

Three weeks ago, another contamination of the river Maipo left at least two thirds of the 5 million residents of the capital without water.

In Peru, authorities have declared a state of emergency in Arequipa.

The national meteorological service said that the bad weather brought down the equivalent of three months of rain in about seven hours.

"It's a record of records. There are no records of an event of this magnitude", the local director of the service, Sebastian Zuniga, told the Andina news agency.

At least two bodies were found in a car that submerged in the mud after a road collapsed.

More than 48,000 people are said to have been affected by the rain.

Torrential rain has also fallen over most regions in neighbouring Bolivia.

Nearly 9,000 people are said to have been affected and crops lost to the rain.

Last week, Brazil announced it would send 500 tonnes of rice to aid Bolivians hit by the natural disaster.