Nov. 9 Photo Brief: Intangible Chinese culture, Syrian refugees, Body Worlds in Honduras and a Sri Lankan prison riot
Syrians continue to flee their homes by the thousands, a deadly prison riot in Sri Lanka, “Body Worlds” displays its preserved human specimens in Honduras, China cracks down on poorly-managed, intangible cultural heritage and more in today’s daily brief.
- Syrians jump over barbed wire as they flee from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain to the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province. Around 9,000 Syrian refugees fled into Turkey in the past 24 hours, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday, and Turkish state media said 26 defecting Syrian army officers had also arrived. More than 120,000 registered Syrian refugees are now sheltering in Turkish camps. Tens of thousands of unregistered Syrians are also living in Turkish border towns and villages. (Stringer/Reuters)
- Residents flee their homes after a shelling by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad at Houla, near Homs. (Misra Al-Misri/Shaam News Network/Handout/Reuters)
- Children play on the bank of the Yangon river in the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
- About 800 school children and teachers from 14 schools form the shape of a Chinese white dolphin, along with the word ‘Protect’ and Chinese characters ‘Ocean,’ at Repulse Bay in Hong Kong. The event, organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and Ocean Recovery Alliance, complements the government’s decision to ban trawling in Hong Kong waters from January 2013. The image was originally drawn by a local 9-year-old student. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)
- Canada’s Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers perform during the pairs short program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup in Moscow. (Grigory Dukor/Reuters)
- Kanako Murakami of Japan performs during her Ladies short program of the ISU Grand Prix figure skating series Rostelecom Cup at the Megasport arena in Moscow. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images)
- Ecologist Dmitry Shamovich plays with tamed wolves at his house in the remote village of Sosnovy Bor, some 270 km (168 miles) northeast of MInsk in Belarus on November 8, 2012. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)
- An Afghan boy sits on a roadside in Kabul. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)
- Indian volunteers of a social organisation release sky lanterns to promote a peaceful and eco-friendly Diwali, and create awareness against child labour in the fire cracker industry during a function in Kolkata. The Diwali the Festival of Lights will take place on 13 November, marking the victory over evil and commemorating the time when the Hindu god Lord Rama achieved victory over Ravana and returned to his kingdom Ayodhya. (Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images)
- Ukrainian heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko (L) and Polish challenger Mariusz Wach pose during the official weigh-in on the eve of his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA title fight against Polish challenger Mariusz Wach in the nothern German city of Hamburg. (Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)
- Sri Lankan prisoners climb onto a roof to get a view of a building set on fire by rioting inmates at Welikada prison in Colombo. Gunfire erupted at Sri Lanka’s main prison as inmates overpowered guards and seized their weapons in a riot that left at least 13 people wounded, officials and witnesses said. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)
- Sri Lankan soldiers wait outside Colombo’s main prison. At least nine people were killed and another 26 wounded at Sri Lanka’s main prison after inmates overpowered guards and fought gun battles with elite police commandos, officials said. Clashes erupted as elite police Special Task Force (STF) commandos carried out a search inside the Welikada prison for drugs and smuggled mobile phones, a military official at the scene told AFP. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)
- Visitors look through the protective glass of the ‘Orto dei fuggiaschi’ (The garden of the Fugitives) at 13 bodies of victims who were buried by the ashes as they attempted to flee Pompeii during the 79 AD eruption of the Vesuvius volcano. The garden of the fugitives reoponed the same day to public after about a year of restoration works. (Carlo Hermann/AFP/Getty Images)
- A plastinated human fetus is seen at the ‘Body Worlds’ exhibition by Gunther von Hagen in Tegucigalpa November 8, 2012. German anatomist von Hagen invented plastination, the method for preserving biological tissue specimens. (Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)
- A plastinated and sliced human body is seen at the ‘Body Worlds’ exhibition by Gunther von Hagen in Tegucigalpa November 8, 2012. The exhibition displays whole bodies plastinated in lifelike poses and dissected to show various structures and system of the human anatomy. (Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)
- A poster reading ‘A stumbling stone is missing here’ stands in the city center of Greifswald, northeastern Germany. On the anniversary of the ‘Night of Broken Glass,’ where Nazi Germany started a series of attacks on Jews and their synagogues in 1938, unknown persons have removed all stumbling stones from the pavements of Greifswald. German artist Gunter Demnig across the country installs the stones, topped with small brass plaques, in front of houses where Jews who were deported to death camps during Germany’s Nazi regime, lived. (Bernd Wustneck/AFP/Getty Images)
- A rose has been placed in a gap of the ‘Hinterlandmauer’ at the memorial site of Berlin Wall at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin during a commemoration marking the 23rd anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall. (Stephanie Pilick/AFP/Getty Images)
- An artist poses in a phantasy costume for photographers in the so-called ‘Twinkle Town’ (Funkelstadt) in Dresden, eastern Germany. From December 1 to 30, 2012 the ‘town,’ located on 15.000qm presents Christmas decorated exhibits and booths. (Oliver Killig/AFP/Getty Images)
- A santa Claus watches sky for snow during the opening of the Santa Claus post office in Himmelpfort (Heaven’s Gate), eastern Germany. Children can send their Christmas wish lists to Himmelpfort from around the world and receive a reply from Santa. (Bernd SettnikK/AFP/Getty Images)
- A woman tries to stop a bulldozer from destroying her house in Lenesia, south west of Johannesburg. Earlier today protesters have burned tyres and blocked roads, after the government tore down houses built on plots that were illegally sold. The Gauteng provincial housing department said it had demolished 37 of 113 houses. The action came after a probe revealed that stands had been sold for amounts from 2,500 rand (225 euros) to 95,000 rand. South Africa faces a massive housing backlog with nearly two million people living in informal shacks. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
- Artists wait to perform during the opening ceremony of an old town during the first Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition of Chinese Traditional Art held in Huangshan, central China’s Anhui province on November 7, 2012. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
- An artist performs during the opening ceremony of an old town during the first Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition of Chinese Traditional Art held in Huangshan, central China’s Anhui province on November 7, 2012. China will set up a system to eliminate poorly-managed intangible cultural heritage, according to a notice issued by the Ministry of Culture on September 6. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
- A group of Indian labourers clean the banks of the Yamuna river in Allahabad. Allahabad, located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and where the Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers meet, is a focal point for Hindu pilgrims during the Kumbh Mela, where devotees gather to bathe in the holy waters of the three rivers. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images)
Ten killed in prison gunfight with Sri Lankan police
Reuters
12:06 p.m. EST, November 9, 2012
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Ten people were killed in a gunfight in a Sri Lankan’s biggest jail on Friday that started when police conducting a routine search came under fire from inmates, officials and police said.
The clashes were still going on early on Saturday and witnesses said they saw police shooting towards the prison where armed inmates were on the roof. Hospital officials in Colombo who gave the death toll were not able to say if the victims were police or prisoners.
(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Writing by Robin Pomeroy)