Jan. 14 Daily Brief: Indonesian volcano, Egyptians vote, a real tortoise-and-hare race
Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung erupts, Egyptians vote on a new constitution, a real tortoise and hare race in the snow, and more in today’s daily brief.
- Mount Sinabung volcano spews ash as seen from Kuta Tengah village in Karo district, Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, January 14, 2014. More than 25,000 villagers have been evacuated since authorities raised the alert status for the volcano to the highest level in November 2013, local media reported on Monday. (YT Haryono/Reuters)
- Villagers tend to crops as the Sinabung volcano behind them spews hot ash in Karo, Indonesia on January 14, 2014. More than 25,000 people have fled their homes following a series of eruptions and lava flows from Sinabung volcano in North Sumatra, an official said on January 12. (Kharisma Tarigan/AFP/Getty Images)
- A policeman stands in front of a damaged building of a court complex after an explosion in Imbaba, north of Cairo January 14, 2014. An explosion was heard in Cairo just before voting was due to begin, security sources said on Tuesday. The blast occurred near a court complex in the district of Imbaba. There were no early reports of casualties. Egyptians began voting on Tuesday in a constitutional referendum, the first ballot since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi and an event likely to spawn a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)
- An Egyptian man is assisted to walk as he arrives at a polling center to vote on a new constitution in Al-Haram in the southern Cairo Giza district on January 14, 2014. The military-installed government implored voters to turn out en masse to ratify the constitution, with the country’s lingering polarisation underscored by the explosion of a small bomb in Cairo that caused no injuries. (Mahmoud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Egyptian man casts his vote on a new constitution in the Al-Haram neighbourhood in the southern Cairo Giza district on January 14, 2014. The military-installed government implored voters to turn out en masse to ratify the constitution, with the country’s lingering polarisation underscored by the explosion of a small bomb in Cairo that caused no injuries. (Mahmoud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Egyptian man holds a portrait of Egypt’s Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi outside a polling station during the vote on a new constitution on January 14, 2014 in Giza, Cairo. Egyptians queued to vote on a new constitution today amid high security, in a referendum likely to launch a presidential bid by the army chief who overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. (Mahmoud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images)
- This picture taken on January 12, 2014 shows a pet rabbit and a tortoise competing in a skiing competition in Sanmenxia, north China’s Henan province. A tortoise beat a rabbit in a skiing competition held for pets and their owners in northern China, a report said on January 14. Cats and dogs faced off against a menagerie including a rooster and a yellow duck in a race to the finish line on snowy slopes in China’s Hebei province, the state-run China News Service said. (CHINA OUT AFP PHOTOS/AFP/Getty Images)
- A Palestinian student jumps from the top of an obstacle during a graduation ceremony for a military-style training programme in Gaza City January 14, 2014. Some 13,000 students joined the course, which is aimed at preparing them for “liberating Palestine from Israel”, Hamas officials said. The course was conducted by the Hamas-run ministry of education during the school winter holiday. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)
- A Palestinian student crawls under a barbed wire obstacle next to a fire during a graduation ceremony for a military-style training programme in Gaza City January 14, 2014. Some 13,000 students joined the course, which is aimed at preparing them for “liberating Palestine from Israel”, Hamas officials said. The course was conducted by the Hamas-run ministry of education during the school winter holiday. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)
- Residents ride a wooden boat as they paddle past submerged houses due to flooding brought about by heavy rains in the outskirts of Butuan City, Agusan del sur province, in southern island of Mindanao on January 13, 2014. Twenty-two people have been killed and nearly 200,000 others evacuated from floods and landslides that hit a southern Philippine region still recovering from a deadly 2012 typhoon, the government said January 14. (Erwin Mascarinas/AFP/Getty Images)
- Sarka Strachova of Czech Republic clears a gate during the first run of the World Cup Women’s Slalom race in Flachau January 14, 2014. (Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)
- A looter carries boxes of beer as Corona truck burns in a road block allegedly set up by followers of the Knights Templar cartel in Tierra Caliente January 10, 2014. Mexico’s government on Monday pledged to take control of a violent western state after days of fighting between masked vigilantes and members of one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels. Since late last year, vigilante groups in the state of Michoacan have moved deeper into territory controlled by the Knights Templar cartel and they now are converging on Apatzingan, considered one of gang’s main strongholds. Picture taken January 10, 2014. (Alan Ortega/Reuters)
- People try to break through the wall for firefighters to extinguish a fire at a factory in Wenling, Zhejiang province, January 14, 2014. According to Xinhua News Agency, the factory fire on Tuesday afternoon killed at least 16 people and an initial investigation of the accident is under way. (Stringer/Reuters)
- Lightning flashes over the Christ the Redeemer statue on top of Corcovado Hill in Rio de Janeiro on January 14, 2014. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Orthodox priest holds a cross in front of riot policemen standing guard in front of the parliament’s building in Kiev on January 14, 2014, as Ukrainian veterans and invalids of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster try to give their demandings to the parliamentary leadership. They protest against the adoption by parliament of the state budget for 2014, which does not provide financing of social programs for the Chernobyl’s veterans and the invalids. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
- An Orthodox priest holds a cross in front of riot policemen standing guard in front of the parliament’s building in Kiev on January 14, 2014, as Ukrainian veterans and invalids of Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster try to give their demandings to the parliamentary leadership. They protest against the adoption by parliament of the state budget for 2014, which does not provide financing of social programs for the Chernobyl’s veterans and the invalids. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)