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  • Finery dressed Britons socialize at the Ascot Racecourse

    Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images

    Race-goers sit together at the annual Royal Ascot horse racing event near Windsor, Berkshire on June 19, 2012. The five-day meeting is a highlight of global horse racing and the pinnacle of the English social calendar.

    Andy Rain / EPA

    A couple celebrate after their horse came in first on the opening day of the Royal Ascot race.

    Stefan Wermuth / Reuters

    Racegoers arrive for the first day of racing at Royal Ascot.

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    Model Anneka Tanaka-Svenska wears a headpiece designed by Louis Mariette and a dress by Hanna Marie Hutchison at the Royal Ascot.

    Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images

    Race-goers enjoy a picnic on the first day of the Royal Ascot.

    Read more about the fashion of UK’s Royal Ascot

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  • Squatters evicted by riot police in Amsterdam

    Evert Elzinga / EPA

    A squatter is arrested on the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat in Amsterdam shortly before an evacuation of squats by Dutch riot police, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on June 19 June. Since the introduction of a new law in October 2010, some 330 squats have been evacuated in the city.

    Evert Elzinga / EPA

    Masked squatters are seen in a squatted house on the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat in Amsterdam shortly before an evacuation of squats by Dutch riot police, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on June 19.

    Evert Elzinga / AFP - Getty Images

    Squatters stand behind a banner which translates as "Who evacuates will face resistance, squatting goes on." in the window of a squatted premises in Amsterdam on June 19, ahead of their eviction by riot police.

     

  • Alec Baldwin tussles with photographers, goes on Twitter rant

    Alec Baldwin tussled with photographers Tuesday morning outside New York City's Marriage License Bureau, later suggesting in a tweet that paparazzi should be "waterboarded."

    The New York Daily News

    Alec Baldwin, left, scuffles with New York Daily News photographer Marcus Santos outside the Marriage License Bureau in New York on Tuesday morning.

    Hours later, an apparently still-angry Baldwin tweeted "I suppose if the offending paparazzi was wearing a hoodie and I shot him, it would all blow over..."

    The dispute erupted early Tuesday when the actor walked out of the marriage office with his fiancee, Hilaria Thomas, and the two were met by photographers. (See images at the Daily News website.)

    "He was looking mad," Daily News photographer Marcus Santos said. "He said, 'Step back, step back.' I said, 'We're moving back."

    Baldwin then allegedly grabbed a second photographer, Jefferson Siegel, and Santos told the star not to touch him.

    Twitter

    "I knew he was going to attack me," Santos said. "I stepped back, and he kept coming. He comes after me, starts shoving and punching me -- one time, right in the chin. And then he started shoving me and pushing me. Then he goes the other way."


    For his part, Baldwin tweeted Tuesday that "a 'photographer' almost hit me in the face with his camera this morning. #allpaparazzishouldbewaterboarded."

    He later tweeted that the editor of the Daily News is an "English Queen" and that since his takeover of the paper, "they lie like the Post."

  • Welders build pontoon bridge for festival in India

    Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

    An Indian laborer welds iron as he along with others make a temporary pontoon bridge across the River Ganges for the upcoming Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad, India, Tuesday, June 19. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are expected to arrive for the festival held once in twelve years and scheduled to begin January 14.

    Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

    Indian laborers work to make a part of a temporary pontoon bridge across the River Ganges for the upcoming Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad, India, on June 19. Millions of Hindu pilgrims are expected to arrive for the festival held once in twelve years and scheduled to begin January 14, 2013.

     

  • Spanish coal miners continue violent protest against austerity cuts

    Cesar Manso / AFP - Getty Images

    Spanish miners burn tires to cut a road during a miner's demonstration in Caborana, near Oviedo, in northern Spain on June 18. Spanish coal miners are staging a nationwide strike action organized by unions against the cash-strapped government's decision to slash subsidies to the sector this year to 111 million euros ($142 million) from 301 million euros last year. Unions argue the subsidy cuts will lead to the closure of Spain's coal mines and the loss of up to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs, since Spanish coal relies on state aid to compete with cheaper imports.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Miners fire handmade rockets at riot police officers as they defend their position after blocking a road in Cinera, near Leon, Spain, on June 19. Striking Spanish coal miners firing homemade rockets and using slingshots have clashed with authorities in northern Spain, driving officers out a town where the miners cut off a highway and railroad service.

    Miguel Riopa / AFP - Getty Images

    Spanish miners throw stones towards Spanish Civil Guards in Cinera, northern Spain on June 19. Spanish coal miners burned tires and blocked roads during a mass strike to protest against subsidy cuts that they say threaten tens of thousands of jobs. Spain's cash-strapped central government has slashed subsidies to the coal sector this year to 111 million euros ($142 million) from 301 million euros last year, part of wide-ranging cuts to lower its deficit.

  • Topless painter shocks Thais with bare-breasted performance on TV talent show

    EPA

    Contestant Duangjai Jansaunoi, 23, takes part in the 'Thailand's Got Talent' TV show in Bangkok, Thailand on June 17, 2012.

    Thailand's Ministry of Culture is investigating whether a TV talent show broke censorship laws after one of its contestants painted a canvas with her breasts, The European Pressphoto Agency reports.

    Duangjai Jansaunoi, 23, drew a yellow outline of a man on a canvas, stripped off her shirt, poured paint over her breasts and proceeded to fill in the picture.

    Watch a video of Jansaunoi's performance at MSN Now

    Two out of the three judges on 'Thailand's Got Talent', both of them men, voted in favour of Duangjai moving on to the second round of the competition. 

    Summoning the show's producers to explain themselves, Culture Minister Sukumol Kunplome said Monday that the incident was "very shocking".

    EPA

    Duangjai Jansaunoi with her finished painting.

     

  • Rights groups protest as Roma families are rehoused in Romanian industrial facility

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    A Roma boy climbs on the top of a ramshackle house, torn down by local authorities, in Craica, a shantytown on the outskirts of Baia Mare, Romania. All pictures taken on June 14, 2012 and made available on June 19.

    Human rights groups have accused authorities in a Romanian town of violating legislation and trampling on the dignity of Roma gypsy inhabitants by forcibly evicting hundreds of them and relocating them to a chemical plant closed down over pollution concerns. 

    Authorities in Baia Mare began moving dozens of families in May from poor neighborhoods where they had lived in 20-year-old improvised buildings with no water, sewage or power supplies.

    Amnesty International expressed concern following local media reports that 22 children and 2 adults had become ill after they were rehoused in the former industrial facility.

    The vast majority of Romanian Roma live on the margins of society in abject poverty and pro-democracy groups say the state does not do enough to prevent discrimination.

    -- Agence France Presse and Reuters contributed to this report

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    Roma children play outside a former Cuprom chemical plant turned into a housing project in Baia Mare.

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    A bulldozer prepares to tear down a ramshackle house in Craica.

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    A Roma child sits on a couch in Craica.

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    Roma people go through waste debris looking for useful materials, after several ramshackle houses were torn down by local authorities in Craica.

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    A Roma man looks on as authorities prepare to tear down houses in Craica.

    Andrei Pungovschi / AFP - Getty Images

    A Roma child sleeps in a ramshackle house in Craica.

     

  • Ross D. Franklin / AP

    Called out: Diamondbacks down Mariners

    Seattle Mariners' Casper Wells, center, looks up in shock as he is called out by the home plate umpire as Arizona Diamondbacks' Miguel Montero, left, holds onto the ball after the tag in the sixth inning of their game in Phoenix on June 18, 2012.

    The Diamondbacks defeated the Mariners 7-1 with Aaron Hill becoming the fifth Arizona player to hit for the cycle.

    See more great sports images in The Week in Sports Pictures slideshow.

  • World leaders pose for family picture at G20 summit

    Bertrand Langlois / AFP - Getty Images

    In the picture from front row L-R, France's President Francois Hollande, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, US President Barack Obama, China's President Hu Jintao, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Middle row from left, European Commission's President Jose Manuel Barroso, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Saudi Arabia Minister of Finance Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf. Back row from left, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, OECD Secretary General Jose Angel Gurria, World Bank's President Robert Zoellick, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera, Benin's President Boni Yayi, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Juan Somavía Director-General of the International Labour Organization, IMF's Managing Director Christine Lagarde, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.

    Heads of the G20 leading economies pose for a family photo at the convention center in Los Cabos, Mexico, on June 18, 2012. The leaders of the world's most powerful economies meet for a G20 summit confronted by turmoil in the eurozone, a critical election in Greece and worsening bloodshed in Syria.

    Related stories:

     

     

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  • Mets' Dickey gets shaving cream pie after pitching one-hit shutout

    Mike Stobe / Getty Images

    R.A. Dickey of the New York Mets gets a shaving cream pie in the face after pitching a complete game one-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles at Citi Field on June 18, 2012, in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Dickey pitched his second consecutive one-hitter, striking out a career-high 13 batters, as the Mets defeated the Orioles 4-0.

  • Aurora makes the sky sing the blues

    Brad Goldpaint

    Photographer Brad Goldpaint captured this view of the northern lights over Crater Lake, Ore., early Sunday.


    A double-burst of solar particles sparked auroral lights over the weekend, as expected — but at least in some parts of the world, the colors were not what you'd expect. Instead of the typical greenish glow, observers reported seeing reds, pinks, violets and even blues.

    "It's been many years since I saw the blue in our auroras, but Saturday night they came back," John Welling reported in a note accompanying the photo he posted to SpaceWeather.com.

    Pinks, reds and blues also dominated the scene captured on camera early Sunday by Brad Goldpaint, from a vantage point above Oregon's Crater Lake. In an email, Goldpaint told me the opportunity came about "by pure coincidence."


    "Capturing this famous light show had been a dream of mine for several years, but I could not have imagined the lights showing up in my own backyard!" Goldpaint wrote. "After setting up near the Rim Village Visitor Center lookout area, I began to notice a faint band of moving light slowly making its way from behind the Watchman Tower, around 1:30 a.m. My camera began picking up bright pink bursts of light towards the north, with what also looked like unfamiliar vertical bands of light stretching upwards from the horizon. I quickly changed my camera’s white balance to confirm I was not picking up some random light pollution, or hallucinating in my drowsy state. Following additional exposures, I came up with the same amazing results. The magical shifting scene continued until sunrise, and like most days in the wilderness, I was awed and humbled by true nature personified."

    The photo now graces Brad's portfolio at GoldpaintPhotography.com.

    The colors of the aurora depend on the wavelength of the light emitted when fast-moving, electrically charged particles from the sun interact with different types of atoms and ions in Earth's upper atmosphere. If the particles hit mostly oxygen atoms, the light will be in the greenish-yellowish-reddish range. Collisions with nitrogen atoms produce the blue, purple and deep red hues.

    The altitude of the auroral glow also affects the color: At altitudes between 60 and 120 miles (100 and 200 kilometers), the oxygen emissions tend toward the green side of the spectrum. At higher altitudes, you'll see more red. Blend all those colors, and you get a beautiful, wide-ranging palette.

    The "Causes of Color" website provides a fuller spectrum of information. And speaking of a fuller spectrum, here are more of the weekend's colors, plus a bonus video:

    Randy Halverson

    Pink and purple rays highlight this picture of the aurora as seen from South Dakota's Black Hills by Randy Halverson. Technical details: Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-70, f/2.8 ISO 3200, 20-second exposure. For more of Halverson's images, click on over to Dakotalapse.com.

    Stephen Voss

    Stephen Voss snapped pictures of the southern lights from a spot near Invercargill in the south of New Zealand. "A dull arc hung around for a couple of hours before suddenly exploding with a mixture of rays and curtains," Voss told SpaceWeather.com. Check out Voss' gallery at Deep South Astrophotography.

    Scott Lowther

    Scott Lowther snapped this panoramic picture of Saturday night's auroral display as seen from Tremonton, Utah. The shot was taken with a Nikon D5000 and a 55mm lens at f/1.4 with 6-second exposures. For more of Lowther's photos, check out the Art by Earthlings website.

    Shawn Malone / LakeSuperiorPhoto.com

    Shawn Malone snapped this picture before dawn on Sunday morning from Marquette, Mich. "Got to witness the tail end of aurora activity as the skies cleared about 15-20 minutes before the sunrise light moved in," Malone told SpaceWeather.com. "Photos taken between 3:50 a.m. and 4:15 a.m. Bright aurora, with rays of light overhead, almost forming a corona. Beautiful purples came through on the exposures, but only light visible to the eye, as is typical with auroras right before sunrise." Check out LakeSuperiorPhoto.com for more of Malone's work.

    Here's a 13-minute recap of three winters' worth of auroral imagery from Sweden. It's all part of "Light Over Lapland: The Aurora Borealis Experience" from Chad Blakley of LightsOverLapland.com on Vimeo. For best results, go full screen and HD. "The movie is a compilation of many thousands of still images captured in Abisko National Park," Blakley writes. "By my calculation I have spent no less than 2,000 hours pointing my camera at the sky recording the northern lights to create this film. ... I am enjoying the midnight sun and all of its warmth, but I am ready for the darkness and the auroras to return."

    More auroral glories:


    Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

  • Soldiers patrol Ivory Coast road near Liberia following deadly attack on UN peacekeepers

    Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

    Ivory Coast's soldiers patrol on the road where UN soldiers were killed last week, following an attack in the southwest, close to the border with Liberia in Para on June 17. Seven Niger troops, 10 civilians and at least one Ivorian soldier were killed in the June 8 attack while patrolling villages south of the small town of Tai, near the Liberian border, the worst attack on ONUCI since its 2004 deployment. The zone has been prone to unrest for the past year, with bloody operations blamed in a recent report by Human Rights Watch on forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo, whom the New York-based non-governmental organization accused of recruiting child soldiers.

    Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

    A burnt vehicle wherein UN soldiers were killed last week, following an attack in the southwest, in Ivory Coast near the border with Liberia.

    Luc Gnago / Reuters

    The population of Tai collect water distributed by the United Nations peacekeepers in western Ivory Coast near the border with Liberia on June 18. The area has been hit by a series of attacks in recent weeks, killing at least 22 people, including seven United Nations peacekeepers. Ivory Coast has said the attacks were carried out by Liberian mercenaries and pro-former president Laurent Gbagbo Ivorian militias who crossed over from Liberia.

    Another attack in the same region of Ivory Coast has claimed four more lives, Reuters reports:

    "They were young Liberians mixed with natives from here. They were singing as they attacked the village. They were sure of themselves," said Karim Sako, a cocoa buyer who helped evacuate three people with machete wounds.

    "UNOCI is there. The (Ivorian army) is there. But it is these fighters that control our forests now, and we are afraid to work," he said.

    See more images from Ivory Coast in PhotoBlog.

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  • Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama agree to continue discussions on Iran, Syria

    Jason Reed / Reuters

    Russia's President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama shake hands in Los Cabos, Mexico, at the G20 summit on June 18.

    U.S President Barack Obama met Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit to discuss differences between the two countries on Syria and Iran.

    "We agreed that we need to see a cessation of the violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war," Obama told reporters.

    "From my point of view, we have found many common points on this issue" of Syria, Putin said, adding the two sides would continue discussions.

    -- Reuters

  • Kashmiri Muslims celebrate Mehraj-u-Alam

    Tauseef Mustafa / AFP - Getty Images

    Kashmiri Muslims pray at a wall at Hazratbal Shrine on June 18, 2012.

    Fayaz Kabli / Reuters

    A Kashmiri Muslim clerk displays a relic of the Prophet Mohammad to devotees during Meeraj-un-Nabi celebrations at Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar on June 18.

    Thousands of Kashmiri Muslims thronged to the Hazratbal shrine on Monday to celebrate the Mehraj-u-Alam festival marking the ascension of the Prophet Mohammad to Heaven. The Hazratbal shrine houses a relic believed to contain hair from the beard of the Prophet Mohammed.

    See more PhotoBlog posts on the Kashmir region of India.

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    Yawar Nazir / Getty Images Contributor

    Kashmiri Muslims pray as a head priest, not in picture, displays a holy relic believed to contain hair from the beard of the Prophet Mohammed in the outskirts of Srinagar, India.

    Fayaz Kabli / Reuters

    A Kashmiri Muslim man prays as balls thrown by children aviate during Mehraj-u-Alam celebrations at Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar.

  • Bangladesh under international pressure to open border to Rohingya refugees

    Andrew Biraj / Reuters

    Rohingyas from Myanmar sit on a jetty by the river Naf after being arrested by Border Guards of Bangladesh in Teknaf on June 18.

    Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

    Boats carrying Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, are intercepted by Bangladeshi Coast Guard officials in Teknaf on June 18.

    Muslim Rohingyas continue to flee across the Naf river in boats to Bangladesh attempting to escape sectarian violence in Myanmar's Rakhine region only to be turned away by Bangladeshi border guards.

    Reuters reports, the violence, which displaced 30,000 people and killed 50 in Myanmar, also known as Burma, flared last month with a rampage of rock-hurling, arson and machete attacks, after the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman that was blamed on Muslims. 

    Bangladesh is coming under increasing international pressure to open its border to Rohingya, but has so far refused to do so. 

    Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

    A Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, who tried to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, looks on while kept under watch by Bangladeshi security officials after disembarking from an intercepted boat in Teknaf on June 18.

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  • Feathery friends flock to Bass Rock

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Seagulls fly near Bass Rock where gannets nesting on the Firth of Forth on Monday, in Dunbar, Scotland.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Every January Atlantic gannets start returning to Bass Rock, with 150,000 or more making it the largest single rock gannet colony.

    From afar, Bass Rock may appear to be blanketed with snow. In reality, the island in the Firth of Forth in Dunbar, Scotland, is covered by 150,000 Atlantic Gannets. The birds return to Bass Rock around January with the same mates, and most of them leave for the African west coast with new gannets by October. Learn more about Bass Rock and the gannets on the BBC.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Gannets nest on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth Monday, in Dunbar, Scotland.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Gannets nest on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth Monday, in Dunbar, Scotland.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Gannets nest on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth on Monday, in Dunbar, Scotland.

    Want more cool animal photos? Follow us on Pinterest!

     

  • Aftermath of battles waged against al-Qaida in southern Yemen

    Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

    A man sits in front of an army tank damaged during recent fighting between the army and al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar June 18.

    Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

    An army soldier looks at buildings destroyed during fighting between the army and al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar June 18.

    The Yemeni military last week said it had driven Islamist fighters from territory they had held for over a year, including Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, and another city, Jaar.  For the last several weeks Yemen has been fighting to retake towns in the southern province that were seized by militants linked to al-Qaida last year during a the uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

    Story: Al-Qaida's revenge? Leading Yemen general killed by suicide bomber

  • Influx of foreign fighters threatens stability of Mali

    Adama Diarra / Reuters

    Militiaman from the Ansar Dine Islamic group ride on an armed vehicle between Gao and Kidal in northeastern Mali, June 12, 2012.

    Adama Diarra / Reuters

    Militiaman from the Ansar Dine Islamic group, who said they had come from Niger and Mauritania, ride on a vehicle at Kidal in northeastern Mali, June 16, 2012.

    The leader of the Ansar Dine Islamic group in northern Mali,  Iyad Ag Ghali,  has rejected any form of independence of the northern half of the country and has vowed to pursue plans to impose sharia law throughout the West African nation. Ghali's stance could further deepen the rift between his group and the separatist Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) as both vie for the control of the desert region.

    Reuters reports: Mali, once regarded as a good example of African democracy, collapsed into chaos after soldiers toppled the president in March, leaving a power vacuum that enabled Tuareg rebels in the north to take control of nearly two-thirds of the country.

    The uprising also involved a mix of local and foreign Islamists, and Western diplomats talk of the risk the region could turn into a "West African Afghanistan".  Full story

    Analysis: Mali: the world's next jihadi launchpad?

    Editor's note: Top picture was taken June 12, but made available to msnbc.com today.

  • Beep! Quack! Quack! Beep! Traffic slows to waddling pace as 5,000 ducks cross the road

    China Daily via Reuters

    Farmers herd a flock of ducks along a street towards a pond as residents drive next to them in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, China, on June 17, 2012. There were about 5,000 ducks, according to local media reports.

    A farmer in the Chinese city of Taizhou brought traffic to a halt as he took his flock of ducks on a walk to a nearby pond.

    According to the Daily Mail, farmer Hong didn't lose a single one of his 5,000 ducks during the three-quarters-of-a-mile journey.

    A farmer in China took 5,000 ducks out for a walk in China, bringing traffic to a standstill. TODAY.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Related: Duckling mistakes YouTuber for its mom

    Gus Ruelas / Reuters

    From a prophetic otter to intertwined elephants and a surfing bulldog, get your cuteness fix with irresistible photos of creatures great and small.

  • Stillness overtakes a once busy coal mining industry in Spain

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Boots hang in a changing room in the partially abandoned and closed Santiago mine, as a result of the coal crisis, near Mieres, Oviedo, Spain, June 18.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Rusting mining carts at the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    A bushel grows through the rails of the Figaredo mines, abandoned and closed more than five years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley near Oviedo, Spain.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Posters announcing a general strike on the bolted door of a mine company store at the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    An empty office is seen at the facilities of the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Dossiers and files are seen in an office at the Santa Barbara mine, abandoned seventeen years ago because of the coal crisis in the Turon valley, near Oviedo, Spain.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Miners clothes hang in a changing room in the partially abandoned and closed Santiago mine, as result of the coal crisis, near Mieres, Oviedo, Spain.

    Emilio Morenatti / AP

    A banner reads in Spanish "No entry, dangerous, industrial facilities are on the point of collapse" is seen at the main entrance of "La Camocha" mine, abandoned five years ago because of the coal crisis in Hueces, near Gijon, Spain.

    AP reports: Mining has been an integral part of the economy of the two northern provinces since Roman times. Many miners are worried that government cuts — including a reduction in mining subsidies from €300 million to €110 million ($375 million-$137 million) — will mean the end of their industry.

    Some 8,000 miners work in northern Spain, said Fernandez, who added that the sector had been making big strides to become self-sufficient but the cuts would come at the worst possible time.

    "The cuts proposed by the government will mean the death of mining here and the end of hope for many youngsters new to mining," said Vazquez, 57, who was elected mayor after working 27 years underground. Full story.

    Spanish coal mining unions are waging a general strike as 8,000 mineworkers at over 40 coal mines in northern Spain continue their protests against government action to cut coal subsidies. See more images from the strikes on PhotoBlog:

  • Arrows fly as tribal clashes break out in Indonesia's Papua

    Tjahjono Eranius / AFP - Getty Images

    Papuan tribal warriors armed with bows and arrows and improvised shields move into position as clashes erupted anew between two tribes in Kwamki Lama village in Mimikaa, a district located in Indonesia's restive Papua province, on June 18, 2012.

    Agence France Presse reports — Two tribesmen were killed, one critically injured and several policemen injured while three police vehicles were torched as tribal clashes erupted in Indonesia's restive Papua province on Monday.

    Police and military troops were overwhelmed by the fighting, which was sparked by the death of a tribesman in a road accident in early June.  

    Related content:

    Tjahjono Eranius / AFP - Getty Images

    A phalanx of armed police blockade a road while a police vehicle burns in the background in Kwamki Lama on June 18, 2012.

    Tjahjono Eranius / AFP - Getty Images

    An injured Papuan tribal warrior pierced by an arrow is aided by tribesmen in Kwamki Lama on June 18, 2012.

     

  • David Buimovitch / AFP - Getty Images

    A combination of pictures shows Israeli policemen and a soldier detaining an Arab-Israeli after he tried to pass a road block made by the police in the Israeli Negev desert, south of Beer Sheva, on June 18, 2012. Israel was still hunting for up to four gunmen who infiltrated the Egyptian border and staged a deadly ambush, killing one Israeli and sparking a firefight which left two militants dead.

    Israel hunts for gunmen after border ambush

    Reuters reportsAn Israeli citizen and at least one militant were killed in an attack on the Egyptian border on Monday, Israeli media and the military said.

    "A terrorist squad opened gunfire and possibly also fired an anti-tank rocket at an area where (Israel) is constructing the border fence," Israeli military spokesman Yoav Mordechai told Army Radio. Continue reading.

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