Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Police officers stand near an empty defendant's cage in a courtroom in Moscow on March 11, 2013. The court postponed the trial of Sergei Magnitsky, a dead lawyer who accused law-enforcement authorities of massive corruption and whose case sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow.

Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

Flowers lie near the grave of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in the Preobrazhensky cemetery in Moscow on March 11, 2013.

Journalists crowded into a packed Moscow courtroom on Monday to witness a legal first: the first prosecution of a dead person in Russian history. But the case was postponed as the absence of defendant Sergei Magnitsky — who died in 2009 — was compounded by the non-appearance of his legal team.

Magnitsky is charged with tax evasion and fraud — similar to accusations that he had leveled against police and tax officials — in a case that sparked a dispute between Washington and Moscow when Congress passed a law named after Magnitsky.

"The defense team ... believes that they have not yet fully acquainted themselves with the 60 volumes of case materials,"  Judge Igor Alisov said, looking down on the barred cage usually reserved for the accused and the empty seats where Magnitsky's lawyers should have sat. Alisov postponed the trial until March 22.

-- Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the Bogside area of Derry depicts Operation Motorman, a 1972 British army operation aimed at reclaiming "no-go areas" in the city from the IRA.

The story of Northern Ireland's troubled history has long been told in painted murals on the walls of its cities, towns and villages. But as Cathal McNaughton explains in a post on Reuters' Photographers Blog, the images commemorating ancient battles and honoring paramilitary groups are now being joined by paintings celebrating sporting successes and cultural achievements.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the Bogside area of Derry depicts a petrol bomber during the Battle of the Bogside which took place in 1969 between residents of the area and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the Bogside area of Derry commemorates the beginning of the struggle for democratic rights.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

People walk past a Loyalist paramilitary mural in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast.

By Cathal McNaughton, Reuters

A 15-foot-high mural of a gunman dressed in army fatigues and a balaclava clutching an AK-47 is painted on the wall of a house in a residential street. People walk by and don't even notice it.

In other parts of the UK and Ireland there would probably be outrage, but not in Northern Ireland, where young children happily play on streets in front of a backdrop of politically-charged street art commemorating the violence and bloodshed of 'The Troubles'.

These murals have become street wallpaper for the people living in this small corner of Europe, who appear to barely bat an eyelid at a gory depiction of a skeleton crawling over dead bodies that adorns the end wall of a house on their street.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A man checks his cellphone beside a loyalist paramilitary mural in the Waterside area of Derry.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

Pigeons fly past a mural in the Shankill Road area of West Belfast depicting a Gaelic myth about the claiming of Ulster.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural shows tributes to Britain's Queen Elizabeth on the Shankill Road in West Belfast.

Most of the murals promote either Republican or Loyalist political beliefs. They often glorify paramilitary groups such as the IRA or the Ulster Volunteer Force with a roll call of the dead written large "lest we forget".

However since the paramilitary ceasefires of the 1990s, this distinctively Northern Irish artwork has seen a shift in tone. New murals have sprung up depicting local heroes like golfer Rory McIlroy, who represent the changing face of the province's political landscape.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

Golfer Rory McIlroy, who hails from County Down, is pictured on a wall in the Holylands area of Belfast.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural in the village of Cushendall in north Antrim commemorates 100 years of the local Gaelic Athletic Club.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

A mural features Irish boxer Michael Conlan winning a bronze medal in the flyweight division at the 2012 Summer Olympics on a wall in the Falls Road area of West Belfast.

It would be nice to think that one day there will be no need to paint any more murals to commemorate new victims of Northern Ireland's troubled history. But with the annual marching season fast approaching, and following the most sustained period of rioting for years, I think there may well be a few more turns in this journey yet — and fresh paint on the wall.

Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Editor's note: Images taken between Feb. 19 and Feb. 23, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Related:

Belfast 'Peace Wall' still separates Catholics, Protestants

A historic handshake, a historic image in Northern Ireland's peace process

Outside the Frame: Journalists under fire in Belfast riot

John Kolesidis / Reuters

A woman is rescued from floodwaters by a man standing on top of her car during heavy rain in the Chalandri suburb, north of Athens, Greece, on Feb. 22, 2013.

John Kolesidis / Reuters

The woman had become stuck as water engulfed her car.

John Kolesidis / Reuters

The woman is carried to safety after being rescued.

Pantelis Saitas / EPA

An employee of the Greek Parliament hangs precariously after falling through the glass roof of the Greek Parliament Hall while trying to prevent rain water leaking into the building, in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

Simela Pantzartzi / EPA

People stand on a bench at a bus station during a heavy storm in Athens on Feb. 22, 2013.

A heavy rainstorm in the Athens region on Friday morning flooded streets in the Greek capital and interrupted transport on land and sea. In the suburb of Chalandri, a woman had to be rescued from her car as raging torrents of water engulfed the vehicle.

A worker at the Greek parliament had to be rescued after she crashed through the glass roof of the building while trying to stop a leak. The woman found herself hanging through a broken panel in the roof and was slightly injured, according to local reports cited by Xinhua.

-- The European Pressphoto Agency and Reuters contributed to this report

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Peter Breiter, CEO of Raiffeisen Gammesfeld eG bank, serves a customer at the counter of the bank in Gammesfeld, Baden-Wuerttemberg. Things do not seem to have changed much since the bank was founded in 1890.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Peter Breiter works with an old adding machine. The bank is not connected to a database system, there are no cash machines and its customer base consists only of residents of the town of Gammesfeld, which has a population of around 510.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Fritz Vogt, 82, who used to run the bank and still helps out with paperwork, writes into a savings book. During his time at the bank he rejected the idea of IT, preferring his trusty fountain pen, and now eyes the 'new' computer with its floppy disks warily.

By Victoria Bryan, Reuters

Peter Breiter, 41, is an unusual banker. Not for him the big bonuses, complicated financial instruments and multi-million deals of Wall Street lore.

He is happy instead writing transaction slips out by hand for the 500 inhabitants of the tiny southern German village of Gammesfeld.

The Raiffeisen Gammesfeld eG cooperative bank is one of the country's 10 smallest banks by deposits and is the only one to be run by just one member of staff.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Peter Breiter rolls euro coins in paper.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Peter Breiter mops the floor in the waiting room of the bank.

A typical day's work for Breiter involves providing villagers with cash for their day-to-day needs and arranging small loans for local businesses. Not to mention cleaning the one-story building that houses the bank, which is 200 meters from his own front door.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Peter Breiter holds the floppy disks he uses now that the bank has a computer.

Moving from a bigger bank, where it was all "sell, sell, sell," Gammesfeld-born Breiter says taking up this job in 2008 was the best decision he ever made.

The advertisement required someone to work by hand, without computers. The typewriter and the adding machine bear the signs of constant use, although Breiter, in his standard work outfit of jeans and a sweater, does now have a computer.

"It's so much fun," Breiter, a keen mathematician, says as he deals with a steady stream of lunchtime customers. He knows his customers by name and regularly offers advice on jobs, relationship and money woes.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

Peter Breiter, right, welcomes customer Mandes Rueger, 30, at the counter of the bank. Rueger, an insurance salesman, comes in around twice a week to use the bank.

Raiffeisen Gammesfeld restricts its business to traditional retail banking --  no credit cards, shares, funds or even online banking. Annual profits are stable at around 40,000 euros ($54,000) and the biggest loan it ever made was for 650,000 euros ($875,000).

Breiter said the financial crisis prompted interest in his bank from all over Germany: "One person rang up five times asking for a 4 million euro loan, but I had to refuse because he wasn't from Gammesfeld!" Read the full story.

Photographer's blog: Lisi Niesner describes her visit to Germany's one-man bank

EDITOR'S NOTE: Images taken on Jan. 29, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Lisi Niesner / Reuters

A Raiffeisen Gammesfeld eG bank stamp.

Philippe Roesch / Visual Forensic via AFP - Getty Images

A computer generated image shows a reconstruction of the head of French King Henri IV (1553-1610) made after a panel of forensic scientists identified the skull of the king who was murdered at the age of 57 on May 14, 1610, by a fanatic.

Bellet-gabet / Bellet / Galaxy Press via AFP - Getty Images

The mummified head of French King Henri IV.

Scientists revealed the reconstructed head of French King Henri IV (1553-1610) during a press conference in Paris on Tuesday. This reconstruction was made three years after a panel of forensic scientists identified the skull of the king, who was murdered by a fanatic, at the age of 57 on May 14, 1610.

Scientists headed by France's Philippe Charlier found a common genetic profile between the mummified head of Henri IV and dried blood from his descendant, Louis XVI.  

-- AFP - Getty Images

Related: King Richard III's face revealed after 500 years

Loic Venance / AFP - Getty Images

The skull of French King Henri IV and, at right, its reconstruction, appear on a screen during a press conference in Paris on Feb. 12.

Luigi Costantini / AP

A woman wades through high water with ice floating on its surface in a flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, early on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013.

The natural phenomenon of high water ("acqua alta") which floods the Venice lagoon generally occurs between autumn and spring when high tides are reinforced by seasonal winds. The water reached a height of 143 centimeters (4 feet 8 inches) on Monday night. 

-- The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse

Barbara Zanon / Getty Images Contributor

A man carries a woman during high tide in Venice on Feb. 11, 2013.

Francois Xavier Marit / AFP - Getty Images

Water rises on St Mark's Square during an acqua alta late on Feb. 11, 2013.

Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP - Getty Images

People reach out for a bag of oranges during a free distribution of fruit and vegetables by Greek farmers outside the Agriculture Ministry in Athens, part of a farmers' protest against high production costs on Feb. 6, 2013.

John Kolesidis / Reuters

Athens residents reach out to take fruit and vegetables distributed for free by farmers.

Reuters reports — Hundreds of Greeks scuffled for free vegetables handed out by farmers on Wednesday, leaving one man trampled and injured, and prompting an outcry over the growing desperation created by economic crisis.

Startling images of Greeks struggling to seize bags of tomatoes and leeks thrown from a truck dominated Greek television, triggering a bout of soul-searching over the new depths of poverty in the debt-laden country.

"These images make me angry. Angry for a proud people who have no food to eat, who can't afford to keep warm, who can't make ends meet," said Kostas Barkas, a lawmaker from the leftist Syriza party. Read the full story.

Eurokinissi via Reuters; Greek police via Reuters

A policeman escorts suspected bank robber Nikolaos Romanos near the prosecutor's office in Kozani, northern Greece, left. A mug shot released by police, right, shows Romanos, 20, with significantly less bruising.

Reuters reports — A Greek prosecutor ordered an investigation on Monday into whether four suspected bank robbers were beaten in custody, after police published mug shots that were altered to make their injuries appear less severe.

Rights groups and critics have long accused Greek police of detaining immigrants and other prisoners in shocking conditions.

Photos published in the Greek media of the men, who were aged between 20 and 25 and arrested on Friday, showed them bruised and bleeding while being escorted by police.

But mug shots released by the police over the weekend had injuries missing. One had been altered to remove a purple bruise from beneath the suspect's left eye. In another, black bruises below the suspect's eyes and cheeks appear to have been erased.

Eurokinissi via Reuters; Greek police via Reuters

A policeman escorts suspected bank robber Andreas Bourzoukos in Kozani, left, and the mug shot of Bourzoukos distributed by Greek police, right.

Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias acknowledged the photographs had been tampered with, but defended the decision by saying it was to make the four men recognizable to the public.

"Photoshop was used and I - just like you, just like any reasonable person - asked why was this done," Dendias said on Greek television when asked about the press reports.

"Because if they hadn't been Photoshopped, in order to make them resemble an image that the average person would recognize them in, then the photos wouldn't have been published in the first place." Read the full story.

Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

A facial reconstruction based on the skull of King Richard III is unveiled by the Richard III Society, in London on Feb. 5, 2013.

The face of England's King Richard III was revealed for the first time in more than 500 years on Tuesday following a reconstruction based on a skull unearthed from a parking lot in the city of Leicester.

After carrying out a series of scientific investigations on bones exhumed from the site last year, the University of Leicester announced on Monday that the remains belonged to Richard III, who died in battle in 1485.

Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images

Michael Ibsen, a descendant of England's King Richard III, poses for pictures with a plastic model made from the recently discovered skull of the king, during a press conference in London on Feb. 5, 2013.

As detailed by NBC News Science Editor Alan Boyle, DNA was extracted from bone samples and compared with modern-day mitochondrial DNA from two direct descendants of Richard III's family, including Michael Ibsen, a Canadian-born cabinetmaker who is a 17th-generation descendant of Richard III's eldest sister, Anne of York.

The skeleton's relatively delicate structure was consistent with descriptions of Richard III's physical appearance, University of Leicester historian Lin Foxhall said. 

Petros Karadjias / AP

A bird is entangled in a net used by poachers to trap migrating songbirds in the Larnaca district of Cyprus. Small birds, called ambelopoulia in Greek, are considered a delicacy in Cyprus, and poachers supply a lucrative market. 

Petros Karadjias / AP

A man tries to free a bird caught on a branch covered with a sticky substance that poachers in Cyprus use to trap songbirds in his orchard in the Larnaca district.

Petros Karadjias / AP

Served whole, either boiled or pickled, the fatty birds are such an ugly sight on a plate that outsiders find it hard to fathom how there could be any profit to be made from them. For many Cypriots, however, the tangy-sweet taste of the birds is pure bliss.

By Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press — It's just before first light and the bird-catcher strings nets among the orange, pomegranate, fig and carob trees in his orchard. The sound of chirping emanates from inside a massive carob — a trick sent from speakers to attract tiny songbirds. By mid-morning, the man disentangles about a half-dozen blackcaps, snaps their necks with his teeth and drops them in a bucket.

For centuries, the migratory songbirds have been a prized delicacy among Cypriots. They are also an illegal one, as entry into the European Union forced Cyprus to ban the tradition of catching the creatures, some endangered, in nets or on sticks slathered with a glue-like substance.

Now economic crisis is luring many out-of-work Cypriots back into the centuries-old trade. They risk stiff fines and even jail time by supplying an underground market for the tiny songbirds illicitly served up in the country's tavernas — but they say it's their only way to make ends meet. Read the full story.

Editor's note: Images taken on Nov. 3, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

Petros Karadjias / AP

A man, who didn't want to be identified because he is breaking the law by poaching, releases a bird that was trapped in a net in his orchard in the Larnaca district.

Related:

The sound of no birds singing: Jonathan Franzen discusses the killing of songbirds in a New Yorker podcast

Killer outdoor cats slay billions of birds, small mammals yearly

Mystery of how homing pigeons find home solved