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World
Mar 19, 2010

News in pictures on Friday



Visitors take a close look at blooming "Ookanzakura" cherry blossoms at Shinjuku park in Tokyo on Thursday. This season, Japan's national obsession with the timing of the flowering of the delicate, pale pink blooms, called "sakura" in Japanese, will depend on private weather companies and their volunteer recruits, after the Meteorological Agency decided to end its official forecasts that began in 1955. -- PHOTO: REUTERS




Photo shows riot policemen standing guard beside emptied containers lying in a pool of blood after red-shirted supporters of deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra spilled blood at Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat party offices in Bangkok. Thai tourism is taking a battering as the latest gruesome protests in Bangkok have frightened off visitors to the kingdom, better known for its white sands and smiles. -- PHOTO: AFP




Mouneera Basheer, 14, left, is seen working along with her sister Amila, 15, center, and other girls in a brick factory on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. At least 10 million children are believed to be working in Pakistan, though the actual number is unknown. They toil at a variety of jobs, including some of the hardest and most poorly paid. -- PHOTO: AP