News in pictures on Wednesday 17th Feb. 2010

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World
Feb 17, 2010

News in pictures on Wednesday

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Students use makeshift protective head gear and books to cover their heads during an earthquake drill at San Juan elementary school in Manila. Preparedness is the only defense that Filipinos have against earthquakes that occur 20 times a day on the average in the country since it lies on a zone of active faults and trenches, scientists and seismologists noted. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

An Indian vegetable vendor weighs onions for customers at a wholesale market in New Delhi. India's inflation has jumped to its highest level in more than a year due to soaring food prices, data showed, raising pressure to unwind stimulus measures that spurred economic recovery. -- PHOTO: AFP

Pakistani models present final looks of creations by local fashion institute 'Body Focus Museum' during a fashion show in Lahore, Pakistan. Lahore?s fashion scene received a great shot in the arm with the opening of the first ever fashion week, organised by the Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC), at the Royal Palm. -- PHOTO: AP

 

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A member of US security patrols the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during the ship's visit to Hong Kong. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is in the territory for a four-day visit where over 5,000 sailors were expected to make a port leave amid strained Sino-US military ties over Washington's sale of arms to Taiwan. -- PHOTO: AFP

Sudanese dancers welcome former US president Jimmy Carter in the village of Lojura. Lojura, a remote settlement in the south Sudan, is one of the world's worst areas for Guinea worm, a water-borne parasite that can leave people weakened and sick for months every year. The Carter Centre - the not-for-profit organisation founded by former US president Jimmy Carter - has been working in Sudan since 1989 to exterminate the worm. -- PHOTO: AFP

U.S. snowboarder Scott Lago soars through the air while training on the halfpipe at Cypress Mountain during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The snowboarding sensation from New Hampshire is expected to finish on the podium in the snowboarding event. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

 

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Roman Catholics queue up to have crosses etched to their foreheads with ash by nuns and laymen in Manila, as the country marks Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of the Christian Lenten season. The ash symbolizes the mortality of human beings, of bodies disintegrating to ash after one dies. -- PHOTO: AFP

A Sartiglia knight performs during the 545th Carnival in Oristano on the Italian island of Sardinia. The Sartiglia is an equestrian game of ancient origins, where masked knights on horseback try to pass a star, hung along the track, onto their sword. -- PHOTO: AFP

Joe Perez with the Mondo Kayo Social and Marching Club parades down St. Charles Avenue during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

 

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Revellers parade in downtown Lisbon celebrating carnival in Lisbon. -- PHOTO: AP

Tita, a cat belonging to resident Ruben Gaviria, breastfeeds a squirrel at his house in Envigado near Medellin. Mr Gaviria rescued the squirrel six days ago after it was found injured in a park. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

People celebrate 'Uzgavenes' dressed as gypsies, horses, goats in the old town of Vilnius. 'Uzgavenes' is held before the beginning of the Christian Lent and is celebrated on the 46th day before Easter and welcomes the arrival of Spring. -- PHOTO: AFP

 

[yellow people]

View of Colombia's National Congress which is covered with sculptures of large ants - a work by Colombian artist Rafael Gomezbarros - in Bogota. Gomezbarrios said the ants symbolise the people displaced by armed conflict in Colombia. -- PHOTO: AFP

A reveller performs during gay carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday. -- PHOTO: AP

Italy's Raffaella Brutto competes in the women's Snowboard cross event at Cypress Mountain during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, north of Vancouver. -- PHOTO: AFP