Winter's icy grip has led to one of England's most famous lakes icing over for the first time in decades. Lake Derwentwater is now completely covered in ice, leaving locals struggling to remember the last time the lake was complexly ice-bound. The three-mile long lake in Cumbria is about 70ft deep and often the edges become covered in ice in winter, but it is extremely rare for the entire lake to be covered. The dramatic photo was captured by Paul Delaney, a footpaths supervisor for the National Trust, from a viewpoint called Walla Crag, and the panorama was pieced together from five different photos.
The area has experienced three weeks of sub-zero temperatures with repeated snowfalls since December 19. (PA)
Calm returns to town after riots in Italy
Authorities in Italy said around 300 migrant workers have been bussed out of a southern town rocked by two days of rioting that left at least 37 injured, including migrants beaten in an attack.
The prefect of Reggio Calabria told Sky TG24 TV that several hundred other Africans for now were choosing to stay in the town of Rosarno, where they live in an abandoned, decrepit former cheese factory. The others were bussed to a shelter for illegal migrants.
The prefect, Luigi Varratta, and journalists said calm had prevailed yesterday in Rosarno, Calabria.
Clashes involving migrants, residents and police began last Thursday night after two Africans were wounded with pellet gunfire in an attack blamed on racism. (PA)
Chavez announces devaluation
President Hugo Chavez announced a currency devaluation for the first time since 2005, setting a two-tiered exchange rate designed to help Venezuela's oil earnings go further domestically, while holding down prices of priority imports like food to counter soaring inflation.
Mr Chavez said the bolivar would now have two government-set rates: 2.60 to the dollar for transactions deemed priorities by the government, and 4.30 to the dollar for other transactions. The devaluation dropped the currency's value by 17 per cent or 50 per cent, depending on the tier.
The higher rate, which he called the "oil dollar", will double the paper value of Venezuela's petroleum earnings when converted to local currency. (PA)
Nuclear-free pledge
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon pledged to do everything in his power to build on the historic UN summit chaired by US president Barack Obama and advance the goal of a nuclear weapons-free world.
Mr Ban said he would be pressing for progress on disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation at a number of major events this year.
"Last year, we saw several encouraging developments. This year, we have much on which to build - and a heavy agenda going forward," he told a closed-door meeting with the heads of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the organisations overseeing the treaty banning chemical weapons and the nuclear test ban treaty. (PA)
Jamaica murder record
A record number of people were killed in Jamaica last year, police said, confirming the island's reputation as having one of the world's highest murder rates.
The majority of the 1,680 killings - six more than the previous record set in 2005 - involved victims of drug and extortion gangs and occurred far from the island's trendy tourist spots, police said. Most were shootings.
The news comes as Jamaica prepares for the arrival of radical Muslim cleric Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal, who was jailed in Britain for urging the killing of Americans, Hindus, Jews and Christians. (PA)
Berry bypass blunder
Canadian police said an officer was wrong to whisk Hollywood star Halle Berry, her model boyfriend and their baby daughter through airport security at Montreal's Trudeau Airport.
A constable decided to let the couple pass a long line last Monday after a spur-of-the-moment request by Berry's boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, because they had the baby with them.
Inspector Jimmy Cacchione, who heads the 36-member unit that patrols the Montreal airport, said: "The officer took the personal initiative to allow them to go through the line faster, but that's not something the Montreal police supports." (PA)
Bank chief reinstated
A judge reinstated Argentina's Central Bank chief, a day after President Cristina Fernandez sacked him by emergency decree in a bitter fight over control of the bank's reserves.
Martin Redrado returned to the central bank shortly after the ruling, which suspended the decree that dismissed him for dereliction of duty.
He had angered Ms Fernandez by refusing an order to use reserves to pay off debt and then rejecting her demand that he resign, saying only Congress had the power to remove him. (PA)