Syrian President Bashar Al Assad watches as Pope John Paul II boards his plane at Damascus airport May 8, 2001 at the end of the Pontiff's four-day visit to Syria.

In this photo illustration a plastic carrier bag is blown along the road by the wind on March 4, 2008 in Birmingham, England. (Photo illustration by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Libyan rebel fighters protect a pro-Gaddafi loyalist fighter from angry onlookers as he is brought in for medical attention to the Tripoli Central Hospital on August 25, 2011 in Tripoli, Libya. Heavy fighting continues in the Libyan capital between Gaddafi's forces and the surging rebel presence. Rebels, who have issued a $1.7m reward for Gaddafi's capture “dead or alive”, are attempting to reach Colonel Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte but have met loyalist resistance. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

A logometer used to determine the Titanic's speed is seen among artifacts recovered from the RMS Titanic wreck site at a press preview of a Titanic artifact auction at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on January 5, 2012 in New York City. On April 11, 2012, the 100th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Titanic, Guernsey's will auction the complete collection of more than 5,000 artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck site. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Moscow riot police prepare to move on activists during an unsacnctioned anti-Putin opposition rally at the Pushkin Square March 5, 2012 in central Moscow, Russia. Amid charges of fraud, demonstrators took to the streets a day after Vladimir Putin declared victory in Russia's presidential elections. (Photos by: Rustem Adagamov; Source: LiveJournal; Gleb Shchelkunov; Source: LiveJournal; Ilya Varlamov; Source: LiveJournal; Raskalov; Source: LiveJournal; Dmitry Chistoprudov; Source: LiveJournal)

A high temperature alerts were issued as a record-setting summer heat wave continued to bake most parts of south China. (Reuters)

A Syrian rebel walks past Sham 2, a homemade armored vehicle, in Bishqatin, Syria, on December 8, 2012. From a distance it looks rather like a big rusty metal box but closer inspection reveals a homemade armored vehicle waiting to be deployed. Sham II, named after ancient Syria, is built from the chassis of a car and touted by rebels as “100 percent made in Syria”. (Photo by Herve Bar/AFP Photo)