England also had to fill the streets with rubbish, by clearing out damaged possessions

Damaged: Residents in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, left the streets lined with rubbish bags full of objects that were damaged beyond repair

Devastation: The area was left under up to four feet of flood water after the Christmas period floods, when the River Dee burst its banks

Unreadable: One bookshop, Deeside Books (pictured) was forced to throw out dozens of bags full of books that were ruined by flooding

'In the run up to Christmas many people start drinking more than usual as they celebrate the festive season with parties and get-togethers.

Rubbish bags and discarded debris also filled the streets in the north of the UK, as flood victims get to work on the massive New Year clear-out of theirThe United Nations and the global struggle for LGBT equality

On March 31st 1994, a historic decision was made at the United Nations (UN) regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights. The UN Human Rights Committee ruled that an Australian law criminalizing all sexual relations between consenting adult men violated the human rights of Tasmanian activist Nicholas Toonen, and subjected him to the threat of arbitrary arrest and detention. For the first time in history, the UN made clear that the human right to live free from discrimination applies to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation.

Almost 20 years later, “homosexual acts” are illegal in 76 countries, and punishable with the death penalty in five. Moreover, in all regions of the world systematic homophobic and transphobic violence has been