Picture desk live: the day's best news images

Anyone need a light? David Beckham poses with the Olympic torch as it arrived in the UK Photograph: Tim Ireland/PA

Heard the one about the Greek, the Spaniard and the Irishman … David Cameron and François Hollande share a joke at the end of their meeting at the British ambassador's residence in Washington Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

It's a wrap! Spectators snuggle up under blankets while they await the start of a beachfront cinema screening on the Croisette at the 65th Cannes film festival
Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

The cost of new homes in China has been plummeting across most major cities in the past two months after the government took steps to curb the property market. Here, a prospective homebuyer makes inquiries about a new apartment project at a real estate fair in Yichang, Hubei province Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Nicely framed by his shelter, a boy keeps dry under plastic sheets in downtown Guatemala City. Photograph: Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters

Mayan women in Quintana Roo state, Mexico, prepare for the start of a traditional ceremony at Xcaret park. The celebration, which kicks off on 18 May, bids farewell to the current era – the Mayans believe 2012 will usher in global harmony Photograph: Elizabeth Ruiz/EPA

A reporter discusses the implications of Facebook's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market site in New York. The company will begin trading on Friday, with its IPO at $38 a share, giving the world's biggest social networking site an astonishing $104bn valuation – the third-largest offering in US history Photograph: Keith Bedford/Reuters

Resembling a shooting star, this arc of light has been made by Japan's H-IIA rocket, which was launched from the Tanegashima space centre in Kagoshima prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu. Japan successfully put a South Korean satellite into space in its first foray into the European- and Russian-dominated world of commercial launches Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

British hopes are resting on this man's leather-clad shoulders. No it's not David Cameron heading to the G8 summit, it's Engelbert Humperdinck at Heathrow airport, en route to Baku for the Eurovision Song Contest Photograph: Ben Pruchnie/FilmMagic

Bahraini Shia Muslim women march in support of jailed dissident Abdel Hadi Khawaja and prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab, in Bilad Al-Qadeem, a suburb of Manama. Khawaja, on hunger strike for more than three months, is well but continues to fast over his life sentence Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Getting down with the kids – literally this time. David Cameron visits Coram's parents centre, central London, as Lucy Swann, three, makes a collage. First-time parents are to be offered relationship counselling in an effort to keep more families together, he has announced. Couples will be coached on how to deal with the mess, lack of sleep and tensions created by a new arrival as part of a £1m trial to begin this summer
Photograph: Chris Harris/The Times

Also down with the kids, David Beckham meets Greek schoolchildren during a visit to the Experimental University School of Athens
Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

Lord Coe and the surely soon-to-be Sir David Beckham speak to students during a tour around the Experimental University School of Athens Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

Summer is here and the first Test at Lord's is under way. Marylebone Cricket Club members wait patiently outside the ground before the second day's play in the first match between England and the West Indies Photograph: Philip Brown/REUTERS

Looking remarkably like a Victorian oil painting, the Hewlett Gulch fire continues to rage across the Poudre canyon near Fort Collins, Colorado. Hundreds of firefighters have been battling to combat the blaze since it ignited on Monday Photograph: RJ Sangosti/AP