Picture desk live: the day's best news images

Christopher Tappin smiles broadly outside the offices of his lawyer Dan Cogdell in Houston after a federal judge released him from custody. Tappin must remain in Texas and wear a tag while he awaits trial Photograph: Richard Carson/Reuters

Anti-bomb officers search for clues in the Jeep used by suicide bombers in their attack on ThisDay Newspapers in Abuja, Nigeria. Two security guards were killed Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

Pakistani policemen escort a minivan carrying family members of Osama bin Laden, in Islamabad, as they are deported to Saudia Arabia Photograph: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, looks incredibly happy after receiving a six-pack of Flensburger beer during an election rally in Schleswig-Holstein Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

The harsh realities of conflict are illustrated in this photograph of Sierra Leone's Amputee Association chairman, Alhaji Jusu Jarka, outside the special court in Freetown as it broadcasts the verdict on Liberia's former leader Charles Taylor from The Hague. He was found guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

That's a bit cheeky! A boy pokes out his tongue at press photographers as he waits for the Queen to visit Cyfarthfa Castle Museum in Merthyr Tydfil Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

Ever the action man, the Russian prime minister and president-elect, Vladimir Putin, drives a locomotive simulator during his visit to a research facility of the national railway company in Moscow. To see other examples of Putin's macho stunts take a look at this gallery Photograph: Ria Novosti/Reuters

Bakers and their supporters hold placards and pastries as they gather outside Downing Street to protest against the so-called pasty tax. They were giving out free sausage rolls, which surely helped their cause, but what we want to know is where they got their lunch from? Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

This is an astonishing photo of an Israeli family posing for a picture in an armoured military bulldozer during a traditional military weapons display to mark the 64th anniversary of Israel's independence at the West Bank settlement of Efrat Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images

People stand at Youngstorget in Oslo to sing the song My Rainbow Race, in protest against Anders Behring Breivik, the gunman who has admitted killing 77 people last July. Breivik says this song is used to brainwash children Photograph: Alejandro Decap/Alejandro Decap/Demotix/Corbis

Jeremy Hunt, the under-fire culture secretary, looks around at the launch announcement of the London 2012 festival. Hunt dashed off before journalists could ask him any questions about his links with News Corp. The London 2012 festival will feature 25,000 artists from all 204 competing Olympic nations and begins on 21 June Photograph: Rosie Hallam/Getty Images

Women listen to a nurse talk about vaccination and nutrition as they sit with their children at the Dodowa new town health outreach point in Ghana. I think the litte boy must have spotted the nurse with the vaccination needle Photograph: Handout/Rtrpix

Another day, another fixed expression from Rupert Murdoch on his way to the Leveson inquiry with his wife, Wendi Deng, and son Lachlan Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

South Korean police officers appear to be underarmed as they use small fire extinguishers to try to put out a fire set by anti-North Korean campaigners. The target? A paper cut-out of the head of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un Photograph: Kim Jae-hwan/AFP/Getty Images

This will bring a smile to your face. A very thirsty and hot chimpanzee called Tong drinks water from a pipe that an official turned on to help cool him down as temperatures rise to nearly 40C in Bangkok, Thailand Photograph: Apichart Weerawong/AP

It's important to look your best on a big day. Five-year-old Zyaire McLeod tucks his shirt in as he prepares to help lead the pledge of allegiance at Lee Hall primary school in Newport News, Virginia, during a visit by Jill Biden, the wife of the US vice-president Photograph: Amanda Lucier/AP

An Afghan woman beggar sleeps next to two children on a road in Jalalabad. This is a heartbreaking picture of poverty, even more so because she appears unnoticed as daily life continues around her Photograph: Rahmat Gul/AP

The former Liberian president Charles Taylor is flanked by a security guard as he waits for the start of a hearing in the courtroom of the special court for Sierra Leone near The Hague Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

This incredibly shocking image is taken from a video uploaded on YouTube allegedly showing men dressed in Syrian army uniforms pointing guns at a man who is blindfolded and buried up to his neck at an undisclosed location in Syria. The video shows men using shovels to completely bury a man who appears to be alive as they accuse him of being a citizen journalist who sells his videos to an Arab television satellite network Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images