Picture desk live: the day's best news images

German chancellor Angela Merkel, who has a reputation for running a tight fiscal policy, is clearly a frugal Frau at home as well. For the opening of this year's Bayreuth Wagner opera festival she recycled an evening gown she had originally worn to the same event in 2008 Photograph: Reuters

A portrait of Usain Bolt has appeared on the side of a house in east London Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Surrounded by body guards, Queen Elizabeth II meets locals during her Diamond Jubilee visit to the Isle of Wight Photograph: Getty Images

He huffed and he puffed but could the London mayor, Boris Johnson, get a tune from the bagpipes with the Shree Muktajeevan Pipe Band in Barnet on day 68 of the Olympic torch relay? Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Fashion blogger Aizak Buyondo from Uganda poses in British Olympic style in front of a portrait of himself in the photography exhibition 'The World in London' in east London. The project, initiated by The Photographers' Gallery, commissioned portraits of 204 Londoners, each originating from one of the nations competing in the London 2012 Olympic Games Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Ten-week-old short clawed otters make their debut at Chester zoo today. The pair are appropriately named Rebecca and Daley after Olympians Rebecca Adlington and Tom Daley ... awww Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

It's a gorgeous day for a paddle at the Diana Memorial Fountain in London's Hyde Park Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

As temperatures rise across parts of the UK, some have chosen to soak up the sun at the rooftop pool at the Thermae Bath Spa in Bath. According to forecasters, today is predicted to be the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures hitting 31C Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Who's that girl? Well apparently she's North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's wife, who has been named by the state broadcaster as Ri Sol-ju. Kim Jong-un has married, state media reported, putting an end to speculation over the relationship with the woman seen at his side during a recent gala Photograph: KCNA/Reuters

A man whistles with a Citroen keyring as French car maker Peugeot-Citroen PSA employees protest against planned layoffs and a plant closing in front of the PSA headquarters in Paris Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

Put them down, someone might get hurt: Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, talks holding two pistols belonging to Simón Bolívar, during an official act where he unveiled a scanned image of the face of Bolívar after a three-dimensional facial reconstruction based on the skull structure of the man called 'Liberator,' to commemorate the 229th birthday of the national hero, in Miraflores Palace, Caracas, last night Photograph: David Fernandez/EPA

Has he got a licence for that moustache? Participants take part in the annual Days of '47 Pioneer Day Parade, which honours the settling of Utah by the Mormon pioneers who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July 1847 Photograph: Brian Cahn/ZUMA Press/Corbis

Actor Christian Bale visits the memorial across the street from the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado. The memorial was created for the victims of the mass shooting last Friday Photograph: Joshua Lott/Getty Images

Say manchego! Clowns pose for a picture after an inauguration parade of the 4th Latin America clown congress in the Central Place of Guatemala City. Two hundred clowns across Latin America are taking part in the congress Photograph: Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters

People sit on a set of Olympic Rings floating in the river Thames off Battersea Park during a hot night in London Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Edwardo Martinez tries to coax Pete Lui off the balcony of his home in Racine, Wisconsin, yesterday afternoon, as flames spread through the second floor apartment. Lui was rescued by the Racine Fire Department and was taken to hospital Photograph: Gregory Shaver/AP

Flood water is released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river, in Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province. Due to the downpours in the upper reaches of the river, China's longest, the Three Gorges Dam, experienced its largest flood peak this year on Tuesday, with a peak flow of 70,000 cubic metres of water per second Photograph: Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua Press/Corbis

A child cries after a fire breaks out at a refugee camp in the capital city of Podgorica in Montenegro, yesterday. The camp holds refugees from Kosovo and Metohija Photograph: Boris Pejovic/EPA

A cyclist passes a Games lane sign near Parliament as the full Olympic road network comes into force in London. Special lanes for London 2012 official vehicles have been opened, causing consternation to some Londoners Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Some actual atheletes here: Chinese swimmers perform strength exercises at the Aquatics Centre in the Olympic Park in Stratford in east London Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters