The Week in Pictures: It's a gruff break for these pool players, and a 100-metre portrait of Sir David Attenborough is unveiled
Starmer has a nightmare at the local elections, Villa players have an odd way of celebrating, and who was missing from the Met Gala - here are a selection of some the best photos from the UK and around the world this week.
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Rory Wood and Joseph Hood play pool at The Lucky Goat, the new competitive socialising bar in London as it marks its launch.
The venue is located within the City of London, an area which still to this day permits people with the freedom of the city to walk over London Bridge with their livestock...including goats!
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage enjoys an ice cream on the seafront, after voting during local elections in Walton-on-the-Naze yesterday.
Mr Farage must feel like he's earned a sweet treat to two, with his party making huge gains in this week's local elections.
At time of writing, Reform has gained more than 500 seats. Councils including Hartlepool, Tamworth, Redditch, Tameside, Southampton, Wandsworth, and Exeter have all flipped from Labour control to No Overall Control.
Speaking in Havering after Reform UK won control of the east London council, Farage said: "I can honestly say you are witnessing an historic shift in British politics."
Keir Starmer looks dejected as he speaks to supporters and councillors following local elections, at Kingsdown Methodist Church in London on Friday morning.
Results counted overnight show widespread losses for the Labour Party, with the PM having to deal with hundreds councillors losing their seats.
Sir Keir acknowledged it had been a “tough” night for Labour but said that “days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised”.
The Prime Minister faces further heavy losses as vote counting continues throughout Friday in both English local elections and contests for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd.
In Wales, Labour is expected to lose the national vote for the first time in more than a century while the SNP appears likely to remain the largest party in Scotland after 19 years in power.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews dance around a bonfire during Lag BaOmer, a Jewish holiday marked by bonfire, music, and communal celebrations, in Netanya, Israel on Monday,
Lag BaOmer marks the anniversary of the death of Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai approximately 1,900 years ago.
It is also believed that a plague, which killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students (another prolific teacher of Judaism from the first century) ceased on this day.
An aerial view of a sand portrait of Sir David Attenborough by Arts collective, Sand In Your Eye on Morecambe Beach to celebrate the broadcaster's 100th birthday today (Friday.)
The centenary of the naturalist will be marked with a live event at the Royal Albert Hall tonight, featuring music from his programmes along with stories and reflections from public figures and leading advocates for the natural world.
In the week leading up to the milestone, Sir David said he was “completely overwhelmed” by the birthday messages pouring in, and thanked his well-wishers “most sincerely”.
The activist group Pussy Riot protest over the readmission of Russia to the Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.
This year is the first time Russia has been allowed at the art fair since the country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which prompted widespread protest, including the resignation of the fair's jury.
The protesters set off smoke flares and punched the air with screams of "Russia kills! Biennale exhibits!".
Medics escort a patient, second right, evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship with suspected hantavirus infection, to an ambulance on Wednesday.
A third British national has a suspected case of the rat-borne hantavirus, the UK Health Security Agency said.
Two British nationals have confirmed hantavirus, with an additional suspected case of a British national on Tristan da Cunha, the UKHSA said this morning.
The MV Hondius cruise ship, which was badly affected by the outbreak of the deadly virus, is expected to dock in Tenerife on Sunday.
King Charles III arrives for the service of the Order of St Michael and St George at St Paul's Cathedral, London.
The order recognises service in a foreign country, or in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs. It was founded in 1818 by the Prince Regent, who later became King George IV, to commemorate the Ionian Islands being placed under British protection and Malta being placed under British sovereignty.
Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa celebrates after his team's victory in the UEFA Europa League Semi-Final Second Leg match against Nottingham Forest FC at Villa Park on Thursday.
Aston Villa earned a dominant 4-0 victory over Nottingham Forest to overturn a first-leg deficit and reach the Europa League final last night.
Forest failed to deliver the type of performance that saw them go 10 games unbeaten and they went behind in the tie 13 minutes after the interval courtesy of Emi Buendia’s penalty before John McGinn’s double sealed a 4-1 aggregate win and a trip to Istanbul on May 20.
Villa are through to their first European final in 44 years where they will face German side Freiburg as boss Unai Emery hunts a fifth Europa League title, having won three with Sevilla and one with Villarreal.
President Donald Trump walks past the Washington Nationals baseball team's "Racing Presidents" mascots at White House on Tuesday.
This week saw President Trump watch young student athletes compete on the South Lawn of the White House after he signed a proclamation to revive the Presidential Fitness Test Award, a school-based fitness program.
It's been quite a sports-heavy week for the US President, who has also been getting involved in the countdown to the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June with the United States as one of the three host countries.
However, it wasn't exactly the endorsement the tournament organisers would have been hoping for, as the President declared he personally wouldn't pay the controversially high ticket prices for his nation’s opening game next month.
The US open their Group D campaign against Paraguay in Los Angeles, with tickets reported to be priced at 1,000 US dollars (£737).
Emma Chamberlain attends The 2026 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday in New York City.
The theme of this year's event, which is of the biggest dates in the fashion calendar, was "Costume Art", with the dress code for the celebrity guests described as "fashion is art".
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as honorary co-chairs and lead donors of the Met Gala for the first time - an appointment which proved to be extremely controversial.
The fashion world was stunned as usual suspects failed to show, including Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Lizzo.
Activist group Everyone Hates Elon even placed hundreds of bottles of urine inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art to protest billionaire Jeff Bezo’s treatment of Amazon workers and support of controversial immigration raids in the US.
Star Wars themed drones show in the night sky to celebrate Star Wars Day at a park along the Han River in Seoul, South Korea.
May the 4th is known around the world as Star Wars Day, thanks to the pun on perhaps the film franchise's most iconic line: "May the force be with you."
It was revealed on Monday that viewers in the United States spent 33 billion minutes (equivalent to 550 million hours) watching “Star Wars” content across linear TV and streaming in 2025.