Week in pictures: 25 April-1 May

Crowds gather to cheer on the fun runners at Tower Bridge during the 2009 Flora London Marathon

Thousands of runners - including celebrities and charity fund-raisers - took part in this year's London Marathon.

Passenger surrounded by Red Cross staff at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, near Paris

Around the world, medical services have been put on alert as the likelihood of a swine flu pandemic grows.

rmographic device at Sofia airport, Bulgaria

Aircraft arriving from Mexico are sprayed with chemicals and some countries - such as Bulgaria - have installed thermographic devices at major airports to monitor signs of fever in arriving passengers.

A priest waits beside rubble in L'Aquila

Residents were visibly moved as Pope Benedict XVI visited the central Italian region of Abruzzo, three weeks after an earthquake killed almost 300 people. It was the Pope's first visit to the region since the quake.

Pakistani soldiers get ready to pound Taleban hideouts in Lower Dir

Pakistan has expanded its military operation against suspected Taleban militants by launching air strikes in Buner district, less than 100km (60 miles) from Islamabad.

Police officers arrested the driver and took him to hospital, where he died of his injuries. They say he deliberately targeted the royals.

A car driver crashed into crowds watching a Dutch royal parade, killing six people. The car careered into a monument metres from an open-topped bus carrying Queen Beatrix and members of her family.

In this image taken with a cell phone by Jason McLane, the primary presidential aircraft, a Boeing 747 known as Air Force One when the president is aboard, flies low over New York

The White House has apologised after a low-level flight by a presidential jet and a fighter plane sparked panic among New York office workers. Officials said the fly-past - a photographic exercise - had been co-ordinated with city and state authorities.