Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
We bring you a visual snapshot of the day’s news events, featuring rescue teams searching through earthquake-devastated communities in Indonesia, Southern African leaders gathering in Durban for the 46th SADC Summit, and Kenyan police detaining protesters during a demonstration against alleged police brutality and enforced disappearances in Nairobi. These are some of the compelling images from around the world.
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This handout picture taken and released on August 17, 2026 by Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) shows a rescuer conducting operations near a collapsed mosque following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Satar Kampas village, East Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara. The 7.7-magnitude quake early on August 15 killed 54 people and injured more than 100. Rescue officials have said there were no reports of people missing. (Photo by Handout / INDONESIA’S NATIONAL SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY (BASARNAS) / AFP)
Sudanese army soldiers take part in a military parade on August 17, 2026, in the city of Gedaref in eastern Sudan during celebrations to mark the 72nd anniversary of the Sudanese Armed Forces. (Photo by AFP)
The 3rd annual Wheels Through Time car show is held in Burlingame, California, United States on August 16, 2026. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Participant attend the greasy pole climbing race locally known as ‘Panjat Pinang’ to collect prizes hung at the top during celebrations to mark the 81st Independence Day celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 17, 2026. (Photo by Agoes Rudianto/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa (R) shake hands as he is received by South Africa’s President and Chair of Southern African Development Community (SADC) Cyril Ramaphosa (L) during the 46th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC), in Durban on August 17, 2026. (Photo by Rajesh JANTILAL / AFP)
A man on a donkey watches from a hilltop as Israeli forces carry out a demolition on a Palestinian building, citing the lack of a building permit, in Qalandia south of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on August 17, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Members of the Scientists on Survival hold a protest outside the Department for Energy and Net Zero on August 17, 2026 in London, England. Today’s protest by Scientists on Survival coincides with the end of the public consultation on the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Police officers detain activists during a protest outside the National Police Service headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 17, 2026. Demonstrators gathered to protest cases of brutality and enforced disappearances, calling for the resignation of Kenya’s Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and demanding investigations into unresolved cases involving missing persons. (Photo by Lucas Mukasa/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A salvage worker breaks the rubble of a building that was destroyed during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, to use the recycled remains in the future, in Gaza City on August 16, 2026. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas had said on August 15 that it asked the US-backed Board of Peace to “compel” Israel to implement its obligations under the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire plan in Gaza and to approve the roadmap for its second phase, after its leader met with the US president’s envoy Jared Kushner in Egypt. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
The sun rises behind the historic Buyuk Mecidiye Mosque along the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul, Turkiye, on August 17, 2026. (Photo by Islam Yakut/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A security officer attempts to extinguish a fire burning on peatland in Kampar, Riau, on August 17, 2026. (Photo by WAHYUDI / AFP)
Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry at Brigette Mabandla Judicial College on August 17, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa established the commission to investigate and report on the veracity, scope, and extent of the allegations made on 6 July 2025 by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi that South Africa’s criminal justice system was compromised. (Photo by Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu)
This handout photograph taken on August 15, 2026 and released on August 17, 2026 by VHP shows a firefighter looking at wildfire in the Hautes Fagnes (High Fens) nature reserve. Rain started falling in Belgium on August 17, 2026 to help its fight against the country’s biggest modern-day wildfire that has devastated some 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) of the High Fens park on the border with Germa. Some 500 firefighters and troops are battling the blaze that has sent a huge cloud of black smoke across the region into neighbouring Germany and France. (Photo by Handout / VHP / AFP)
A driver competes on track during the annual Historic Grand Prix of Mexico City, at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, in Mexico City, Mexico on August 16, 2026. Classic, historic models and current-generation high-performance sports cars were on exhibit and racing on a track during the event held at the iconic F1 circuit. (Photo by Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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