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 a massive blaze engulfing a fuel storage tank at Libya’s second-largest oil refinery, conservation officials rescuing a critically endangered Sumatran tiger in Indonesia to prevent conflict with nearby communities, and court proceedings in Johannesburg involving a man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl. These are some of the compelling images from around the world.
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Black smoke rises during a fire at the Zawiya refinery, Libya’s second-largest oil refinery with a refining capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, after a storage tank belonging to the state-owned Libyan Brega Oil Company was attacked by unknown perpetrators in Al-Zawiyah on August 11, 2026. A major gasoline reservoir in Libya’s Zawiya, west of Tripoli, caught fire and collapsed on August 10, 2026, after what authorities said was an attack by unknown perpetrators. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said the tank contained about 4.5 million litres of gasoline. Libya has the most abundant oil reserves in Africa but has been divided ever since it was plunged into war during the ouster in 2011 of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. Two governments are currently vying for power: the UN-recognised administration in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah and a rival in the east backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar. (Photo by Mahmud Turkia / AFP)
Veterinarians and staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) evacuate a wild Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) in Agam, West Sumatra, Indonesia, on August 12, 2026. The tiger was evacuated to prevent potential conflict with humans. Sumatran tigers are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with fewer than 400 estimated to remain in the wild. (Photo by Adi Prima/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A view of haze blanketing the Kuala Lumpur skyline in Malaysia on August 12, 2026. Smoke from wildfires in the region has contributed to unhealthy air quality levels (Photo by Syaiful Redzuan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The Grand Camlica Mosque is seen against the colorful sky during sunrise in Istanbul, Turkiye, on August 12, 2026. (Photo by Adem Kutucu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Soweto resident Matthew Molokoane works at his mobile business, 12 August 2026, during the cold front in Soweto. Molokoane continues to earn a living despite South Africa’s rising unemployment. Picture: Jessica Nkuna/The Citizen
This aerial photograph shows the wreckage of a World War II German warship, one of dozens sunk by retreating Nazi forces in September 1944, emerging from the low waters of the Danube River near Prahovo, Serbia, on August 11, 2026, as drought and prolonged hot and dry weather continues to lower water levels across the region. Heat and drought are driving rivers across Europe to record lows. Low levels along the Danube river have already seen Hungary and Romania forced to consider shuttering their nuclear plants, which rely on the water for cooling, in late July, though both managed to avoid doing so for now. (Photo by Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)
Tshepo Ntsimane during court proceedings at Roodepoort Magistrates’ Court on August 12, 2026 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The matter concerns a 56-year-old accused facing a rape charge relating to the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Dobsonville, Soweto, and is postponed for indictment. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)
A woman walks past a large mural during daily life in New York City, United States, on August 11, 2026. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Len John (Deputy Director for Investigations attached to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) in KwaZulu-Natal testifies at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry at Brigette Mabandla Judicial College on August 12, 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 picture taken on August 11, 2026 shows the silhouette of a local villager attempting to extinguish a wildfire in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan. (Photo by REINA / AFP)
Hindu devotees offer prayers as they tie a sacred thread to a “Kalpavriksha”, a divine wishing tree, on the occasion of Hariyali Amavasya at a Hindu temple in Ajmer on August 12, 2026. (Photo by Himanshu SHARMA / AFP)
Barclay Dougall and Ross Ewing take a shooting party into the hills of the Angus Glens during the opening day of the grouse shooting season on August 12, 2026 in Kirriemuir, Scotland. The red grouse shooting season in Scotland runs annually from August 12 to December 10. The highly anticipated opening day is traditionally known as the “Glorious Twelfth”. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
People cool off in irrigation canals in southern Tehran, Iran, on August 12, 2026, as hot weather affects the capital. Residents who do not have access to swimming pools use the canals to seek relief from the heat. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Commuters wait with umbrellas as they wait to board a local bus in the business district during a rainstorm caused by Typhoon Dolphin on August 12, 2026 in Beijing, China. China’s capital and the surrounding North China region are experiencing an above-average rainy and peak flood season in 2026, and government forecasts predict the summer’s precipitation totals to be as much as 20% to 50% higher than usual. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
A view shows a former eel fishing boat stranded in dried mud along the banks of the Rhine River on August 11, 2026 in Neuss, Germany. The Rhine River water level has reached record lows at measuring points along its route through Germany due to ongoing drought and hot weather. The Rhine is a crucial shipping conduit for the region and shipping of heavy cargo has already been severely disrupted. (Photo by Hesham Elsherif/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Will from Portsmouth wearing the pair of solar eclipse glasses he bought from a stall on Custom House Quay, on August 12, 2026 in Falmouth, England. The partial solar eclipse is the most coverage during an eclipse viewed from the UK since 1999, with the moon covering 90-96% of the sun. Being situated in the far south west of the UK, people in Falmouth, Cornwall have the opportunity to watch the partial eclipse at a particularly high level of totality, with around 95 percent of the sun obscured (Photo by Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)
A worker removes garbage that is clogging a river amid heavy rain on August 12, 2026 in Paranaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. Heavy monsoon rains combined with Typhoon Dolphin has triggered widespread flooding across Luzon and swept a large amount of debris into the waterways. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump waves from the presidential limo upon arriving at Spire Academy to attend the 2026 Patriot Games finals in Geneva, Ohio on August 11, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
A woman walks past a shopping mall on a rainy day in Beijing on August 12, 2026. (Photo by Adek BERRY / AFP)
An undated handout photo released by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, and received on August 12, 2026, shows fire crew from Beaminster Fire Station tackling a wildfire that began on August 9, in the New Forest near Ringwood, southern England. (Photo by Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service / AFP)
