Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
This handout picture released on August 20, 2025, by the University of Santiago USACH, shows a family of penguins during a study led by a team of Chilean scientists of the University of Santiago with researchers from the Netherlands and Germany, to determine the presence of heavy metals in Antarctica due to the increase in tourism in the area. Antarctica is showing increasing signs of the polluting impact of tourism and scientific activities, according to a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Sustainability. In the visited areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, heavy metal pollutants have been detected in quantities ten times higher than 40 years ago. (Photo by Jose Jorquera / University of Santiago USACH / AFP)This aerial view shows the wooden Kiruna Church as it arrives at its final location, after a two-day relocation, from the old town to the new city center, in Kiruna, northern Sweden, on August 20, 2025. The church is being moved five kilometers to the new center of Kiruna due to the expansion of the iron ore mine operated by state-owned Swedish mining company LKAB. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)A surfer walks along a beach closed to swimmers due to strong riptides and high surf from Hurricane Erin on August 20, 2025, in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Hurricane Erin, a Category 2 hurricane, is currently approximately 455 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and its current maximum sustained wind speed is near 100 miles per hour with gusts higher. Erin is expected to bring high surf to the New Jersey and New York coastal communities through Thursday night. (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Forensic investigators remove bags of drugs during the National Commissioner of SAPS General Fannie Masemola’s drug destruction process in which more than R400m worth of drugs were destroyed in Gauteng, 21 August 2025. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The CitizenSouth Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa (2nd R) gestures as he speaks with Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (not pictured) during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the second day of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo on August 21, 2025. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks / AFP)Marine Mammal Center volunteers attempt to corral a stranded California sea lion at New Brighton State Beach on August 20, 2025 in Capitola, California. The Marine Mammal Center is seeing an unprecedented surge of sick California sea lions, a vast majority infected with leptospirosis, a disease that can cause irreversible kidney damage. The Marine Mammal Center has seen over 100 sea lions with leptospirosis since July 1, and nearly two-thirds have not survived. (Photo by JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Vehicles travel along South Rand Road, which connects to Rand Airport Road, 21 August 2025, navigating craters and the poor condition of the road. Picture: Michel Bega/The CitizenProtestors at the Energy Embargo Now pricket on August 21, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. The group is calling on the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to stop all trade to Israel because of war crimes and genocide In Gaza. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)An Airbus Helicopter H145M of the Hungarian Air Force uses an infrared trap over the Danube River in Budapest during an air show as part of the celebrations marking the Hungarian national day on August 20, 2025. Hungary marks the 1,025th anniversary of the foundation of the Hungarian state, established by the first king of Hungary, Stephen I. (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP)Aerialists of the Hungarian troupe Vincze Tunde Production perform on the opening night of Strand Festival in Zamardi, Hungary, 20 August 2025 (issued 21 August 2025). Picture: EPA/Tamas VasvariA crane pulls an artifact from the waters at Abu Qir bay in Alexandria on August 21, 2025, as part of an event organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to recover sunken antiquities. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)Chinese military personnel take part in a rehearsal ahead of the parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, which will be held on September 3, in Beijing on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)
