Week in pictures: 19 - 25 September 2020

Published: 7 hours ago

A selection of powerful news photographs taken around the world this week.

image copyrightPhil Noble / Reuters

image captionBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reflected in a woman’s eye as she watches his TV address to the nation about a marked increase in coronavirus infections across the UK. Johnson urged the public to “summon the discipline and the resolve” to follow newly introduced measures, which, he said, could last up to six months.

image copyrightAdrees Latif / Reuters

image captionHorses are seen on Withers Ranch, as smoke rises in the distance from fires burning in the Fremont National Forest in Paisley, Oregon. The wildfires on the West Coast of the US have destroyed vast areas of land and killed at least 36 people since early August. Smoke has spread to the east of the country, casting a haze over New York and Washington DC.

image copyrightAlexander Nemenov / AFP

image captionWater-propelled flyboarders perform at the Moscow Water Area festival in Russia.

image copyrightAthit Perawongmetha / Reuters

image captionAnti-government protesters install a plaque near Bangkok’s Grand Palace declaring Thailand “belongs to the people”, in a bold show of opposition to Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Student-led protests calling for reform of the country’s monarchy and political system have been taking place since July.

image copyrightKim Hong-Ji / Reuters

image captionA woman rides a bike through an array of artificial full moons installed at a park in Seoul, in celebration of the forthcoming Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday in South Korea.

image copyrightJonathan Ernst / Reuters

image captionUS President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stand behind the casket of the late justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at the top of the steps of the US Supreme Court in Washington. The president was met with boos and chants of “vote him out” by the assembled crowd.

image copyrightAlain Jocard / AFP

image captionA worker wields an axe during a public demonstration in front of Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral to demonstrate the medieval techniques used to lift part of the reconstructed framework of the cathedral. In July, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the spire of the cathedral, which was destroyed in a fire in April 2019, will be restored according to the original Gothic design.

image copyrightAaron Chown / PA Media

image captionPolice officers leave flowers outside Croydon Custody Centre in south London where a fellow officer was shot by a man who was being detained in the early hours of Friday morning. The male sergeant was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital, where he subsequently died.

image copyrightThomas Mukoya / Reuters

image captionMaasai men of Matapato attend the Olng’esherr (meat-eating) passage ceremony in the Maparasha hills of Kajiado, Kenya. The ceremony unites the older Ilpaamu and the younger Ilaitete into senior elderhood at the final rite of passage. The event was initially postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

image copyrightLeonardo Munoz / AFP

image captionRiot police are pictured as citizens demonstrate against police brutality in Bogota, Colombia. At least seven people have been killed in protests as outrage spreads over the death of a man who was pinned to the ground and repeatedly tasered by police in the Colombian capital. The officers were arresting him for allegedly breaking social distancing rules by drinking with friends.