It’s never been easier to keep up with what’s going on in the world. The news is everywhere – in our Facebook feeds, on the morning commute, during that lazy half hour before you switch off the TV and go to bed. But the tide of global affairs is often more upsetting than uplifting and it can be tempting to bury our heads in the sand. As the saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words, so to offer a different perspective we've rounded up some of the most memorable images of the week's events, captured by the best photojournalists on the planet.
Freed South African hostage Stephen McGown (R), who was held hostage by Al-Qaeda in Mali for nearly six years, leaves with his wife Catherine (L) after giving a press conference, 10 days after being freed, at the Gift of the Givers foundation headquarters on 10th August 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. McGown, 42, was abducted in Timbuktu in northern Mali in November 2011.
Photo: GULSHAN KHAN/AFP/Getty Images.
A baby snow leopard is prepared to get his first vaccination on 10th August 2017 at the Tierpark zoo in Berlin. The male snow leopard was born on 13th June 2017 and still has no name.
Photo: BRITTA PEDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images.
This picture, taken on 9th August 2017 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 10th August 2017, shows a rally at Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang, in support of North Korea's stance against the US. On 10th August, North Korea said US President Donald Trump was "bereft of reason" and would only respond to force, as it elaborated on a threat to attack the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Photo: STR/AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS/Getty Images.
A surfer catches a wave as the sun sets at the end of the first day of the annual Boardmasters festival held on Fistral beach in Newquay on 9th August 2017 in Cornwall, England. Held since 1981, the Boardmasters surfing competition is now part of a larger five-day surf, skate and music festival and an integral part of the continually popular British surf scene. Growing from humble beginnings, it now attracts professional surfers from across the globe to compete on the Cornish beach that is seen by many as the birthplace of modern British surfing.
Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images.
People queue for food distribution at a migrant assistance centre in the Gianchette church in Ventimiglia, near the French border, on 9th August 2017.
More than 70,000 unaccompanied minors have arrived in Italy since 2011 and they are increasingly young and vulnerable, said Save the Children in June 2017, with the de facto closure of Italy's northern borders in 2016 seriously complicating the challenge facing them.
Photo: MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images.
A nun wearing a bin liner to protect her from the pouring rain walks along the South Bank on 9th August 2017 in London, England. The capital has experienced heavy rain, while parts of the east coast of the UK have suffered localised flooding.
Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.
Supporters of the opposition candidate Raila Odinga set fire and block a road as they gather to protest election results in Nairobi, Kenya on 9th August 2017. Kenyan people gathered at polling stations to elect a new president, deputies, senators and governors.
Photo: Bryan Jaybee/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
A 6-year-old Syrian girl, Nur Setut, born in 2011 when the Syrian civil war began, practises karate with her own means in Aleppo, Syria on 9th August 2017. Despite all the difficulties, her father and mother, who are both trainers, are training their daughter to realise her dreams of becoming a world karate champion.
Photo: Yehya Alrejjo/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
Chinese paramilitary police carry relief supplies on their way to an earthquake-struck zone in Jiuzhaigou in China's southwestern Sichuan province on 9th August 2017.
At least 13 people were killed when a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern China, authorities said on 9th August, but the toll was expected to climb as news trickles out of the remote mountainous region.
Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe entertainers perform on the Royal Mile on 7th August 2017 in Edinburgh, Scotland. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the largest performing arts festival in the world, with in excess of 30,000 performances of more than 2,000 shows.
Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.
Farmers collect water caltrop nuts, Trapa natans, on Qiuxue Lake on 6th August 2017 in Taizhou, China.
Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images.
Nepalese Hindu devotees bath and collect water in the Bagmati River on their way to the Pashupatinath temple to offer prayers to Lord Shiva during Shravan festivities in Sundarijal, on the outskirts of Kathmandu on 7th August 2017.
According to the Nepali calendar, Shravan is considered the holiest month of the year, with each Monday of the month known as Shravan Somvar when worshippers offer prayers for a happy and prosperous life.
Photo: PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images.
People enjoy and sunbathe at Altinkum beach during a hot summer day in the Didim district of Aydin, Turkey on 6th August 2017.
Photo by Cem Oksuz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
People attend the Peace Message Lantern Floating Ceremony, held to console the souls of the A-bomb victims, after the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August 2017 in Hiroshima, Japan. The first atomic bomb was dropped by the United States on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945, killing an estimated 70,000 people instantly, with many thousands more dying over the following years from the effects of radiation. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, ending World War II.
Photo: David Mareuil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
Rubber ducks are dropped into the Chicago River to start the Windy City Rubber Ducky Derby on 3rd August 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. Derby organisers drop 60,000 rubber ducks into the river to start the race, which helps to raise about $350,000 for Special Olympics Illinois. The sponsor of the first duck to float across the finish line is awarded a new SUV.
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