The week in pictures

 September 13 — Inmates enlisted to fight fires in Oroville, California brace against the heat. Fires ravaging California, Oregon and Washington have killed at least 34 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures.

 September 13 — Staff wearing personal protective equipment gather inside Arena do Grêmio ahead of a soccer match in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

September 14 — Residents of Crawford and surrounding areas hold a peaceful demonstration to highlight their objection to the continued construction of the cellphone tower at Thornton Road Primary School in Cape Town.

September 14 — An endangered African crowned crane chick is fed by its mother at Folly Farm, Wales, the UK.

September 15 — Democratic US vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris and California governor Gavin Newsom tour an area destroyed by fire, in Auberry, California, the US.

September 15 — A security guard wears a protective mask to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at the Beijing Fashion Week venue at Longfu Cultural Centre in Beijing, China.

September 15 — From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; US President Donald Trump; Bahrain’s foreign affairs minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani; and the United Arab Emirates foreign affairs minister Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, wave after the “Abraham Accords” signing ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, the US.

September 17 — Soldiers at the official funeral service of human rights lawyer George Bizos at the Greek Orthodox Church in Johannesburg. President Cyril Ramaphosa told mourners Bizos was inspired by his own experience in his native Greece to fight for the rights of disenfranchised South Africans. “He was, in his own words, a lover of freedom and this love of freedom would put him on a collision course with the apartheid state.”

September 17 — Devotees pray as they take a dip in a lake to honour the souls of their departed ancestors on the auspicious day of Mahalaya, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Mumbai, India.

September 17 — SA’s Akani Simbine (centre) wins the men’s 100m race at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Wayde van Niekerk and Simbine dominated their respective events at the European Tour Bronze meeting in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

September 18 — A boy reacts to Boston Dynamics’ four-legged robot Spot during its demonstration at Tokyo Robot Collection, Japan, September 18 2020.