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Week in pictures: 12 - 18 September 2020

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

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters A plane drops fire retardant over a built-up area of CaliforniaMario Anzuoni / Reuters
A tanker drops fire retardant as the so-called Bobcat fire burns near Juniper Hills, California. Wildfires have burned through a record number of acres in California this year, with Los Angeles County reporting its highest ever temperature of 49.4C (121F) on 6 September.
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Jonathan Brady/PA Two technicians handle Banksy's "Show me the Monet" on display at Sotheby's in central London.Jonathan Brady/PA
Two technicians handle Banksy's "Show me the Monet", on display at Sotheby's in central London. The work is the artist's contemporary re-interpretation of Claude Monet's depiction of the Japanese bridge in his garden at Giverny.
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Kelly Barnes / Getty Images A dog puts its nose into a metal funnelKelly Barnes / Getty Images
English springer spaniel Floki is one of two dogs taking part in Covid-19 detection training at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Researchers want to train sniffer dogs to detect the virus so that people could potentially be screened at airports, hospitals and quarantine facilities.
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Alexander Kuznetsov / Reuters Green and purple lights from the aurora borealis illuminates a night sky and is reflected on water belowAlexander Kuznetsov / Reuters
The aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, illuminates the sky in Rovaniemi, Finland. The phenomenon occurs when solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the Sun - collides with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.
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Adam Ihse / EPA Footballers vie for the ball during Hungary's Uefa Women's Euro 2021 qualifying tie against Sweden in GothenburgAdam Ihse / EPA
Hungary's Zsofia Racz and Lilla Turanyi and Sweden's Amanda Ilestedt fight for the ball during the Uefa Women's Euro 2021 Group F qualifying football match in Gothenburg.
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Mauro Pimentel / AFP An aerial view of a dead alligator on dry mudMauro Pimentel / AFP
The fire-ravaged wetland of Pantanal, in Brazil's Mato Grosso state, reveals the corpse of an alligator. There have been more than 15,000 fires in the wetlands so far this year - triple the number recorded in the same period in 2019 - causing widespread devastation.
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Christophe Simon / AFP A swimmer in the open sea off the French coastChristophe Simon / AFP
A swimmer competes in the 22nd edition of Le Defi de Monte-Cristo competition, Europe's largest open-water race, over 5km (three miles) between Chateau d'If island and Marseille, in southern France.
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Muhammad Hamed / Reuters A women lies down with a giant African snail on her foreheadMuhammad Hamed / Reuters
Norma Rashia, 22, undergoes facial massage with giant African land snails at a centre in Amman, Jordan. Importation of the snails, regarded as an invasive species, is banned in some parts of the world because of concerns that their slime contains harmful parasites.
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Borut Zivulovic / Reuters People look on at a bronze statue depicting US First Lady Melania TrumpBorut Zivulovic / Reuters
A new bronze statue of US First Lady Melania Trump is unveiled near her hometown in Slovenia. It replaces a wooden sculpture erected last year, which was set alight shortly afterwards by unknown arsonists. Some described the original as a "disgrace" or a "Smurfette", saying it did not look like Mrs Trump.
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Vitaly Nevar / Reuters An orangutan pushes its tongue against glassVitaly Nevar / Reuters
Ole, a young orangutan, plays in his enclosure on a rainy day at Kaliningrad Zoo, Russia.
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All pictures are subject to copyright.