Best pictures from August 23
Primary orangutan keeper Matt Berridge shows 25 year-old orangutan Puppe and her six-year-old son Budi an iPad from behind an enclosure at the Toronto Zoo. Orangutan Outreach donated the iPad under an initiative called Apps for Apes, in the hopes of providing more mental stimulation to the primates.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde climbs some of the stones of the pryramids in Giza, at the end of her visit to Egypt. Egypt requested a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF and hopes for a deal by the end of year, officials said during a visit on Wednesday by Lagarde to discuss helping the ailing economy.ASMAA WAGUIH/Reuters
Olivia Chow, wife of the late Jack Layton, writes a message of love with chalk on a wall outside Toronto City Hall on the anniversary of Layton's death.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail
A child stands in pouring rain in the slum of Susan's Bay in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. Sierra Leone's government has described the current cholera outbreak in the West African state as a "national emergency." At the height of the wet season, over-populated areas with poor water and sanitation are exacerbating the spread of the disease. Some 170 deaths are reported since the start of the year.STRINGER/Reuters
Mining community gathers as they are addressed by their leader (C) at a hill dubbed the "Hill of Horror" during a memorial service for miners killed during clashes at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in Rustenburg, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg. South Africans held a memorial service on Thursday at a platinum mine where police shot dead 34 strikers, bloodshed that revived memories of apartheid-era violence and laid bare workers' anger over enduring inequalities since the end of white rule.SIPHIWE SIBEKO/Reuters
An artist works on the design of a religious icon on a piece of enamel-covered jewellery at a factory owned by jewellery maker Russkiye Samotsvety Corporation in St. Petersburg. The company, which was founded in 1912 and celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, produces jewellery in gold, platinum, and silver, jewellery ornaments, interior decoration items, enamel-filigree tableware and various items. The specialists use high quality precious, semi-precious, synthetic and natural coloured stones, according to its official website.ALEXANDER DEMIANCHUK/Reuters
A four-day-old baby hippopotamus plays with its mother, Kibu, at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur. The calf was temporarily named as "Syawal", after it was born on the first day of month of Syawal in the Islamic calendar, which is the start of the Eid al-Fitr festival, celebrated by Muslims around the world. The gender of the newborn hippo has not been determined and will be officially named at a later date by its sponsor.BAZUKI MUHAMMAD/Reuters
Using a slow shutter speed, traffic streams along Airport Road in Billings, Mont., as lightning illuminates the sky as thunderstorms moved across the area.Paul Ruhter
Contortionist and hand balancer Sasha Pivaral performs at the official media launch for the 2012 Scotiabank Buskerfest in support of Epilepsy Toronto.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men walk between graves before the funeral of Rabbi Abraham Haim Roth, spiritual leader of the Shomrei Emunim (Keepers of the Faith) Hasidic dynasty, at Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem. According to local media reports, the spiritual leader died last night at the age of 88.BAZ RATNER/Reuters