The “Assignments” exhibition is an annual chance to see the top images by UK photojournalists, as chosen by the British Press Photographers’ Association. Here: Wales’s Cory McKenna dominates Micol DiSegni during their fight at Cage Warriors 97 in Cardiff, 29 September 2018. (Photo by Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)

Australian model Kate Fischer (Tziporah Malkah) poses with a Cointreau Ball to celebrate France’s founding anniversary in Sydney, Australia on July 14, 1996. (Photo by Getty Images)

Tourists visit teamLab Planets Tokyo in Tokyo on January 10, 2025. Japan on January 15 will announce tourist figures for the year 2024, widely expected to break the record set in 2019. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)

German car manufacturer BMW presents the “Vision Next 100” concept car during the 100th anniversary celebrations in Munich, Germany, Monday, March 7, 2016. (Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)

Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

Farmers herd a flock of ducks along a street towards a pond as residents drive next to them in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, June 17, 2012. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

Visitors wear shirts with an image of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong at the Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai, May 2, 2010. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

A basket of olives sits in an olive tree field in La Rinconada, near the Andalusian capital of Seville September 24, 2012. (Photo by Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters)