Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
The first group of Afrikaners from South Africa to arrive for resettlement listen to remarks from US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and US Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Troy Edgar (both out of frame), after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, on May 12, 2025. President Donald Trump on Monday defended the decision to resettle a group of white Afrikaners in the United States as refugees, saying they were fleeing a “terrible situation” in South Africa. Trump’s remarks to reporters at the White House came just hours before an initial group of around 50 Afrikaners was set to arrive at an airport outside Washington. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
Musicians of Egypt’s Al Nour Wal Amal (Light and Hope) chamber orchestra perform during a concert at the Al Nour wal Amal Association for the blind in Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt on May 11, 2025. Picture: Matrix Images / Khaled ElfiqiAcademics from Duzce University and Slovenia Maribor University work with honeybees during a project, which is aimed to reveal the effects on the behavior of bees exposed to ultraviolet rays and to identify breeds resistant to global warming in Duzce, Turkiye on May 7, 2025. (Photo by Omer Urer/Anadolu via Getty Images)A protester holds up a banner while taking part in a demonstration against selling arms to Israel at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Britain, 13 May 2025. A four-day judicial review brought by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) starts in the High Court on 13 May, with human rights’ groups and lawyers arguing that UK’s sale of arms to Israel is unlawful. Picture: EPA-EFE/NEIL HALLRaaiqhah Akoo topped her class by taking three awards as she scooped the Best Overall LLB student, Best LLB student, and Summa Cum Laude awards during the 21st Victoria Mxenge and Griffiths Mxenge Memorial Lecture and the School of Law students awards ceremony held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Howard College campus in Durban, 12 May 2025. She was also awarded a Bachelor of Laws degree Summa Cum Laude on the 13th of May after receiving 12 Certificates of Merit, eight Dean’s Commendations, and the Anand Nepaul Prize for Best Criminal Law Student in 2023. She was also awarded the UKZN Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship in 2022, 2023 and 2024. She is currently serving her articles at Norton Rose Fulbright and hopes to one day be an admitted attorney of the High Court and pursue law on an international scale. Picture: Rajesh JantilalThe Taiwanese military conducts its first High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) live-fire test launch at the Jiupeng base in Pingtung, Taiwan, on May 12, 2025. Taiwan test-fired for the first time a new US-supplied rocket system that has been widely used by Ukraine against Russia and could be deployed to hit targets in China if there is a war with Taiwan. (Photo by Getty Images)People are seen as the Army installs checkpoints and coordinates a large-scale operation to combat criminal activity at Colombia’s busiest Pacific port, which also serves as the country’s main Pacific port of call, in Buenaventura, Colombia, on April 13, 2025. Buenaventura has long struggled with violence tied to drug trafficking and armed groups. In March alone, 20 people were killed, including a young footballer, amid growing fear that echoes decades of unrest. The recent surge in violence follows the collapse of a fragile truce between the city’s two dominant gangs, Los Shottas and Los Espartanos. The truce, part of President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” initiative, had previously led to a significant reduction in homicides. However, tensions resurfaced in early 2025 after the government issued an arrest warrant for a key negotiator, leading both groups to withdraw from the peace talks. Since then, violence has escalated, with 17 murders recorded in January alone. (Photo by Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)Pilgrims arriving at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Lisbon, Portugal on May 12, 2025. Every year, thousands of pilgrims flock to the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima to commemorate the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. (Photo by Adri Salido/Anadolu via Getty Images)An old chapel stands in a field in front of cooling towers operating at the Dukovany nuclear power plant operated by CEZ AS, near the village of Dukovany, Czech Republic, 12 May 2025. European Commission Vice-President Stephane Sejourne asked the Czech Republic, by letter to the Czech industry and trade minister, to postpone the signing of the contract for the construction of two new nuclear units at the Dukovany power plant. The tender was won by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) and lost by the French company EDF. The signing of the final agreement on Dukovany at the initiative of EDF was blocked last week by a Czech court with a preliminary injunction. Picture: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEKMasai women living in Sekenani Camp in Masai Mara make jewelry with colorful beads in southwestern Kenya on May 08, 2025. The Maasai tribe, living in Masai Mara, which is about 390 kilometers from Kenya’s capital Nairobi, resides in vast plains where wild animals such as lions, leopards, and cheetahs roam. One of the oldest tribes in East Africa, the Maasai continue their semi-nomadic lifestyle, largely preserving their traditions in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Their heavy meat consumption, unique jewelry, and traditional clothing are among the main features that distinguish the Maasai from other tribes. For the Maasai, livestock farming is not only an economic activity but also carries religious significance. The ‘Emanyata,’ which are Maasai houses, are built by women. These houses are constructed using mud, small tree branches, grass, and cow dung. The large ear piercings and the hanging rings in the women’s ears are considered symbols of beauty within the tribe. (Photo by Gerald Anderson/Getty Images)Mount Etna erupts again with intense Strombolian activity concentrated in the area of the Southeast crater near Catania, Italy on May 13, 2025. The event was characterized by frequent Strombolian explosions, from several vents within the crater, with two flows escaping from the Southeast crater one heading south the other eastward, the column of gas and ash propagated in a southeast direction falling back on wind-exposed villages. Strong rumblings generated by the explosions were heard as far away as Catania. The airborne alert that rose to red in the late evening of May 12 subsided just before dawn on May 13. This is the 15th paroxysm from the southeast crater during this year, the second in May 2025. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/Anadolu via Getty Images)An Indian worker rests during a hot afternoon in the Burrabazar neighborhood in Kolkata, Eastern India, 13 May 2025. As a heat wave continues across West Bengal, temperatures were forecast to reach as high as 39 degrees celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Picture: EPA-EFE/PIYAL ADHIKARYHindu devotees lie on the ground holding sticks as part of a tradition while awaiting blessings from a priest for good crops, prosperity, and peace during the ‘Manda Puja’ festival outside a Hindu Lord Shiva temple in Ranchi on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Rajesh KUMAR / AFP)German soldiers of the guard of honor before a welcome ceremony for Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, 13 May 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/HANNIBAL HANSCHKEPalestinians spend their daily lives at the Gaza harbour, ongoing Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip and meanwhile which was devastated by Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza on May 12, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud Abu Hamda/Getty Images)An aerial photograph taken with a drone shows the partially revealed bed of Woodhead Reservoir in Derbyshire, Britain, 13 May 2025. The UK Environment Agency has warned of the risk of a summer drought, as England has experienced the driest start to spring since 1956 due to below average rainfall and the sunniest April on record. Picture: EPA-EFE/ADAM VAUGHANDr Gerri Hignett who is against assisted dying confronts supporters of assisted dying gathered outside the Scottish Parliament ahead of the stage 1 debate of the assisted dying bill on May 13, 2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland. MSPs are voting on whether or not to allow terminally ill adults to seek medical help to end their lives in the Scottish Parliament today. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)A view of the Ostriches weighing over 100 kilograms at a farm in Choman district of Erbil, Iraq on April 30, 2025. The ostriches and their eggs, which are said to be good for some diseases, are being raised. (Photo by Ahsan Mohammed Ahmed Ahmed/Getty Images)
