Our Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and worldwide to give you a visual snapshot of the day's events.
Orthodox parish priest Michal Wasilczyk consecrates the water during the Feast of the Jordan celebrations on the banks of the Bug river in Slawatycze, eastern Poland, 19 January 2024. According to the Julian calendar, Orthodox and other Eastern Churches believers, including the Greek Catholics, celebrate the baptism of the Jesus in Jordan river on 19 January. Otherwise known as the Feast of the Jordan, this is one of the twelve most important celebrations in the liturgical year. EPA-EFE/Wojtek Jargilo
Self-taught acrobatics quartet calling themselves Busaka Team Entertainers perform stunts at a traffic light intersection to entertain motorists waiting for their green light on Ngong’ road in Kenyan capital, Nairobi on January 18, 2024. – The group collect for token donations from willing motorists to sustain themselves in Kenya’s current harsh economy where a waning shilling against the dollar and a raft of increased tax measures have created a hard financial crunch on entrepreneurs. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP)Activists wave Palestinian and South African flags during a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people outside the Consulate of South Africa, in Beirut, Lebanon, 19 January 2024. Hundreds of activists gathered outside the South African consulate in Beirut in a show of support to South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague last week. South Africa alleged that Israel was committing ‘acts of genocide’ against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a charge Israel has denied. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October, and the Israeli strikes on the Palestinian enclave which followed it. EPA-EFE/WAEL HAMZEHA Ghana supporter gestures ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) 2024 group B football match between Egypt and Ghana at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan on January 18, 2024. (Photo by Issouf SANOGO / AFP)Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (L) applauds on the pulpit as he visits the deputies’ chamber of the Parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, 19 January 2024. EPA-EFE/Szilard KoszticsakPortugal’s goalie Gustavo Capdeville in action during the EHF Men’s EURO 2024 main round handball match between Slovenia and Portugal in Hamburg, Germany, 19 January 2024. EPA-EFE/FABIAN BIMMER204 SAINZ Carlos (spa), CRUZ Lucas (spa), Team Audi Sport, Audi RS Q E-Tron E2, FIA Ultimate, FIA W2RC, action at the finish line of the Dakar 2024 on January 19, 2024 in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia – Photo Marcin Kin / DPPI (Photo by Marcin Kin / Marcin Kin / DPPI via AFP)Israelis hold balloons as they attend the first birthday celebration for Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage to be kidnapped by Hamas militants on the October 7 attack together with his mother and brother, in Tel Aviv on January 18, 2024. – Kfir Bibas was born on January 18 and — if still alive — would be celebrating his first birthday. In November, Hamas broadcast a video announcing the death of the baby, his brother and mother, but there has been no confirmation from Israeli officials, and relatives are still clinging to the hope that they are not dead. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)A person takes a picture of Winston Churchillís personal desk and a portrait of the late British leader by Arthur Pan, part of the Winston S. Churchill Collection Of Steve Forbes, at the Winter Show in New York City on January 18, 2024. – A treasure trove of Winston Churchill’s possessions including his desk, a holiday painting from a trip to Morocco, and a copy of his first book go on sale in New York on January 18. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) Sandra Rodriguez, one of the organizers of the exhibit, poses for a portrait during an artificial intelligence (AI) exhibition called ìSex, Desire and Data,” at the Centre Phi in Montreal, Quebec, on August 8, 2023. – Rapid developments in artificial intelligence are causing concerns in Montreal where leading computer scientists such as Yoshua Bengio, a “godfather of AI,” are grappling with the ethics of a potentially apocalyptic technology. Canadian AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio — who in 2018 shared with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun the Turing Prize for their work on deep learning — says he worries about the technology leapfrogging human intelligence and capabilities in the not-too-distant future. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP)An Israeli activist performs as a hostage inside a cage during a women’s march calling for the immediate release of all the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, 19 January 2024. According to the Israeli military, 133 Israelis, who were abducted and taken to the Gaza Strip during the 07 October 2023 attacks by Hamas, remain in captivity. EPA-EFE/ABIR SULTANAn artificial lake of a hydroelectric power plant on the river Drina is covered with thousands of cubic meters of garbage, which were brought by water from the neighboring countries of Serbia and Montenegro and threaten to clog the ‘Visegrad’ hydro-power plant in Visegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 19 January 2024. EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIRVisitors pass next to the The Consecration of Napoleon by French painter Jacques-Louis David at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France,19 January 2023. Since Monday 15 of January, admission to the Louvre Museum has risen from 17 euros to 22 euros, an increase of 30%. With over 7 million visitors a year, making it the most visited museum in the world, the Louvre is raising its prices to cope with inflation in energy costs, according to Le Monde newspaper. EPA-EFE/TERESA SUAREZFrench Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy leaves the main building of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, 19 January 2024. The Ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that the French ambassador has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry over alleged presence of French mercenaries in Ukraine. On 16 January, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its forces had carried out a strike on a building housing ‘foreign mercenaries’ in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. More than 60 people were killed in the attack, mostly ‘French mercenaries’, the ministry added. France has denied Russia’s claims that there were French mercenaries in Ukraine. EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOV(L-R) Ross Branch of Botswana, Ricky Brabec of the US, and Kevin Benavides of Argentina celebrate after finishing the 2024 Rally Dakar, in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, 19 January 2024. EPA-EFE/Aaron Wishart
