Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
Kelly Smith, during sentencing proceedings in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping case at Western Cape High Court on May 23, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. Kelly Smith, Jacquen Appollis and Steveno Van Rhyn were convicted of kidnapping and trafficking 6-year-old Joshlin Smith. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)
The sails of the Sydney Opera House are illuminated with lights at the start of the annual Vivid Sydney festival in Sydney on May 23, 2025. (Photo by Ayush Kumar / AFP)Johan Helberg stands at his front garden after the 135-meter-long container ship NCL Salten ran aground a few meters from his house in the Trondheimsfjord outside Byneset, Norway, 22 May 2025 (issued 23 May 2025). Picture: EPA-EFE/JAN LANGHAUGMetropolitan Police officers secure the area outside the Capital Jewish Museum following a shooting that left two people dead in Washington, DC, USA, on May 22, 2025. Two Israeli embassy staffers, identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim by the Israeli foreign ministry, were shot dead on May 21, outside a Jewish museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted “free Palestine,” authorities said. Picture: Matrix Images / Gent ShkullakuA red-eared terrapin semiaquatic turtle swims at a temple pond or kalyani, in Bangalore, India, 23 May 2025. World Turtle Day has been observed every year on 23 May since 2000, when it was created by the American Tortoise Rescue (ATR) organization. Picture: EPA-EFE/JAGADEESH NVTunisian Saluki hunting dogs play on a beach in Cap Angela, in the Bizerte region on May 22, 2025. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP)US President Donald Trump walks out of the Oval Office towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 22 May 2025. President Trump is heading to Trump National Golf Club in Virginia for a private dinner. Picture: EPA-EFE/SAMUEL CORUM / POOLSome of the resurfaced 260 employees stuck underground sit inside a bus as they leave the South Africa’s Sibanye Stillwater’s Kloof 7 sub-shaft in Westonaria on May 23, 2025. Damage to a mine shaft had kept 260 miners stuck in a gold mine outside Johannesburg overnight, the mine manager and union said on May 23, 2025. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)Pallbearers carry a portrait of the late famous Russian ballet choreographer Yury Grigorovich during his farewell ceremony in the Bolshoi (Big) theater in Moscow, Russia, 23 May 2025 Grigorovich died at the age of 99. He will be cremated and then buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, next to his wife, ballerina Natalia Bessmertnova. Picture: EPA-EFE/YURI KOCHETKOVAustria’s goaltender David Kickert #30 saves a puck past Austria’s forward Lucas Thaler #48, Switzerland’s forward Timo Meier #28 and Austria’s defender Dominique Heinrich #91, during the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship quarter final match between Switzerland and Austria, at the Jyske Bank Boxen, in Herning, Denmark, 22 May 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/SALVATORE DI NOLFITwo fiery-throated hummingbirds (Panterpe insignis), in a wooded area of Cerro de la Muerte, in San Jose, Costa Rica, 17 May 2025 (Issued 22 May 2025). International Day for Biological Diversity is celebrated every 22 May around the world. Picture: EPA-EFE/JEFFREY ARGUEDASInternally displaced Palestinians run for cover following an Israeli airstrike west of Gaza City, in Gaza Strip, 23 May 2025. More than 53,700 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, since Israel launched a military campaign in the strip in response to a cross-border attack led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on 07 October 2023, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. Picture: EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABERA Chilean migrant (back) is welcomed upon his arrival at Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago de Chile, Chile, 23 May 2025. Authorities confirmed that 45 Chilean citizens arrived from the United States after being deported under new immigration guidelines pushed by Donald Trump’s administration, which has intensified expulsion processes throughout the region. Picture: EPA-EFE/RAFAEL ARANCIBIAAn aerial photo shows the bed of Woodhead Reservoir is partially revealed by a falling water level, near Glossop, northern England on May 22, 2025. Data from United Utilities, the United Kingdom’s largest listed water company, shows that reservoir levels for the north west of England stands at 61.9% of capacity, down from 88.8% at the same period in 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)Flood water is seen flowing through Parramatta Wharf in Sydney on May 23, 2025. Record floods cut a destructive path through eastern Australia on May 23, caking houses in silt, washing out roads and separating 50,000 people from help. (Photo by Ayush Kumar / AFP)A model presents a creation by Palmacea Collective, during Bogota Fashion Week 2025, in Bogota, Colombia, 22 May 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/MAURICIO DUENAS CASTANEDA
