Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
This aerial picture shows a man and a child using a rope to cross a river in the aftermath of flash floods that destroyed adjacent villages in Ketol, Indonesia’s Aceh highland province on January 6, 2026. (Photo by CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP)Residents fill up water from water tankers in Dube on January 07, 2026 in Soweto, South Africa. It is reported that critical work is under way at the Eikenhof pump station, as Johannesburg enters day two of a 54-hour maintenance shutdown. (Photo by Gallo Images/Fani Mahuntsi)Orthodox faithful dive into a lake to retrieve a wooden cross thrown into the water, during the Epiphany Day ritual in Sofia on January 6, 2026. As a ritual tradition, an Eastern Orthodox priest throws a cross in the lake and it is believed that the one who retreives it will be healthy throughout the year as well as all those who participate in the event by jumping into the icy waters. (Photo by Nikolay DOYCHINOV / AFP)People walk in Kalk Bay fishing harbour as the Chinese guided-missile destroyer Tangshan (Hull 122) is moored in False Bay, close to Simon’s Town, near Cape Town, on January 6, 2026. The Chinese lead Will For Peace 2026 exercise 2026 brings together navies from BRICS Plus countries for joint maritime safety operations. (Photo by RODGER BOSCH / AFP)A vehicle passes a massive hole in the road at the intersection of Queen Street and Langerman Drive in Kensington, Johannesburg, 7 January 2026. The hole is bigger than the surface opening suggests. Picture: Michel Bega/The CitizenA snowboarder slides down a snow-covered slope at the Square Louise Michel garden next to spectating pedestrians at Montmartre with the Sacre Coeur Basilica in the background following snowfalls in Paris, on January 7, 2026. All buses in Paris and the surrounding region gradually stopped running at around 7am due to renewed snowfall in the area and returned to their depots, according to announcements by Ile-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) and RATP. Snow and ice are affecting northern and western France, a phenomenon of “rare magnitude in the current climate” according to Meteo-France, which is expected to cause significant restrictions on roads and air transport. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)A meerkat tries to climb onto a radiator in its enclosure at the zoo. The animals, which according to Frankfurt Zoo are common in Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, like it warm inside when it’s frosty outside. Photo: Michael Brandt/dpa/AFPThe funeral service of young Pretoria newlywed couple Zane and Claryke Hilton at Derdepoort in Pretoria, 7 January 2026, after a head-on collision on the N3 highway in the Free State in late December 2025, along with Claryke’s nephew, Ethan. The accident occurred between Warden and Villiers, involving their car and a truck. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The CitizenA Colombian soldier patrols near the border with Venezuela in Cucuta, Colombia on January 6, 2026. On a bridge on the Colombia–Venezuela border, confusion and hope mix among Venezuelans after the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, while journalists from around the world struggle to cross and report on a story whose outcome remains unclear. (Photo by Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP)Trees affected by a forest fire are pictured at El Hoyo, in the Patagonian region of Chubut province, Argentina on January 7, 2026. Thousands of hectares of forest were devastated by fire on January 6, in Argentine Patagonia, where a red alert is in effect due to extreme conditions, one year after the region experienced its worst wildfires in three decades. (Photo by Martin LEVICOY / AFP)The uSkin human-touch sensors from XELA Robotics Co., Ltd. are demonstrated on a robotic gripper holding an origami paper crane, illustrating pressure sensitivity, during the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 6, 2026. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)
