Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
On the 45th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, the late Beatle, flowers and other memorabilia are left at the “Imagine” memorial at Strawberry Fields, in Central Park in New York on December 8, 2025. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)Supporters of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) dressed as chained elephants stage a protest against elephant rides and abuse of animals, on the eve of International Animal Rights Day in New Delhi on December 9, 2025. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)Kenyan police officers are reflected on the glasses of one of their colleagues as they arrive at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on December 8, 2025. Kenya announced on December 8th that it had deployed more than 230 highly specialized police officers. They arrive at a critical moment, following the expansion of the Gang Suppression Force’s (GSF) mandate published on October 3, 2025. (Photo by Clarens SIFFROY / AFP)Farmers clash with riot police officers near Heraklion International Airport, as police block the main access road in Heraklion, on the island of Crete, on December 8, 2025. Farmers on Crete on Monday clashed with riot police near the Greek island’s international airports in a burgeoning protest wave related to an EU subsidy probe. (Photo by Costas METAXAKIS / AFP)A teenager holds a mobile phone displaying a message from social media platform Instagram after the account was locked for age verification in Sydney on December 9, 2025. Australia will ban young teenagers from social media on December 10, 2025, launching a world-first crackdown designed to unglue children from addictive scrolling on the likes of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. (Photo by AFP)URM Group skippered by Marcus Ashley-Jones during the 2025 SOLAS Big Boat Challenge, on Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia, 09 December 2025. Picture: EPA/DEAN LEWINSSchoolchildren arrive at the local governor’s office in Minna on December 8, 2025. Around a hundred schoolchildren who were abducted last month by armed men from a Catholic school have arrived at the government headquarters in Minna, the capital of Niger State in central-northern Nigeria, as observed by AFP journalists on Monday. However, the fate of the 165 others abducted with them remains unknown. The students, mostly aged between 10 and 17, arrived in five white buses escorted by about ten military and armored vehicles and were received by Niger State Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago. (Photo by Light Oriye Tamunotonye / AFP)A three-month-old tiger cub is vaccinated at his temporary home in the Budapest Zoological and Botanical Garden in Budapest, Hungary, 08 December 2025. The healthy male cub, weighing nine kilograms, was confiscated by police on 03 December in Tiszafuered, eastern Hungary, during a drug-related search of a private residence. A 40-year-old man was arrested and faces multiple charges related to wildlife trafficking. Picture: EPA/ZOLTAN KOCSISAn aerial view shows passengers boarding boats to cross the Peusangan river in Kuta Blang, Bireuen district in Indonesia’s Aceh province on December 9, 2025, after a nearby bridge spanning the river was destroyed by regional flash floods that killed hundreds. Tropical storms and monsoon rains have pummelled Southeast and South Asia this month, triggering landslides and flash floods from the rainforests of Indonesia’s western Sumatra island to highland plantations in Sri Lanka. (Photo by CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP)A man walks in the grounds of Hokkaido University after an overnight snowfall in Sapporo, in Japan’s northern Hokkaido prefecture on December 9, 2025. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)US First Lady Melania Trump and Santa Claus arrive at Marine Corps Base Quantico as the two partner for a Toys for Tots charity drive in Quantico, Virginia, USA, 08 December 2025. In attendance were 150 children of military families. Picture: EPA/JIM LO SCALZOPeople visit a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, 08 December 2025. Picture: EPA/HANNIBAL HANSCHKESyrian army soldiers march during a parade marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, 08 December 2025. Syria marks the first anniversary of the overthrow of the Assad regime on 08 December when the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad collapsed during a major offensive by opposition forces. Picture: EPA/AHMAD FALLAHA
