Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
The image of Our Lady of Fatima is carried during a procession at Fatima shrine, central Portugal, on May 13, 2024. Thousands of pilgrims converged on the Fatima Sanctuary to celebrate the anniversary of Fatima’s miracle when three shepherd children claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in May 1917. (Photo by FILIPE AMORIM / AFP)
We bring you a visual snapshot of the day’s news events, including pictures of a flowering Silk Floss Tree in Johannesburg, service delivery protests in Pretoria West, Pakistani farmers harvesting their wheat crop, and a fire at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney.
A flowering Silk Floss Tree, also known in South Africa as a Brazilian Kapok Tree, is seen in Blairgowrie in Johannesburg, 13 May 2024. The tree is an exotic tree, originally from South America, and flowers across Johannesburg and South Africa in March, April and May. Its bark also features thorny protrusions and is dark green in colour. Picture: Michel Bega/The CitizenA Ukrainian police officer helps Viktor, 84, a disabled elderly person, evacuating from territories bordering Russia, in the city of Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 13 May 2024, amid the Russian invasion. More than 4,000 residents from settlements in areas of the Kharkiv region bordering Russia have been evacuated as ‘hostilities intensified’, the head of the Kharkiv Military Administration Oleg Synegubov wrote on telegram. The evacuations follow a cross-border offensive by Russian forces, who claimed the capture of several villages in the region. Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory on 24 February 2022, starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. Picture: EPA-EFE/GEORGE IVANCHENKOTwelve-thousand runners and walkers pass the famous Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak during the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Cape Town 10 kilometere race in Cape Town, 12 May 2024. Picture: Rajesh JantilalA drum player (C) is doused in water during a ‘Lubluban’ (water dipping) in Marikina City, Metro Manila, Philippines, 13 May 2024. Villagers of a district within Marikina lined streets with pools and held their annual water dipping to celebrate ahead of the 15 May feast day of patron saint San Isidro Labrador (patron saint of farmers), just as a heat index in the 42 to 51 degrees Celsius range was forecast by the Philippines’ weather bureau in 36 locations in the country, including parts of Metro Manila. Picture: EPA-EFE/ROLEX DELA PENAPolice monitor a service delivery protest at Gomora Informal Settlement in Pretoria West, 13 May 2024. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The CitizenA Pakistani farmer harvests wheat crop during the harvest season at a village in the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, 13 May 2024. Paksitani farmers protests in several cities over the government’s decision not to buy their wheat, allegdely causing them huge losses in income. The farmers in Punjab, the country’s largest province and often called the ‘bread basket’ of Pakistan, are demanding that the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crops. Picture: EPA-EFE/BILAWAL ARBABPeople play in a water fountain at Alameda Central in Mexico City, Mexico, 12 May 2024. The heatwave hitting Mexico for the past ten days will ease off with rain in the territory’s south, center, and north. Still, temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius will persist in 14 states, more than a third of the 32 states, according to the National Meteorological Service. Picture: EPA-EFE/MARIO GUZMANAn Israeli army soldier gestures as he rides atop a main battle tank moving near the border with the Gaza Strip at a location in southern Israel on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the Hamas movement. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)A fisherman returns to the shore amid trash on the beach in Bangkalan, Madura Island, East Java province on May 13, 2024. (Photo by JUNI KRISWANTO / AFP)A man walks in the Mira Road area as Mumbai witnesses a dust storm, winds, lightning, and thunder, in Mumbai, India, 13 May 2024. The Regional Meteorological Center (RMC) has issued a yellow alert for Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Solapur, Latur, Beed, Nagpur, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts. Picture: EPA-EFE/DIVYAKANT SOLANKIA Kashmiri Muslim woman shows her ink-marked finger outside a polling station after casting her vote in the fourth phase of the Indian general elections, in the Baba Nagri area of Kangan, Ganderbal district, some 50 km north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 13 May 2024. Jammu and Kashmir is voting in its first direct election, nearly five years after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government unilaterally revoked the Muslim-majority region’s autonomous status by abrogating Article 370 of the Indian constitution. The Indian general elections are held in seven phases between 19 April and 01 June 2024, with the results set to be announced on 04 June 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/FAROOQ KHANGeorgian policemen detain an opposition party supporter during a rally against a draft bill on ‘foreign agents’ in downtown of Tbilisi, Georgia, 13 May 2024. Participants demand the repeal of the bill on ‘foreign agents,’ which will be considered in the third reading on May 13. Picture: EPA-EFE/DAVID MDZINARISHVILIA member of the Magen David Adom emergency service touches a portrait of a victim, at the memorial site for the victims of the Nova music festival killed in the 07 October Hamas attacks, on the occasion of Israel’s Memorial Day, in Re’im, near the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, 13 May 2024. More than 350 people were killed and several others taken hostage when militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked the music festival on 07 October 2023, according to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Israel marks Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) in remembrance of its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, 1,533 people, 711 security personnel and 822 civilians, have been killed since the 07 October Hamas attacks. Picture: EPA-EFE/ATEF SAFADIMembers of Fire and Rescue NSW and other emergency responders work at the scene of a fire at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia 13 May 2024. Fire-damaged solar panels can be seen on the roof of the swimming center which was home to the Aquatics competition during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Picture: EPA-EFE/DEAN LEWINSFans of Finland cheer with the championship’s official mascot before the preliminary round group A match between Norway and Finland at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2024 fan zone next to the Prague Arena, in Prague, Czech Republic, 13 May 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK
