Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
Smoke rises from burning tires behind a street billboard during a protest on the day of the new parliament’s inauguration, in Maputo, Mozambique, 13 January 2025. The swearing-in ceremony of the deputies elected to Mozambique’s new parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, is underway as two opposition parties, Renamo and MDM that reject the outcome of the October 2024 election, boycotted the ceremony. Picture: EPA-EFE/LUISA NHANTUMBO
A bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) takes flight in Medford, Massachusetts, USA, 13 January 2025. On 24 December 2024, US President Biden signed a bill into law, legislation that amended the United States Code to designate the bald eagle as the national bird. Picture: EPA-EFE/CJ GUNTHERA visitor observes the humanoid robot ATOM, created by the Laboratory of Entrepreneurship and Innovation of the Department of Industrial Engineering (Leind) of the University of Santiago de Chile (Usach), during the inauguration of the 14th edition of the Congreso Futuro in Santiago, Chile, 13 January 2025. The Future Congress runs until 18 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/ELVIS GONZALEZAriah Woods prepares, with her dog Dooku, 13 January 2025, at home in Midrand for her first day of school at Beaulieu Preparatory School. Picture: Michel Bega/The CitizenMen and boys known as the Nuessler, dressed in traditional costumes and masks inspired by the characters of the Venetian Commedia dell’Arte, parade through the streets of Brunnen, Switzerland, 13 January 2025, to kick off the carnival season. Picture: EPA-EFE/URS FLUEELERAn emancipated miner is carried on a stretcher after being rescued from underground during the official rescue operation at a disused gold mine shaft in Stilfontein, around 150 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 January 2025. A South African court has ordered the official rescue attempts to begin as an unknown number of illegal gold miners, or Zama Zama, are trapped underground, of which 10 miners have been rescued. The number of Zama Zama to have died underground has already reached 109 according to an attorney at Lawyers for Human Rights. The miners are armed and form part of a wider syndicate-driven gold mining operation that often uses disused commercial gold mines to search for gold. Picture: EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOKGauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi (L) and Gauteng Top student Msawenkosi Buthelezi from Zimisele Secondary School in Johannesburg, 14 January 2025, after being announced as the Gauteng Province Top student. Picture: Nigel Sibanda /The CitizenMembers of the guard of honor get ready during a welcoming ceremony for the visit of Russia’s Prime Minister at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, 14 January 2025. The Russian prime minister is on a two-day official visit to Vietnam. Picture: EPA-EFE/NHAC NGUYEN / POOLLebanese men wave a national flag as they celebrate the appointment of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to form the Lebanese government in Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, Lebanon, 13 January 2025. International Court of Justice judge Nawaf Salam was designated to form the new government in Lebanon after gaining the support of the majority of lawmakers during President Joseph Aoun’s parliamentary consultation. Picture: EPA-EFE/WAEL HAMZEHCostumed people, a so-called ‘Kuker’ mask dancer, perform a traditional dance during carnival celebrations of Surva in the village of Elovdol, Bulgaria, 13 January 2025. In ancient times, the old Thracians held the Kukeri Ritual Games in honor of god Dionysus – known as a god of wine and ecstasy. Among the Kukeri (singular: kuker) dancers’ are many characters, including Dionysus and his satyrs as well as others from deep history such as the tsar, harachari, plyuvkachi, startzi, and pesyatzi. Picture: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEVThe Zizkov Tower emerges from the clouds coloured by the rising sun during a freezing winter morning in Prague, Czech Republic, 14 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEKA guitar that belonged to British guitarist Jeff Beck (1944-2023) is on display during a preview of the Jeff Beck – The Guitar Collection sale at Christie’s auction house in London, Britain, 14 January 2025. Beck’s guitar collection is up for auction in London on 22 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/ANDY RAINA long-eared owl (Asio otus) perches on a tree in Nagyhegyes, northeastern Hungary, 14 January 2025. The Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME) conducts an annual nationwide survey on the wintering grounds of the long-eared owl, one of the most common owl species in Hungary, whose native population boosts during the winter months due to arrivals from further north. Picture: EPA-EFE/ZSOLT CZEGLEDIHindu devotees take a ‘holy bath’ on the first day of the Kumbh Mela festival at Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati, in Prayagraj, northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, 13 January 2025. Hundreds of millions of pilgrims are expected to gather for ritual baths at the confluence of India’s sacred Ganges river, Yamuna river and the mythical Saraswati during the six-week Hindu festival held every 12 years. Picture: EPA-EFE/RAJAT GUPTAResidents inspect a vehicle that was swept away by rushing waters in Kitries, West Mani, Greece, 13 January 2025. The country has been experiencing severe weather conditions since 12 January, with snowfall, rainstorms, and strong winds affecting western, central, and northern Greece. Picture: EPA-EFE/NIKITAS KOTSIARISA cat leaps through the snow in Chortiatis, Thessaloniki, Greece, 13 January 2025. The country has been experiencing severe weather conditions since 12 January, with snowfall, rainstorms, and strong winds affecting western, central, and northern Greece. Picture: EPA-EFE/ACHILLEAS CHIRASA poster of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party hangs on a city lamp in front of a large-scale election campaign poster of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) chairman Friedrich Merz seen on the CDU headquarters, the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, in Berlin, Germany, 13 January 2025. Germany will hold early federal elections on 23 February 2025, to elect a new Bundestag. Picture: EPA-EFE/FILIP SINGERFrench skipper Charlie Dalin, who sailed his Macif Sante Prevoyance in the 2024/2025 of the Vendee Globe round-the-world solo sailing race in action before crossing the finish line and winning the race, at Les Sables d’Olonne, western France, 14 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/Christophe Petit TessonFarmers harvest cabbage in a field in Jeju City on South Korea’s largest island, 14 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/YONHAPA Buddhist monk wears a facemask amid heavy air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand, 14 January 2025. Thai authorities advised the public to use face masks and avoid outdoor activities due to high air particle pollution measured at harmful health levels from fine particulates (PM2.5), in Bangkok and many parts of Thailand. Picture: EPA-EFE/NARONG SANGNAK
