Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
Anti-riot police attempt to break up and arrest protesters braced on the ground in a stand off during protests to demand the release of those allegedly abducted by state security agencies in Nairobi on December 30, 2024. Security forces in the East African nation have been accused of carrying out dozens of illegal detentions since youth-led anti-government demonstrations in June and July. Kenyan President William Ruto has promised an end to abductions, following the latest spate of disappearances that have been condemned by rights groups, lawyers and politicians. (Photo by Tony KARUMBA / AFP)
Demonstrators during the Special Action Committee protest at Cape Town High Court on December 30, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. This protest comes after the Special Action Committee filed an urgent application with the High Court to oppose the Western Cape Education Department?s decision to cut 2407 teaching posts. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)A Fighter affiliated with Syria’s new administration rides on a camel together with a child near one of Hama’s landmark historic water wheels, or norias, on the Orontos riverbank in the heart of the central Syrian city on December 30, 2024. Rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions who had pressed a lightning offensive since November 27, seizing swathes of the country from government hands, including major cities Aleppo, Hama and Homs, entered the capital Damascus on December 8, 2024, ousting president Bashar al-Assad and ending five decades of brutal rule by his clan. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)A person dressed as Santa Claus warms up prior to the start of the traditional Santa race in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 29 December 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKIA protester wearing a Christmas wreath, has her mouth taped with a slogan which reads “Shout” during a rally to call for the exchangeas of Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Azov Brigade and other units with Russian prisoners at St. Sophia Square in Kyiv on December 29, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)Visitors enjoy Christmas decorations in the centre of Russian controlled Mariupol, on December 29, 2024. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)A group of Nepalese indigenous people from the Gurung community wearing traditional attire perform during the ‘Tamu Lhosar’ New Year fair in Kathmandu, Nepal, 30 December 2024. Gurung people live on high altitude foothills of Nepal. Many British Gurkha soldiers are from the Gurung community and the Nepali government announced a public holiday to recognize the prominent festival of the community. Picture: EPA-EFE/NARENDRA SHRESTHAAn image taken by a drone shows the morning fog hovering around Mount Kekes in Galyateto, Hungary, 30 December 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/PETER KOMKAA statue of a peanut in honor of former US President Jimmy Carter, who was a peanut farmer, stands in Plains, Georgia, US, on December 30, 2024. Jimmy Carter, the 100-year-old former US president and Nobel peace laureate who rose from humble beginnings in rural Georgia to lead the nation from 1977 to 1981, has died, his nonprofit foundation said December 29. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski / AFP)A vendor selling paper horns waits for customers ahead of the New Year’s celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, 30 December 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/ADI WEDAPeople carry logs of wood during a wintry day in Yercaud, a hill station in India’s Tamil Nadu state, on December 30, 2024. (Photo by R.Satish BABU / AFP)Tourists enjoy camel safari in the desert of Pushkar on December 30, 2024. (Photo by HIMANSHU SHARMA / AFP)Farmers shout slogans as they block a road during the ‘Punjab Bandh’, a statewide strike by farmers against the central government demanding minimum support price (MSP) for their crops, on the outskirts of Amritsar on December 30, 2024. (Photo by Narinder NANU / AFP)The Chancellery can be seen behind a Christmas tree standing at Paul-Loebe-Haus, a parliamentary building where is taking place a hearing at a parliamentary committee focusing on the Magdeburg Christmas Market attack, on December 30, 2024 in Berlin. German security and intelligence chiefs are due to face questioning about the car-ramming attack that killed five people and wounded more than 200 at a Christmas market in Magdeburg on December 20, 2024. They will be quizzed about possible missed clues and security failures before the attack in the eastern city, where police arrested the 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen at the scene. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP)A view shows the tents of internally displaced Palestinians, on a windy day west of Deir Al Balah, central Gaza Strip, 30 December 2024. According to the UN, at least 1.9 million people (or nine in ten people) across the Gaza Strip are internally displaced, including people who have been repeatedly displaced. Since October 2023, only about 11 per cent of the Gaza Strip has not been placed under Israeli-issued evacuation orders, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said. Picture: EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABERA man rows a boat on the waters of Dal Lake with the snow-covered Zabarwan hills in the backdrop in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 30 December 2024. The recent snowfall broke an extended spell of dry weather. According to the local meteorological department, two more light to moderate spells of snowfall are expected from January 01 to 06. Picture: EPA-EFE/FAROOQ KHANWomen in costumes walk down Wangfujing pedestrian street in Beijing, China, 30 December 2024. Wangfujing is a popular tourist site in Beijing, currently adorned with festive decorations for the New Year celebrations that attract foreigners and locals. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, will be observed on 29 January 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/WU HAO
