48 Hours in pictures, 17 May 2020

News in pictures.

Women bathe in the sea at Port-Vieux beach near the Rocher de la Vierge rock in Biarritz, southwestern France, on May 16, 2020, after the country eased lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus, on May 11. – Beaches in France opened on May 16 for the first weekend since the country eased coronavirus lockdowns. (Photo by GAIZKA IROZ / AFP)

A selection of some of the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.

: Residents of Kliptown receive food parcels donations, 17 May 2020. The donations are put together by Ilan Ossendryver, a photographer and social activist who with the help from his community in Melrose North feed over 100 families in Kliptown, Soweto every Sunday. He has been helping residents in the area before the lock down and continue to do so even more so as many more in the area are facing food shortages. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

: People sit on the grass in Central Park on May 16, 2020 in New York City, amid the coronavirus pandemic. / AFP / Johannes EISELE

: People walk along the cliff-top above the lighthouse at Beachy Head near Eastbourne on the south coast of England on May 17, 2020, following an easing of lockdown rules in England during the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. People are being asked to “think carefully” before visiting national parks and beaches on the first weekend since coronavirus lockdown measures were partially eased in England. / AFP / Ben STANSALL

: European Mountain Village Championship “Bergdorf-EM” organiser Swiss Fabian Furrer poses in the 2000 metres high “Ottmar Hitzfeld GsponArena” football pitch on May 14, 2020 in the Alpine village of Gspon. Despite the postponement of Euro 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, a small Swiss mountain village — thought to be home to the highest pitch in Europe — is hoping to stage a scaled-down version of the tournament this summer. The European Mountain Village Championship dates back to 2008, the same year Switzerland co-hosted the conventional tournament with neighbours Austria, and is set to return to its origins in Gspon. / AFP / FABRICE COFFRINI

: A man wearing a face mask walks along a street decorated with illuminations in central Moscow on May 17, 2020, during a strict lockdown in Russia to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. / AFP / Yuri KADOBNOV

: A member of the Serpentine swimming club trains near a swan in the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park during a test session prior to it’s official reopening on Monday, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

: File. EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA

: A general view shows writings on the road reading ‘Social Distance Please’ as musicians Adam Chester (C, back) and Kim Bullard (R) perform along with with a neighbor (L) during Chester’s weekly neighborhood concert called ‘Quaranchella’ amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Sherman Oaks, North-West of Los Angeles, California, 16 May 2020. Adam Chester, who earned the title of the ‘Surrogate Elton John’ for singing and playing the rock star’s parts at rehearsals, organizes these weekly concerts for his neighbors and to raise money for ‘The Man/Kind Project’. EPA-EFE/ETIENNE LAURENT

: An employee prepares her luxury store at the Siam Paragon shopping mall as it reopened after restrictions to halt the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus were lifted in Bangkok on May 17, 2020. / AFP / Mladen ANTONOV

: Men smoke a hubbly in Kliptown, Soweto, 17 May 2020. Despite the ban most smokers had continued to smoke under lockdown, some resorting to other forms such as smoking hubbly’s, pipes or rolling their own. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark

: A young Iraqi Muslim man covers his head with the Koran on ‘Lailat al Qardr’ or the ‘night of destiny’ that during the holy month of Ramadan marks the night when the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, at a mosque in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, early on May 17, 2020. / AFP / Hussein FALEH

: / AFP / MEHDI FEDOUACH

: Shiite Muslims gather, albeit in fewer numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at the Imam Ali shrine in the central Iraqi holy city of Najaf late on May 16, 2020, to mark Lailat al-Qadr, a night in the holy month of Ramadan during which the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century. Worshippers placed copies of the Koran on their heads to convey veneration during the overnight prayers in a centuries-old ritual, as they pleaded to God to rid them of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. / AFP / Haidar HAMDANI

: Workers in a food court prepare for social distancing measures at a shopping mall as businesses reopened in Penang on May 17, 2020, with Malaysia relaxing its partial lockdown to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. / AFP / GOH CHAI HIN

: Women bathe in the sea at Port-Vieux beach near the Rocher de la Vierge rock in Biarritz, southwestern France, on May 16, 2020, after the country eased lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus, on May 11. – Beaches in France opened on May 16 for the first weekend since the country eased coronavirus lockdowns. (Photo by GAIZKA IROZ / AFP)