Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
A Thai Buddhist monk performs a religious rite blessing elephants and mahouts to mark the National Elephant Day at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal in the world heritage city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, 13 March 2025. The National Elephant Day has been observed annually on 13 March since 1998 when it was established by the Thai government, in an effort to protect and conserve Thai elephants, who are part of the Asian elephant family classified as an endangered species. Picture: EPA-EFE/RUNGROJ YONGRIT
Artists wear costumes as part of preparations for a parade during the Jewish holiday of Purim in Jerusalem, 12 March 2025. Purim celebrates the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Scroll of Esther, and it is a holiday of celebrations, wearing costumes, and the parade. Picture: EPA-EFE/ABIR SULTANArtists work on a falla in Valencia, Spain, 12 March 2025. The Fallas festival is a fortnight-long fiesta featuring installations of parodic papier-mache, cardboard, and wooden sculptures that parody both fictitious and real people and situations. These sculptures decorate the streets and are traditionally burned on the last day of the event (19 March) during the ‘Crema’ to mark the end of the festivities, except for one, which is ‘saved’ by the public and taken to the Fallas Museum. Picture: EPA-EFE/Biel AliSyrian security forces inspect the site of an Israeli air strike on a building in Damascus in an area where Palestinian leaders are known to reside, on March 13, 2025. Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed the Israeli air force conducted an air strike on the Syrian capital, following reports of a raid that killed one person on March 13 from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and the state news agency. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)Buddhist devotees hold lotus flowers before offering prayers on the occasion of ‘Poya’ a religious festival to mark the full moon, at the Kelaniya Buddhist temple in Kelaniya on March 13, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)The statue of Pope John Paul II reflected on a puddle of water outside the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, Italy, 12 March 2025. Pope Francis has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since 14 February 2025 due to a respiratory tract infection. Picture: EPA-EFE/MASSIMO PERCOSSIJoe Goc, visiting from Hobart, uses a metal detector to find coins on the beach at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Australia, 13 March 2025. As the recovery from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred’s devastating impact ramps up, tourists are being urged to maintain their Easter holiday plans. Picture: EPA-EFE/DAVE HUNTJockeys and their horses compete in the Cross Country Chase, the fourth race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse, in Cheltenham, western England on March 12, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)A man waits for customers at a sweet shop in Hanoi, 13 March 2025. Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth was forecasted at 6.8 percent in 2025, according to the World Bank’s latest biannual economic report. Picture: EPA-EFE/LUONG THAI LINHView of the El Atazar dam as water is discharged from the reservoir after the heavy rains of storm Jana, and in anticipation to storm Konrad approaching, in Rivas, Madrid, Spain, 12 March 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/J.J. GuillAerial view showing a flooded house following heavy rains in Jujan, Guayas province, Ecuador, on March 12, 2025. According to official reports, since January, the rains have left at least 19 dead and affected more than 100,000 people in the South American country. (Photo by Marcos PIN / AFP)Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Belgian rider Edward Planckaert (R) cycles leading a breakaway during the 4th stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race, 163,4 km between Vichy and La Loge des Gardes, on March 12, 2025. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)A self-driving police patrol vehicle moves past a couple at a shopping mall in Beijing on March 13, 2025. (Photo by Pedro PARDO / AFP)Water droplets sit in a spider web on a foggy morning in Canberra, Australia, 13 March 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/LUKAS COCHA demonstrator throws a rock as he clashes with riot police during a protest of pensioners supported by football fans against the government of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires on March 12, 2025. (Photo by Luis ROBAYO / AFP)A photograph taken on March 12, 2025 shows the MV Stena Immaculate tanker at anchor in the North Sea, off the coast of Withernsea, east of England, after it was hit by the MV Solong container vessel on March 10. The arrested captain of a cargo ship that hit a stationary tanker in the North Sea causing a huge blaze is a Russian national, the ship’s owner told AFP. UK police arrested a man after the Solong cargo ship, owned by Ernst Russ, slammed into the US-flagged Stena Immaculate on March 10, leaving one crew member missing presumed dead. Ernst Russ said the man detained by Humberside police was the captain of the Portuguese-flagged Solong. (Photo by AFP)A pair of American white pelicans swim on a lake on the fifth hole during practice for The Players Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA, 12 March 2025. The Players Championship begins 13 March 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER
