24 hours in pictures, 17 June 2025
24 hours in pictures, 17 June 2025
Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.
A race-goer during Royal Ascot in Ascot, Britain, 17 June 2025. Royal Ascot is the United Kingdom's most valuable horse race meeting and social event running from 17 to 21 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL
An Israeli firefighter douses bus carcasses at the impact site of an Iranian missile at a bus depot in Herzliya near Tel Aviv on June 17, 2025. Israel's military said air raid sirens sounded in several areas of the country on June 17 after identifying missiles launched from Iran, as AFP journalists reported booms over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP) This photograph shows Airbus Helicopters' unmanned reconnaissance helicopter (drone) VSR700 on display at the Paris International Air Show (Salon international de l'aeronautique et de l'espace – SIAE) at the Paris–Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, on June 17, 2025. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP) People sit by the Sarawak river in Kuching, capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, on June 17, 2025. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP) An aircraft from the Gol airline company prepares to land at Santos Dumont airport with the Christ the Redeemer statue in the background in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 16, 2025. (Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL / AFP) A boy is silhouetted against the setting sun at a neighborhood in Sana'a, Yemen, 16 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/YAHYA ARHAB Construction workers are carrying out glass curtain wall construction on the spherical building facade without any obstruction in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, China on June 17, 2025. (Photo by Gu Huaxia / CFOTO via AFP) Children participate as firefighters simulate how to handle a fire during a safety simulation for school children at a fire disaster management center in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 17 June 2025. The training and simulation are held by the Indonesian Fire Fighter Agency as part of a disaster awareness education program for school students on how to respond quickly to a fire disaster. Picture: EPA-EFE/HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK Visitors stand by 'Stone triptych with snails, body fragments and sewing machine' a 2025 work by British-French artist duo Daniel Dewar and Gregory Gicquel displayed at the Unlimited section of the Art Basel fair for Modern and contemporary art, in Basel, Switzerland, on June 17, 2025. The fair will open to the public from June 19 to June 22, 2025, featuring over 290 leading galleries and more than 4,000 artists from five continents. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) The artwork 'Os Comedores de Terra / The Earth Eaters' (2025) by Brazilian artist Luiz Zerbini is on display at the show Art Unlimited in the context of the international art show Art Basel 2025, in Basel, Switzerland, 16 June 2025. Unlimited is Art Basel's exhibition platform for projects that transcend the limitations of a classical art-show stand, including out-sized sculpture and paintings, video projections, large-scale installations, and live performances. Picture: EPA-EFE/GEORGIOS KEFALAS A view inside of the inner courtyard of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 17 June 2025. The current European Parliament plenary session runs from 16 to 19 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEK Bangladeshi boatmen cover themselves from the rain during a downpour, at Buriganga river in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 16 June 2025. According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) forecast, the monsoon is active over the southern part of the country and fairly active elsewhere, remaining moderate over North Bay. Picture: EPA-EFE/MONIRUL ALAM
MORE: 24 hours in pictures, 16 June 2025
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eNCA
an hour ago
- eNCA
Thailand credits prey releases for 'extraordinary' tiger recovery
BANGKOK - In the thick, steamy forests of western Thailand, 20 skittish sambar deer dart from an enclosure into the undergrowth -- unaware they may find themselves in the jaws of one of the habitat's 200 or so endangered tigers. The release is part of a project run by the government and conservation group WWF to provide tigers with prey to hunt and eat, which has helped the big cat make a remarkable recovery in Thailand. The wild tiger population in Thailand's Western Forest Complex, near the border with Myanmar, has increased almost fivefold in the last 15 years from about 40 in 2007 to between 179 and 223 last year, according to the kingdom's Department of National Parks (DNP). It is an uptick that WWF's Tigers Alive initiative leader Stuart Chapman calls "extraordinary", especially as no other country in Southeast Asia has seen tiger numbers pick up at all. The DNP and the WWF have been breeding sambar, which are native to Thailand but classed as vulnerable, and releasing them as prey. Now in its fifth year, the prey release is a "very good activity," says the DNP's Chaiya Danpho, as it addresses the ecosystem's lack of large ungulates for tigers to eat. Worrapan Phumanee, a research manager for WWF Thailand, says that deer were previously scarce in the area, impacting the tiger population. But "since starting the project, we've seen tigers become regular residents here and successfully breed," he says. AFP | John SAEKI Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have all lost their native populations of Indochinese tigers, while Myanmar is thought to have just 23 left in the wild, in large part due to poaching and wildlife trafficking. Over the past century, numbers worldwide have fallen from about 100,000 individuals to an estimated 5,500, according to the IUCN, which classifies tigers as endangered due to habitat loss and overhunting of the species and their natural prey. But major tiger recoveries have been recorded in India and Nepal, where in recent years numbers of Bengal tigers have grown to 3,600 and 355 respectivel,y thanks to conservation measures. - 'Incredibly successful' - In a forest clearing in Khlong Lan National Park, DNP staff open the gate of the sambar deer enclosure where 10 males and 10 females have been grazing. The deer watch cautiously as one brave individual darts out, before the rest follow at speed and disappear into the trees. AFP | Lillian SUWANRUMPHA Worrapan says prey release programmes -- now also happening in Cambodia and Malaysia -- are part of wider restoration efforts to "rebuild ecosystems" in Southeast Asia, where they have been adapted for local purposes from similar initiatives that have existed for years in Africa. The breeding and releases also aim to solve the problem of the sambar deer's own population decline due to hunting, says Worrapan. "The purpose of releasing deer is not solely to serve as tiger prey but also to restore the deer population," he says, adding that GPS collar-monitoring has allowed researchers to track their lives after release. AFP | Lillian SUWANRUMPHA He says despite having only known captivity, the deer show a strong ability to adapt to outside threats. "(They) don't simply wait passively. They try to evade predators and choose safe areas to thrive." The sambar deer and their offspring "play a role in the food chain within the ecosystem, serving as prey for predators," he says. by Sally Jensen
The Citizen
2 hours ago
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24 hours in pictures, 20 June 2025
24 hours in pictures, 20 June 2025 Through the lens: The Citizen's Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world. People ride a roller coaster at the new LEGOLAND Shanghai Resort, at the Jinshan district in Shanghai, on June 20, 2025. The largest LEGOLAND in the world will be officially opened in Shanghai on July 5th. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) PETA animal rights activists stage a protest outside the venue of Ajinomoto Co. Inc.'s annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo, Japan, 20 June 2025. Animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) activists are protesting Ajinomoto's animal-testing policy and the alleged use of animals in food tests. Picture: EPA-EFE/FRANCK ROBICHON Minehle Wanyoike from Zimbabwe prays in the school chapel during morning classes as part of the Three2Six Refugee Children's Education Project at the Sacred Heart Collage in Johannesburg, South Africa, 19 June 2025. The Three2Six Project, founded in 2008, is a bridging education programme for refugee and migrant children unable to access state schooling. Three host school communities including Sacred Heart College, Observatory Girls Primary School, and Holy Family College, make their facilities available to Three2Six each afternoon from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., after their regular school day ends. The children come from seven African countries, with the largest proportion from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe. Many of the learners are undocumented refugees who moved to South Africa with their parents. Picture: EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK A priest baptizes a child during a mass baptism ceremony, sponsored by local officials, at the San Martin De Porres Church in Bacoor city, Cavite province, southwest of Manila, Philippines, 20 June 2025. More than 200 children were baptized in a mass baptism ceremony, a significant religious and cultural event in a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines, where the baptismal certificates issued afterward often serve as a de facto birth record for newborns in communities lacking easy access to civil registration. Picture: EPA-EFE/FRANCIS R. MALASIG Students take part in a Yoga session on the eve of the International Day Of Yoga in Bhopal, India on June 20, 2025. International Day Of Yoga is celebrated every year on June 21 to promote the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits of yoga worldwide. It was first proposed by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations, which officially declared it in 2014. Picture: Matrix Images / Sanjeev Gupta Israeli Home Front Command team members walk at the site where Iranian ballistic missiles struck residential buildingsat the site where Iranian ballistic missiles struck residential buildings in Beer Sheva, southern Israel, 20 June 2025. Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire since Israel launched strikes across Iran on 13 June 2025 as part of Operation 'Rising Lion.' Picture: EPA-EFE/ABIR SULTAN EPA A staff member remotely controls a bionic arm using force-sensing gloves at the 2025 World Semiconductor Conference & Expo in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on June 20, 2025. (Photo by AFP) Local people clean debris off windows at the site of a drone strike on a residential building in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, early 20 June 2025. At least 4 people were injured, including two teenagers, following an overnight Russian attack by shock drones on Kharkiv and its suburbs, according to the State Emergency Service (SES). Picture: EPA-EFE/SERGEY KOZLOV Chinese-made cars are seen before being loaded onto a ship at the port in Lianyungang, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on June 20, 2025. (Photo by AFP) A visitor attends 'Yolngu Power: The Art of Yirrkala' winter exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, 20 June 2025. Picture: EPA-EFE/DAN HIMBRECHTS MORE: 24 hours in pictures, 19 June 2025
IOL News
9 hours ago
- IOL News
Blooming against the odds: Proteas thrive on farm far from natural habitat
Protea flower grower Nico Thuynsma poses for a photograph next to one of the Protea flower species growing at his farm in Cullinan, east of Pretoria. Thuynsma is experimenting with different seed varieties to find out which ones can thrive in drier, hotter conditions. His farm has become a testing ground for the future of the species, as climate zones shift northward. Image: Phill Magakoe / AFP ON his farm two hours north of Johannesburg, Nico Thuynsma gestured towards thousands of orange, yellow and pink proteas in flower and thriving 1,500 kilometres from their natural home at the southern tip of Africa. "They're all different," the 55-year-old farmer said of the assorted blooms from the diverse Proteaceae family that has more than 350 species in South Africa, from firework-like "pincushion" varieties to delicate "blushing brides". He picked out a majestic pink and white crown, nearly the size of his head, that has taken four years to reach its impressive size. "The King Proteas are very slow to grow," Thuynsma said. A King Protea flower at the Proflora international flower fair in Bogota. Image: Juan BARRETO / AFP Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The largest of the proteas, the King Protea, is South Africa's national flower. It has lent its name to the national cricket team and countless brands. It features on the currency and is the logo for South Africa's presidency this year of the G20 group of leading economies, which convenes a summit in November. It is also the country's largest flower export with more than 10 million stems sent abroad last year, worth close to 275 million rand, according to the Cape Flora industry organisation. Its status offers the King Protea some protection but almost half of South Africa's other protea species face extinction because of pressures on their native habitats in the mountains of the Cape, according to South Africa's National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). These include habitat loss to agriculture, the proliferation of invasive alien species and "changes to natural fire cycles", SANBI said in a 2021 report. "People come to South Africa to see proteas," Nigel Barker, a professor in plant sciences at the University of Pretoria, said. "It's the plant equivalent of the elephant or the lion." Most proteas are endemic or semi-endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom biome of "fynbos" that stretches across the southern tip of South Africa and is one of the world's richest flora biodiversity hotspots. But climate projections predict "hotter, drier conditions", Barker said. "We'll be looking at a completely different vegetation type in the future, semi-desert almost in some places." "Many species, because they're so range-restricted, will probably go extinct under those scenarios," he said. "The only solution we have is to cultivate them artificially... in greenhouses or farms where you control irrigation," Barker said.
