The week in pictures

January 10 — Family members hold a vigil outside the Melomed Tokai Hospital in Cape Town. SA registered a record number of deaths in the first week of January, as the new wave of coronavirus infections intensified, the latest mortality report from the SA Medical Research Council  shows.

January 10 — Members and supporters of the anti-fascist coalition march to protest far-right groups and the Washington “Stop the Steal” rally in Manhattan, New York City, the US.

January 10 — An Indonesia rescue team finds part of a Sriwijaya Air plane off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia. Sriwijaya flight SJY182, carrying 62 people on board, crashed shortly after take-off.  The crash is still a vexing mystery, and falls into a broad category of airliners that suddenly plunge out of the sky.

January 11 — Farmers transport blankets and mattresses at the site of a months-long protest against farm laws, at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghaziabad, India. Tens of thousands of farmers continued their protests this week despite the Indian Supreme Court's decision to keep the laws in abeyance.

January 11 — Farmers in the Karoo take their sheep in search of grazing. The Kannaland municipality is planning to outsource the provision of electricity and water services at a cost of R735m, the Western Cape government says.  

January 11 — US president-elect Joe Biden receives his second dose of a vaccine against Covid-19, at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, the US.

January 11 — A student holds a smoke flare during protests in Rome over Italy’s decision to keep high schools closed as part of its efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease. Italy is approaching 80,000 deaths and 2.3-million infections.

January 12 — Lance Stroll crashes out of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, which was held in November 2020 but will be the first race of the 2021 season. Formula One postponed the Australian Grand Prix from March to November, with Bahrain opening the season and China’s race left hanging, as Covid-19 forced the sport to rewrite the 2021 calendar.

January 13 — Activists protest against the execution of Lisa Montgomery, the first woman to be put to death by the US federal government in nearly 70 years. She was executed at the US penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Montgomery was convicted in 2007 for kidnapping and strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant at the time.

January 13 — Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alleged corruption, the postponement of his trial and his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, outside his residency in Jerusalem, Israel.

January 14 — National Guard soldiers patrol the US Capitol after the House of Representatives impeached US President Donald Trump in Washington, the US. The House of Representatives voted  to make Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice.

January 14 — Ugandan presidential candidate and singer Bobi Wine greets supporters as he leaves after casting his ballot in the presidential elections in Kampala, Uganda.

January 14 —  A man uses a shovel to clear away snow near a fallen tree after Madrid recorded the heaviest snowfall in 50 years. At least three people died and snow blanketed the capital,  blocking roads and paralysing city services.

January 14 — Members of the World Health Organisation team tasked with investigating the origins of  the Covid-19 pandemic leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, Hubei province, China.