Today's best photos: from the Paralympics to water shortages - in pictures

  • Performers take part in the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games. AFP
    Performers take part in the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games. AFP
  • Buddhist monks walk barefoot over smouldering coals during the fire-walking festival, called Hiwatari Matsuri, in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters
    Buddhist monks walk barefoot over smouldering coals during the fire-walking festival, called Hiwatari Matsuri, in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters
  • Ethiopian Orthodox deacons attend the burial ceremony of the late Abune Merkorios, fourth patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, in Addis Ababa. AFP
    Ethiopian Orthodox deacons attend the burial ceremony of the late Abune Merkorios, fourth patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, in Addis Ababa. AFP
  • Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades talks to migrants at a refugee camp, on the outskirts of Nicosia, Cyprus. Reuters
    Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades talks to migrants at a refugee camp, on the outskirts of Nicosia, Cyprus. Reuters
  • A farmer works in a poppy field in Kandahar, Afghanistan. AFP
    A farmer works in a poppy field in Kandahar, Afghanistan. AFP
  • A woman is rescued from residential building after it was struck by shelling in Kyiv, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Reuters
    A woman is rescued from residential building after it was struck by shelling in Kyiv, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Reuters
  • A boy carries a bottle of drinking water back home in the village of Madina Torobe, Senegal. The shortage of drinking water in the north-west areas of the country is a recurring problem. AFP
    A boy carries a bottle of drinking water back home in the village of Madina Torobe, Senegal. The shortage of drinking water in the north-west areas of the country is a recurring problem. AFP