Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 11, 2013

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An Indian Muslim devotee, who is on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti for Urs, performs a stunt during a procession at Ajmer in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan May 11, 2013. Urs is an annual festival which is held for over six days at Ajmer, commemorating the death anniversary of Sufi saint Chishti. The anniversary is celebrated in the seventh month of the Islamic lunar calendar as thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine from all over India and abroad.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 10, 2013

PATRICK PLEUL/AFP/Getty Images

Lightning of a thunder storm illuminates the sky over a wind energy park near Jacobsdorf, eastern Germany.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 9, 2013

AP Photo/Fabio Ferrari

The pack of riders pedals during the sixth stage of the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Italy cycling race, from Mola di Bari to Margherita di Savoia, Thursday, May 9, 2013.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 8, 2013

AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous

Bangladeshis cover themselves with plastic sheets as it rains on a deserted street during a general strike called by 18 opposition parties in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, May 8, 2013. The strike was ostensibly organized to demand changes in electoral law and to protest the deaths of 29 people, many of them Islamic hardliners, on Monday during street demonstrations calling for new anti-blasphemy laws.

Welcome to Orania, South Africa's only "purely" white town

Orania is a South Africa's only "purely" white town founded in the Northern Cape province in 1991 by Afrikaners, for Afrikaners opposed to the post-apartheid "rainbow nation," just after the release of Nelson Mandela. One thousand people live in Orania, and they try to be as self-sufficient as possible. They have their own money, as well as their own flag. Orania's population grows at nine per cent a year. It attracts Afrikaners who feel to be left out in the new South Africa, and who are scared of the country's high crime rates. The little town is protected by article 235 of South Africa's constitution, which guarantees the right of self-determination. But residents here are thinking big — their next goal is the creation of an Afrikaner Republic.

Photos taken by Stephane de Sakutin of AFP/Getty Images on April 17, 2013.

 

A young boy plays by a painted wall reading "Welcome in Orania" in Afrikaans.

 

Afrikaner pupils attend a lesson with their teacher.

 

A cashier holds Orania's currency notes.

More photos after the jump.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 7, 2013

REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

World War Two veteran Pavel Khamluk, 95, poses for a photo with his wife Ekaterina at their home ahead of Victory Day, in the town of Zhitkovichi, some 270 km (167 miles) south of Minsk May 7, 2013. Belarus marks the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two every year on May 9.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 6, 2013

YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty Images

People pour water on a passer-by in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on May 6, 2013, as they celebrate Clean Monday (or Wet Monday), a Ukrainian Christian tradition celebrated the first day after Orthodox Easter.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 5, 2013

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Oded Balilty/AP Photo

This combination of twelve photos shows Soviet Jewish World War Two veterans posing for portraits at their homes in Israel. About 500,000 Soviet Jews served in the Red Army during World War Two, and the majority of those still alive today live in Israel. Every year on Victory Day, which falls this Thursday, they parade in uniform throughout Israel to celebrate Nazi Germany's surrender to the Soviet Union. Follow this link for a full photo gallery: http://bit.ly/118xJeJ

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 04, 2013

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

A rabbit runs from a wildfire burning along the Pacific Coast Highway near Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, California. Some 4,000 homes were threatened by a growing wildfire northwest of Los Angeles that has forced the closure of California's scenic coastal highway.

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - May 03, 2013

REUTERS/Matt Sullivan

Race horses walk onto the track during early morning workouts at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, May 3, 2013.