A priest sprinkles holy water at a cat at a drive-through pet blessing, ahead of World Animal Day, at a mall in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 2, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Marie David/Reuters)

A man carries a civet while taking part in an animal welfare campaign ahead of the World Animal Day celebrations on October 4, in Banda Aceh on October 2, 2022. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

B-boy Amin Drillz of Austria (front) competes during the 2022 World Breaking Championship at the Olympic Park in Seoul on October 21, 2022. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

A woman poses with her twins before the Igboora World Twins Festival 2024, in Igbo-Ora on October 12, 2024. (Photo by Olympia de Maismont/AFP Photo)

Elise Graham takes part in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships 2017 with a rubber duck on her back on August 27, 2017 in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales. The competition draws competitors from all over the world and is now in its 32nd year. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

June 21: “World War Z”. Brad Pitt battles zombie apocalypse in $170 million film by “Quantum of Solace” director Marc Forster. This publicity photo released by Paramount Pictures shows, center, Brad Pitt as Gerald Lane in a scene from the film, “World War Z”, from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films. (Photo by Jaap Buitendijk/AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)