“Dubai is sometimes called the “City of Gold” because of its stunning growth from a sleepy Gulf port to a world-famous business crossroads in the space of a single generation. Its nickname has a literal meaning for traders in the precious metal. The city is building itself up as a center for the gold trade, between sources in Africa and consumers in the rising economies of China and India”. – Kamran Jebreili via Associated Press

Photo: A gold press operator collects 10 gram gold blanks to press them with the logo of the Emirates Gold company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Gold prices remained relatively steady in 2012, close to $1,700 an ounce. (Photo by Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo)

Iraqi army soldiers warm themselves next to a fire near the Qayara air base, south of Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, November 1, 2016. The U.N. human rights office is lauding efforts by the U.S.-led coalition in the battle against the Islamic State group in Mosul. The office in Geneva says coalition flights over Iraq have largely succeeded in preventing IS from bringing in 25,000 more civilians to the city center, where the militant group has been using people as human shields as Iraqi forces advance on Mosul. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

A model stands in a light backstage after presenting the collection by Russian designer Alena Akhmadullina at The Russian State Library, one of the three national libraries of Russia, the largest library in the country, largest in Europe, in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Girls dressed in “Hanfu”, or Han clothing, prepare for an event to mark the traditional Qixi festival, the Chinese equivalent of Valentine's Day, at a park in Beijing, China, August 7, 2019. Chinese for “Han clothing”, “Hanfu” is based on the idea of donning costumes worn in bygone eras by China's dominant Han ethnicity. Some of the most popular styles are from the Ming, Song and Tang dynasties. Hanfu enthusiasts doubled to two million in 2018 from a year earlier, according to a survey by Hanfu Zixun, a popular community account on the Wechat social media platform. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

A female pitch invader is caught by a steward during Day Two of the Fourth Test between South Africa and England at Wanderers on January 25, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

NASA says it could be another 20 years before humans touch down on Mars, but in a sense, the Mars Society has been exploring the red planet for more than a decade – in Utah. Photo: Csilla Orgel, a geologist of Crew 125 EuroMoonMars B mission, makes her way back to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in the Utah desert March 3, 2013. The MDRS aims to investigate the feasibility of a human exploration of Mars and uses the Utah desert's Mars-like terrain to simulate working conditions on the red planet. Scientists, students and enthusiasts work together developing field tactics and studying the terrain. All outdoor exploration is done wearing simulated spacesuits and carrying air supply packs and crews live together in a small communication base with limited amounts of electricity, food, oxygen and water. Everything needed to survive must be produced, fixed and replaced on site. (Photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

A hot air balloon in tortoise shape flies in the air during the Tazaungdaing air balloon festival in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar, 25 November 2015. During the festival, hot air balloons made of multicolored papers and hung with paper lanterns, fireworks and fire sticks are exploded in mid-air. (Photo by Hein Htet/EPA)

An anti-Gaddafi fighter tests an anti-aircraft gun southwest of Sirte, Libya one of Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds, September 16, 2011. A timeline of images dating from 2010 from Sirte, Libya, the home town of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Libyan forces battling Islamic State in the city of Sirte say they have defeated the militant group after months of street to street fighting backed by U.S. air strikes. Islamic State took control of the city more than a year ago and set up its main base outside Syria and Iraq. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)