In this photograph taken on October 4, 2016, an Afghan baker prepares bread at his shop as he waits for customers in Lashkar Gah, the capital city of Helmand province. For years Helmand was the centerpiece of the Western military intervention in Afghanistan only for it to slip deeper into a quagmire of instability, with almost the entire southern province teetering on the verge of collapse. Intensified fighting has killed hundreds and forced thousands to flee to besieged capital Lashkar Gah, sparking a humanitarian crisis as the city – one of the last government- held enclaves – risks falling to the Taliban' s repeated ferocious assaults. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

Filipino students performs during the parade at the 125th Philippine’s Independence Day at Dubai World Trade Centre on June 10, 2023. (Photo by Leslie Pableo for The National)

Flocks of seagulls swarm small fishing boats in the first decade of January 2024 like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Colonies of Heuglin’s gulls can be seen almost every morning on the Yamuna River in Delhi, India. (Photo by Raghav Rai Ralhan/Solent News)

Pakistani Rangers take part in the beating retreat ceremony at the India-Pakistan Wagah border post, about 35 km from Amritsar on March 9, 2022. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

Alex Lual (R) in action against Trent Girdham (L) during the undercard bouts ahead of the WBO Asia Pacific Super Welterweight Title Bout between Tim Tszyu and Takeshi Inoue at Qudos Bank Arena, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 17 November 2021. (Photo by Dan Himbrechts/EPA/EFE)

Ukrainian servicemen of the 28th Separate Mechanised Brigade fires a 122mm mortar towards Russian positions at the front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Sunday, March 3, 2024. (Photo by Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo)

(L-R) Santiago Enrique Baston and American actress Eva Longoria attend the “Global Gift Gala” Photocall at Four Seasons Hotel George V on October 5, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Lyvans Boolaky/Getty Images)

On September 1, 2004, Chechen militants stormed an elementary school in the town of Beslan in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. They took 1,100 teachers, children, and their relatives hostage, demanding the withdrawal of federal forces from Chechnya as a condition for their release. On September 3, 2004, Russian security forces stormed the building, resulting in a battle in which more than 330 hostages died, including 186 children. Here: A man assists two young hostages who managed to escape from the school building after special forces entered the school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Friday 03 September 2004. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA)