Built for over a million people, the city of Ordos was designed to be the crowning glory of Inner Mongolia. Doomed to incompletion however, this futuristic metropolis now rises empty out of the deserts of northern China. Only 2% of its buildings were ever filled; the rest has largely been left to decay, abandoned mid-construction, earning Ordos the title of China's Ghost City.

Shortlisted images in the running to be crowned Photobox Instagram photograph of the year range from furry friends to the Holi festival to the meaning of love. Judges, including the Guardian’s former picture editor Eamonn McCabe, have whittled down 180,000 submissions to unearth a shortlist that celebrates the best of social media. Winners will be announced October 3, 2018. Here: Najac, France. Travel shortlist. (Photo by Aaron Jenkin/@aaronjenkin)

A Maasai moran athlete has his face smeared with red ocher paint during preparations for the 2016 Maasai Olympics at the Sidai Oleng Wildlife Sanctuary, at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, near the Kenya-Tanzania border in Kimana, Kajiado, Kenya December 10, 2016. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Tsetse, six-year-old daughter of Dukha herder Erdenebat Chuluu, sits among her family's reindeer in a forest near the village of Tsagaannuur, Khovsgol aimag, Mongolia, April 21, 2018. Nyamaa is an ethnic Darkhad, herders of northern Mongolia who have historically inhabited the steppe that borders the Taiga forests. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A staff member removes a coffin from a room of the “Corpse Hotel” in Kawasaki, Japan, April 20, 2016. Many so-called corpse hotels have emerged as a flourishing business in the city following a crunch in crematoriums. Families can rent a room in Sousou on a daily charge of 9,000 Japanese yen (£58, €74, $84) to keep the body of the deceased relative for up to four days until they find a crematorium. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Burundian refugees gather on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Kagunga village in Kigoma region in western Tanzania with their belongings, as they wait for MV Liemba to transport them to Kigoma township, May 17, 2015. Burundi's embattled President Pierre Nkurunziza sacked his defense and foreign ministers on Monday, five days after surviving an attempted coup by generals opposed to his bid for a third term in office. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

Switzerland's lead Nicole Schwaegli (L) and second Marisa Winkelhausen sweep during their curling round robin game against Japan at the World Women's Curling Championships in Sapporo March 14, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A mother reacts as she pleads with police to allow her daughter to pass a checkpoint for cancer treatment after she arrived from Hubei province at the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge in Jiujiang, China, February 1, 2020. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)