A cyclist drives past a flowering rapeseed field not far from the small Bavarian village of Schoengeising, near Munich, during a nice, warm sunny weather day on May 17, 2017. (Photo by Christof Stache/AFP Photo)

North Korean traffic police women chat next to a residential building while off duty Tuesday, October 18, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

Raquel Poti performs on stilts during the Amigos da Onca street Carnival party, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, February 10, 2024. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

It doesn’t make for the most flattering photoshoot, but there is a reason these zebras at Lewa wildlife conservancy in Kenya in the second decade of August 2025 are stood head to tail: they use their tails to swat flies from each others’ faces. (Photo by Andrew Campbell/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Kim Goodman, from Chicago, Illinois, US, holds the record for the farthest eyeball protrusion, at 12mm. (Photo by Paul Michael Hughes/Guinness World Records/PA Wire Press Association)

A period of relative stability has put the Iranian capital No1 on the list of world cities that have achieved biggest improvements in liveability over the past five years, as calculated by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The “most improved” top 10 contains some unexpected names. So, eg, the fourth place: Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Latest ranking: 128; Ranking five years ago: 131; Five-year index movement: 3.8%. Here: A supporter of Ivory Coast president Alassane Ouattara campaigns in a market in the city’s Koumassi quarter. (Photo by Sia Kambou/AFP Photo)

Lightning strikes during a storm over the Ionian Sea in Calabria, Italy on June 27, 2016. (Photo by Alfonso Di Vincenzo/Pacific Press/Rex Features)

EMT Christian Amoroso, wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), pauses while unloading COVID-19 patients at the Montefiore Medical Center Wakefield Campus on April 06, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York City. A specialized bus known as a Medical Evacuation Transport Unit (METU), caries infected patients on stretchers and benches between hospitals. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)