Starlings are seen at their nesting box in a private garden in the town of Bobruisk, Belarus, April 8, 2018. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Winner – Animal Portraits: The pose by Mogens Trolle, Denmark. A young male proboscis monkey cocks his head slightly and closes his eyes. Unexpected pale blue eyelids now complement his immaculately groomed auburn hair. He poses for a few seconds as if in meditation. He is a wild visitor to the feeding station at Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary in Sabah, Borneo – “the most laid-back character”, says Trolle, “quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen on another monkey” – connects us, he hopes, with a fellow primate. (Photo by Mogens Trolle/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020)

A man and a woman jump over a bonfire during Ivan Kupala Day celebrations held by the Belarusian State Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Lifestyle in the village of Ozertso near Minsk, Belarus on July 4, 2020. Ivan Kupala Day, also known as Ivana-Kupala or Kupala Night, is a traditional pagan holiday celebrated in eastern Slavic cultures. Various rituals are traditionally performed on Kupala Night, including making flower wreaths, fortune-telling, jumping over bonfires, and burning a wheel-like effigy symbolizing the sun. (Photo by Natalia Fedosenko/TASS)

A priest comforts one of the relatives of the victims, before a mass in their memory, as Lebanon marks one-year anniversary of Beirut port explosion, at the port in Beirut, Lebanon on August 4, 2021. United in grief and anger, families of the victims and other Lebanese came out into the streets of Beirut on Wednesday to demand accountability as banks, businesses and government offices shuttered to mark one year since the horrific explosion. (Photo by Aziz Taher/Reuters)

A Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus gestures as he rides a camel in Jerusalem's Old City during Christmas celebrations, on December 23, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP Photo)

A festival goer spins a light strip as she dances to electronic music in front of the Belleville stage during the 45th edition of the Paleo Festival, in Nyon, Switzerland, 24 July 2022. The Paleo is the largest open-air music festival in the western part of Switzerland. (Photo by Valentin Flauraud/EPA/EFE)

A supporter of presidential candidate and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee and Czech Army General Petr Pavel hands out leaflets, ahead of a direct presidential election that will start on January 13, in Prague, Czech Republic on January 5, 2023. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

People pose for photos in front of an old Korail train on the disused Gyeonghwa Station railway track during the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival in Changwon on March 31, 2024, around 311 kilometres southeast of Seoul. The annual festival has been running since 1952. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)