Nestled among the cocoa plantations of western Ivory Coast is a gold mine that does not feature on any official maps. It is not run by an industrial mining company, nor does it pay taxes to the central government. The unlicensed mine is a key part of a lucrative business empire headed by the deputy commander of the West African nation's elite Republican Guard, United Nations investigators allege. Here: A gold prospector sits and eats close to a soldier at a gold mine near the village of Gamina, in western Ivory Coast, March 18, 2015. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

Descendants of American Southerners Wearing Confederate-era dresses and uniforms dance during a party to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War in Santa Barbara d'Oeste, Brazil, Sunday, April 26, 2015. For many of the residents of Santa Barbara d'Oeste and neighboring Americana, in Brazil's southeastern Sao Paulo state, having Confederate ancestry is a point of pride and is celebrated in high style at the annual “Festa dos Confederados”, or “Confederates Party” in Portuguese. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

American Ballet Theater's dancers are silhouetted as they rehearse for the opening night at the Shanghai Grand Theater in Shanghai, Thursday, November 2, 2023. The American national ballet company is returning to China for the first time in a decade for shows in Shanghai and Beijing in the latest sign strained relations between the United States and China are beginning to thaw. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Milan Fashion Week Women SS 2020 – ETRO Spring/Summer 2020 show in Milan, Italy on September 20, 2019. Top model Irina Shayk and other models leaving Etro Fashion Show. (Photo by Pierre Teyssot/Splash News and Pictures)

A new species of monkey found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and identified as Lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis) is seen in this undated photograph from an article published September 12, 2012 in the science journal PLOS One. The monkey was first seen in 2007 by researchers John and Terese Hart of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Research Project. The finding of C. lomamiensis represents only the second new species of African monkey to be discovered in the past 28 years, according to the research article. (Photo by Hart J. A., Detwiler K. M., Gilbert C. C./Reuters)

Members of an American landing party assist troops whose landing craft was sunk by enemy fire off Omaha beach, near Colleville sur Mer, France, June 6, 1944. REUTERS/Weintraub/US National Archives

Super-cell thunderstorms, whirling tornados and lightning bolts illuminating the sky – these photos capture the terrifying brilliance of American storms. (Photo by Brandon Goforth/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Flash, a golden retriever, plays with a toy following a press event for the American Kennel Club to reveal the nations most popular dog breeds in the Manhattan borough of New York, February 22, 2016. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)