“On Friday, after something of a show trial, three young women in a Russian punk band were found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison for an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral earlier this year”. – Daniel Schwartz via CBC News

Photo: A woman wears on her chest the text “free p*ssy riot” as a demonstration by supporters of the jailed feminist punk band p*ssy Riot takes place outside the Russian Embassy on August 17, 2012 in London, England. The three women who staged an anti-Kremlin protest in a church in February, were found guilty today of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and could face a three-year jail sentence. Supporters are gathering in several cities around the world today as a mark of solidarity. (Photo by Dan Kitwood)

An astonishing set of snaps of a thrill-seeker's sky-high catwalk show on the edge of some of the world's tallest buildings has turned her into a social media sensation. Daredevil Angelina Nikolau, 23, from Russia, has spent weeks travelling around China and Hong Kong posing for jaw-dropping skyscraper selfies hundreds of feet above the ground. Her vertigo inducing results – uploaded to Instagram – have made her an instant star on the internet. (Photo by Kirill Oreshkin/CEN)

A Russian peacekeeper shouts “No pictures!” at a checkpoint outside the city of Stepanakert on November 13, 2020, during a ceasefire in the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian began deploying 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10 after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a peace deal to end weeks of fierce fighting over the disputed region. (Photo by Alexander Nemenov/AFP Photo)

Soma-Nomaoi is a festival that recreates a battle scene from more than 1,000 years ago. It is annually held for 4 days from July 22 to 25 in Haramachi City, Fukushima Prefecture, in the eastern part of Japan. In this historical event, 600 mounted samurai in traditional Japanese armor, with long swords at their side and ancestral flagstaffs streaming from their backs, ride across open fields. Soma-Nomaoi has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Photo: A young woman (C) clad in samurai costume leads other local poeple as she rides her horse during a parade at the annual Soma Nomaoi festival in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on July 28, 2012. The traditional full-scale festival kicked off for the first time after the accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant following the massive earthquake and the tsunami on March 11, 2011. (Photo by Toru Yamanaka/AFP Photo)

A man carries a smoke flare as far-right activists march during the Gay Pride parade on June 12, 2016 in Kiev. More than 700 gay rights activists marched through central Kiev on June 12 amid a massive police presence for the third such gay pride event in the ex-Soviet country where homophobia remains widespread. The June 12 march was the first ever gay pride rally to be held in central Kiev, prompting an unprecedented security operation with several thousand police and National Guard officers lining the route during the event, which lasted around 20 minutes. (Photo by Yuriy Kirnichny/AFP Photo)

It is said that Torajans are people who “live to die”. For this Indonesian ethnic group, funerals are such extravagant events that they sometimes attract tourists. Families can postpone burials years (and the deceased are considered sick and hosted at home until the funeral) until the family can raise enough money and gather as many relatives as possible. And then it’s a jubilant multiday social event with a parade, dances and animal sacrifices. Agung Parameswara photographed these funerary practices when he traveled to South Sulawesi province, where the Torajans live. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/The Washington Post)

A woman loyal to the Houthi movement holds a rifle as she takes part in a parade to show support to the movement in Sanaa, Yemen September 6, 2016. The Saudi-led Arab coalition launched a military campaign against the Huthis and their allies in March 2015, after the rebels closed in on Gulf-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in his southern refuge of Aden, forcing him into exile. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

Women wear the traditional costume of the Alto Tio Diego carnival during the Women's Afro-Mestizo Carnival of Alto Tio Diego on February 11, 2024 in Veracruz, Mexico. Alto Tio Diego is a small town near the State capital Xalapa where every year inhabitants celebrate their traditional carnival. Women of the town demanded a special day for them to parade and few years ago, they started to do it by walking through the streets wearing traditional costumes and masks (mostly of animals) but the attires have evolved to more modern characters. (Photo by Hector AD Quintanar/Getty Images)