A hot air balloon rises in the sky during the International Hot-Air Balloon festival in Pokhara on December 27, 2024. With Nepal's snowy Himalayan peaks as a backdrop, the sky above Pokhara transformed into a vibrant canvas of colours for the country's first hot-air balloon festival. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

Kazakhstan, Belgium and Japan compete in the men’s 5000m relay final B during the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships at the Ahoy Arena on 17 March 2024 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/International Skating Union/Siena awards festival 2025)

Tomomi Ota pushes a trolley loaded with her humanoid robot Pepper as she crosses a street in Omotesando shopping district in Tokyo, Japan, 24 March 2016. Telecommunications and mobile phone carrier SoftBank Corp. opened a robot-staffed store where 10 Pepper humanoid robots welcome customers looking to buy a mobile phone. The store will be opened until 30 March 2016. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)

Revelers dressed as Santa Claus or in festive costumes arrive for the start of SantaCon 2018 in New York City December 8, 2018. SantaCon is an annual event where people dress as Santa Claus or other Christmas characters parade in several cities around the world. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

Edinburgh mask maker Lorraine Pritchard on Sunday, January 28, 2024 alongside some of her Venetian masks which will be worn and displayed at the Venice Carnival, which starts on Saturday February 3. Lorraine studied model making at Glasgow College of Building and Printing and Venetian mask making in Florence, Italy. She travels to Venice each year to be a “mask” herself, wearing different masks she has designed as a live exhibit of her work. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

Kashmiri Muslim brides sit during a mass marriage of 30 couples in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, February 21, 2024. Mass weddings in India are organized by social organizations primarily to help economically weaker families who cannot afford the high ceremony costs as well as the customary dowry and expensive gifts that are still prevalent in many communities. (Photo by Mukhtar Khan/AP Photo)

Retired Mongolian-born “yokozuna” wrestler Hakuho (far L), who now goes by the name Miyagino, watches as participants (R) try to push out Japanese wrestler Hakuoho (C) during a sumo class for youngsters on the sidelines of the 14th Hakuho Cup, a competition for young sumo wrestlers from elementary and middle school, at the Kokugikan arena in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo on February 12, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)