Thorsten Mowes has a more intimate knowledge of the worlds most famous monuments than perhaps anyone else on the planet – because hes spent his entire career cleaning them. As a cultural cleaning expert with nearly 25 years experience, he has been commissioned to make wonders all over the world shine like new – from the London Eye to Christ the Redeemer. The places he has been to, stood on top of, or even hung halfway down include Mount Rushmore and the Space Needle in America, the London Eye, the Statue of Christ in Brazil and the Forbidden City in China. Here: A man cleans a part of Mount Rushmore. (Photo by Caters News Agency)

Some are in it just for the money, others to help buy a meal. Then there are those who trade for fun or to spend time among friends. Millions of investors – pensioners, security guards, high-school students – dominate China's stock markets, conducting about 80 percent of all trades. Retirees gather in brokerage houses dotted around China also to enjoy some company and savour the air conditioning on hot days. Some start as young as 13, trading from home with an eye on future careers in finance. Winning isn't guaranteed. This year, among the most turbulent in China's financial history, its stock markets more than doubled in the six months to May, only to crash amid concerns that growth in the country, which makes everything from cars to steel, is slowing faster than previously thought. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

In this March, 2015 photo, a person sits at an upright piano that had been hauled up to Topanga Lookout in the Santa Monica Mountains in Calabasas, Calif. For a couple of days last week, a Southern California hilltop was alive with the sound of mystery. Hikers venturing to Topanga Lookout found a battered upright piano sitting on a graffiti-scrawled concrete slab with a panoramic view over the mountains between Calabasas and the Pacific Ocean. Turns out, the piano was used for a music video by Seattle-based artist Rachel Wong. The cinematographer, Michael Flotron, says he and four others used a dolly and rope to haul the 350-pound instrument a mile up the trail on Tuesday. After the shoot, it was too dark to get the piano back down. Flotron says people seem happy to leave it there. But if necessary, he'll haul the piano back down. (Photo by Michael Flotron/AP Photo)

Hamlet the micro pig may already be a hit on Instagram, but its not stopped her from hogging the limelight on her birthday. Known for her adorable costume play, the miniature pig, from Pasadena, California, celebrated her first birthday in style, inviting all her furry Instagram friends to join her party. Pictured wearing a bright pink tutu and a tiara fit for a princess, Hamlet, who is named after Lady Hamlet from the Shakespeare play, shows that shes no boar when it comes to partying. Here: Hamlet enjoying his birthday party. (Photo by Caters News)

Floating on clear deep water and reflections near the cave entrance. Visitors can either bring their own kayaks or rent boats from the local community to paddle deep inside the cave and marvel at its wonders on March 2015 at Tham Khoun Ex, Laos. Tham Khoun Xe, commonly known as the Xe Bang Fai River Cave, in Laos, has over 15km of passages filled with awe-inspiring views and wide expanses of water. Photographer, John Spies, 59, captured scenes from the entrances of the huge underground river passages, intricate cave formations and views from a passage high above the water. The cave is formed by the Xe Bang Fai river, a major tributary of the Mekong and in the dry season can be traversed using inflatable kayaks. (Photo by John Spies/Barcroft Media/ABACAPress)

Hindu women perform a ritual known as Aarti around a Shivling (a symbol of Lord Shiva) on the last day of Jaya Parvati Vrat festival in Ahmedabad, India, July 10, 2017. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

A child dressed in an imitation dress of army soldier enjoys a cold drink during a religious procession in Amritsar, India, 15 December 2015. The religious procession was taken out on the eve of the martyrdom day of the 9th Guru or Master of the Sikhs Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed for not converting to Islam on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi in 1675 AD. The place of this occurrence is called Gurudwara Sis Ganj at Delhi. Guru Tegh Bahadur the youngest of the five sons of Guru Hargobind was born in Amritsar in 1621. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA)

A participant dressed up in a costume attends the 2021 Prague Comic Con in Prague, Czech Republic, October 16, 2021. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)