The hot air balloon “Hopper T Frog” from Park City, Utah, peeks over the red rock cliffs during the 23nd Annual Red Rock Balloon Rally at Red Rock State Park December 6, 2003 near Gallup, New Mexico. (Photo By Douglas Tesner/Getty Images)

With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Reuters photographer Bobby Yip took a series of portraits of people taking part in the “Occupy Central” protests in Hong Kong, and asked them why they had joined the demonstrations. China rules Hong Kong under a “one country, two systems” formula that accords the territory limited democracy. Tens of thousands of mostly student protesters are demanding Beijing give them full democracy, with the freedom to nominate election candidates. The unrest is the worst in Hong Kong since China resumed its rule over the former British colony in 1997. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

A painting of Chinese President Xi Jinping holding an umbrella is seen on the toilet wall in a guesthouse in Hong Kong December 30, 2014. Set up in a small apartment in the Causeway Bay shopping district, the guesthouse that gives what it calls “Umbrella Revolution Occupation Experience” charges guest HK$100 (US$13) a night to stay in a tent surrounded by pro-democracy banners, a cardboard cutout of President Xi Jinping holding a yellow umbrella, and serve toilet paper printed with the face of embattled leader of Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Parade-goers walk in the annual West Indian Day Parade on September 02, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The annual celebration of Caribbean culture is one of the largest of its kind and features dozens of floats and costumed participants that make their way down Flatbush Avenue. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images)

A girl uses her mobile phone during the evening at the National Park in Khartoum, Sudan, April 24, 2015. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters)

Singer Karima Charni walks the runway during the Chocolate fashion show as a part of the Salon Du Chocolat 2015 – Chocolate Fair at Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on October 27, 2015 in Paris, France. (Photo by Kay-Paris Fernandes/WireImage)