A Sotheby's employee poses with a claw-set diamond ring weighing 36.57 carats during a press preview of an upcoming auction from Sotheby's in Geneva, Switzerland, 08 May 2019. The ring is expected to reach between 4,500,000 to 5,500,000 US Dollars during the “Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels” auction on May 14 in Geneva. (Photo by Valentin Flauraud/EPA/EFE)

A woman reacts as anti-government protesters place a dead body on a stretcher after violence erupted in the Independence Square in Kiev, in this February 20, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Carnival revellers dressed as “Peliqueiros” run along a street in the village of Laza, Spain February 11, 2018. “Peliqueiros”, or ancient tax collectors, pursued villagers through the streets ringing their cowbells and hitting villagers with their sticks. (Photo by Miguel Vidal/Reuters)

Followers of the Stowdart Sect of the Zion Church of God, sing and dance during a service in the historic neighborhood of Mbare in Harare on August 20, 2023. Zimbabweans will head to the polls on August 23, 2023 to vote in general and presidential elections. (Photo by John Wessels/AFP Photo)

A woman dressed in traditional Oromo costume attends a swearing ceremony of the newly named 72nd Borana Pastoralist chief, “Aba Gada” Guyo Wariyo in Arero, Ethiopia on March 9, 2025. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)

In this September 10, 1977, file photo, from left, Hua Guofeng, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman and Mao Zedong's immediate successor; Ye Jianying, CCP vice chairman and future ceremonial head of state; Deng Xiaoping, no formal titles at the time but soon to emerge as paramount leader during the reform era; Li Xiannian, CCP vice chairman and future president; Wang Dongxing, head of the leadership bodyguard unit who helped topple the Gang of Four, view the body of later Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing. (Photo via AP Photo)

This picture taken on May 21, 2016 shows professional wrestlers fighting each other during the Wrestling City Asia organized by Singapore Pro Wrestling at a stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Kenneth Thexeira is a mild-mannered writer for an interior-design magazine by day, but on certain nights his alter ego bursts forth in golden tights and a baby-blue cape: enter “The Eurasian Dragon”. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)