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 Wednesday, January 7, 2015 photo, a Sri Lankan Catholic devotee Rita Anthony kisses her rosary as she prays inside her house in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Vatican has said that it hopes that Sri Lanka's Christians can play a role in helping heal the wounds of the island nation's bloody 25-year civil war, when the Tamil Tiger rebels fought to create a separate homeland in the north for the minority Tamils, who are mostly Hindu. The war came to a bloody end in 2009, but many Tamils say they feel forgotten by the central government, which is dominated by the country's ethnic Sinhala majority, which is overwhelmingly Buddhist. Sri Lanka's Christians come from both the Tamil and the Sinhala communities, making them a natural bridge between the two sides. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)

British singer-songwriter Rita Ora looked incredible in an illusion crop top and skirt as she posed from a balcony in Berlin, , Germany in the second decade of July 2023. (Photo by Instagram)

A Midshipmen from the Naval Academy eyes the Navy mascot behind her before the first half of the the 125th Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Danny Wild/USA TODAY Sports)

Hungarian model Viktoria Varga stunned in a black dress early January 2024. The social media star visited Dubai on holiday. (Photo by vikyvarga/Instagram)

Mexican-American actress Salma Hayek visits Pompeii in the second decade of January 2024. (Photo by salmahayek/Instagram)

A canine chase a target during a racing competition on the outskirts of Charsadda on January 14, 2024. (Photo by Abdul Majeed/AFP Photo)

A man walks along a corridor at a hotel in Singapore on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)