A man reacts as he tries to extinguish a burning Christmas tree at Festival Walk mall in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, November 12, 2019. Anti-government protesters smashed windows and set fires in the mall on Tuesday, including to a big Christmas tree. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Opposition students march against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas February 12, 2015. Venezuelan troops blocked students during marches against Maduro on Thursday as pro-government supporters also rallied on the anniversary of 2014 protests that led to 43 deaths. In Caracas, troops cordoned off scores of students on an unauthorized march to a church where they planned a mass in honour of demonstrators who died. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

The fourth annual BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition aims to celebrate the diversity of life on Earth, and encourages people to protect and conserve it. Here: “The Salmon Catchers”. Terrestrial Wildlife. To capture this view of a mother grizzly bear and her cub, photographer Peter Mather set up a camera trap on a log that he knew the bears tended to traverse while fishing for salmon, in the Yukon River watershed in Canada. (Photo by Peter Mather/BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition 2017)

Two wolfhounds take part in a dogfight in a stadium in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek on November 5, 2017, during fights organized by a local breeders aiming to improve the Asian Shepherd breed, organizers said. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

From Britain to China to Mali, new maps showing travel times to the nearest urban centre reveal huge differences between countries. Using Open Street Map and Google, a University of Oxford team have created a visual breakdown that suggests major inequalities when it comes to commuting. Here: China. The dataset used for China was unique as it relied solely on Open Street Map, due to restrictions on accessing Google data. The population is densely concentrated in the east and accessibility is increased, whereas rural provinces in the west remain remote. (Photo by Daniel Weiss/Jennifer Rozier/Malaria Atlas Project/University of Oxford)

Some wave over the rainbow – a splash of colour is captured in spray over the sea wall at Totland Bay on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England on February 16, 2022. (Photo by Jamie Russell/Bournemouth News)

An observer watches the Perseid meteor shower at Mount Hamilton in California, United States on August 13, 2023. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A man looks at a pyroclastic flow during the eruption of Mount Semeru in Lumajang, East Java, on November 19, 2025. (Photo by Agus Harianto/AFP Photo)