An Israeli soldier prays in front of a tank at a military staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in this July 24, 2014 file photo. Israel's long-running struggle to balance modern standards with Jewish tradition has come to a head in the military, where new orders curtailing beards among soldiers have met protests from some rabbis. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)

Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

A grasshopper rests on a photographic camera during a meeting in the village of Alto Jamari called to face the threat of armed land grabbers invading the Uru-eu-wau-wau Indigenous Reservation near Campo Novo de Rondonia, Brazil on January 30, 2019. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

The sun rises over the Baltic Sea and a pier with a tea house in Timmendorfer Strand, Germany, Sunday, August 7, 2022. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Children eat watermelons to meet the “beginning of autumn” at a kindergarten in Handan, China on August 7, 2015. Chinese tradition to eat watermelons or peaches before that day symbolises “biting away summer”. The solar term ‘beginning of autumn’ falls on 8 August this year. (Photo by Xinhua/REX Shutterstock)

A woman walks protecting herself from rain after Hurricane Matthew in Les Anglais, Haiti, October 13, 2016. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

Competitors perform at the World Irish Dance Championship on April 13, 2014 in London, England. The 44th World Irish Dance Championship is currently running at London's Hilton London Metropole hotel, and will host approximately 5,000 dancers competing in solo, Ceili, modern figure choreography and dance drama categories during the week long event. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Children hitch a ride with a passing tram in Dnipro, Ukraine on March 19, 2024. (Photo by Jack Hill/The Times)