A wild elephant eats garbage containing plastic waste at a dump in Sri Lanka's eastern district of Ampara on June 3, 2023. Sri Lanka is set to launch a nation-wide clean up of plastic waste ahead of new laws banning the sale of single use plastics, the Environmental ministry said, after a spate of deaths of elephants and deer in the island's northeast after foraging at open garbage tips filled with plastic waste, whilst shrinking habitat has led to jumbos raiding villages looking for food. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Rockhopper penguins live up to their name as they navigate the rugged coastline of Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. (Photo by Thomas P. Peschak)

The Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica) is a pigeon found on small islands and in coastal regions from the Nicobar Islands, east through the Malay Archipelago, to the Solomons and Palau. It is the only living member of the genus Caloenas and the closest living relative of the extinct dodo.

A street in the Cuban capital, Havana, is home to 12 sets of twins, ranging from toddlers to senior citizens. Some say it could be something in the water. Others point to a tree with mystical significance for locals. And maybe it's just chance. Photo: In this September 29, 2013 photo, nine-year-old twin sisters Camila, left, and Carla Rodriguez pose for a portrait along their street in Havana, Cuba. 12 sets of twins live along two consecutive blocks in western Havana, ranging in age from newborns to senior citizens. “We love living on this block because we have twin friends”, said Carla. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

Black Live Matter march from Clapham Common (led by Iman, the Forever Family Force and the Slow Boys, on motorbikes) to join the Stop the Maangamizi: Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations Rebellion in London, UK on August 1, 2020. They aim to lock-down Brixton because “WE/they are not being HEARD” in their demand for the UK Government to establish the All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth & Reparatory Justice. (Photo by Guy Bell/Alamy Live News)

A girl adorned as a Living Goddess smiles as she takes part in a mass Kumari Puja prayer rituals during Indra Jatra festival in Kathmandu, Nepal on Friday, September 5, 2025. Hundreds of young girls under the age of nine gathered around the temple to offer worship for good luck, protection from evil and prevent from diseases. (Photo by Skanda Gautam/ZUMA Press Wire via Alamy Live News)

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012. A third (33%) of the country's population lives below the international poverty line which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day.