Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

One of the most significant challenges related to cancer in Nepal is the lack of awareness around the prognosis of the disease, as many patients, their families and even healthcare professionals consider cancer to be an incurable disease at any stage. This results in significant delays in bringing patients to hospitals, and high rates of advanced stage cancers and mortality. (Photo by Omar Havana)

Women walk past a mannequin with a covered face as they shop ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha in Aleppo, Syria September 23, 2015. (Photo by Hamid Khatib/Reuters)

A worker wearing a protective mask uses a blower to remove leafs from a walkway during sunny autumn weather near Stallikon, Switzerland on October 27, 2020. (Photo by Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

2016 Rio Olympics, Athletics, Final, Women's 200m Final, Olympic Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 17, 2016. Photographers take pictures of Elaine Thompson (JAM) of Jamaica after she won the gold. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

A woman holds an elderly woman on her back to cross a flooded street after a heavy rain in Shenyang, Liaoning province on July 14, 2017. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

Hindu devotees, their bodies pierced with lemon and paladai, or bowl with a spout mainly used to feed milk to infants, wait to participate in a procession to mark Shivratri, or the night of Shiva, in Chennai, India, Wednesday, February 18, 2015. Such processions are held as an offering and show of devotion by devotees on the day dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. (Photo by Arun Sankar K./AP Photo)

A swimmer competes in Le Defi Monte-Cristo (Monte Cristo Challenge) swimming event at the Chateau d'If, off the coast of Marseille, southern France, on June 21, 2019. Created in 1999 and inspired by Alexandre Dumas' character of Edmond Dantes, the Monte Cristo Challenge will take place from June 21 to 23, 2019. (Photo by Boris Horvat/AFP Photo)