Richard Winsor, Ashley Shaw, Zizi Strallen, Glenn Graham, Nicole Kabera, Harrison Dowzell, Will Bozier and Cordelia Braithwaite during a photo call for Sir Matthew Bourne's The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall, London on May 11, 2022, a reinterpretation of Bizet's Carmen, staged in 1960s American diner-garages with a specially expanded 65-dancer production for the hall, as part of its 150th anniversary. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)

Love Island star Maura Higgins brought her signature glamour to Soho as she made a special appearance at MAC's flagship store on Carnaby Street on February 8, 2025. In the heart of London's West End, Carnaby Street renowned for its trendsetting fashion, beauty, and vibrant energy was the perfect backdrop as Maura greeted fans and posed for photos. (Photo by Andy Barnes/w8media)

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.

Iranian mourners cover themselves with mud during Ashoura, marking the death anniversary of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, at the city of Bijar, west of the capital Tehran, Iran, Thursday, November 14, 2013. Hussein, one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, was killed in a 7th century battle at Karbala, Iraq. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Ukrainian state emblem is seen on a gun's holster as soldiers guard naval base in the village of Novoozernoye, some 91 km west of Crimean capital Simferopol, Ukraine, on Monday, March 3, 2014. Ukraine says Russian forces controlling the strategic region of Crimea are demanding that the crew of two Ukrainian warships in Sevastopol's harbor must surrender. (Photo by Ivan Sekretarev/AP Photo)

Boys walk home for lunch from school in the village of Kogelo, west of Kenya's capital Nairobi, July 16, 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama visits Kenya and Ethiopia later this month. His ancestral home of Kogelo is home to Sarah Hussein Obama, his step-grandmother. The Kenyan village, burial place of Obama's father, features an open-pit goldmine, a pork butcher's, a school named after their most famous son and outdoor market stalls. Villagers get around by motorbike taxi or on foot while a donkey-cart transports water. Children, some of them named Obama in honour of the President, walk to and from school together. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

David Guttenfelder was born in Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology. He has worked for the AP since 1994 based in Kenya, the Ivory Coast, India and Japan. He is currently AP’s chief Asia photographer and his feature work has been used prominently in editorial publications throughout the world including Time and National Geographic. Photo: U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, fire mortars at known enemy firing positions from a base in the Pech River Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar province, Saturday, October 24, 2009. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

Typhoon Haiyan survivor Mariena Delacueva stands amongst the ruins of her families home on November 6, 2014 in San Antonio, Samar, Philippines. Mariena's looks after the property after her parents moved to Manila to find work so they can save enough money to rebuild the house. Residents of Leyte and surrounds are preparing for the 1-year anniversary since Super Typhoon Yolanda struck the coast on November 8, 2013, leaving more than 6000 dead and many more homeless. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)