A pregnant woman poses on June 19, 2018 in Vertou, western France. France had an estimated population of 68.4 million by January 1, 2024, representing a further year-on-year increase of 0.3 percent, limited by a marked drop in the birth rate, the INSEE national statistics bureau of France reported on January 16, 2024. In 2023, 678,000 babies were born in France, 6.6 percent fewer than the previous year, the lowest number of births in any year since 1946. Over the same period, there were 631,000 deaths, down 6.5 percent on 2022, a year marked by the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and episodes of extreme heat. (Photo by Loic Venance/AFP Photo)

Scientists trekking for days to the undisputed furthest north land point on the planet, in October 2024 were greeted by an unexpected welcoming party: a stoat, whom they named Randall. The team were heading to Kaffeklubben Island, also known as Inuit Qeqertaat, off the northern tip of Greenland, about 440 miles from the North Pole, when Randall emerged from a cairn of rocks, showing no fear as he went to investigate them. (Photo by Jeff Kerby/Magnus News)

Members of the Maori community march in a protest rally to criticise the government for its policies affecting the Indigenous Maori population in Wellington on November 19, 2024. (Photo by Sanka Vidanagama/AFP Photo)

A student poses with her painted face, ahead of New Year celebrations at a college in Chennai on December 28, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

A woman poses for a photo shoot with the blossom flowers decorated at Ritan Park during the Spring season in Beijing, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

People dance as they play with colored powder during celebrations marking Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Guwahati, India, Monday, March 25, 2024. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

Visitors walk down the Bramante Staircase at The Vatican Museums, during a press tour at the Vatican on May 2, 2025. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

A woman looks at a swimmer getting herself warm after the annual Christmas winter swimming competition in the Vltava river in Prague December 26, 2014. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)