Male is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. The city is geographically located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll (Kaafu Atoll). Administratively, it is a city-class constituency and is governed by the Malé City Council. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located. The city was then called “Mahal”. Formerly it was a walled city surrounded by fortifications and gates (doroshi).

Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim countries in the world where prostitution is legal. The Kandapara brothel in the district of Tangail is the oldest and second-largest in the country – it has existed for some 200 years. Here: Kajol with a customer. (Photo by Sandra Hoyn)

A man observes the smoke from the zone where fuel storage tanks exploded near Cuba's supertanker port in Matanzas, Cuba on August 9, 2022. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A woman lies face-down on the floor where other race-goers are standing on 2017 Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse on November 4, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A youth rolls a hoop in the National Theater where families displaced by gang violence are taking shelter in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 9, 2024. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A female Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighter works on her laptop while watching a Kurdish TV station at a base in the Sinjar mountains, March 11, 2015. Women fighters at a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) base on Mount Sinjar in northwest Iraq, just like their male counterparts, have to be ready for action at any time. Smoke from the front line, marking their battle against Islamic State, which launched an assault on northern Iraq last summer, is visible from the base. Many of the women have cut links with their families back home; the fighters come from all corners of the Kurdish region. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

Team Strong Silvers member Ngai Hin Kwok, 66, works out as teammate Ng Siu Chi, 57, watches at a stadium in Singapore March 15, 2015. Team Strong Silvers, is a group of senior citizens who train in calisthenics. The trio trains individually at least three times a week, and meets up for joint calisthenics at least twice a month. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

An Iraqi woman and foreigners use pair of compact discs as a filter to watch the partial solar eclipse in war-torn Baghdad, 29 March 2006. Without access to proper equipment to protect their eyes from the sun's rays, eclipse watchers in Iraq used makeshift filters. The moon blotted out the sun over northwest Africa early Wednesday, turning day into night in a total solar eclipse as it swept a shadowy path from the outer tip of Brazil to the steppes of Mongolia. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AFP Photo)