A Gnawa traditional group performs in the city of Essaouira on December 14, 2019, to celebrate the decision of adding the Gnawa culture to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Gnawa culture, a centuries-old Moroccan practice rooted in music, African rituals and Sufi traditions, was added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity earlier in the week. Gnawa refers to a “set of musical productions, fraternal practices and therapeutic rituals where the secular mixes with the sacred”, according to the nomination submitted by Morocco. Often dressed in colourful outfits, Gnawa musicians play the guenbri, a type of lute with three strings, accompanied by steel castanets called krakebs. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP Photo)

A military guard observes from a watch tower at the Combinado del Este prison during a media tour in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Cuban authorities led foreign journalists through the maximum security prison, the largest in the Caribbean country that houses 3,000 prisoners. Cuba says they have 200 prisons across the country, including five that are maximum security. (Photo by Franklin Reyes/AP Photo)

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)

A brown capuchin monkey holds a fruit in the Botanic Garden of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 5, 2013. (Photo by Pablo Porciuncula/AFP Photo)

Fire performer, Polly from Broken Theatre, at the launch of the Púca Festival Halloween 2022 programme at Dublin Castle on September 13, 2022. Returning to Co. Meath from Friday 28th to Monday 31st October 2022 across festival hubs Trim and Athboy, Púca is an authentic, immersive and otherworldly festival that celebrates Ireland as the birthplace of Halloween. (Photo by Julien Behal/The Irish Times)

An Iranian cleric stands near a drone during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on August 24, 2022. (Photo by Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Rtuters)

A gallery worker poses in front of part of artist Sin Wai Kin's Turner Prize shortlisted artwork “It’s Always You” at the Tate Liverpool in Liverpool, Britain on October 18, 2022. (Photo by Phil Noble/Reuters)

A young Iraqi shepherdess cools down buffaloes in wastewater filling the dried-up Diyala river which was a tributary of the Tigris, in the Al-Fadiliyah district east of Baghdad, on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)