Guests on the terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo, circa 1940. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Performers take part in a procession as part of the Samhuinn Fire Festival on October 31, 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Samhuinn Fire Festival is a modern take on an ancient Celtic festival, marking the transition between summer and winter with fire-dancing, drums, acrobatics, and theatre performances. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

A woman poses on the flooded St. Mark's square during an acqua-alta (high-water) alert in Venice, on November 19, 2013. (Photo by Andrea Pattaro/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

A Black Pete interacts with children during the arrival of Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, in Maassluis, Netherlands, Saturday, November 12, 2016. Sinterklaas and his helper Black Pete are at the center of a long-time controversy because Pete is often played by white people in blackface makeup. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

A girl jumps over a campfire while celebrating Ivan Kupala Night, a traditional Slavic holiday not far from Kiev on July 6, 2013. During the celebration, originating in pagan times, people plait wreaths, jump over fires, and swim naked. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

Professor Xie Yong works on an art installation of a beaver, which is made out of plastic and around 300,000 needles, in Shenyang, Liaoning province, July 23, 2013. The needles, according to Xie, represent the pain felt by animals when their fur is taken off to produce clothing. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

In this July 11, 2018 photo, members of a private photo studio take pictures of a woman in Havana, Cuba. New rules for private business indicate that the government has ruled out going further to open private business, such as allowing small and medium enterprises and authorizing business to operate as societies. Currently, private business licenses are granted only to individuals, and only one license per person. (Photo by Desmond Boylan/AP Photo)

A talented artist has created breathtaking intimate portraits by using detailed maps of the world as his canvas. Cardiff-based illustrator, Ed Fairburn, combines the patchwork of roads, terrains and rivers to for his unique sketches. Photo: Ink on a 1977 road map of Germany. (Photo by Ed Fairburn/Rex Features)