A woman takes pictures as she stands on the top of a Greek Orthodox Church while the sun sets in the Aegean Sea, in Santorini, Greece's Cyclades island, on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. (Photo by Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo)

A view shows a Lun-class Soviet-made ekranoplan, which is a naval craft and a ground-effect vehicle, on the Caspian Sea coastline in Derbent in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia on November 3, 2020. (Photo by Kazbek Basayev/Reuters)

“The Ainu (アイヌ?), also called Aynu, Aino (アイノ), and in historical texts Ezo (蝦夷), are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin. Most of those who identify themselves as Ainu still live in this same region, though the exact number of living Ainu is unknown. This is due to ethnic issues in Japan resulting in those with Ainu backgrounds hiding their identities and confusion over mixed heritages. In Japan, because of intermarriage over many years with Japanese, the concept of a 'pure Ainu' ethnic group is no longer feasible. Official estimates of the population are of around 25,000, while the unofficial number is upwards of 200,000 people”. – Wkipedia

Photo: A captive bear drinking from a large bottle held by an Ainu tribeswoman. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

A couple sunbath on the beach in Ostrowo, northern Poland, July 20, 2015. Picture taken July 20, 2015. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

A view of the platform of the Leviathan natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea is pictured from the Israeli northern coastal beach of Nasholim, on August 29, 2022. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

Photo taken at the top of the Canton Tower, a landmark in Guangzhou, on August 7, 2022 shows the Pearl River running through downtown of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo by Liu Dawei/Xinhua News Agency)

People watch the erupting craters and the lava fountains from the old lava fields around the eruption site on the Reykjanes Peninsula, in Iceland, Wednesday, August 28, 2024. (Photo by Marco di Marco/AP Photo)

Lush green rice terraces sprawl over 2,200 hectares of mountainside ready to be harvested. These stunning images, captured by photographer Saravut Whanset, show the incredible terraces throughout the course of the day, including at sunrise and sunset. Workers tend to the fields, with each terrace between 1 and 1.5 metres wide, while wooden huts stand on stilts on the mountainside. The beautiful panoramic pictures were taken in Mu Cang Chai, Vietnam, with the fields located at the foot of the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, 1,000 metres above sea level. (Photo by Saravut Whanset/Solent News and Photo Agency)