A guard dog in the suburbs of Yakutsk, Russia, considered to be the coldest city in the world, January 2014. (Photo by Amos Chapple/REX Features)

A model presents a creation from the “Remembranzas y Colores” collection by Mexican designer Carlos Pineda with textures and prints honouring Mexico, during the first day of the 76th edition of Intermoda in Guadalajara, state of Jalisco, Mexico, on January 18, 2022. (Photo by Ulises Ruiz/AFP Photo)

A giant devil figure burns during the annual celebration of the “Burning of the Devil”, a festivity associated with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception that honours the city's patron saint and marks the start of the Christmas season, at Colonia Arrivillaga in Guatemala City, Guatemala on December 7, 2024. (Photo by Cristina Chiquin/Reuters)

A guard secures gates of a catfish farm visited by a group of foreign reporters in Pyongyang, North Korea April 17, 2017. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Policemen stand guard during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, July 11, 2022. (Photo by Rafiq Maqbool/AP Photo)

A starling jealously guards a seed station in the back garden of the photographer’s Michigan home in January 2024. (Photo by Lisa Cavanary/Solent News)

When a French politician remarked that a monument should be raised in honour of American independence at a dinner party in 1865 he probably didn't imagine that the result would become an international icon of freedom. ...