With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Autos sit on top of each other in a washed out section of Dog Track Road in the Millview community as Gulf Coast residents continue cleaning up from damage caused by torrential rains in Pensacola, Fla., Thursday, May 1, 2014. The National Weather Service, estimated 15-20 inches of rain has fallen in the Pensacola area in the past 2 days. (Photo by G. M. Andrews/AP Photo)

Deshauna Barber (C) of the District of Columbia poses with other contestants after being crowned Miss USA 2016 during the 2016 Miss USA pageant at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., June 5, 2016. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Reuters)

A rider picks up a hada, a traditional Tibetan ceremonial scarf, during a horse racing event of the 18th Mount Qomolangma culture and tourism festival in Xigaze, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Sun Fei/Xinhua News Agency/Alamy Live News)

A gravedigger has lost his job of 40 years after a photograph of him standing half-naked in a burial plot was deemed offensive and provoked outcry among local newspaper readers.

A member of the wingsuit flyers duo, known as the Soul Flyers, is seen in mid-air as he catches up and flies into the open door of Pilatus Porter plane, piloted by Philippe Bouvier, after B.A.S.E. jumping off the Jungfrau mountain, 4158 meters, in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, October 13, 2017. French athletes Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet had 2.45 minutes and a free fall distance of 3200 meters to complete their project “Door In The Sky”, coordinated by Yves Rossy know as the “Jetman”. (Photo by Thibault Gachet/Reuters)

People watch fireworks light the sky as they attend a ceremony celebrating Noruz (Nowruz), the Persian New Year, at the Iran Mall shopping centre in Iran's capital Tehran, on March 20, 2022. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)