Some Iraqi candidates for Miss Iraq beauty contest pose in front of the Ishtar Gate at the ancient archaeological site of Babylon, outside the modern city of Hilla, south of the capital Baghdad on December 17, 2015. The beauty contest, which is the first one in more than 40 years, aims to boost tourism in the city and will take place on December 19, 2015. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP Photo)

Google has built its first self-driving car prototypes and hopes to test hundreds more models this summer. If all goes well, the company is planning a pilot program in California over the next few years.

Coca-cola mini kiosks by ogilvy & mather Berlin promote tiny coke cans. To promote the launch of its tiny coke cans, coca-cola and advertising agency ogilvy & mather berlin deployed and installed a series of miniature kiosks throughout five different major cities in Germany.

“What created this unusual hole in Mars? The hole was discovered by chance on images of the dusty slopes of Mars' Pavonis Mons volcano taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars”. (Photo by NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

Vehicles and weapons of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebels are seen on display, after victory celebrations by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Niyala Capital of South Darfur, May 4, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

38 year old Prabhat Sinha, from Assam, carries a load of coal weighing 60kg's, supported by a head-strap, as he ascends the staircase of a coal mine on April 16, 2011 near the village of Khliehriat, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

Female North Korean soldiers patrol along the banks of Yalu River, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, April 11, 2013. South Korea and the United States were on high alert for a North Korean missile launch on Thursday as the hermit kingdom turned its attention to celebrating its ruling Kim dynasty and appeared to tone down rhetoric of impending war. (Photo by Jacky Chen/Reuters)

P.S. All pictures 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)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.