In this photograph taken on October 27, 2017 an Afghan woman collects saffron flowers after picking them in a field on the outskirt of Herat For years, Afghanistan has tried to give farmers alternatives such as fruit crops and saffron to wean them away from poppy farming – the lifeblood of the Taliban insurgency. International donors have splurged billions of dollars on counter- narcotics efforts in Afghanistan over the past decade, including efforts to encourage farmers to switch to other cash crops such as saffron. But those efforts have shown little results. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi/AFP Photo)

Russia's Ekaterina Birlova casts a shadow on the sand as she serves to Poland during a women's beach volleyball match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, August 9, 2016. (Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

A boy reaches for a ball on a creek clogged with plastic waste on April 15, 2023 in Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

A couple covered in foam kiss as they take part in the traditional “Raisin Weekend” in the Lower College Lawn, at St Andrews in Scotland, Britain on October 17, 2022. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

In this July 11, 2016 photo, a young, masked drug trafficker poses for photos holding his guns at a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Teenagers openly tote guns while they work as guards, lookouts and distributors for drug lords operating just a few miles from where hundreds of thousands and tourists and athletes will be for the Aug. 5-21 Olympic Games. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

Iraqi firefighters try to stop the fire of burning oil wells in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, 02 June 2016. Two Khabbaz oil field wells in Kirkuk Province, northern Iraq, exploded by suspected insurgents, a security official said. (Photo by EPA/Stringer)

Performers dressed as superhero characters pose with a child receiving the Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 at a gym in San Juan City, suburban Manila on February 7, 2022. (Photo by Ted Aljibe/AFP Photo)

This photo taken on March 3, 2020 shows a tattooed Chin ethnic woman smoking at her house decorated with animal skulls in a village of Chin State, western Myanmar. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)