Just a few hours’ drive from the Belarus capital of Minsk, many villagers still live off the land. Nearly 80% of the country’s 9.5 million citizens live in urban areas, but for the rest, being close to nature can outweigh the hardships of country life. Here: Boys play in the Stviga River on a hot summer day near the village of Pogost, Belarus, August 16, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Pamukkale, Turkey, is home to these terrace pools, formed by the build-up of carbonate mineral from the warm water flowing from the thermal springs above. (Photo by Image Courtesy of Jennifer Hayes/Getty Images)

With the humpback calving season drawing to a close, here’s a look at some of Rita Kluge’s distinctive marine photos from the south Pacific. The Sydney-based photographer fell in love with whales after witnessing southern rights from the New South Wales coastline as they travelled to and from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic. She has since been to Tonga, where humpbacks breed and calf in winter months, to photograph them in the water. (Photo by Rita Kluge/The Guardian)

“Romantic”. A brown bear in Martinselkonen, Finland. (Photo by Valtteri Mulkahainen/Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards)

An F-18 Hornet fighter jet on May 27, 2025 lands and takes off from a highway during Baana 25, a military exercise held by the Finnish air force. (Photo by The Times)

A wax figure of U.S. actress Scarlett Johansson stands outside Madame Tussauds New York attraction shortly after the figure was unveiled in Times Square in New York, July 30, 2015. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

A person tries to extinguish flames as sparks fly during a wild forest fire in Valparaiso, Chile, Sunday April 13, 2014. Authorities say the fires have destroyed hundreds of homes, forced the evacuation of thousands and claimed the lives of at least seven people. (Photo by Luis Hidalgo/AP Photo)

Two stags fight in a wildlife park in Aurach near Kitzbuehel, in the Austrian province of Tyrol. (Photo by Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)