Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is locked under the rule of extremists from the Islamic State group trying to purge it of everything they see as contradicting their stark vision of Islam. A trove of photographs now housed at the Library of Congress offers a glimpse of a different Mosul – before wars, insurgency, sectarian strife and now radicals' rule. The scenes were taken in the autumn of 1932 by staff from the American Colony Photo Department during a visit to Iraq at the end of the British mandate. (Photo by AP Photo)

Here’s a closer look at the official The Simpsons LEGO set that we previewed earlier here. In celebration of the animated sitcom series’ 25th anniversary, LEGO has paired up with Matt Groening‘s cartoon creation for a two-part collaboration that features arguably two of the largest entities in popular culture. The limited-edition LEGO set depicts the Simpson family’s home, alongside mini-figures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Ned Flanders. The painstakingly recreated LEGO brick house can be reconfigured and opened up to reveal the inside of the four-bedroom residence. The release of the scaled set will be accompanied by a LEGO-themed episode of The Simpsons, which is set to air on FOX in May. Longtime Simpsons fans can purchase the set for $200 USD at select LEGO stores early next month.

According to the U.S. government, Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, depends on about $1.6 billion annually sent back from the roughly one million Moldovans who left for work in in Europe, Russia, and other former Soviet Bloc countries. Photographer Myriam Meloni went to Moldova to document what she refers to as “social orphans” – children whose parents have emigrated to another country in search of a job and a better future for their families. Here: Lulia is seen washing dishes in her grandmother's house, where she lives. (Photo by Myriam Meloni)

Fossilized whale bones are on display outside the Wati El Hitan Fossils and Climate Change Museum, a UNESCO natural World Heritage site, on the opening day, in the Fayoum oasis, Egypt, Thursday, January 14, 2016. Egypt has cut the ribbon on the Middle East's first fossil museum housing the world's largest intact skeleton of a "walking whale" in an attempt to attract much-needed tourists driven off by recent militant attacks. The construction of the much-hyped Fossils and Climate Change Museum was covered a 2 billion euros (2. 17 billion dollars) grant from Italy, according to Italian Ambassador Maurizio Massari. Its centerpiece is an intact, 37-million-year-old and 20-meter-long skeleton of a legged form of whale that testifies to how modern-day whales evolved from land mammals. The sand-colored, dome-shaped museum is barely discernible in the breathtaking desert landscape that stretches all around. (Photo by Thomas Hartwell/AP Photo)

Kashmiri villagers inspecting a house damaged in a gun battle flee from it after hearing rumors of Indian army soldiers returning back to the site, which turned out to be false, in Kundalan village, some 60 Kilometres south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, July 10, 2018. Government forces fired at protesters Tuesday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing a teenage boy and wounding at least 120 more who had been trying to reach the site of a gunbattle in which soldiers killed two rebels, police and residents said. (Photo by Dar Yasin/AP Photo)

Aerial view over mud and waste from the disaster caused by dam spill in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 26 January 2019. At least nine people have died and 300 are missing after a tailings dam burst at the Feijao mine in southeastern Brazil owned by Vale, the world's largest iron-ore producer, the Minas Gerais state government said. The dam in Brumadinho near Belo Horizonte broke on 25 January at around mid-day, unleashing a river of sludge that destroyed some nearby houses. (Photo by Antonio Lacerda/EPA/EFE)

Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

Shamila, 15, from an internally displaced family, adjusts her wedding dress in an old mud house yard, on her wedding day, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, May 19, 2023. “I have no choice. If I don’t accept, my family will be hurt”, she says. Due to poverty and debt, her father had to marry her to a boy at a young age. Her father said that if I did not do this, I might have to give my daughter to someone that I owe. Now, with the money I received from the boy's family, I can pay my debt and treat my son. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)