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)

Josef Tödtling – Longest duration full-body burn (without oxygen) Guinness World Records 2016. Location: Styria, Austria. (Photo by Richard Bradbury/Guinness World Records)

National Geographic invites photographers from around the world to enter the 2013 National Geographic Photography Contest. The grand-prize winner will receive $10,000 (USD) and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2014. Photo: “We just want to move to search to the Leopard at that morning but we found a group of giraffes come toward a small lake and start drinking it was a nice moment when the Giraffe finish from drinking and leave a letters “S” with motion in the air”. (Photo and caption by Majed Ali/National Geographic Photography Contest)

People have fun on an alley through Christmas lights in downtown Chisinau, Moldova, 23 December 2021. Traditionally, people from former countries of the Soviet Union, still celebrate Christmas on two occasions, on 25 December and 07 January. (Photo by Dumitru Doru/EPA/EFE)

Moldova's Victor Ciobanu in action with Georgia's Dato Chkhartishvili during the men's 60kg semi final at the World Wrestling Olympic Games Qualifier in Sofia, Bulgaria on May 8, 2021. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

A man stands at a passenger train damaged in a collision with a freight train in Moscow region May 20, 2014. The passenger train on its way to Moldova collided with a freight train near Moscow on Tuesday, killing at least four people and injuring 15, a spokeswoman for Russia's Emergencies Ministry said. The reason for the collision, near the town of Naro-Fominsk 55 km (34 miles) southwest of Moscow, was not immediately clear. (Photo by Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

Gianluca Pardelli is something of an expert on markets. For the past two years, he’s travelled across eastern Europe, from Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan, Moldova to Georgia, photographing them. Here: Telavi, Georgia. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)

Migrants storm into a train at the Keleti train station in Budapest, Hungary, September 3, 2015 as Hungarian police withdrew from the gates after two days of blocking their entry. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)