Onlookers gather around a struggling beached whale in the Yoff neighborhood of Dakar, Senegal Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Residents worked Wednesday morning to save some of the more than 80 whales that were stranded on the beach Tuesday night. This whale was successfully towed out to sea by a fishing boat, though at least 20 others lay dead on the beach by midday Wednesday. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

“Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn't resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union”. – Yahoo News. Photo: Hungary, MAV 424 Steam Train. (Photo by Rebecca Bathory)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

A clown checks her phone as she waits outside the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, Monday, December 14, 2015. Hundreds of clowns belonging to various clown associations made their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica on Monday to pay their respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

In this June 29, 2015 photo, hairdresser Loavia Bienaime, 30, sits on her bed as she prepares to begin her day in the room her family occupies in an government office building that was damaged in the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Bienaime's husband, Jimmy Bellefleur, used his skill as an electrician to connect the abandoned building to the power grid, and has repaired broken televisions, fans, and a blender for the family to use. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

As the world marks the International Day of the Girl Child, women's rights activists point to progress on a wide array of issues but say more needs to be done to protect girls from child marriage, sexual assault and other forms of exploitation. Here is a selection of pictures showing the daily lives of girls across the globe, all taken by female Associated Press photojournalists. Here: In this December 14, 2015, file photo, a young clown rides in the back of a car following a procession to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Hundreds belonging to various clown associations made their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica to pay their respects to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

Women are covered in dust after making it out of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City, Tuesday, September 19, 2017. A powerful earthquake shook Mexico City on Tuesday, causing panic among the megalopolis' 20 million inhabitants on the 32nd anniversary of a devastating 1985 quake. The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 7.1 while Mexico's Seismological Institute said it measured 6.8 on its scale. The institute said the quake's epicenter was seven kilometers west of Chiautla de Tapia, in the neighboring state of Puebla. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)

In this February 14, 2019 photo, a newlywed couple kisses while posing for photos at one of several free sets placed for newlyweds to take cell phone photos of themselves following a mass wedding ceremony on Valentine's Day in Mexico City. Hundreds of couples of all ages, many with their children, gathered to legally tie the knot in a mass ceremony in the capital's Venustiano Carranza neighborhood. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)