Four sisters plait each other's hair in the town of Kut, Iraq.
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Shia pilgrims rest in the women's quarters of Imam Ali shrine in Najaf during the Arba'een pilgrimage
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Nafisa pulls back her curtains in a remote village in the Kurdistan region who have been displaced multiple times over the past one hundred years.
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Ahmed Rezani in Kurdistan region of Iraq
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Ahmed Rezani, a founding guide on the Zagros Mountain Trail, near Rezan village in Choman.
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Gulf Cup screening in Basra
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Among cole flowers in Rojava, Syria
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Koya, Kurdistan region of Iraq
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A man watches volunteers search for bodies in the old quarter of Antakya City in Hatay Province, Turkey
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Crowds celebrate Iraq beating Yemen during the Gulf Cup on Basra's corniche
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An Asian elephant stands visibly traumatised, chained to a temple pillar following a six-hour procession. It was paraded through the streets of Varanasi, noisy with crowds and rocketing fireworks, in the build up to Diwali, the festival of lights. The elephant was swaying and its bloodshot eyes swirled, as its owner looked on anxiously. There are an estimated 3,600 domesticated Asian elephants in India, belonging either to the government, wealthy families or temples and used in festivals throughout the year. They are an endangered species, their wild counterparts under threat from habitat loss and conflict with humans in agricultural areas.
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Sun bear in Medan, Sumatra. Sun bears are the world’s rarest bears, yet are commonly exploited for their gall bladders and bile. In traditional Chinese medicine the bile is thought to treat a range of ailments, from hangovers to hepatitis. Cubs are farmed, sometimes living permanently with a catheter used to drain the bile.
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