In Ecuador, protesters were infuriated by rising fuel prices and invaded government offices and oil fields. The president and his administration fled the capital, Quito, warning of a coup. A woman here poses defiantly during clashes on Oct. 9.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID DIAZ ARCOS/BLOOMBERG

The violence in Venezuela continued as security forces clashed with opposition supporters trying to bring aid shipments into the stricken country. In this incident on Feb. 23, demonstrators push a bus near the border with Colombia.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CARLOS BECERRA/BLOOMBERG

In a district of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, people lie on the ground after being detained for allegedly looting a supermarket during a power outage on March 10.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ADRIANA LOUREIRO FERNANDEZ/BLOOMBERG

Some of the most enduring images of the year were in Hong Kong. On Nov. 3, a protest outside Cityplaza shopping mall turned bloody.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHAN LONG HEI/BLOOMBERG

The protests were triggered by a law that could have led to the extradition of Hong Kong residents to mainland China. The Hong Kong government ultimately abandoned the bill, but the demonstrations widened. Here, thousands march for democracy on July 1.
PHOTOGRAPHER: PAUL YEUNG/BLOOMBERG

The frequent use of tear gas by police has been a hallmark of the Hong Kong protests. At a restaurant following a demonstration on Oct. 4, a man wears a gas mask.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JUSTIN CHIN/BLOOMBERG

London was a city of protest as Britain's protracted divorce from the European Union caused political deadlock. On this occasion, demonstrators dressed in "Handmaid's Tale" costumes protest on June 4 against a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MARY TURNER/BLOOMBERG

Anti-Brexit badges were popular on Aug. 31 during a demonstration against Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He caused an uproar when he suspended Parliament, only for his decision to be overturned by the courts.
PHOTOGRAPHER: LUKE MACGREGOR/BLOOMBERG

Violence flared up again in Catalonia after separatists who tried to break away from Spain in 2017 were handed jail sentences of up to 13 years. A person here attends to a man injured by a rubber bullet fired by police during a protest at El Prat airport in Barcelona on Oct. 14.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANGEL GARCIA/BLOOMBERG

The issue of independence for the Spanish region is never far from the surface. A protester takes cover behind a Catalan "senyera" flag during clashes with riot police in Barcelona on Oct. 18.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANGEL GARCIA/BLOOMBERG

Chile encapsulated just how fragile the world can be. A rise in subway fares in the capital, Santiago, sparked the worst civil unrest in a generation as people reacted to the rising cost of living. The crackdown was emphatic. Nurses here change the bandages of a 23-year-old man injured by a rubber bullet to the eye during a protest on Oct. 29.
PHOTOGRAPHER: TAMARA MERINO/BLOOMBERG

Not all demand for change came from the street. In Saudi Arabia, the government is unpacking decades of strict religious code as it opens up the country to new industries such as entertainment. Female visitors photograph their children with a bunny mascot during a visit to a date farm on Aug. 4 in Buraidah, capital of the kingdom's conservative heartland.
PHOTOGRAPHER: TASNEEM ALSULTAN/BLOOMBERG

There was also the recognition of old struggles. The world on June 28 remembered the 50th anniversary of a riot at the Stonewall Inn as police raided the New York City gay bar. Stonewall is considered a birthplace of the gay rights movement.
PHOTOGRAPHER: GABBY JONES/BLOOMBERG

People also united to show that gender equality still has a long way to go. The UN first recognized International Women's Day in 1975, and it's marked on March 8 every year. This was the scene in Buenos Aires.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ERICA CANEPA/BLOOMBERG

And if there's one protest that gathered momentum in 2019, it was for action against climate change. It morphed into a worldwide youth movement. Here, demonstrators hold signs during the U.S. Youth Climate Strike in New York on March 15.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG

There are few better metaphors for our changing planet than the Amazon rainforest. Smoldering vegetation this year became the source of a global political row as it burns at a record rate. In this aerial photograph, smoke rises above Rondonia state in Brazil on Aug. 24.
PHOTOGRAPHER: LEONARDO CARRATO/BLOOMBERG

Images of destruction weren't exclusive to the Amazon. In Healdsburg, California, firefighters survey a burning home on Oct. 27 after a wildfire erupted in U.S. wine country minutes after a power line went down.
PHOTOGRAPHER: PHIL PACHECO/BLOOMBERG

Adding to California's woes, there was a dispute over whether the Trump administration misinterpreted federal law when it classified San Francisco Bay Area salt ponds as beyond the scope of the Clean Water Act, making it easier for developers to build on. Here, a pylon stands over Cargill ponds above Newark on Oct. 23.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SAM HALL/BLOOMBERG

In Iowa, water was the source of devastation. In this picture, floods surround corn sitting under a collapsed grain bin in Thurman on March 23. The deluge devastated much of the Midwest over a week.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DANIEL ACKER/BLOOMBERG

In Colombia, flooding destroyed communities after a landslide last year caused a break in the Hidroituango hydroelectric dam. Repairs were underway on June 7, and makeshift workshops stood along the dam wall.
PHOTOGRAPHER: NICOLO FILIPPO ROSSO/BLOOMBERG

Other parts of the world were afflicted by the perennial search for clean water. Here, a man walks past tankers parked in Karachi, Pakistan, on Dec. 24. Women and children walk miles each day in search of supplies.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ASIM HAFEEZ/BLOOMBERG

Residents of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, queue to fill buckets and containers with water at a communal tap on Aug. 3. The African country suffered a nationwide drought that caused harvests to fail and the government to appeal for aid to avoid famine.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CYNTHIA R. MATONHODZE/BLOOMBERG

High tides and fierce winds produced the worst flooding in Venice in more than half a century. Here, a worker clears a house of excess water on Nov. 20.
PHOTOGRAPHER: GERALDINE HOPE GHELLI/BLOOMBERG

From fire, flooding and drought to violent winds. Motorcyclists here maneuver past damaged trees after Cyclone Fani struck India's east on May 4. More than 3.5 million people there and in neighboring Bangladesh had to be evacuated.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DHIRAJ SINGH/BLOOMBERG

And don't forget the other extreme: cold. Frost coated a jogger's eyelashes as temperatures neared -40 degrees Celsius in southern Manitoba, Canada, on Jan. 18.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SHANNON VANRAES/BLOOMBERG

Climate change protesters blame pollution. In Anhui province of China, steam rises from cooling towers at a coal-fired power station on Jan. 16 as a man tends to vegetables.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

In Malaysia, more than 400 schools were closed because of unhealthy air quality as smoke and ash from raging forest fires in Indonesia spread across the region. On Sept. 11, visitors to KL Tower in Kuala Lumpur could see very little because the city was shrouded in haze.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SAMSUL SAID/BLOOMBERG

In Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to boost climate protection, steam rises from cooling towers at a lignite-fired power plant in Peitz on Sept. 16.
PHOTOGRAPHER: KRISZTIAN BOCSI/BLOOMBERG

To study the effect of climate change, researchers observe a gentoo penguin breeding area on Barrientos Island, Antarctica, on Jan. 28.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ISADORA ROMERO/BLOOMBERG

It's been decades since the realm of global power brokers has been dominated by such polarizing figures and issues. One man, love him or loathe him, was rarely out of the headlines. President Trump here welcomed the college American football champions to the White House in his own special way on March 4.
PHOTOGRAPHER: OLIVER CONTRERAS/BLOOMBERG

Facing off with Donald Trump on the other side of a global trade war was Xi Jinping, China's president. Here, he rises from his seat during the opening of the Second Session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing on March 5.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

In an era of transactional foreign policy, Trump and Xi have both had dealings with Kim Jong Un. So has Russia. On April 26, the North Korean leader prepared for his return home at the railway station in Vladivostok after a summit with Vladimir Putin.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDREY RUDAKOV/BLOOMBERG

Across the world in Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro seemed to hold his own people hostage by requiring that the U.S. lift sanctions before he would allow humanitarian aid into the country. In an aerial photograph taken over Colombia, a gas tank and shipping containers obstructed passage into Venezuela on the Tienditas International Bridge on Feb. 6.
PHOTOGRAPHER: IVAN VALENCIA/BLOOMBERG

Then there are the agitators. In India, Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, was a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She fought to retain dominance over her province of almost 100 million people. Here, she spoke during a campaign rally in Swarupnagar on April 29.
PHOTOGRAPHER: PRASHANTH VISHWANATHAN/BLOOMBERG

In South Africa, the biggest challenge to the political mainstream came from the Economic Freedom Fighters. At a party rally in Soweto, Johannesburg, on May 8, a motorcyclist prepared to lead out a group of riders in a parade in front of supporters.
PHOTOGRAPHER: WALDO SWIEGERS/BLOOMBERG

Back in the U.S., the Democrats led impeachment proceedings against President Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after months of hesitation to support the action, emerged as a central figure. She’s seen here reflected in a mirror while speaking during a news conference in Washington on March 6.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANNA MONEYMAKER/BLOOMBERG

The case to impeach Trump centers on a phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a TV comedian who took power this year. Zelenskiy, who was asked to investigate one of Trump's political rivals, is seen here inspecting sniper rifles during an Interior Ministry military drill in Stare, Ukraine, on Sept. 30.
PHOTOGRAPHER: EVGENIY MALOLETKA/BLOOMBERG

Ukraine's new president shot to power from nowhere. Others struggled to cling to it. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, was forced to ditch a controversial law following weeks of protests. Pictured on July 9, she spoke during a news conference.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JUSTIN CHIN/BLOOMBERG

In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May stepped down after failing to get her Brexit deal through Parliament. On May 24, she announced her resignation outside 10 Downing Street in London.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRIS J. RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG

The man who replaced her, Boris Johnson, also initially succumbed to the political impasse over Brexit. He went on to triumph in an election on Dec. 12 to break the deadlock. An enthusiastic campaigner, Johnson visited a Yorkshire farm on July 4 when he was vying for leadership of his Conservative Party.
PHOTOGRAPHER: OLI SCARFF/AFP/BLOOMBERG

What happens to Trump depends on the Senate, though the chances are he will get to contest the 2020 election. He had an eye on the campaign all year. On March 2, he hugged an American flag before speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.
PHOTOGRAPHER: AL DRAGO/BLOOMBERG

Immigration will be a central issue. Here, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents awaited a visit from Vice President Mike Pence in Nogales, Arizona, on April 11.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CAITLIN O'HARA/BLOOMBERG

Immigration is likely to be a key issue in the 2020 presidential election. Senator Elizabeth Warren, pictured here at an event in New York on Sept. 16, has called for a repeal of the criminal statute prohibiting entry into the U.S. without permission.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG

This tumultuous year in enterprise saw the rise of big companies and the fall of top executives. Throughout, politics loomed large over business, from Brexit Britain to Trump's America and trade-war-buffeted China. And there were scandals: In Japan, Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn was arrested again as he fought allegations of financial crimes. On March 6, he left his lawyer's office in Tokyo.

PHOTOGRAPHER: TAKAAKI IWABU/BLOOMBERG

Though many people may not have even heard of WeWork Cos. until this year, it grew into the biggest private office tenant in London, Manhattan and Washington. The company's fall from grace and ouster of its chief executive became one of the biggest business stories of the year. Here, a gorilla sculpture sits in the lobby of the 85 Broad Street offices in Manhattan on May 22.

PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID 'DEE' DELGADO/BLOOMBERG

In Russia, one of the country's longest-standing American investors found that past good relations are no guarantee of the future. A court ruled that Michael Calvey, founder of private equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners, should be held in custody for nearly two months in an embezzlement case. He sat during a hearing at a district court in Moscow on Feb. 16.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDREY RUDAKOV/BLOOMBERG

Suspicion also clouded the activities of Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. Here, Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home for a court appearance in Vancouver on Oct. 1. She's fighting extradition from Canada to the U.S., where she's sought on wire fraud and conspiracy charges.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JENNIFER GAUTHIER/BLOOMBERG

In Germany, Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG ended talks on a historic tie-up, throwing the future of the lenders into question after a series of failed turnaround plans. In this picture from April 25, Deutsche Bank's headquarters are reflected in the windows of a neighboring skyscraper in Frankfurt.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ALEX KRAUS/BLOOMBERG

How much companies were worth was a hotly debated point in 2019. Here, SoftBank Group Corp.'s chairman and chief executive officer, Masayoshi Son, stands in front of a screen showing equations at a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 6 as the company announced a stock buyback to close the gap.
PHOTOGRAPHER: KIYOSHI OTA/BLOOMBERG

For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the goal was a $2 trillion valuation for national oil giant Aramco as the kingdom staged the world's biggest ever IPO. After debuting on the stock exchange, the shares hit that target on day two. Here a Saudi Aramco jet flies over a desert highway en route to the company's oil field in Khurais on Sept. 20.
PHOTOGRAPHER: FAISAL AL NASSER/BLOOMBERG

If prosperity depends on demand for commodities, China showed signs of a tentative recovery amid tension over trade. Here, a worker walks past bundles of aluminum ingots stacked at a stockyard in Wuxi, China, on May 8.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

Access to China’s markets was a major 2019 milestone for Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., seen here at the site of the company's manufacturing facility in Shanghai on Jan. 7. After four years of planning, Tesla broke ground on the $5 billion factory in the world's biggest auto market.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

But it wasn't all good news in Shanghai. Here, a man sits on a motorcycle next to pig carcasses hanging from a conveyor at a pork wholesale market on May 28. A deadly virus prompted China to slaughter millions of pigs.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

Meanwhile, China's influence continued to grow: The country is now the single largest financier for infrastructure in Africa, according to a Deloitte report. Here, incomplete rail tracks lie near Duka Moja, Kenya, on May 9.
PHOTOGRAPHER: LUIS TATO/BLOOMBERG

By contrast, miners block train tracks in Cumberland, Kentucky, on Aug. 2 to demand back pay for the weeks leading up to the bankruptcy of their employer.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MEG ROUSSOS/BLOOMBERG

It was grim news for workers in some other parts of the U.S., too. General Motors Co. announced it would end production at three facilities. An advisement for the Chevrolet Cruze sedan sits on display at the plant complex in Lordstown, Ohio, on March 4.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ALLISON FARRAND/BLOOMBERG

For British travel company Thomas Cook Group Plc, it was the end of the road. The company, which traced its roots back to 1841, collapsed and left thousands without jobs and even more people stranded on vacation. In this picture, a sign hangs above a shuttered outlet in Torremolinos, Spain, on Sept. 23.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MARCELO DEL POZO/BLOOMBERG

The march of technology has become a cliche. There were advances designed to make our lives easier, make them more exciting, keep track of us and also replace us. Food is now produced in a way it never used to be. More notable, perhaps, was the retaliation, whether from governments or consumers. All had a wow factor. Here, attendees take photographs of a curved electronic display by LG Electronics Inc. at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 8.
PHOTOGRAPHER: PATRICK T. FALLON/BLOOMBERG

A screen demonstrates facial-recognition technology at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Aug. 29.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

Attendees take smartphone photographs of Hanson Robotics Inc.'s humanoid robot "Sophia" on the opening day of the MWC Barcelona in Spain on Feb. 25.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANGEL GARCIA/BLOOMBERG

A 3D printer produces a variation of animal-free meat in the laboratories of Redefine Meat Ltd. in Israel on Nov. 18. The company says that 3D printing promises to give diners the same sensory experience as eating a real T-bone or rump roast.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CORINNA KERN/BLOOMBERG

Rows of tomato plants grow in a greenhouse in southeast England on March 4. The company, Sterling Suffolk, is starting to harvest fruit grown using pink LED lights.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG

A drone flies over oil palms in Johore, Malaysia, on Nov. 14, helping to map the area.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JOSHUA PAUL/BLOOMBERG

An employee opens the door of a chamber at the CubicFarm Systems Corp. facility in British Columbia, Canada, on June 26. A CubicFarm System is a collection of growing chambers, germination machines and irrigation that together produce commercial quantities of leafy greens.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JAMES MACDONALD/BLOOMBERG

People dressed in costumes pose for photographs during the TikTok Creator's Lab 2019 event in Tokyo on Feb. 16. TikTok is a subsidiary of a Chinese startup that's built a collection of valuable apps powered by vast troves of data and sophisticated artificial intelligence.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SHIHO FUKADA/BLOOMBERG

Facebook Inc.'s Mark Zuckerberg waits for the start of a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington on Oct. 23. The company has been under the spotlight because of concerns about privacy and use of data, as well as its decision not to fact-check political advertising in the runup to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
PHOTOGRAPHER: AL DRAGO/BLOOMBERG

A visitor inspects an unmanned combat aerial vehicle on display at the Saudi Air Show in Riyadh on March 12.
PHOTOGRAPHER: RYAN OLSON/BLOOMBERG

A pedestrian stands surrounded in a cloud after exhaling from a vape device in London on Oct. 17. A backlash is growing in the U.S., but the U.K. is more tolerant of the technology that can help people quit smoking.
PHOTOGRAPHER: HOLLIE ADAMS/BLOOMBERG

Automated robots carry items at an Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center in the British port of Tilbury on July 12.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JASON ALDEN/BLOOMBERG

An employee stitches bovine tissue into a replacement heart valve at the Balance Medical Technology Co. facility in Beijing on June 3.
PHOTOGRAPHER: GIULIA MARCHI/BLOOMBERG

An armed guard patrols in front of illuminated mining rigs at a cryptocurrency mining farm in Russia on Nov. 8.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ANDREY RUDAKOV/BLOOMBERG

An employee places protective covers over new combustion engines at a Porsche AG factory near Stuttgart, Germany, on Sept. 9.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHAELA HANDREK-REHLE/BLOOMBERG

Street protests, the changing climate and access to new technology have one crucial underlying theme in common: disparity. People can demonstrate over the cost of living, yet spanking new shopping malls still sprout everywhere. In most places in the world, the juxtaposition of rich and poor remains striking. This picture is from the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este show on Lake Como, about an hour north of Milan. It's one of the three highlights on the classic-car circuit each year and the only one in Europe. An Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport moves through the rain on May 25.
PHOTOGRAPHER: STEFAN WERMUTH/BLOOMBERG

Makeshift tent encampments sit under a highway in Seattle on June 5.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHONA KASINGER/BLOOMBERG

Visitors stand on the "Vessel" sculpture by Thomas Heatherwick at Hudson Yards on March 15, the opening day of a $2 billion shopping mall in New York.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JOHN TAGGART/BLOOMBERG

Shoppers pass a colorful design at a Louis Vuitton store in Mayfair, London, on Oct. 31.
PHOTOGRAPHER: HOLLIE ADAMS/BLOOMBERG

A tuber, known as a camarero, arrives with passengers in Mexico from Guatemala on June 17. A show of force on the border is meant to stem the stream of migrants escaping violence and poverty.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ALEJANDRO CEGARRA/BLOOMBERG

People work out in a quayside gym beside a superyacht ahead of the Monaco Yacht Show on Sept. 24.
PHOTOGRAPHER: BALINT PORNECZI/BLOOMBERG

A rider on a single-wheel electric scooter moves past a person adjusting their belongings on a sidewalk in San Francisco on Oct. 14.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG

An attendee looks at a wristwatch on display at the Citizen Watch Co. booth during the 2019 Baselworld luxury watch and jewelry fair in Basel, Switzerland, on March 21.
PHOTOGRAPHER: STEFAN WERMUTH/BLOOMBERG

Wrought-iron balconies and banisters stand on the grand staircase beneath the glass-roofed atrium of the Samaritaine department store in Paris on Nov. 19. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury goods company, is renovating the store.
PHOTOGRAPHER: LAURA STEVENS/BLOOMBERG

The first-class cabin of an Airbus A380 aircraft at the Dubai Air Show on Nov. 17.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRISTOPHER PIKE/BLOOMBERG

A patient lies on a bed at a maternity hospital in Macuto, Venezuela, on Feb. 22. The country's health care system has been crumbling for many years.
PHOTOGRAPHER: ADRIANA LOUREIRO FERNANDEZ/BLOOMBERG

Prospective homebuyers attend a "sound bath" session in Beverly Hills, California, on June 29 at a $17.8 million house replete with Andy Warhol art and paraphernalia.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MARTINA ALBERTAZZI/BLOOMBERG

The shocking destruction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in April also sparked an arms race between superrich French families for who would contribute more to its restoration.
PHOTOGRAPHER: CHRISTOPHE MORIN/BLOOMBERG

A pedestrian walks past recreational vehicles parked in Mountain View, California, on May 8. The area is the epicenter of a Silicon Valley tech boom that's minting millionaires but also fueling a homelessness crisis.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG

Will Heyburn, head of corporate development at Blade Urban Air Mobility Inc., rides in a Blade helicopter above New York on May 7. The ride with Blade costs as little as $195, and you can book it via a smartphone.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG

Children play with soap bubbles near Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi on Feb. 16.
PHOTOGRAPHER: YEN DUONG/BLOOMBERG

Wildflowers are illuminated during a "super bloom" before sunrise in Borrego Springs, California, on March 17.
PHOTOGRAPHER: KYLE GRILLOT/BLOOMBERG

The first full moon of the year, traditionally named a "wolf moon," coincided with a total lunar eclipse and supermoon, so-called because of the moon's proximity to Earth. This lunar event was dubbed a "super blood wolf moon." Here we see it rising over San Francisco on Jan. 20.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG

Water falls from the Rain Vortex in the Forest Valley garden during a media tour of the Jewel Changi Airport in Singapore on April 11.
PHOTOGRAPHER: WEI LENG TAY/BLOOMBERG

An employee walks up the spiral staircase at the Hide restaurant in the Mayfair district of London on May 28.
PHOTOGRAPHER: SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG

People rest inside the main prayer hall at the Istiqlal Mosque during the month of Ramadan in Jakarta on May 13.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MUHAMMAD FADLI/BLOOMBERG

A South Korea army honor guard performs a rifle drill during an event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Eighth Army at U.S. Army Camp Humphreys garrison in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on June 8.
PHOTOGRAPHER: JEAN CHUNG/BLOOMBERG

Visitors dressed as Red Army soldiers visit Mao's old home, Octagon House, named after the shape of the opening in the roof, in Jinggang Mountain, Jiangxi province, China, on Sept. 22.
PHOTOGRAPHER: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG

Stefan Soloviev, heir to a $4.7 billion fortune, climbs up one of his grain silos in Tribune, Kansas, on July 9.
PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHAEL CIAGLO/BLOOMBERG

People rest on a temporary stage in Mumbai on Aug. 29.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DHIRAJ SINGH/BLOOMBERG

People photograph cherry trees in bloom at Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo, April 3.
PHOTOGRAPHER: KEITH BEDFORD/BLOOMBERG

A Samoyed is groomed before competing at the 143rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York on Feb. 12.
PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVID WILLIAMS/BLOOMBERG

Temporary pontoon bridges lead to accommodation tents for pilgrims in Tent City during the Kumbh Mela at night in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, on Jan. 15.
PHOTOGRAPHER: PRASHANTH VISHWANATHAN/BLOOMBERG

Attendees protect their faces from sparks flying from a "little bull" firework sculpture during the National Pyrotechnic Festival parade in Tultepec, Mexico state, on March 8.
PHOTOGRAPHER: LUIS ANTONIO ROJAS/BLOOMBERG