The first women settled on this stony slope outside Kabul in the 1990s hoping to escape the stigma those like them are forced to endure.

"We must move our bodies while we're still alive. I will only stop when I can't move any more."

Car horns, sirens, drilling, jet overflights and restaurants where diners have to yell to be heard -- New York is one of the loudest cities in the world.

"When I started to lay my hands on it, the idea of a treehouse popped into my head."

Inflight internet access, a nascent market still hobbled by slow speeds, is set to take off as dedicated satellites make surfing in the skies a reality, experts say.

There are not enough specialist doctors in the country.

The white-haired German woman in the easy chair has vivid memories of hardline communist leader Erich Honecker and even Adolf Hitler, but isn't always sure who Angela Merkel is.

From Dolce & Gabbana to Michael Kors, major brands are catering to lucrative Gulf markets during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is earning its own slot on the global fashion calendar.

In the azure waters of the Red Sea, Maoz Fine and his team dive to study what may be the planet's most unique coral: one that can survive global warming, at least for now.

Hulking excavators claw at riverbanks on Indonesia's Sumatra island in the hunt for gold, transforming what was once a rural idyll into a scarred, pitted moonscape.