Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

A homeless girl asks for alms outside a coffee shop in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

A Iranian man walks with a sheep he bought at a market in the capital Tehran on September 12, 2016, as Muslims mark the first day of the Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) holiday. Muslims across the world celebrate the annual festival of Eid al-Adha, or the festival of sacrifice, which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to God. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

Inflatable dolls in the shape of ducks are seen in front of the National Congress during a protest against tax increases in Brasilia, Brazil, March 29, 2016. The campaign “I will not pay the Duck” is organized by the Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo (FIESP) and uses the duck symbol in reference to industries that pay high taxes. (Photo by Gregg Newton/Reuters)

Traders try to control a camel at Pushkar Fair where animals, mainly camels, are brought to be sold and traded in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan November 6, 2016. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

“A balancing rock, also called balanced rock or precarious boulder, is a naturally occurring geological formation featuring a large rock or boulder, sometimes of substantial size, resting on other rocks, bedrock or on glacial till. Some formations known by this name only appear to be balancing but are in fact firmly connected to a base rock by a pedestal or stem”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “The Brimham Rocks are balancing rock formations located on Brimham Moor in North Yorkshire, England. The rocks stand at a height of nearly 30 metres in an area owned by the National Trust which is part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Tee Time Tony)

Private Wallace Tratford arrives home on leave, Drouin, Victoria, ca. 1944. A.I.F. Private Wallace Tratford, son of 1st Constable James Tratford, Drouin's only policeman (responsible for area of 105 square miles; 3,000 people), arrives home on his first leave from New Guinea battlefronts since he was married.