The Stone Forest or Shilin is a notable set of limestone formations located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China, near Shilin approximately 120 km (75 mi) from the provincial capital Kunming. The tall rocks seem to emanate from the ground in the manner of stalagmites, with many looking like petrified trees thereby creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. Since 2007, two parts of the site, the Naigu Stone Forest (乃古石林) and Suogeyi Village (所各邑村), have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the South China Karst.

Son doong cave is a cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, Bố Trạch district, Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. Currently the biggest known cave in the world, the cave is located near the Laos-Vietnam border. Inside is a large, fast-flowing underground river.
In early August 2013, the first tourist group explored the cave on a guided tour at a cost of US$3,000 each. The group had six members from Australia, Norway, Russia and USA and spent 7 days and 6 nights for the tour. Next exploration trips will be arranged.

Photographer and former dancer Jesús Chapa-Malacara, head of art production company fotosjcm, announces the launch of Esprit de Corps, an innovative book of ballet photography unlike any seen before. The high-end art book, currently being independently financed and offered exclusively through a Kickstarter campaign, will feature world-class dancers from top ballet companies, including Michaela DePrince of Dutch National Ballet, Jared Matthews and Yuriko Kajiya of American Ballet Theatre, among others.

With their affinity for hunting, sneaking, and hidden blade-like retractable claw, cats are really the assassins of the animal world. They're not as intimidating when they're kittens dressed up as assassins from the upcoming Assassin's Creed Unity, but what they lack in deadliness they more than make up for in cuteness. YouTube user Mr.TVCow posted the video, in which four hooded kittens hunt down a french soldier, much like like in a number of trailers for Assassin's Creed Unity. They use their eagle vision ability, parkour after their target, and perform lethal aerial assassinations, and yes, it's as unbearably adorable as it sounds.

Wildlife photographer Kevin Fleming has covered the world as a photographer for National Geographic and has been recognized America’s Best Observer by Readers Digest. His assignments have taken him into war and famine in Somalia, to the Mediterranean for a re-creation of the voyage of Ulysses and put him on a dogsled crossing the Canadian arctic. Now Kevin is working on his 27th book. Here: Red fox kits look out from a hollow log. (Photo by Kevin Fleming)

A man poses for a photo with a life size cutout of Pope Francis at Bicentennial Park where the pontiff celebrated Mass for an estimated half-million people, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, July 7, 2015. Francis told an estimated half-million people gathered for the Mass that in a world divide by wars, violence and individualism, Catholics should be “builders of unity”, bringing together hopes and ideals of their people. (Photo by Ana Buitron/AP Photo)

Flowers are placed on a “comfort woman” statue during the weekly Wednesday protest in front of Japanese embassy demanding for an apology and compensation from Japanese government in Seoul, South Korea, July 22, 2015. “Comfort women” is the Japanese euphemism for women who were forced into prostitution and sexually abused at Japanese military brothels before and during World War Two. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Nasoin Akhter, 15, has her makeup done at a beauty parlor on the day of her wedding to a 32-year-old man, August 20, 2015, in Manikganj, Bangladesh. In June of this year, Human Rights Watch released a damning report about child marriage in Bangladesh. The country has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with 29% of girls marrying before the age of 15, and 65% of girls marrying before they turn 18. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)