Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard prepares for a test flight of the solar-powered Solar Impulse 2 experimental aircraft in Payerne November 13, 2014. The aircraft, weighing 2.4 tons with a wingspan of 72 meters, is fitted with more than 17,000 solar cells. An attempt to fly around the world in stages using only solar energy will be made in 2015. (Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters)

China’s new tallest building has received unexpected publicity thanks to Russian free climbers Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Raskalov. The pair took two hours to climb 650 metres up the unfinished Shanghai Tower. They did not use safety equipment on their ascent to the top of a crane attached to the tower, from where they took these extraordinary pictures of Shanghai. Photo: Vitaly Raskalov's feet dangle from the top of the Shanghai Tower, high above the Shanghai World Financial Centre. (Photo by Vitaly Raskalov/Caters News Agency)

Tinni the dog and Sniffer the fox became quick friends, prompting the pooch's owner Torgeir Berge to start a campaign against the highly controversial fur trade after he noticed "how similar foxes and dogs actually are," calling the fox the "dog of the forest." Berge and his friend Berit Helberg plan to release a book sometime next year chronicling the duo, because "no animals should be living like the animals in the fur industry are living." According to animal advocacy group PETA, many creatures bound for the fur industry are allegedly kept in small, restrictive cages for their entire lives. Berge and Helberg said they plan to donate a portion of the proceeds to help save the Sniffers of the world, and we can totally see why.

These illustrations are the work of an artist who has put a sinister spin on iconic animations in order to highlight the disturbing realities of domestic abuse. No Violence Against Women is a project by Italian artist and activist AleXsandro Palombo, 40, who is based in Milan. It forces its audience to confront the plight some women go through under the pretence of a happy relationship or family. (Photo by aleXsandro Palombo)

A snowboarder performs during the Red Bull Jump and Freeze competition at ski resort Shimbulak outside Almaty March 22, 2015. Participants wearing festive costumes perform tricks before getting into a pond with icy water. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

Two fourteen-week old lion cubs, a male named Ramzes and a female named Zara, are seen during a Christening ceremony at the Bojnice Zoo April 4, 2015. The two cubs are Barbary lions (Panthera leo leo), local media reported. (Photo by Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)