Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Vets of Animals Asia Foundation's Vietnam Bear Rescue Center hold a paw of a sun bear as they check its health while it is rescued from a Vietnamese family in Nam Dinh province, south of Hanoi, Vietnam August 18, 2016. A man in northern Vietnam has voluntarily handed over a bear his family had caged for seven years to an animal rights organization, which will take it to a nearby sanctuary. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

“I have seen batches of banknotes worth more than $2.6 million, but beyond all doubt, gold bars look much more attractive!”. – Shamil Zhumatov. Photo: Cooling-down gold ingot. March 14, 2013; Tien Shan mountains, Kyrgyzstan. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

Nestled among the cocoa plantations of western Ivory Coast is a gold mine that does not feature on any official maps. It is not run by an industrial mining company, nor does it pay taxes to the central government. The unlicensed mine is a key part of a lucrative business empire headed by the deputy commander of the West African nation's elite Republican Guard, United Nations investigators allege. Here: A gold prospector sits and eats close to a soldier at a gold mine near the village of Gamina, in western Ivory Coast, March 18, 2015. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

A wild monkey has stunned animal lovers after it adopted an abandoned kitten and cared for it as his own. The young long-tailed macaque monkey was spotted in a forest protectively nuzzling and grooming the ginger kitten, making sure no harm came to it.

Comandos de Salvamento rescuers Maria Martinez (L) and Ana Chichilla attend to a wounded homeless man in San Salvador, El Salvador July 16, 2016. The man was attacked with a machete by suspected gang members. In 2015, El Salvador registered a record 103 homicides per 100,000 habitants, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world outside a war zone. But for many young people who have few chances to distance themselves from rivalries between so-called maras in their schools and neighbourhoods, a civil-society organisation called the Comandos de Salvamento, or Rescue Corps, has been a refuge. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

A marine rescue worker from Sea World works in a joint attempt with his colleagues to help a juvenile humpback whale stranded at Palm Beach on the Gold Coast, in Queensland July 9, 2014. (Photo by Jason O'Brien/Reuters)

A truffle is seen on a table in Alba, north-western Italy November 11, 2013. Located in the heart of the Langhe – the hilly southern area of Italy's northwestern Piedmont region – Alba is the country's capital of white truffles, a variety of the prized fungus which grows underground. Truffles are found two to eight inches (5-20cm) below the ground near the roots of trees. They give off an odour which lasts for a limited period of time and can be detected with the assistance of well-trained dogs and experienced hunters. Output of white truffles, which are not cultivated and only grow naturally in forests, has fallen in Italy over the past few years, largely because climate change has brought a damaging mix of drought and torrential rains. (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)