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 cat cries out while sitting before a destroyed cabin from a tornado at Paradise Ranch RV Resort in Tylertown, Miss., Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Photo by Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

On the morning of the October 4, 2025, the second day of the Chuseok holiday, a lenticular cloud resembling an unidentified flying object (UFO) appeared in the northeastern sky as seen from the Healing Forest in Hogun-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, creating a spectacular sight. (Photo by Newsis)

Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

This aerial photo shows the wreckage of the Asiana Flight 214 airplane after it crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Saturday, July 6, 2013. (Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

A woman watches the St. Patrick's day parade in Dublin, Ireland on March 17, 2017. St. Patrick's Day is marked annually on 17 March to commemorate Saint Patrick, a patron saint of Ireland. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

Danny Batsalkin holds a rifle during the annual National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting in Dallas, Texas, U.S., May 18, 2024. (Photo by Shelby Tauber/Reuters)

Director George Clooney reacts as he and his wife lawyer Amal Clooney arrive for a screening of the film “The Tender Bar” as part of the BFI London Film Festival, in London, Britain, October 10, 2021. (Photo by Henry Nicholls/Reuters)