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)

American actress Raquel Welch on a balcony overlooking a street in London, 1970. (Photo by Evening Standard). P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution.

The sea otter mother with her three day old newborn pup ontop of her to keep it dry and warm while it sleeps. This devoted mother otter kept her newborn pup dry as she let the baby ride on her belly. Nature photographer Suzi Eszterhas, 40, spotted the adorable pair of southern sea otters swimming in Monterey Bay, California. The mother lifted the pup out of the water and on to her belly to keep it warm and dry and also blew air into the pup's fur to groom it. Ms Eszterhas was shocked to see the otters come closer to where she was standing and the mother left her child to float alone in the water. (Photo by Suzi Eszterhas/Minden Pictures/Solent News & Photo Agency)

“Zeybeks”. That's Dance, Sunward and Zeybeks. (Photo by Hasan Baglar/2014 Sony World Photography Awards)

While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

TV prosthetics artist Rene Abelardo tries on a sample of his prosthetic face mask, his latest creation as TV projects took a halt amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines, June 17, 2020. (Photo by Eloisa Lopez/Reuters)

A boy sits on the back of a crocodile on May 19, 2018 at a pond in Bazoule in Burkina Faso, a village which happily shares its local pond with “sacred” crocodiles. Crocodiles may be one of the deadliest hunters in the animal kingdom, but in a small village in Burkina Faso it is not unusual to see someone sitting atop one of the fearsome reptiles. According to local legend, the startling relationship with the predators dates back to at least the 15 th century. The village was in the grip of an agonising drought until the crocodiles led women to a hidden pond where the population could slake their thirst. (Photo by Olympia de Maismont/AFP Photo)

Deal or New Deal, Season 2. Pictured: Meghan Markle, 2006. (Photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)