A squirrel sits on the ground in a park on a foggy day in Minsk, Belarus, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008.
(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Feeding off nectar (花蜜, 甘露) : A Hummingbird (蜂雀) feeds in Los Angeles.
(AFP/Gabriel Bouys)
A trio (三个一组) of ducks makes their way across the frozen waters on the south side of Green Lake in Seattle on Monday, Dec. 22, 2008. Thousands of travelers remained stranded (使陷于困境) by snow Monday across the Pacific Northwest, but help in Western Washington should arrive in the form of rain by Christmas, the National Weather Service said. Before then more freezing cold and snow could bedevil residents and travelers.
(AP Photo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Andy Rogers)
In this July 17, 2008 file photo, Tracy Roberts, 33, of Rockville, Md. has her toes nibbled (不停地咬) on by a type of carp (鲤鱼) called garra rufa, or doctor fish, during a fish pedicure [(修趾甲)医师] treatment at Yvonne Hair and Nails salon in Alexandria, Va.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin/FILE)
A cat is seen during the International Cat Show - "The best cat of Belarus 2008" in Minsk, December 6, 2008.
A photo provided by the Chicago Zoological Society shows Whirl, a 1 1/2-year-old Amur tiger enjoying a recent snowfall Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008, at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill. Amur tigers, formerly known as Siberian tigers, are critically endangered due to their natural habitats being destroyed through deforestation and the loss of natural prey. Approximately 390 Amur tigers are exhibited in zoos worldwide, 150 in North America.
A pedestrian walks through a snow covered park in downtown Portland, Oregon December 22, 2008 after a weekend snowstorm blanketed (覆盖) the Pacific Northwest. Winter storms walloped (猛击) much of the northern stretches of the United States, leaving holiday travelers stranded and causing power outages (断供：临时停止供应，尤指电力) as blizzards and freezing rain struck parts of the East and West.
A hospital in Calcutta. An Indian woman has given birth to her first child at the age of 70 after receiving IVF (in-vitro fertilization, 试管受精) treatment, newspapers reported her doctor as saying.
(AFP/File/Deshakalyan Chowdhury)
A nurse tends to a baby inside a Hello Kitty themed maternity (孕妇的, 产妇的, 产科的) ward (病房) inside a hospital in Changhua County December 4, 2008. Mommy, daddy -- and Hello Kitty -- welcome newborns at a cat-themed Taiwan maternity hospital that hopes the Japanese cartoon icon will ease the stress of childbirth as well as boost business. The 30-bed Hau Sheng Hospital in Yuanlin in central Taiwan claims to be the only institution of its kind authorised by the popular cartoon cat's parent company Sanrio Co Ltd. Newborns get everything Hello Kitty but a set of whiskers, including pink or blue receiving blankets, nurses dressed in pink uniforms with cat-themed aprons, cot (轻便小床) linen and room decor (装饰之格调). Picture taken December 4, 2008.
To match Reuters Life! TAIWAN-HELLOKITTY REUTERS/Christine Lu
(TAIWAN)
Snow is seen blanketing Palmdale, Calif., Dec. 17, 2008.
(Photo and caption submitted by Manuel Macedo)
Storm clouds hover near recently finished homes and unfinished home lots in Rancho Cucamonga, California in December 2008. The US housing market, the epicenter of the global financial crisis, saw further declines last month, according to fresh data Tuesday suggesting the worst may not be over for the economy.
(AFP/Getty Images/File/David Mcnew)