The Amazon Rainforest is one of 28 sites picked as finalists in a global poll to name the New Seven Wonders of Nature, conducted by the Swiss nonprofit New7Wonders Foundation. The Brazilian Amazon, pictured here, harbors 40 percent of all remaining tropical rainforest, playing a vital role in global biodiversity and in protecting the earth's climate. Alexander Lees/handout/REUTERS/FILE
Considered sacred to Aboriginal people of the area, Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in Australia's Northern Territory. The rock features many ancient cave paintings, and archaeologists believe that the area was first settled more than 10,000 years ago. Greg Saray/AP/File
A man bathes in the Dead Sea, a salt lake between Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been shrinking because incoming water from the Jordan River has been diverted. In June, a Palestinian boycott threatened to eliminate the sea from the seven natural wonders contest, but this dispute has since been resolved. Ammar Awad/REUTERS
A herd of elephants walk by Mt. Kilimanjaro in Amboseli Game Park in Kenya. As global temperatures rise, the famous glaciers of Mt. Kilimanjaro are steadily disappearing. Africa, by far the lowest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, is projected to be among the regions hardest hit by environmental change. Karel Prinsloo/AP/File
A marine iguana enjoys lying on a rock in the sun in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands. The islands are noted for their vast array of native species, which were extensively studied by naturalist Charles Darwin during the voyage of the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. His observations on the Galapagos contributed to his discovery of evolution by natural selection. Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/FILE
Known for its thousands of limestone islands topped with thick vegetation, Vietnam's Halong Bay is home to a community of about 1,600 people who live in floating homes and are sustained by fishing. Newscom
Located on the border between Brazil and Argentina, Iguazu Falls is the result of a volcanic eruption that left a huge crack in the earth. When First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the falls, she is said to have exclaimed 'Poor Niagara!' Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa, Table Mountain is often covered with a tablecloth of orographic clouds. Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/FILE
Visitors on a boat pass a huge drapery rock formation on the underground river at Jeita Grotto cave complex, north of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The grotto contains two limestone caves, upper galleries and a lower cave through which an underground river runs, and sports spectacular rock formations. JOSEPH BARRAK/AFP/FILE
The view from the South Rim at the Grand Canyon, a mile deep gorge carved by the Colorado River. Grand Canyon National Park was one of the first national parks in the United States. Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/FILE
At 3,212 feet, the world's highest waterfall, Venezuela's Angel Falls, is 15 times taller than Niagara Falls. The fall's mesas inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Lost World, in which dinosaurs live on an isolated plateau in the Amazon. Leslie Mazoch/AP
Located in County Clare, Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher rise almost 400 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs are one of Ireland's most popular tourist attractions, drawing almost one million people anually. On a clear day, one can see the Aran Islands from the cliffs. NEWSCOM
Tourists look at a rock formation inside a cave popularly known in the Philippines as Underground River in Puerto Princesa city, southwest of Manila. A popular tourist destination, the underground river measures 5 miles long. John Javellana/REUTERS/FILE
Lying at the mouth of the Ganges and spreading across areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, the Sundarbans constitute the world's largest delta and the world's largest mangrove forest. The area is known for its vast array of species, including the Royal Bengal Tiger, shown here. Newscom
The Matterhorn, shown here reflected by Lake Riffelsee in the Swiss Alps near Zermatt, Switzerland, lies on the Swiss-Italian border. Rising temperatures have caused some of the glaciers near the iconic peak to melt, forcing the two countries to redraw their national borders. Thomas C. Gerber/AP/File
A North Atlantic Right Whale dives below the surface in the Bay of Fundy, in New Brunswick, Canada. The Bay is known for having the world's highest tides, with more water flowing in and out of it twice daily than flows through all of the world's freshwater rivers. Only about 400 North Atlantic Right Whales remain in the world. Newscom
Riot police advanced on protesters in Istanbul's Taksim Square shortly after Prime Minister Erdogan warned the peaceful demonstrators to clear out or be forcibly removed.
Riot police fired water cannons and tear gas on protesters in Istanbul's Taksim Square and neighboring Gezi Park on Saturday, an intervention that came shortly after the prime minister warned that security forces "know how to clear" the area.
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