Yawar Nazir / Getty Images Contributor

Yawar Nazir / Getty Images Contributor

A Kashmiri farmer holds a threads, or crocus, from saffron flowers

A Kashmiri farmer picks saffron flowers in a farm on Monday, Nov. 05, 2012 in Pampore, in Indian administered Kashmir. Production of the precious spice is falling rapidly in the region. Farmers have become concerned at the falling yield of the saffron crop year after year with the changing climatic conditions responsible for a 50 to 60 percent decrease in the yield for the last two decades. Approximately 5,000 flowers are required to provide enough threads to make an ounce. Saffron is a precious spice because of the vast acreage involved in addition to the labor-intensive handpicking of the flowers and extracting of the tiny threads.

Yawar Nazir / Getty Images Contributor

Kashmiri farmers pluck threads, or crocus, from saffron flowers.

Slideshow: Falling for autumn

Leaves turn and crops are harvested as fall enters full swing.

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Luke MacGregor / Reuters

London: A pair of gloves and a mallet rest on beer barrels at The Kernel microbrewery on October 17, 2012. Where once the big, multinational beer corporations accounted for the lion's share of brewery growth, now small, independent brewers are leading the way.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

New York: Workers install a 25-foot tall fermenter at Brooklyn Brewery.

Beer drinkers in London and New York City may be separated by a frothy ocean, but, as photographers Mario Tama and Luke MacGregor saw for themselves over the past few days, they increasingly share a taste for cask ales produced by small, independent brewers. 

During the pre-Prohibition era, Brooklyn (a New York City borough) had more than 45 breweries and was one of the largest brewing centers in the U.S., Getty Images reports, but today Brooklyn Brewery is the only brewery in the borough. 

The tide is turning, though. A mid-year report by the Brewer's Association cited a 12 percent increase in craft beer sales to 6 million barrels this year. The number of American breweries has surged to a 125-year-high of 2,126 breweries last year, 97 percent of which are independent craft breweries.  

In Britain, meanwhile, microbreweries have seen their numbers rise above 1,000 for the first time in over 70 years, Reuters reports, even as Britons' affection for their national drink has waned. The Kernel microbrewery in Bermondsey, South London is one of many new kids on the British beer block.

"People are moving away from the mainstream rubbish," Andrew Turner of the recently opened London Fields brewery said. "They want to drink good local stuff."

Got your beer goggles on? Check out these videos:

• The politics of beer
• Recipes revealed for White House's homebrewed beers
• Cows crash party, help themselves to beer
• What's brewing in Pakistan?

Mario Tama / Getty Images

New York: Workers prepare to install a 25-foot tall fermenter at Brooklyn Brewery on October 23, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Luke MacGregor / Reuters

London: Brewer Joby Williams breaks up the hops used in the brewing process to create an India Pale Ale beer at The Kernel micro-brewery.

Luke MacGregor / Reuters

London: Brewer Chrigl Luthy cleans out the malt and spent grain from the mash tun used in the brewing process to create an India Pale Ale at The Kernel micro-brewery.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

New York: A total of eight fermenters are being installed at Brooklyn Brewery this week, which will allow the craft brewery to make 100,000 barrels of beer per year, 24 hours a day.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

New York: Production manager Jimmy Valm adds hops to the boil in the brewhouse at Brooklyn Brewery.

Luke MacGregor / Reuters

London: A box of beer and a pair of wellington boots are seen at The Kernel micro-brewery.

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Women attend a job fair for China Eastern Airlines flight attendants in Shanghai on October 19. Some 2,000 people signed up for interviews as China Eastern Airlines planned to recruit 800 flight attendants from Shanghai, local media reported. -- Reuters

Aly Song / Reuters

Aly Song / Reuters

Aly Song / Reuters

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Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

Buddhist monks play Tibetan trumpets prior to morning prayers at the Thikse Monastery on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

The Thikse Monastery on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India. The Thikse monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery of the Yellow Hat (Gelugpa) sect, located on top of a hill, approximately 12 miles east of Leh. It is noted for its semblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet and is the largest monastery in central Ladakh.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

A Tibetan Buddhist monk during morning prayers at the Thikse Monastery on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

A Buddhist shrine is seen at the Chang La pass, with an altitude of 17,585 feet (5360m) on October 5, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

The forecourt of the Likir monastery on October 4, near to Leh in Ladakh, India.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

The Basgo Monastery, a world Heritage site on October 4, near Leh in Ladakh, India.

Ladakh, nestled between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, was once an ancient Buddhist Kingdom and for over half a century, a strategic military outpost for India. Ladakh, sharing borders with both China and Pakistan, has seen an increase in tourism over the last few years, an alternative to Nepali Himalayan treks. 

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Drivers and mechanics of Premier Padmini taxis gather together at a workshop in Mumbai, India on October 4, 2012. The Premier Padmini was manufactured in India by Premier Automobiles from 1964 to 2000 and is based on the design of Fiat's 1100-series cars from the 1960s. The vehicle quickly became the iconic workhorse in Mumbai's fleet of black and yellow taxis until economic liberalisation in the 1990s allowed different makes and models to be produced in India.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A driver demonstrates the use of a manually operated fare meter on October 12, 2012.

The Premier Padmini, the iconic workhorse in Mumbai's fleet of black and yellow cabs for nearly 50 years, faces an imminent demise. With the introduction of a government order banning taxis over 25 years old, the number of Padminis has begun to dwindle and, in a few years, they will be gone from the Indian city's streets altogether.   

Reuters photographer Vivek Prakash, once a taxi driver himself (though in the relatively sedate streets of Brisbane, Australia), set out to pay an affectionate tribute to the car he calls "the grand old dame of Mumbai's streets":

Power steering? Who needs it. Nothing a bit of elbow grease can’t fix. Air conditioning? Forget about it! You live in a sultry humid city, you should learn to love it. Electric windows? I don’t think so, use the handle to roll it down. Suspension? What suspension? Just remember you’ll feel every little bump on your way home tonight.

Here in Mumbai we love to hate the Padmini. They are uncomfortable, hot, steamy, and funny smelling. But when they’re gone, we’ll miss them.

Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A driver waits for customers in front of an apartment building in Mumbai's suburbs on October 3, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

Customers sit in the cramped back seat of a Premier Padmini taxi during rush hour in Mumbai on October 4, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A taxi driver looks out of his Premier Padmini while stuck in traffic in a slum in Mumbai on October 3, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A driver waits for customers on Marine Drive in Mumbai on October 2, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A de-registered Premier Padmini taxi is pictured covered in dust with love hearts etched on its windows in a scrapyard in Mumbai on October 2, 2012.

Vivek Prakash / Reuters

A taxi driver sleeps on the boot of his Premier Padmini at a taxi park in Mumbai on October 4, 2012.

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Markus Schreiber / AP

The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated during a rehearsal of the ninth Festival Of Lights in Berlin, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. During the festival which runs from Oct. 10, until Oct. 21, 2012, about 70 buildings and landmarks of the German capital will be specially illuminated.

Markus Schreiber / AP

People walk through a light installation at the Potsdamer Platz during a rehearsal of the ninth Festival Of Lights in Berlin.

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Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Children look at Ducks in the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water, on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC. National Park Service officials have hired a contractor to remove the algae that has appeared after a two year, $34 million renovation of the pool.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

A jogger runs past the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

A Duck is half way submerged in the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water, on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool reopened to the public at the end of August, after an almost two-year renovation costing $34 million. After being recently filled back up with water, it is now full of algae. Ironically, the new pool was intended to "improve the reflectivity of the water" with tinted concrete.  According to Reuters:

"With this renovation, we have given the Reflecting Pool a much-needed overhaul and brought its engineering into the 21st century," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

The 90-year-old pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that also reflects the soaring Washington Monument had provided one of the capital's most-photographed views.

But the reflecting pool, which is about 160 feet wide and 2,100 feet long, had degraded badly over the decades.

Built on marshland without pilings for support, the original pool had sunk, causing cracks and leaks. The pool held 6.75 million gallons (25.6 million liters) of water but lost an estimated 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) a week to leaks and evaporation, the statement said.

Because the pool lacked a circulation system, it had to be emptied, cleaned and refilled twice a year. Read more.

Related links:

• Landscape architects' group offers a new view of the nation's capital
• Slideshow: Dreaming of D.C

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Tourist walk past the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial that is full of algae after recently being filled with water, on Sept. 26, in Washington, DC.

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Vincent Kessler / Reuters

A combination photo shows participants during the 2012 European Beard and Moustache Championships in Wittersdorf near Mulhouse, Eastern France, September 22, 2012. More than a hundred participants competed in the first European Beard and Moustache Championships organized in France.

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Matt Slocum / AP

Robotic searchlights illuminate the night sky over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, in Philadelphia. The interactive light installation by artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, titled "Open Air," was commissioned by the Association for Public Art, in Philadelphia and is scheduled to run till Oct 14 from 8-11 p.m. each night.

See more photos of Philadelphia on PhotoBlog.

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Carlos Barria / Reuters

A girl looks at lanterns as she visits the Shanghai International Lantern Festival in Luxun Park in Shanghai, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012. According to Chinese tradition, people try to solve puzzles on lanterns, eat Yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and enjoy family reunions during the festival. The Lantern Festival is usually celebrated in winter, but in Shanghai, participants prefer to mark the festival at the end of summer to enjoy the warmer weather.

Carlos Barria / Reuters

A 656 feet dragon shaped lantern made with 10,000 pieces of porcelain including ceramic bowls, dishes, plates and cups releases smoke as locals visit the Shanghai International Lantern Festival.

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