An Iraqi schoolgirl wears a protective mask as she is walked to school in the central Iraqi city of Kut, Oct. 19, 2009. Panic over swine flu prompted officials in Iraq to close about 2,000 schools in a bid to combat the virus. Ali al-Alak/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Workers transport ballot boxes on a trolley to be loaded on trucks at the Independent Election Commission compound in Kabul. Taliban fighters have warned Afghans not to take part in the country's Nov. 7 presidential runoff election. Altaf Qadri/AP hide caption
In this file photo from April 2008, supporters of Egypt's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, demonstrate in Alexandria, Egypt, against a wave of arrests targeting the group's leaders and potential candidates in upcoming local elections. Members of the group say it is experiencing similar persecution now, more than a year away from parliamentary elections. AP hide caption
A Marine with Fox Company sits in the dust and mud of the flooded entrance to Patrol Base Barcha in the Helmand River valley in southern Afghanistan. Rising water in the surrounding fields has forced the Marines to fill in the area with gravel and sandbags. The sweltering summer temperatures have dropped, bringing a new set of problems as winter approaches. In Washington, debate is under way on how the U.S. should proceed in Afghanistan — and how to pay for it. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Matthew Hoh, the former Marine captain and foreign service official who resigned from his post in Afghanistan, says the U.S. must evolve its strategic thinking. John Poole/NPR hide caption
A U.N. vehicle is seen through the bullet-riddled guardhouse of the Bekhtar Guesthouse in Kabul, Afghanistan, after an attack Wednesday by Taliban suicide gunmen killed six expatriate U.N. staffers. The attack is a recent reminder of the dangers facing civilian workers in Afghanistan. Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A Marine with with Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment carries a metal detector at the front of his patrol in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan near Garmsir. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (shown here in March 2009 at a gathering of his new political party, the People of Freedoms) has recently come under fire for a sexist remark about an opposition politician's looks and intellect. After a series of sex scandals involving Berlusconi, more than 100,000 women have signed a petition stating they are offended by him. Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A Pakistani police officer makes his way through wreckage after an explosion in Peshawar, Pakistan on Wednesday. A car bomb has torn through a marketplace in northwestern Pakistan hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in the country. Mohammad Sajjad/AP hide caption