Former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans (3rd R, at table) convenes the inaugural International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament meeting in Sydney on October 20.(AFP/Torsten Blackwood)AFP - Australia hosted the first meeting of a new international nuclear non-proliferation body Monday, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith saying he was hopeful of progress on disarmament.
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A demining worker in orange uniforms and headgear checks for possible cluster bombs or mines few meters from homes in the southern village of Aita al-Jabal, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2008. The U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center has warned that if no funds are received, removal of unexploded ordnance will be stopped a move that threatens lives of thousands of people since tens of thousands of cluster bombs, mines, unexploded shells and other ordnance still exist in Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)AP - Demining chief Hussein Alayan watched from a distance this week as his men in orange overalls slowly moved their mine detectors in search of cluster bombs and land mines buried under the sands of this southern Lebanese village.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, right, speaks to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, during the financial crisis summit gathering Eurogroup heads of state and government at the Elysee Palace in Paris Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008. Countries that use the euro will temporarily guarantee future bank debt to encourage lending and ease the credit crunch, according to a draft statement under discussion by European leaders Sunday. (AP Photo/Charles Platiau, Pool)AP - The idea is ambitious: World leaders joined by aides to the new U.S. president-elect would gather before the year’s end in New York and attempt to forge a new vision for the global economy.
Under a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, right, kisses his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salloukh, left, after they signed a joint document announcing the start of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon, in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008. The two countries have not had formal diplomatic relations since both gained independence from France in the 1940s in what many Lebanese saw as Syrian refusal to recognize Lebanese sovereignty. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)AP - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday praised improving ties between Lebanon and Syria, but called on the two countries to take further steps to bolster security along their border.
An American soldier stands guard during a routine patrol in the neighborhood of Dora in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday,Oct. 16, 2008. (AP Photo / Karim Kadim)AP - A looming split between the two Shiite parties that dominate Iraq’s government threatens efforts to win parliamentary approval for a security pact with the U.S. and could set the stage for a major struggle for power in the oil-rich Shiite southern heartland.
In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 file photo, Afghan border policemen view confiscated opium and alcoholic drinks on the outskirts of Herat city in Herat province, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan. Buoyed by years of record oil revenues in the Gulf and Afghanistan’s booming drug trade, al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorist groups are thought to have access to strong potential funding sources and thus might dodge fallout from the global crunch devastating others. Al-Qaida and the Taliban have also benefited from the drug trade’s growth in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 a booming business that likely won’t be affected by the global slowdown. (AP Photo/ Fraidoon Pooyaa, File)AP - Al-Qaida, which gets its money from the drug trade in Afghanistan and sympathizers in the oil-rich Gulf states, is likely to escape the effects of the global financial crisis
Conservative leader and Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks during a campaign rally at the airport in Fredericton, New Brunswick October 13, 2008. Canadians will head to the polls in a federal election October 14. REUTERS/Chris Wattie (CANADA)AP - Canada’s Conservative prime minister appeared poised to retain his job as polls opened in Tuesday’s national election but he faced a greater challenge in winning a parliamentary majority to bolster his power.
U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke, crew member of the 18th mission to the International Space Station (ISS) gestures prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)AP - An American computer game designer boarded the international space station Tuesday, floating onto the orbital outpost 35 years after his astronaut father circled the Earth on Skylab.
In a March 6, 2005, file photo provided by ‘Meet the Press’, Paul Krugman of Princeton Univsersity and The New York Times, speaks during the taping of ‘Meet the Press.’ The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, that Krugman has won the Nobel economics prize ‘for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity.’ (AP Photo/Meet The Press, Alex Wong/file)AP - Paul Krugman, the Princeton University scholar, New York Times columnist and unabashed liberal, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his analysis of how economies of scale can affect international trade patterns.
Gen. David Petraeus speaks at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)AP - When NATO defense ministers meet in Budapest on Thursday, they will face a worsening situation in Afghanistan and vexing questions about whether the war can be won.
