A Bhutanese girl looks through a traditionally- made window in Thimphu July 18,
2009. Five decades ago, Bhutan was a feudal, medieval place with no roads,
proper schools or hospitals and scarcely any contact with the outside world.
Today education and health care are free and life expectancy has risen to 66
years from less than 40. — Reuters/Singye Wangchuk
Afghan women next to a bird stall, in a market in Kabul, July 17, 2009. — AP
Photo/Ahmad Massoud
Sri Lankan dancers perform during an event to promote their country's tourism
industry in Bangalore on July 17, 2009. The tourism event was organised by
SriLankan airlines, the country's national flag carrier. Tourism in Sri Lanka
was one of the industries hit hardest by the war between government forces and
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). — AFP Photo/Dibyangshu Sarkar
A sieve hangs from a tree as Indian residents watch their allegedly illegal
housing be demolished in New Delhi on July 18, 2009. Municipal Corporation of
Delhi (MCD) demolished several illegal houses built on its land and relocated
the residents to alloted housing. — AFP Photo/ Manan Vatsyayana
An Afghan family rides on a motorcycle past US soldiers of the 10th Mountain
Division conducting a joint patrol with French and Afghan troops at Hajian
village in the mountains of Wardak Province July 15, 2009. — Reuters/Shamil
Zhumatov
Monks read a Bhutanese local magazine outside the Changangkha Lhakhang temple
in Thimphu July 18, 2009.
Women work in a paddy field in Gumoria village, about 40 kilometers east of
Gauhati, India, July 17, 2009. — AP Photo/Anupam Nath
A Nepalese Army Cadet waits for Prime Minister Madav Kumar Nepal to arrive at
the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on July 18, 2009, after his
participation in the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Egypt.
Prime Minister of Nepal said he asked for support of Nepal's peace process
during the summit with leaders of non-aligned countries, including the prime
minister of India. — AFP Photo/Prakash Mathema
Internally displaced women walk through the UNHCR (United Nations High
Commission for Refugees) Sheikh Yaseen camp during a dust storm in Mardan
district, about 150 km north west of Islamabad, July 18, 2009. Some thousands
of the two million internally displaced returned home for the sixth consecutive
day after Pakistan lifted restrictions to boost confidence among residents wary
the Taliban might come back. — Reuters/Ali Imam
>
