Democratic presidential candidate U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney after the presidential debate at the University of Denver on Oct. 3 in Denver, Colorado. The first of four debates for the 2012 election was moderated (sort of) by PBS's Jim Lehrer and focused on domestic issues: the economy, health care, and the role of government. The general consensus was that Romney performed well, while Obama appeared lackluster. To see the all-time great foreign-policy debate moments from U.S. election history, click here.
Turkey hammered Syrian targets on Oct. 4 in reprisal for the deadly cross-border mortar fire that sent tensions soaring in the tinder-box region, prompting international calls for restraint. Western powers condemned the Syrian strike, with the United States expressing its outrage and France warning that the incident threatened global security. In this photo taken on Oct. 4, local women mourn the five Turkish civilians killed the previous day by a Syrian mortar shell in the southern border town of Akcakale.
A rebel fighter is brought to the Dar al-Shifa hospital in the northern city of Aleppo to be treated for his wounds on Oct.1, as fighting between rebel forces and government troops in Syria's second-largest city continues.
In a shock defeat, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili conceded his party's parliamentary loss to opposition leader and billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition on Oct. 2, ending nine years of a dominant reform party that antagonized Russia and brought Tbilisi closer to the West. Above, opposition supporters celebrate their victory in central Tbilisi.
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant stands guard during a rally to mark the 25th anniversary of the movement's founding in Gaza City on Oct. 4.
As President Hugo Chavez seeks a new six-year term in office in Sunday's presidential election after almost 14 years in power, his challenger, Henrique Capriles, is trying to convince Venezuelans that the leftist leader has failed them. Capriles has seized on the country's exceptionally high murder rate to criticize the president's handling of the country's crime wave. Above, a municipal police officer patrols the alleys of the impoverished Petare neighbourhood, one of Caracas' most dangerous slums, on Sept. 29.
A Burmese child waits with thousands of supporters for the return of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi at the Yangon international airport late on Oct. 4 as she arrives home from her trip to the United States.
The Portuguese government announced a generalized income tax hike on Oct. 3, one of several new austerity measures meant to replace earlier proposals that met with stiff popular opposition. Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar unveiled a 4 percent extraordinary tax. In this photo, a young boy sits next to placards during a protest called by Portugal's main union against government austerity measures outside the Sao Bento Palace in Lisbon on Oct. 4.
On Sept. 30, Bangladesh police said that Muslim mobs had burned Buddhist shrines and homes during a wave of violence protesting the image of a partially burned Quran that appeared on Facebook. Above, a Buddhist monk collects burnt religious books at a torched temple in Ramu, some 216 miles from the capital, Dhaka, on Oct. 1.
Mexico commemorated the 44th anniversary of a deadly clampdown on student protestors with the details of the massacre still unclear, the perpetrators untried, and impunity as widespread as ever. According to official figures, in the Tlatelolco massacre of 1968, Mexican security forces killed 44 protesting students, though social organizations claim there were over 300 people killed. In this photo, students take part in a demonstration to commemorate the event in Mexico City on Oct. 2.
Thousands of evangelical Christians from all over the world marched in the streets of Jerusalem to mark the Jewish holiday of Sukkot (Tabernacles) and to express solidarity with Israel during the annual Jerusalem Parade on Oct. 4.
An estimated 100,000 Christian worshippers make their pilgrimage to the Holy Land each year, and one of their most sacred rituals is being immersed in the biblical river where, according to Christian beliefs, Jesus Christ was baptised by John the Baptist. Above, Christian pilgrims take part in a group baptism in the waters of the Jordan River on Oct. 3 at Yardenit in northern Israel.
South Korean singer Park Jae-sang, also known as Psy, performs during his concert at Seoul on Oct. 2. The 34-year-old singer shot to international fame when his "Gangnam Style" video went viral shortly after being posted on YouTube in mid-July. It has since notched up more than 270 million views on the video-sharing site.
Above, a Cambodian woman lights a candle and prays at a pagoda in Phnom Penh to mark the Pchum Ben festival on Oct. 4. The festival of death is a popular holiday in Cambodia which consists of 15 days of prayers for the deceased, visits to temples, and donations of food to monks.
A man dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing shows his "Wadlstruempfe" (a special kind of Bavarian stockings) during day nine of the Oktoberfest beer festival on Sept. 30 in Munich, Germany. This year's edition of the world's biggest beer festival will run until Oct. 7.
