Photos Of The Day

U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne protect themselves from a dust storm kicked up by a Chinook helicopter dropping off supplies at a forward operating base Diablo in Ghorak district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, Thursday, March 15, 2007. Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne are providing a security cordon around the heart of NATO's Operation Achilles.

Better Than Bullets

Palestinian security force officers have a snowball fight as they patrol during a brief snowfall in the West Bank city of Hebron, Thursday March 15, 2007. The unusual late-season storm blocked access roads and caused power outages in parts of Israel.

Gun Fire

Over 8,000 illegal assault rifles and handguns, which have been confiscated from criminals and nomadic herders, are destroyed on a pyre after being set alight in Nairobi, Kenya, on Thursday March 15, 2007, as part of a campaign to rid the East African nation of thousands of illegal weapons.

Eye Plane

Zhang Feng looks into a mirror after eye surgery onboard the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital March 15, 2007, in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China. ORBIS is performing free eye surgery for 50 impoverished patients on a converted DC-10 aircraft, billed as the world's only such hospital. ORBIS International, founded in 1982, is an independent non-profit, non-governmental charity dedicated to preventing and treating blindness.

Under The Gun

An Iraqi army soldier takes cover as he protects a police checkpoint in Baghdad Thursday, March 15, 2007. A bus bombing outside a factory in a central Iraqi town killed four workers and wounded two dozen, as the Pentagon reported violence in the country hit a peak in the last quarter of 2006.

Balloonatics

Hot Air Balloons lift off as part of the mass ascension during the Wairarapa International Hot Air Balloon Festival at Carterton Thursday, March 15, 2007, in the Wairarapa, New Zealand.

Robot Of War

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, right, talks about military robotics as acting Army Secretary Pete Geren looks on during Senate Armed Services Committee hearings Thursday, March 15, 2007, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The committee listened to testimony on the posture of the Army while reviewing the FY2008 defense authorization request. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is seen in the foreground.

Madness!

Boston College's Sean Marshall (23) drives between Texas Tech defenders Decensae White, left, and Jon Plefka, right, during an NCAA East Regional first round basketball game in Winston-Salem, N.C. Thursday, March 15, 2007, as the annual three-week basketball bash tipped off.

Railway Fireworks

Fireworks illuminate the Jaulny's viaduct on the rail line between Paris and Strasbourg, Thursday, March 15, 2007, to mark the inauguration of the eastward high-speed train line. The line will link Paris to Strasbourg in eastern France in two hours and 20 minutes instead of three hours and 50 minutes. Commercial traffic will start on June 10, 2007. The Jaulny's viaduct is the highest one on the line.

Foggy Bottom

Fog lifts from melting snow and ice at a beaver pond in Ossipee, N.H., Thursday, March 15, 2007, as warm weather passes over New England.

Revolution Redux

A protester, holding a Hungarian flag, stands by burning barricades in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, March 15, 2007, during clashes with riot police which broke out following the celebrations marking the 159th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1848 revolution and war of independence against the Habsburg rule.