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Three weeks ahead of Afghanistan's presidential and provincial votes, some 35 million ballots are being shipped by plane, truck and even donkey to warehouses in the provinces. But the threat of Taliban-related violence means not every Afghan who wants to vote will be able to.

While voters withstand long lines and the elements to cast their ballot, Skye Christensen of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, a nonprofit group that helps countries run democratic elections, talks about how other countries run their elections.

The Obama administration's new approach treats the threat as a public safety issue, like drugs or gangs. It aims to enlist local officials for help in spotting potentially violent extremists.

Growing numbers of lawmakers are balking both at the length of the war in Afghanistan and its cost. The Democratic chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee says he wants President Obama to announce Wednesday the withdrawal of at least 15,000 troops by the end of the year.

Greek Prime Minister Papandreou pushed aside popular unrest and defections within his own party, refusing to back down from harsh measures designed to pull the country out of a major debt crisis.

The controversies that divide us — the political, the social and of late, even the Girl Scouts — just keep on coming. Sometimes it's enough to make you wonder how we'll ever resolve our differences. But to do that, conflict mediators say, we must first identify the conflict.

In his new book, The Gun, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter C.J. Chivers traces the history of AK-47. The weapon's availability, ease of use and durability, Chivers says, have allowed insurgents to fight the most powerful nations on earth.

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) has said he'll sign a recently passed bill to provide up to a week of paid sick time, largely to service workers in companies with 50 or more employees. Businesses lobbied hard against the legislation, and some lawmakers say it will be a burden.

Militarily, rebel fighters in eastern Libya are now effectively back to where they were when Western airstrikes began 12 days ago. Amid the retreat, tense and tired fighters seem unsure of what will come next. One even accused commanders of deceiving them.

When prospective jurors file into a Detroit courthouse next week for the start of a major terrorism trial, all eyes will be on the defendant, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Best known as the "underwear bomber," he plans to represent himself in court. But his behavior before the trial has raised questions about how that will work.