A car burns at the site of an explosion in Ashrafieh, east Beirut, Lebanon. A huge car bomb exploded in a street in central Beirut during rush hour, killing at least eight people and wounding about 80, witnesses and officials said. (Reuters)

A riot policeman runs across a street in front of a coconut barricade, placed there by protesters, during a riot in Zanzibar. Muslim protesters clashed with police in the Tanzanian capital and the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, raising religious tensions in the secular east African country. (Reuters)

Residents swim in the Indian Ocean waters near the ruined buildings at Lido beach, north of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Lido beach was a famous attraction before Somalia tumbled into chaos in 1991 with the ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. In the last few years, the beach was a frontline for the Islamist al Shabaab militants, who later withdrew from most parts of Mogadishu. (Reuters)

President Barack Obama, left, and Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, right, laugh with Cardinal Timothy Dolan during the Archdiocese of New York’s 67th Annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, October 18, 2012. (AP)

Srirang Sataporn of Thailand takes part in the Fly Board World Championship qualifier in Doha, Qatar. (Reuters)

San Francisco 49ers running back Kendall Hunter (L) is tackled near the goal line by Seattle Seahawks’ Bobby Wagner, setting up a 49ers field goal, during their NFL football game in San Francisco, California, October 18, 2012. (Reuters)

A model displays a creation of designer Yasutaka Funakoshi’s Japanese fashion brand ‘Alice Auaa’ at the ‘Alice In Wonderland In Me’ fashion show in Tokyo, Japan. (Reuters)

View of the Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA (Reuters)

Devotees of Ban Tha Rua Chinese shrine stand amidst exploding firecrackers during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand. The festival celebrates the local Chinese community’s belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Reuters)