Boats are anchored to block traffic on the banks of the River Buriganga in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Police stepped up security in the capital after the main Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its key Islamist ally Jammat-e-Islami called for an anti-government protest demanding an independent caretaker government oversee elections. (AP)

Former Taliban militants line up with their weapons to attend a joining ceremony with the Afghan government in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul. About 200 former Taliban militants from the province handed over weapons as part of a peace-reconciliation program. (AP)

A Pakistani health worker gives polio drops to an infant in Lahore. Pakistani officials vow to eradicate polio by the end of 2012. Polio remains endemic in four countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. (AP)

A Tibetan woman beats a portrait of Chinese President Hu Jintao during a protest to commemorate Tibetan Women's Uprising Day, in New Delhi, India. On March 12, 1959, thousands of women gathered in Lhasa to protest against the Chinese government but the protest was put down. (AP)

A student walks along a wooden plank at a construction site in Ayutthaya, Thailand, where workers are raising the school cabins by about 4 meters above ground to avoid potential floods. (Reuters)

People follow the casket of Franco Lamolinara prior to his funeral in the northern Italian town of Gattinara. Lamolinara, an engineer who was working in Nigeria when he was kidnapped along with a British colleague in May, was slain during a botched British-Nigerian rescue attempt. (AP)

A Volkswagen New Beetle, left, and a Up!, right, car are lifted inside a delivery tower after the company's annual press conference in Wolfsburg, Germany. (AP)

Italian gymnast Vanessa Ferrari attends a training session in Brescia to prepare for the Olympics. (Reuters)