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PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, speaking to NTV about his rule on his 60th birthday. Putin has been ignoring antigovernment protests
That's Meant for Merkel
3 | GREECE
Riot police withstand a spattering of paint during protests in Athens on Oct. 9. The Greek capital was under lockdown in anticipation of a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a champion of tough austerity measures that many Greeks say have devastated their debt-ridden nation. Merkel insisted in Athens that she had faith that the euro-zone countries could work their way out of the crisis; 40,000 Athenians in the streets disagreed.
Courageous Heart
4 | PAKISTAN
The Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting a 14-year-old girl, along with two of her friends, on her way home from school on Oct. 9 in the Swat Valley. It was no accident: the intended victim was Malala Yousafzai, a young activist who had charmed the world with diary dispatches published by the BBC Urdu service when she was 11. She described life under the oppressive shadow of the Taliban and her simple desire to go to school. Yousafzai survived the shooting.
Electoral Goals
5 | GEORGIA
After winning the Oct. 1 parliamentary elections, Georgia's opposition coalition, led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, is set to form a new government--while still sharing power with President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose party was defeated. Ivanishvili is bringing in charisma: Kakha Kaladze, 34, Georgia's most famous soccer star, may be Ivanishvili's Deputy Prime Minister. He's not the only soccer icon to enter politics.
GEORGIA
A classy defender who has won titles across Europe, Kaladze says his new post "is the most important match of my life"
BRAZIL
A diminutive striker who scored a thousand goals, Romrio da Souza Faria, 46, joined the Socialist Party and is one of Brazil's more outspoken Congressmen
UKRAINE
After hanging up his boots this year, Andriy Shevchenko, 35, Ukraine's great captain and top goal scorer, joined a splinter faction of the country's opposition
LIBERIA
Former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah, 46, lost the hard-fought 2005 presidential election to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, now a Nobel laureate
U.S.
5
Minutes an American has to work to afford a beer, according to a new study of median wages and average beer prices across 150 countries. The average for most nations is 20 minutes