DARVESHAN, Afghanistan — The threat of buried homemade bombs, coupled with an often unforgiving terrain and a counterinsurgency agenda that requires regular presence among Afghans, is forcing U.S. Marines to take on Taliban fighters by foot.

PETEN, Guatemala — Like thousands of other peasant farmers, Pedro Jaime Neves fled strife in his home village during Guatemala’s civil war in favor of a wide tract of land here.

DOBROVO, Slovenia — Among the verdant, grape-laden lands that have been suggested as the next big destination for travelers in search of la dolce vita.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The pulse of dance-club music plays like a jungle beat, as thumping bass notes flirt with flashing lights, liquor and ecstasy of the pharmaceutical kind.

TOKYO — The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has won a historic landslide victory while the Liberal Democratic Party — which had ruled for over half a century almost uninterrupted — suffered a crushing defeat, losing nearly two-thirds of its seats in the House of Representatives.