PHOTOGRAPHS: Flight for Safety

The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop buildup began in February, according to data from humanitarian groups.

SLIDE SHOW: Hurricane Dean Hits Mexico

Hurricane Dean, the most powerful Atlantic storm to hit land since 1988, caused damage in Chetumal, Mexico, before being downgraded to a Category 1.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Purple Hearts

Images of returning Iraq war veterans by the photographer Nina Berman from an exhibit at the Jen Bekman gallery.

SLIDE SHOW: Qing Dynasty Treasures

Images from "Excellence and Elegance: Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth-Century Qing Court" at the Metropolitan Museum.

SLIDE SHOW: Nature's Freaks and Celebrities

Images from Times Square Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium.

SLIDE SHOW: Weekend in Ottawa

The unlikely Canadian capital is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

SLIDE SHOW: José Luis Cuerda's Galicia

The Spanish director bought a crumbling bodega and opened a small winery here after directing two films in the region.

SLIDE SHOW: Bob Cassilly

Images from the artist's project to turn a St. Louis cement factory into a park.

SLIDE SHOW: The Golden Arches Go Upscale

To attract new clientele and more business, McDonald's is going modern in Europe.

SLIDE SHOW: City Room Week in Pictures, Aug. 18-24

The best photographs taken in New York by Times photographers in the past week.

SLIDE SHOW: The Natural Spas in Viterbo, Italy

The countryside around Viterbo is studded with so-called wild spas: natural springs that bubble up and spill into artificial basins in the middle of fields.

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Behind the Facades

The onetime home of gangsters, screen actresses and industrial magnates, this deceptively placid block of town houses on Riverside Drive has a richer-than-normal history. Click on each building for a look back.

SLIDE SHOW: Captain America

Ralph Lauren turned Polo into a $13.5 billion fashion Disney.

SLIDE SHOW: France's Glass House

Images of the Maison de Verre, which has attained cult status in the last decades.

SLIDE SHOW: Taking On Afghanistan's Opium Trade

The United States Agency for International Development is trying to lure farmers in Afghanistan's Helmand Province away from the booming trade in opium poppies.

AUDIO SLIDE SHOW: This Land: Odd Fellows

The International Order of Odd Fellows, a centuries-old fraternal organization, is facing dwindling membership rates.