World

  A voter casts his ballot at a polling station during Gabon's referendum in Libreville, Nov. 16, 2024. Yaoundé, Cameroon  — Early results indicate a majority of Gabon\'s 860,000 registered voters cast ballots in favor of a new constitution that could end military rule, according to state TV reports. The results of Saturday\'s constitutional referendum could end the transitional military government that ousted the Bongo family dynasty after nearly 60 years of rule. An official tally is expected later. Officials say the adoption of the new constitution is one of the major promises made by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema after seizing power in what Gabon\'s military leaders call a bloodless August 30 coup that liberated...

  FILE - Leader of the M5 movement Choguel Kokalla Maiga, center, speaks to the press in Bamako, Mail, May 28 2021. Bamako, Mali — Mali\'s civilian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga called Saturday on the country\'s military leaders to discuss ending the so-called "transition" period, in a rare criticism of the ruling junta. The country has been ruled by the military since successive coups in 2020 and 2021. In June 2022, the junta pledged to hold elections and hand power back to civilians by the end of March 2024, but then postponed the vote indefinitely. "The Transition was supposed to end on March 26, 2024. But it was postponed indefinitely, unilaterally, without debate within the government," Maiga told supporter...

  Sara the lion cub plays in an apartment where she was sheltered by the rescue group Animals Lebanon in Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 11, 2024. beirut — When Sara first arrived at her rescuers\' home, she was sick, tired, and was covered in ringworms and signs of abuse all over her little furry body. After spending two months in a small Beirut apartment with an animal rights group, the 4-and-half-month-old lion cub arrived Friday at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa after a long journey on a yacht and planes, escaping both Israeli airstrikes and abusive owners. Sara is the fifth lion cub to be evacuated from Lebanon by rescue group Animals Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire a day after the October 7 attack in southern ...

  Fanta Charlotte Dabone, a mother of three who fled her village after it was attacked by extremists, participates in Recreatrales, an international theater festival held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Oct. 28, 2024. OUGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The last three years have been tough for Fanta Charlotte Dabone, a mother of three from the conflict-battered West African country of Burkina Faso. She fled her village after it was attacked by extremists, leaving her husband and her farm behind. Since then, she has been moving from place to place, struggling to pay rent and to buy enough food for her children, including a 2-year-old toddler. But last month, she got to be a queen. Every day for a week, together with dozens of other Burkinabe men and...

  FILE -Two-month-old baby hippo Moo Deng walks at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province, Thailand, Sept. 19, 2024. BANGKOK — In case you can\'t get enough of the little pygmy hippo Moo Deng from Thailand, there\'s now an official song featuring the internet\'s favorite baby animal — released in four languages for her global fans. The upbeat 50-second song Moodeng Moodeng, available in Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese versions, features simple lyrics like "Moo Deng Moo Deng, boing boing boing/ Mommy Mommy, play with me." Its music video consists of short clips of the baby hippo bouncing, playing with her keeper or hanging out with her mom, Jona. The catchy number was produced and written by well-known Thai composer Mue...

  FILE - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 26, 2024. Tehran, Iran — Iran\'s foreign minister said Saturday in an interview that an opportunity exists for nuclear negotiations with the West, but that it is "limited." Abbas Araghchi\'s comments come after the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, visited the Islamic Republic for talks with high-ranking officials. "There is still an opportunity for diplomacy, although this opportunity is not much, it is a limited opportunity," Araghchi said of Iran\'s nuclear program in the interview with state television. The visit by the Int...

  Laura Tarita Rapu Alarcon is seen on the occasion of the return of remains from the Kon-Tiki Museum to Easter Island, in Oslo, Norway, Nov. 12, 2024. (Lise Aserud/NTB/via Reuters) COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Artifacts and human remains taken by a Norwegian explorer and anthropologist in the late 1940s are being returned by a museum in Oslo to Chile\'s remote territory of Easter Island in the mid-Pacific, the Kon-Tiki Museum said Wednesday. In 1947, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed on a log raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove his theory — that the South Sea Islands were settled by seafarers from South America. He brought 5,600 objects back from Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. This is the third time objects tak...

  Dr. Jaafar al Jotheri, shown here Nov. 10, 2024, holds satellite images and explores the site of the Battle of al-Qadisiyah, which was fought in Mesopotamia -- present-day Iraq -- in the 630s AD. BEIRUT — Declassified 1970s-era U.S. spy satellite imagery has led a British-Iraqi archeological team to what they believe is the site of a seventh-century battle that became decisive in the spread of Islam throughout the region. The Battle of al-Qadisiyah was fought in Mesopotamia — in present-day Iraq — in the A.D. 630s between Arab Muslims and the army of the Sassanid Persian dynasty during a period of Muslim expansion. The Arab army prevailed and continued on its march into Persia, now Iran. A joint team of archeologists from the U.K.\'s Du...

  This photo taken on Oct. 8, 2024, shows a woman walking in front Chinese stores in Laos' capital, Vientiane. Vientiane, Laos — Suffocating under a mountain of debt to China, communist Laos is struggling to tame rampant inflation, with food prices rising so sharply that a growing number of households are resorting to foraging. At a market in Vientiane, traders told AFP they have never known business to be so slow, as families have seen the value of their money collapse since COVID-19. While the pandemic and Russia\'s invasion of Ukraine sent prices around the world spiraling, Laos has found itself incapable of putting the brakes on inflation. Prices rocketed 23% in 2022 and 31% last year, while they are on course for 25% this year, ...

  In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian rocket attack in Lviv, Ukraine, Nov. 17, 2024. KYIV, Ukraine — Blasts rang out across Ukraine\'s capital, Kyiv, and other cities early on Sunday, as Russia staged its biggest missile attack since August and targeted power facilities with the winter setting in, officials said. Ukrainians have been bracing for a major attack on the hobbled power system for weeks, fearing crippling damage to the grid that would cause long blackouts and build psychological pressure at a critical moment in the war Russia launched in February 2022. "Another massive attack on the power system is under way. The enemy is attacking electricity generation and transmis...