Western Africa

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum returns to form, with light and life

2013-05-05 05:30:00

AMSTERDAM — A scrum of international TV reporters, photographers and other media packed the Gallery of Honor at the Rijksmuseum on a recent spring morning, while producers negotiated with publicists for time to shoot spots in front of Rembrandt's...

Illegal great ape trade is more organized, U.N. finds

2013-03-20 14:46:00

A new United Nations report estimates that roughly 3,000 great apes are taken from the wild every year as part of an illegal international trade that is growing increasingly sophisticated. The report, “Stolen Apes,” calls for greater law...

Burkina Faso's film industry reemerges with a populist bent

2013-03-16 09:00:00

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The film festival crowd had filled the last seats in the Cine Neerwaya and, when there was no room left, sat four abreast in the aisles. The opening credits hardly dimmed the buzz in the theater; for those who missed a...

France says it won't negotiate to free kidnapped family

2013-02-26 09:41:00

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The stakes are high for France: the lives of four French children, their parents, a relative and nine other French hostages being held by Al Qaeda-linked militants in Nigeria and Mali. But France, entrenched in a war in...

Nigeria extremists claim responsibility for kidnapping 7 foreigners

2013-02-18 10:29:00

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- An extremist splinter group Monday claimed responsibility for the weekend kidnapping of seven foreigners in northern Nigeria. The group, Ansaru, broke away from the Islamist insurgent organization Boko Haram, which has been...

France, Western allies likely to be mired in Mali for years

2013-01-30 02:00:00

French troops backing a Mali government campaign to retake the northern half of the country from Islamic militants have been cheered as liberators since their convoys rolled into historic Timbuktu this week and hundreds of paratroopers dropped from the...

Timbuktu: Experts fear for ancient papers in historic city

2013-01-28 14:39:00

As the Malian military tried to retake the storied city of Timbuktu from Islamic extremists, scholars feared for the fate of ancient artifacts and mosques that testify to its historic grandeur. Timbuktu has been threatened for months: The city was...

Key city in Mali reportedly falls to French military

2013-01-26 14:00:00

SEGOU, Mali — French and Malian forces on Saturday drove Al Qaeda-linked Islamists out of a key city in northern Mali, a major advance in France’s campaign against insurgents in the West African nation. The French military in Paris announced...

Pentagon planning to ferry more French troops, gear to Mali

2013-01-18 12:20:00

WASHINGTON -- After a weeklong delay while the Obama administration debated whether to assist French forces fighting in Mali, the Pentagon is planning to begin ferrying additional French troops and equipment to the West African nation in coming days...

French troops go on the attack in Mali

2013-01-16 12:52:00

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – French ground forces engaged in combat with Al Qaeda-linked rebels in central Mali on Wednesday, according to French news reports, as the newly deployed troops launched their first ground operation in a battle to oust...

European countries urge citizens to leave Benghazi

2013-01-24 09:20:00

British, Dutch and German officials urged their citizens to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, warning of an impending but undescribed threat. “We are now aware of a specific and imminent threat to Westerners in Benghazi, and urge...

Travel Brazil by bus for a calm and cheerful trip

2013-01-13 00:00:00

S�O PAULO, Brazil — After a few hours, you sink into a pleasant trance. Time no longer matters. You stop checking your phone, if it hasn't already lost its charge. You're comfortable. Your mind settles into the little there is to do — think,...

MAY 14: Actress Angelina Jolie reveals in a New York Times op-ed piece published on May 14, 2013 that she underwent a preventative double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery that was completed on April 27, 2013.

2013-05-14 00:00:00

Dunuya Drum and Dance, a global drumming collective based in Kalamazoo, performed Wednesday at the Petoskey Middle School auditorium.

2013-03-07 00:00:00

A Muslim man stands on the top of the Askia mosque after a prayer in Gao. Chad's President Idriss Deby Itno urged the Malian army and West African force to speed up the deployment of troops to northern Mali to help fight Al-Qaeda-linked rebels.

2013-02-27 00:00:00