Encroaching desert threatens to swallow Mauritania's homes, history
Voice of America
Students talk in Chinguetti, Mauritania, Feb. 4, 2025. Books line the shelves of one of the libraries in Chinguetti, Mauritania, Feb. 3, 2025. Sand surrounds a hut in Chinguetti, Mauritania, Feb. 4, 2025. A child rides his bike in Chinguetti, Mauritania, Feb. 4, 2025. Animals roam near homes surrounded by sand in Chinguetti, Mauritania, Jan. 13, 2025. Farmer Med Mahmoud works in his palm tree farm in Chinguetti, Mauritania, Feb. 4, 2025.
For centuries, poets, scholars and theologians have flocked to Chinguetti, a trans-Saharan trading post home to more than a dozen libraries containing thousands of manuscripts.
Dana Shem Tov, sister of Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, reacts as she watches his televised release by Hamas militants at the family home in Tel Aviv on Feb. 22, 2025. A woman mourns at a memorial for deceased hostages Shiri Bibas, her two children, Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz at “Hostages Square,” while Israelis gather while waiting for the release of six hostages in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 22, 2025. Omer Wenkert, a hostage held in Gaza since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, is escorted by Hamas militants as he is released in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, on Feb. 22, 2025.
A mahout sprays water over elephants during their daily bath in a river, at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala on Feb. 16, 2025 as Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary. Tourists take pictures as elephants return to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage after taking their daily bath in a river in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025. Elephants stroll across the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 16, 2025.
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A poster shows pictures of the Bibas family, top row from second left: Yarden, Shiri, and their sons Ariel and Kfir, who were kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Feb. 21, 2025. Words above read, '37 members of Kibbutz Nir Oz are still missing.' Palestinian Hamas militants and people gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 20, 2025.
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A poster shows Shiri Bibas, who was kidnapped to Gaza with her husband and two young sons on Oct. 7, 2023, in Jerusalem, Feb. 21, 2025. Palestinian militants and members of the Red Cross gather near vehicles on the day Hamas hands over deceased Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 20, 2025. People react at the so-called "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 20, 2025, as the bodies of four people, including two children, are handed over by Hamas to the Red Cross in Gaza.
In this photo provided by the Australian Defense Force, the People's Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang travels in the Torres Strait off Australia's coast, on Feb. 11, 2025.
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