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.
Nadeen, left, who was waiting for the release of her brother, Ahamd al-Seifi, after he spent 15 years in Israeli jails, is comforted in the West Bank on Feb. 23, 2025, after receiving news that Israel delayed the scheduled Saturday release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Friends of Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov cheer as they gather to watch his release by the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, in Herzilya near Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 22, 2025.
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he arrives for a meeting with European leaders on Ukraine and European security at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Feb. 17, 2025. US President Donald Trump returns to the White House from National Harbor following his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting, Feb. 22, 2025.
According to groups who monitor the situation, Christians continue to face widespread violence at the hands of ISIS affiliate, the ADF, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
France is about to hold its largest-ever child sex abuse trial. While just one man is in the dock — a former surgeon accused of raping or sexual abusing 299 people, mostly child patients — activists hope the trial empowers other victims and helps expose other abusers long protected by societal taboos.
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.
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.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to make Hamas pay "the full price" for what he called a "cruel and wicked violation" of the tenuous Gaza ceasefire agreement after the Israeli and U.S.-designated terrorist group returned the remains of a Gazan woman instead of an Israeli mother taken hostage with her two young children.
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.
Cairo — Optimism in the Arab world that President Trump might bring a permanent end to the war in the Gaza Strip and, with it, stability to the tumultuous Middle East, soared as he was given a lion's share of the credit for ushering in the current ceasefire. But that hope has faded quickly since Mr. Trump suggested a plan to force Gaza's entire population out and to "take over" the decimated Palestinian territory to develop it as a vacation destination.