Turkey votes Sunday in a momentous election that could extend President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 20-year grip on power or put the mostly Muslim nation on a more secular course.. The 69-year-old has steered the nation of 85 million through one of its most transformative and divisive eras in the post-Ottoman state's 100-year history.
Ghana's largest opposition party chose the country's ex-president John Dramani Mahama as its flagbearer Sunday for the 2024 presidential election.. Mahama had already been tipped by most political analysts to win the primary, based on his experience and influence in the opposition party.
Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan called for nationwide "freedom" protests on Sunday, after his brief arrest and detention last week triggered deadly unrest.. He called for his supporters to hold protests "at the end of your streets and villages" across the country on Sunday, and announced a return to campaigning on Wednesday for immediate elections.
From their vantage point in cranes overlooking the Panama Canal, operators scrutinize the century-old walls of one of its locks as the high-pitched siren of a merchant ship resonates from nearby.. Working between the high concrete walls and the enormous gates, amid residual puddles of water and the echoing thrum of huge water pumps, the maintenance team takes advantage of a temporary halt in traffic to renovate facilities that are over a century old.
"Captain, bring your boat closer," shouts an Ecuadoran naval officer aboard a launch patrolling the Gulf of Guayaquil on a route traffickers use to ferry drugs to the high seas.. "This is a routine inspection," the naval officer shouts, as his rifle-bearing colleagues check the crew's documents and crates on the small boat.
Thailand votes Sunday in an election that could see pro-democracy opposition parties oust the conservative military-backed government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha after almost a decade in power.. In the controversial last election in 2019, Prayut rode senate support to become prime minister at the head of a complex multi-party coalition.
The Simseks have spent months huddling in tents next to their old home, laid to waste by Turkey's catastrophic quake.. Mehmet, a man in his 30s who lives with his wife in a tent near the Simseks, thinks Erdogan's commitment to build homes is part of a "strategy" to deflect blame for his government's initial failings.
With tough new asylum rules in place, many migrants on the US-Mexico border were seeking legal routes Saturday to enter the United States, despite warnings of a chaotic surge in crossings.. So far the surge failed to materialize, though thousands of migrants had tried to enter the United States in the days leading up to the rule changes.
Thai opposition leaders toured Bangkok in open-top jeeps Saturday in a final-day bid to woo voters, urging them to turn out in force to oust the military-backed government.. MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat made his own push on an open-top truck tour Saturday, rallying support through a loudhailer.
Nine Nepalis reached the summit of Mount Everest on Saturday, opening the route for hundreds of climbers expected to scale the world's highest mountain in the coming weeks.. Early Friday, a trail of headlights snaked up Everest's Khumbu icefall as hundreds followed the footsteps of the rope-fixing team to try to reach the summit in the coming days.
