Photos: Cuba holds May Day celebrations amid US threats
March celebrating International Workers’ Day coincided with announcement of further US sanctions on island.
![Hawa Moalim, 33, fled Wajid in the Bakool region after the drought destroyed her livelihood. She began the journey to Baidoa with her six children and the few goats that had survived, determined to give her family a chance. One by one, the animals died on the road. By the time the family arrived at Wayamo displacement camp two weeks ago, they had nothing left. "We arrived here hoping for help," she says. "But since we came, we have received nothing. There is no food, no water, and no proper shelter." Wayamo displacement camp, Baidoa, Southwest State, Somalia. [Abdulkadir Mohamed/NRC]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/RS34781_DSC09322-1777276775.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
Advertisement
Content Feed
Workers who helped clean up the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster honour their fallen comrades. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Oleksii Lebedynets, 65, served in the military from 1986 to 1991, building fences in contaminated areas. He suffered from headaches for the rest of his life. Returning now, he stopped at Pripyat, the nearby city for Chornobyl's workers, which has been abandoned since the accident. "It's heartbreaking to see Pripyat now," he said. "I remember those houses when they were full of life, and now everything is overgrown and in ruins. It was such a beautiful city." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Stanislav Tolumnyi, 65, left, and Mykola Chudak, 66, walk with fellow workers who helped clean up contamination from the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, in the nearby abandoned town of Prypiat. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Bumper cars sit idle at an overgrown amusement park in Pripyat, Ukraine, a town abandoned following the nearby 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Anatolii Prylipko, 66, first arrived nine days after the accident and drove a fire truck for a month, working two-hour shifts to limit his exposure. He initially was unaware of the risks but suffered a health crisis in 1990 and could not work for a year. Returning now for the first time since that deployment, he found the landscape disorienting, with villages erased and the reactor sealed under protective layers. "Back then, the whole place was packed: machinery, helicopters, they were everywhere," he said. "The road to Kyiv was so crowded you couldn't pass anyone." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Volodymyr Vechirko, 62, one of the workers who helped decontaminate the area around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 accident, rides in a bus with fellow workers for a visit to the region before the 40th anniversary of the disaster in Chornobyl, Ukraine. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
In summer 1986, Anatolii Krutik, 63, was deployed as part of an army battalion to fence off contaminated territory and designate "exclusion zones". He first went to villages in what is now Belarus, which also received heavy radioactive fallout, before he headed to Chornobyl to clean areas around the remaining reactors that were still running. At the time, he said, there was little sense of fear. "No one really thought about it. We didn't know what it was, this invisible enemy," he said, adding his comrades saw it simply as their duty after being mobilised. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Paintings of deer decorate a wall in the abandoned town of Prypiat, Ukraine, near the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Viktor Hluhovtsov, 66, was sent to Ukraine and Belarus, where large areas had to be fenced off due to radiation in the soil and abandoned buildings. With dark humour, he jokes about his many illnesses. "As my wife says, I have a whole bouquet of ailments," he says. After being hospitalised for weeks this year, he recovered and said he hopes to see Ukraine push back the Russian invasion. "The doctors didn't know what to do with me, but thank God I survived," he said. "Now I just hope to live long enough to see the end of this war - long enough to see victory." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Volodymyr Vechirko, 62, was sent to Chornobyl in summer 1986 to clear away topsoil, clean buildings and make the other still-functioning reactors on the site safe. He has been ill for much of his life, which he attributes to working at the disaster site, including chronic dizziness, weakness and frequent pain. Because of his poor health, he said, he lost touch with colleagues from that time. "Being back here now, the emotions are overwhelming," he said. "It's incredibly sad to compare what this place was to what it is now." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
In 1989, Anatolii Taranenko, 62, was a security officer, guarding facilities and abandoned homes. Deployments were short due to radiation, and orders were followed without question. He has returned several times since, despite the grief that accompanies each visit. "Back then, that was just how it was: If you were needed, you went," he said. He said he is still being treated for health problems at a veterans' hospital in Poltava and does his best to stay fit. "We are military people - once a soldier, always a soldier. That's how I live my life. You have to hold yourself together," he said. "You can't just give up." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Serhii Buriak, 60, served in a special Interior Ministry unit in 1988, patrolling Pripyat and nearby areas to guard against looting. His duties included securing abandoned buildings. He said his return visit reconnected him with the sense of duty he felt, while many liquidators still struggle for recognition. "Returning here after 40 years is a massive adrenaline rush for me. It brings back so many memories of my youth and what life was like during those times," he said. "It was important for me to come back to remember those years and to show my son where I fulfilled my duty to my country." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Workers who were sent to clean up contamination from the 1986 Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident pass through a radiation inspection point at the plant in Chornobyl, Ukraine. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Mykola Chudak, 66, a firefighter, served for six months, beginning in November 1986, working within 10km (6 miles) of the plant. He focused not on his own role but on the first responders who acted immediately, saying they prevented a far greater catastrophe, often at the cost of their own lives. His service was extended because of a lack of replacements, and years later, he was forced into early retirement due to disability. For him, Chornobyl carries both personal and national significance. "Ukraine must always be grateful to the heroes of Chornobyl," he said. "Being back here, my first feeling is one of immense gratitude for the sacrifice made by my comrades. In many ways, the independence of Ukraine was born on April 26, 1986, in Chornobyl. Without their heroism, an independent Ukraine might not even exist today." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
Workers who helped clean up contamination from the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident place flowers at a monument at the facility in Chornobyl. [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
From May to September 1986, Oleksii Harbuz, 72, a medical officer and dentist, treated patients while his unit worked on decontamination. He also worked in Belarus, which put him close to the human costs of the disaster. Returning for the first time in decades, he recalled colleagues who have since died and the bonds formed among survivors. "This 40th anniversary represents both a deep tragedy and a vital chance to reunite with my brothers-in-arms," he said. "So many of our colleagues have passed away over the years, but those of us remaining hold on. Being back here for the first time in 40 years is overwhelming. I feel a deep sense of pain, and it brings tears to my eyes. It is good that we can meet like this." [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo]
+12
Mohammed Rashid, alias "Rambo", a pigeon keeper, feeds his birds as he trains them, on the rooftop of a restaurant in the old quarters of Delhi, India. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
A pigeon keeper sits under a net as he feeds and trains his pigeons on the rooftop of his house, in the old quarters of Delhi. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
Azhar Udeen, 30, prepares a mixture of pearl millets to feed his pigeons at his home. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
A pigeon sits on a rooftop in the old quarters of Delhi. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
A pigeon keeper calls his birds back to the rooftop using distinctive sounds as he trains the flock at his house. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
Azhar Udeen shows a pigeon marked with pink colouring on its feathers to differentiate it from other flocks. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
Pigeon keepers and spectators watch the birds in flight as the flocks are tested for distance and their ability to return against the wind, as part of pigeon flying competitions, which, according to the keepers, are held annually. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
A pigeon keeper scares away birds as he trains them on the rooftop of a restaurant. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
A kabootarbaaz stands with a handmade racket used to scare away pigeons while training. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
Abdul Wahid, a pigeon keeper, looks up while searching for pigeons flying overhead outside a house. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
Azhar Udeen covers his terrace with a net before he lets out his new flock of pigeons to train and familiarise them with their new home. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
Pigeons fly over the rooftops of buildings in Old Delhi, India. [Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters]
+8
Displaced people returning to their villages following a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, cross the destroyed Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre city, south Lebanon. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]
Displaced residents wave a flag with the image of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem as they return to their villages, in Zefta, southern Lebanon. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
Residents drive past the rubble of destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs. [Bilal Hussein/AP Photo]
Barber Mohammad Mehdi cuts the hair of his client, Ayman al-Zein, inside his shop, damaged in an Israeli attack that also damaged the latter's shop, in Dahiyeh. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
Displaced residents drive a motorcycle back to their villages following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, in Sidon, Lebanon. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
A displaced woman holding her dog sits in her tent in Beirut, awaiting an official order from Hezbollah to return to her home in south Lebanon. [Hussein Malla/AP Photo]
A man rides a horse past the site of buildings destroyed in an Israeli air attack, in Jebchit, southern Lebanon. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
A resident walks amid debris inside a mosque destroyed in an Israeli attack in Jebchit. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
Two girls chant slogans as one holds an image of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Dahiyeh. [Bilal Hussein/AP Photo]
A Hezbollah health unit member, Ali Fahos, places portraits of his colleagues, killed during the previous war with Israel, next to a building destroyed in an Israeli air attack in Jebchit. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
Displaced residents drive back to their villages following a ceasefire, in Jiyeh, near Sidon. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
A woman enters her house, heavily damaged in an Israeli air raid in Kfar Roumman, southern Lebanon. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
An ambulance belonging to Hezbollah's health unit lies amid the rubble of a medical centre destroyed in an Israeli attack in Jebchit. [Hassan Ammar/AP Photo]
Lebanese Rida Hijazi checks his house damaged in an Israeli air attack in the city of Tyre, southern Lebanon. [Bilal Hussein/AP Photo]
+10
Afghan men draw water from Kunar River to sift through excavated mountainside stones in search of gold nuggets near mud-brick houses at the Kharwalu area of Naray district, Kunar province. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Afghan men carry sacks of excavated mountainside stones before emptying them onto a sieve in search of gold nuggets. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Men pour water over a sieve as they sift through mountainside stones. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Men dig a mountainside and sieve stones in search of gold nuggets along the Kunar riverbed. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
A man digs a mountainside along the Kunar riverbed before sieving stones in search of gold nuggets in the Song area of Ghaziabad district, Kunar province. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Najibullah Hanif, the province's information chief, says locals learned panning techniques from miners arriving from gold-rich provinces. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
"Some started to dig with machines, an excavator; some locals came and asked the Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) to stop them because it destroys the river and the mountains," said Hanif. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Hanif estimates that thousands in Kunar now pan for gold using traditional methods sanctioned by authorities. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Afghanistan's mineral wealth has increasingly attracted both domestic and international investors, with Taliban authorities actively promoting mining operations throughout the country. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Afghan men use traditional gold-panning methods to sort gold nuggets extracted from mountainside stones along the Kunar riverbed. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
+6
Sudanese teachers who fled to Goudrane refugee camp have set up a school under the trees, offering children education and a break from often deeply traumatic memories. The schools that do exist in the camp run double shifts but still hold 100 to 200 pupils per classroom. Across Sudan, Chad and South Sudan, only 45 percent of displaced children have regular access to education; in Chad, family separation nearly doubles the risk of child labour. Goudrane refugee camp, eastern Chad [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Sudanese families embark on arduous journeys across the Sudanese border into eastern Chad, travelling on foot for two weeks or more. They navigate checkpoints and traverse open terrain, with adults carrying children on their backs and bringing minimal possessions. Chad has become the primary host country in the region for Sudanese refugees, sheltering more than 1.3 million people (UNHCR, April 2026). Women and children comprise more than 90 percent of those who have arrived since April 2023. Wadi Fira, eastern Chad. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Every day, trucks arrive at the transit centre in Renk, Upper Nile State, the primary entry point for most refugees crossing from Sudan into South Sudan. Since April 2023, more than one million people have sought refuge in South Sudan, fleeing the ongoing conflict in Sudan (UNHCR). The Renk transit centre, originally designed to accommodate just 4,000 individuals, reached a peak occupancy of more than 23,000 people. Renk transit centre, South Sudan. [Richard Ashton/NRC]
Amona's 25-day journey from Khartoum to West Darfur came after a harrowing escape. "We fled our homes with nothing," she says. "Our houses were locked behind us, full of our belongings. We fled the shelling and gunfire, with bombs falling directly on our homes. One of them hit our neighbour's house while they were inside, and no one made it out alive." Now in West Darfur, Sudan, she must walk an hour each way to collect water in small jerrycans that provide just enough for basic cooking and drinking needs. Touloum refugee camp, eastern Chad. [Ahmed Ahmed/NRC]
Kuich, 45, originally from Malakal, was forced to flee Sudan with his five children after losing his wife in crossfire. Among the hundreds of thousands crossing into South Sudan, many are returnees - people coming back to a country they had previously fled, often landless and with family members lost or separated during their journey. For many, the transit centre in Renk has transformed from a temporary stop into a permanent home. Renk transit centre, South Sudan. [Richard Ashton/NRC]
Zaynab Ibrahim Hamed, formerly an Arabic teacher in Sudan, now resides alone in a modest shelter at Touloum refugee camp. The war killed her father and led to her brothers' disappearance. Her remaining family members are scattered - some in Chad, some in Sudan, while the whereabouts of others remain unknown. "Life in Sudan was good," she says. "We had a house, a car, jobs. But then the war came and life became a battle to survive." In eastern Chad's Touloum refugee camp, ninety percent of households headed by women have no source of income. Touloum refugee camp, eastern Chad. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Muktar Ahmed, forced from his home in el-Fasher, now finds refuge near the Chad-Sudan border, witnessing his children's education slip away. "My children were going to school in Sudan, but it was destroyed," he explains. "It is difficult to learn on an empty stomach." Throughout Sudan, Chad and South Sudan, merely 45 percent of displaced children receive consistent educational opportunities, while almost one in five has been completely cut off from learning. Chad-Sudan border area. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Nafisa Taha Mohammed, 45, reached Thobo camp on January 27, 2026, having fled Kadugli on foot two days earlier with her husband and their 12-year-old son. The family was forced to sell their clothing to buy food during their initial days at the camp. "We need everything here and we're barely getting anything," she says. Located in Sudan's Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan, Thobo camp has become a refuge for families displaced by renewed military conflict in Kadugli that erupted in late 2025. Thobo camp, South Kordofan, Sudan. [Karl Schembri/NRC]
Awatif Bahar Mohamed escaped el-Fasher following the murder of her husband and eldest son. On her journey to Chad, armed groups stripped her of all possessions. She reached Goudrane camp with just a single blanket to share among four people. Her surviving son had managed to earn modest income by assisting newcomers with shelter construction, but this work has since disappeared. "We are hungry," she explains, "but we are patient with the hunger. What is good is that there are no bombardments." Goudrane camp, eastern Chad. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
An elderly man departs from the distribution point at Umdulu camp, South Kordofan, carrying his food ration: White beans, sorghum, and salt. Since fighting intensified in late 2025, the camp has primarily received families escaping from Kadugli. Across the region, almost 75 percent of displaced households lack any form of income. Food distributions have become the sole barrier protecting many families from starvation. Umdulu Camp, South Kordofan, Sudan. [Karl Schembri/NRC]
Amina fled Khartoum with her four children after her husband vanished during the conflict's initial days. For two weeks, she journeyed on foot, concealing herself at checkpoints and traveling under cover of darkness until reaching the Nuba Mountains - a region already struggling to accommodate countless displaced families. By observing others, she constructed a shelter and sacrificed her own food portions to feed her children. When a modest cash transfer finally arrived months later, she invested in sorghum seeds for planting and several chickens. South Kordofan, Sudan. [Mathilde Vu/NRC]
Local responders, with NRC's support, provide porridge to children and sorghum with beans to adults at Thobo camp's reception area. Throughout Sudan and Chad, approximately one in three aid recipients continue to share their limited resources with others - whether neighbours, strangers, or anyone arriving with less (NRC survey, April 2026). For three years, this grassroots solidarity has served as the unseen foundation of humanitarian response. Thobo Camp, South Kordofan, Sudan. [Karl Schembri/NRC]
Children gather at a water point in Goz al-Salam camp. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan has reached critical levels, with more than 80 percent of displaced families now skipping meals to survive. Alarmingly, 18 percent of households have been forced to send their children to work. Across the border in Chad, one in four women lacks access to any toilet or latrine facilities, subjecting them to harassment and violence during their extended journeys to find water. The trauma and hardships these children are experiencing will leave lasting impacts that will continue long after this conflict ends. Goz al-Salam camp, Kosti, White Nile State, Sudan. [Ahmed Elsir/NRC]
Om Bakheeta Siddiq welcomed displaced families into her home in Um Hani village for three years, providing them with beds, mattresses, food, and water until roads reopened and they could finally return home. "When I see someone struggling, I give without expecting anything in return," she says. "When these people came to us, they were already like family." After enduring four displacements, nearly two-thirds of people report being completely exhausted with no resources remaining. Um Hani village, Sudan. [Elias Abu Ata/NRC]
Thuraya Hamad al-Nil fled Khartoum to find refuge in Fangooga, where the local community embraced her, providing shelter and crucial support during her most difficult months. She participated in agricultural activities, acquiring new skills she intends to apply upon returning home. The community fostered inclusion by organizing shared iftars during Ramadan. "These moments helped me feel included and reduced the sense of displacement," she says. Though the local community has been generous, external aid remains minimal in Fangooga, Sudan. [Elias Abu Ata/NRC]
In Tawila, North Darfur, displaced residents with barely any resources are preparing meals for those in even more desperate circumstances. Camp committees composed of locals are carefully managing the limited water supplies available. No official infrastructure maintains this system - only individuals who have chosen not to turn a blind eye to others' suffering. According to NRC's survey, approximately one-third of aid recipients across Sudan and Chad continue sharing their provisions with others, despite their own dwindling supplies. Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan. [Marwan Mohammed/NRC]
Abulay Jerema Osman oversees a well situated at a 20-minute walk from Goudrane refugee camp, serving both livestock and displaced persons. "Many refugees are coming from the camp to this well. Here they can take the water freely. We are happy the refugees can get safety here in Chad. They are our guests." However, he speaks candidly about the constraints: "The international community needs to help Chad support the refugees. The situation for the refugees here is very tough." Outside Goudrane refugee camp, eastern Chad. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
A man passes a makeshift stall offering toothbrushes, a tin of juice, and small food packets at Renk transit centre. With virtually no formal employment available, many displaced individuals in Renk must resort to selling whatever items they can to survive. South Sudan has absorbed more than one million people fleeing Sudan's war (UNHCR), creating an overwhelming burden on a nation already struggling with its own severe humanitarian crisis. Nearly 75 percent of displaced households in the region have no source of income. Renk transit centre, South Sudan. [Richard Ashton/NRC]
+14
A woman rides a bicycle past murals depicting the late football star Diego Maradona in his hometown neighbourhood of Villa Fiorito, in Buenos Aires province, Argentina [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
Alejandro, a volunteer, prepares meat for a stew for neighbours in need at the yard of the childhood home of the late football star Diego Maradona, now transformed into a soup kitchen. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
A man touches a mural depicting the late football star Diego Maradona. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
Cook Maria Torres prepares a stew for neighbours in need at the yard of the childhood home of the late football star. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
People line up to receive food outside the yard of the childhood home of the late football star Diego Maradona. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
The second trial over the death of football star Diego Maradona begins on Tuesday, after the first one, which took place last year, was annulled when it was discovered that one of the judges was taking part in a clandestine documentary about the proceedings. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
Alejandro, a volunteer, prepares a stew for neighbours in need at the yard of the childhood home of the late football star Diego Maradona, now transformed into a soup kitchen, in Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires province. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
People line up to receive food at the yard of the childhood home of the late football star. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
Diego Maradona would be happy, his fans say. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
A man sits in front of a mural depicting late football star Diego Maradona and reading in Spanish "Fiorito city of God", at the yard of the childhood home of the late football star Diego Maradona. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
Father Leonardo Torres, instrumental in establishing the soup kitchen, recalls Maradona's stories about his mother, Dalma "Tota" Franco, sacrificing her own meals so he could eat. [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
"Diego said that his mother would pretend her stomach hurt so he could eat," Father Leonardo Torres recounted. "We want many 'Totas' and many 'Diegos' to leave here with a full stomach." [Tomas Cuesta/AFP]
+8
Kafat Abdulhakem loops a bundle of thread used in making aso-oke, a handwoven fabric indigenous to the Yoruba ethnic group, in her home workshop in Iseyin, Nigeria. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Waliu Fransisco separates tangled thread used for aso-oke, a handwoven fabric indigenous to the Yoruba ethnic group. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
While many weavers in Iseyin are middle-aged men, younger artisans like Fransisco are joining the trade, introducing fresh ideas and skills. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Some collaborate with graphic artists to develop innovative designs. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
A man dips thread into a starch gel to bind and strengthen fabric while making aso-oke. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Despite increasing demand, the craft remains rooted in traditional methods. Attempts to mechanise production have been limited or unsuccessful. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
"If you use a machine to weave aso-oke, it won't come out as nice as if it was handwoven," explains Kareem Adeola while working on a yellow-and-olive piece. "People have tried it before, and it did not work. It is meant by God to be handwoven." [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Adhering to traditional weaving techniques causes physical strain and health risks from prolonged sitting, but weavers insist this painstaking process defines the fabric's authenticity. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Once worn exclusively by Nigeria's wealthy and ruling class for special occasions, aso-oke now appears in designer studios across major cities, on London and Paris runways, and transformed into shoes, bags, and purses. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
"It is no longer reserved for special occasions," notes Isiaq Yahaya, a 45-year-old mathematician. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Kareem Adeola creates aso-oke at a weaving workshop in Iseyin. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
"There is nothing wrong with your culture being worn by other people," says Ayomitide Okungbaye, the 31-year-old creative director of Lagos-based Tide Chen, who has exhibited aso-oke designs in London. "Where we start to have a problem is when there's misappropriation or people start to claim ownership." [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Designers acknowledge that aso-oke's growing international exposure has elevated it to global status but also raised concerns about cultural ownership. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
Meanwhile, adire, another Yoruba fabric produced using tie-dye techniques, already faces challenges from Chinese counterfeiting. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
People arrange finished aso-oke in a store in Iseyin. [Toyin Adedokun/AFP]
+11
Police have arrested hundreds of people during a mass vigil in central London opposing the government's ban on the campaign group Palestine Action. [Carlos Jasso/AFP]
More than 1,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square for the demonstration on April 11, 2026, with many holding signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” [Carlos Jasso/AFP]
Protesters call for the lifting of the ban on the Palestine Action group, which the High Court has struck down, ruling that it violates free speech protections. [Carlos Jasso/AFP]
Police removed numerous demonstrators in central London, including an elderly man in a wheelchair and an elderly woman using walking sticks, both of whom were escorted away by officers. [Carlos Jasso/AFP]
One demonstrator told Al Jazeera he was taking part in the vigil because he “believed in the democracy”. “I think Britain has now descended into a nondemocratic situation, and I think that is very dangerous [for] free speech,” he added. [Jack Taylor/Reuters]
Defend Our Juries, a United Kingdom-based activist group that organised the protest, demanded that the government lift the ban on Palestine Action and drop all charges and investigations into those who have been arrested under the Terrorism Act for allegedly supporting the campaigners. [Carlos Jasso/AFP]
The group said it’s also protesting against the Metropolitan Police’s U-turn on its policy to arrest people who show support for Palestine Action after the government appealed the High Court ruling. [Carlos Jasso/AFP]
Palestine Action is a direct action group that says it wants to end British complicity in Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians. [Jack Taylor/Reuters]
Parliament voted to ban Palestine Action in July 2025 by a vote of 385-26 after the government tabled a draft order to amend the Terrorism Act 2000 to do so. [Jack Taylor/Reuters]
London's Metropolitan Police said in a post on X that people were arrested in London for showing support for a "proscribed organisation". [Jack Taylor/Reuters]
+6
The NASA Artemis II crew, from left, mission specialist Christina Koch, mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover, front, pose for a group photo inside the Orion spacecraft on their way home. [NASA/Handout via Reuters]
The Orion spacecraft with Artemis II crew members aboard approaches the surface of the Pacific Ocean for splashdown off the coast of California. [Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP Photo]
The Artemis II Orion capsule splashes down in the Pacific Ocean. [NASA via AP Photo]
US Navy divers prepare to deploy in small boats from the well deck of USS John P Murtha to recover the Artemis II astronauts. [Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP Photo]
Recovery teams work to secure the Orion spacecraft carrying Artemis II crew members after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. [Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP Photo]
People wait for a glimpse of the return of NASA's Artemis II along the beach in Coronado, California. [Gregory Bull/AP Photo]
Astronaut Victor Glover, the Artemis II pilot, walks off the flight deck after arriving on board USS John P Murtha after he and fellow crewmates were extracted from their Orion spacecraft after splashdown. [Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP Photo]
Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen sits in a Navy MH-60 Seahawk on the flight deck of USS John P Murtha affter splashdown. [Bill Ingalls/NASA/AP Photo]
Astronauts Victor Glover and Christina Koch sit on a Navy MH-60 Seahawk on the flight deck of USS John P Murtha after splashdown. [Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP Photo]
Astronaut Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, is assisted off the flight deck after arriving on board the USS John P Murtha. [Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP Photo]
Crowds watch the Artemis II Orion capsule splash down off the coast of San Diego at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego, California. [Arafat Barbakh/Reuters]
International Space Station crew members, NASA astronauts Chris Williams, Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir, and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, try to view the Artemis II crew's re-entry to Earth from the cupola on the ISS, in this picture released on April 10, 2026. [Jessica Meir on board via X/Handout via Reuters]
+8
Palestinians pray over the body of Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Wishah, who was killed in an Israeli drone strike on his vehicle, during his funeral outside Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, the central Gaza Strip, on April 9, 2026. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Rida Daher grieves at the funeral of her son-in-law, Samer al-Fasis, killed in an Israeli military strike, in Khan Younis, Gaza, on March 29, 2026. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across the Gaza City seafront, on March 25, 2026. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A boy pushes a bicycle carrying jugs of water through a sandstorm in Khan Younis on March 14, 2026. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Mourners carry the bodies of two Palestinian policemen killed in an Israeli strike, during their funeral in Khan Younis on March 14, 2026. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Members of the al-Najar family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City, on March 13, 2026. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
Gaza's civil defence teams work to recover the remains of members of the Abu Nada family, who were buried beneath the rubble of their four-storey house after it was destroyed by an Israeli strike in December 2023, in Gaza City, on February 9, 2026. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
Smoke and flames rise from an Israeli military strike on a building in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, on Feburary 6, 2026. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
Khadija Abu Rabi mourns over the body of her son, Iyad, three, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip, on Febuary 2, 2026. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
Mourners carry the body of Abd Shaat, one of the three Palestinian journalists killed in an Israeli strike on an Egyptian committee's vehicle, during his funeral in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip, on January 22, 2026. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Palestinians inspect damaged tents at a displacement camp following an Israeli strike in Gaza City, on January 9, 2026. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
Palestinians stand beside a tent set up on the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli air and ground operations in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City on December 30, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Palestinians struggle to receive donated food at a community kitchen in Nuseirat, the central Gaza Strip, on December 17, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Bodies of unidentified Palestinians returned from Israel as part of the ceasefire deal are buried in Deir el-Balah, the Gaza Strip, on November 23, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
Displaced Palestinians ride donkey carts loaded with belongings past destroyed buildings in Gaza City, on October 11, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
+11
