Nanda Nagar, Uttarakhand, India — Every morning at 8am, Ahamad Hasan pulls up the brown shutter of his dry-cleaning shop on the banks of the Nandakini river, which runs through the remote Himalayan town of Nanda Nagar in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. He neatly hangs dry-cleaned clothes in plastic covers on the pink walls of his shop. Then the 49-year-old waits for customers. Until September 2024,...

The small African nation of Gabon is voting on Saturday in its first executive elections since a military coup in 2023 ended the 50-year dynastic rule of the Bongo political family. Brice Clotaite Oligui Nguema, coup leader-turned-transition president, is the main candidate among four competitors and is widely expected to win the elections, despite controversial reforms he has put into place that experts say were tailored to make...