Compton’s Cowboys

Photos by Richard Vogel Long before NWA put the place on the map as the birthplace of gangsta rap and its streets echoed with the sounds of drive-by gunfire, Compton was a cowboy town. And it still is.

Colombia’s Rebel Portraits

Photos by Fernando Vergara Traveling deep inside the jungle after a daylong boat journey, I arrived with trepidation and mistrust at the secret camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

After 15 Years, Last Artifacts of 9/11 Have Been Given Away

Behind the barbed wire, the white minivan’s busted windows and crumpled roof hint at its story. But forklifted to this windblown spot on the John F. Kennedy International Airport tarmac, between a decommissioned 727 and an aircraft hangar, it’s doubtful passing drivers notice it at all.

Hajj Pilgrimage 2016

Photos by Nariman El-Mofty Muslim pilgrims have begun arriving at the holiest sites in Islam ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, with some weeping with their hands outstretched for a fleeting touch of the Kaaba.

The Last Lightkeeper

Photos by Elise Amendola The nation’s first and oldest lighthouse station and its unique keeper are celebrating a milestone.

Venezuela Pets Go Hungry As Economic Crisis Deepens

Photos by Fernando Llano, Text by Fabiola Sanchez Carlos Parra used to love waking up to see his pet albino boxer, Nina.

Colombia Rebels At Ease

Photographs by Fernando Vergara It could be a sandlot soccer field almost anywhere in rural Colombia: flattened earth carved from the jungle with lopsided goalposts made of tree trunks painted the colors of the country’s flag.

Nigeria’s Subversive Love Stories

Photos by Sunday Alabama Nestled among vegetables, plastic kettles and hand-dyed fabric in market stalls are the signs of a feminist revolution: Piles of poorly printed books by women that advocate forcefully against conservative Muslim traditions such as child marriage and quick divorce.

Surfing in Rio’s Slums

Photos by Felipe Dana Eric Marques walks down a steep labyrinth of dark alleyways on this hillside slum long controlled by drug gangs and off-limits to outsiders.

Black Police Recruit Hopes to Shatter Perceptions

Photos by Jae C. Hong Renata Phillip was 11 years into a satisfying teaching career when she shocked her friends and family last August by deciding to make a drastic career change: become a police officer.

Africa’s Yellow Fever Outbreak

Photos by Jerome Delay The World Health Organization and its partners shipped more than 6 million yellow fever vaccines to Angola in February to quash an emerging epidemic, yet when they asked country officials the following month what happened to the vaccines, they discovered that about 1 million doses had mysteriously disappeared.

Gaza Strip Wedding

Photos by Khalil Hamra Like dozens of other couples who got married this summer in the isolated Gaza Strip, for Saed and Falasteen Abu Aser, their wedding was an elaborately planned celebration, complete with a procession through the streets of their neighborhood.

In Brazil’s Amazon, Worship with Psychedelic Tea

Photos by Eraldo Peres Canoes slide through a narrow river, dodging branches and trees for more than four hours to reach a tiny village deep in the Amazon jungle of western Brazil.

Mexico’s Firefly Sanctuary

Photos by Rebecca Blackwell In the village of Nanacamilpa, tiny fireflies are helping save the towering pine and fir trees on the outskirts of the megalopolis of Mexico City.

Sri Lanka To Protect Mangroves

Photos by Eranga Jayawardena Sri Lanka’s government and environmentalists are working to protect tens of thousands of acres of mangrove forests — the seawater-tolerant trees that help protect and build landmasses, absorb carbon from the environment and reduce the impact of natural disasters like tsunamis.

In Rio’s Slums, Gangs, Drugs, Murders Carry the Day

Push to Create Utah Monument

Photos by Rick Bowmer Laminated sheets of papers held in place by rocks rest inside ancient cliff dwellings nestled underneath a spectacular red rock overhang in southeastern Utah.

China’s Changing Sports Culture

Photos by Ng Han Guan In a room full of bright-colored cubes and giant mattresses, giggling children climb bars, try somersaults and walk gingerly on a low balance beam.

Life on the Line in Venezuela

Photos by Ariana Cubillos The people waiting for hours in front of the drugstore were dazed with heat and boredom when the gunmen arrived.

Bolivia’s Donkey Milk

Photos by Juan Karita The cold cuts to the bone and little puffs of steam escape from the mouths of people stopping on their walk to work to drink a glass of fresh donkey milk, believing it will fight respiratory problems during the raw winter of the Bolivian Andes.

Muslims Celebrate Eid, Marking Ramadan’s End

Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday, a time for family and feasting, to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan and its daytime fasting.

Fidel Castro’s Home

Photos by Ramon Espinosa At the end of a dirt road lined with fields of sugar cane, royal palms and tropical fruit trees, a cluster of wooden houses painted in brilliant yellow, blue and white draws thousands of Cuban and international tourists a year.

Tourism in Peru’s Shanty Town

Photos by Rodrigo Abd Shacks cling precariously to sandy hillsides. The flat roofs of board-and-tin hovels stretch as far as the eye can see on treeless moonscapes.

Paraguay’s Caimans

Photos by Jorge Saenz Dozens of caimans are on the verge of death because of a harsh drought that has hit a wide desert zone of Paraguay known as the Chaco Boreal.

No Food, No Teachers, Violence in Failing Venezuela Schools

Photos by Ariana Cubillos Maria Arias slipped her notebooks into her backpack, scrounged for a banana to share with her brother and sister, and set off for high school through narrow streets so violent taxis will not come here for any price.

Britain EU Immigration

Photos by Matt Dunham On a clear day, the coast of France is visible from Dover’s famous white cliffs, and they provided a vital vantage point for the early spotting of German bombers heading toward London during World War II.

Tubman Town

Photos by Mike Groll Harriet Tubman’s upcoming debut on the $20 bill is just half the good news in the upstate New York town where the Underground Railroad conductor settled down and grew old.

Patchy Reporting Undercuts National Hate Crimes Count

The knock on the door, strong and quick, jolted Barbara Hicks Collins awake.

2 Judo Athletes From Congo Hope to Make Refugee Olympic Team

Photos by Felipe Dana For the first time, one of the teams competing in the Olympic Games will be made up of refugees who hail from different countries they no longer call home.

Spanish Boxing Coach, 84, Vows To Keep Going

Photos by Francisco Seco At 84, Manolo del Rio is something of a legend in Spanish boxing, having spent more than 65 years training some of the country’s best fighters and still pledging to keep on until he drops.

The ‘Untouchables’ of Yemen Caught in Crossfire of War

Photos by Hani Mohammed They are Yemen’s untouchables.

For Asylum Seekers, Dutch Prisons Feel Like Home

Photos by Muhammed Muheisen With crime declining in the Netherlands, the country is looking at new ways to fill its prisons.

Hotel Bees

Photos by Eric Risberg At the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, there are more than 370 rooms inside and 100,000 bees buzzing above in rooftop hives outside.

The Ballad of Trayvon Martin

Photos by Matt Slocum Trayvon Martin has often been in the thoughts of playwright and activist Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj in the four years since the 17-year-old unarmed black boy was shot and killed after a confrontation with neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

Israel’s Golan Cowboys

Photos by Ariel Schalit With his wide-brimmed hat, Wrangler jeans and ornate belt buckle, Yehiel Alon could easily pass for one of the Montana ranchers he once worked with.

Fragments of Shattered Lives After Ecuador Quake

Photographs by Rodrigo Abd and Dolores Ochoa The dreams, plans and even the lives of hundreds of families were shattered in one moment — 6:58 p.m. on April 16 — when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake rocked the central coast of Ecuador.

Tornado Outbreak, 5 Years Later: Piecing Lives Back Together

On April 27, 2011, a series of tornadoes killed hundreds of people, injured thousands and reduced countless buildings to rubble across a swath of the U.S.

Chernobyl’s Children

Photos by Mstyslav Chernov Viktoria Vetrova knows the risk her four children take in drinking milk from the family’s two cows and eating dried mushrooms and berries from the forest.

Photographer’s View of Young Nepal Quake Victims’ Friendship

Photos by Niranjan Shrestha Associated Press photographer Niranjan Shrestha chronicled the lives of two young Nepal earthquake victims for several months after the April 25, 2015, disaster.

30 Years of Photographing Chernobyl

Efrem Lukatsky, a Kiev-based photographer for The Associated Press, recalls the confusion and anxiety of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion, the world’s worst nuclear accident.

Ballooning Over Luxor, Egypt

Photos by Amr Nabil They take off at first light, reinforced wicker baskets filled with people, heading into the skies over Luxor, Egypt.

Prison Mentors

Photos by Gerald Herbert A maximum-security prison in Louisiana once notorious for its violence is experimenting with a novel way to keep criminals out of trouble: Murderers and other “lifers” are now mentors, teaching job skills and morals to nonviolent offenders, preparing them for another shot at freedom.

Forensic Vets Battle Pet Abuse

Photos by Bebeto Matthews The cocker spaniel arrives at the animal hospital with a police officer, whimpering and shaking.

In Peru Highlands, Support for Fujimori’s Daughter Runs Deep

Photos by Rodrigo Abd This remote hamlet high in the Peruvian Andes is nearly drained of color, save for the bright orange campaign signs plastered on walls and houses promoting presidential hopeful Keiko Fujimori.

Program Helps Atlanta Police Officers Buy Homes in the City

Photos by David Goldman A new program helps Atlanta police officers achieve the dream of home ownership while at the same time aiming to increase police visibility and improve engagement between officers and the community.

Syria Refugees Beg for a Living on Beirut Streets

Photos by Hassan Ammar A Syrian teenager with dark curly hair spends his days hanging around a busy thoroughfare in western Beirut, chasing motorists and following shoppers to ask for money.

Taiwan’s Upside Down House

Photos by Wally Santana Building and designing a new house of your own may seem like a topsy-turvy experience.

Pernambuco’s Unique Carnival in Maracatu’s Cradle

Photos by Eraldo Peres This city in northern Brazil is considered the cradle of the maracatu, a frenetic, rhythmic dance of African origin that infuses its unique Carnival celebration with its spirit.

Egypt Jumping Donkey

Photos by Amr Nabil A donkey has leapt to fame in a small Egyptian village by defying her species’ well-known stubbornness and jumping hurdles on command.

Brazil Caretas Carnival

Photos by Felipe Dana Far from the glitz and glamour of Rio de Janeiro’s famous Sambadrome parades, people in this northeast Brazilian town put a frown on their Carnival celebration.