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Senegal Peacefully Chooses New President - Former Prime Minister Macky Sall defeated incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade in Sunday’s run-off election. The smooth polling and Wade’s gracious concession of defeat have led many to call the election a "great victory for democracy" in Africa.\r(Photo: REUTERS/Joe Penney)

Photo By Photo: REUTERS/Joe Penney

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Mali Rebels Seize Control in Coup - A group of military officers in Mali launched a coup late last week, ultimately seizing power after storming the presidential palace and enacting a military curfew for civilians. The movement has been met with resistance, however, from citizens who want a rapid return to civilian rule.(Photo: REUTERS/David Lewis)

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U.N. Says "Rapid" Justice Done in Haiti Rape Trial - The United Nations sentenced two Pakistani U.N. peacekeeping policemen to a year in prison with hard labor after a trial in Haiti found them guilty of sexual abuse and exploitation.(Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)

Photo By Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

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Liberian President Sirleaf Defends Anti-Gay Laws - Nobel Peace Prize winner and current president of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defended her country’s current anti-gay legislation last week, telling a British reporter, “We're going to keep to our traditional values.”\r \r“I won’t sign any law that has to do with that area. None whatsoever. We like ourselves just the way we are,” Sirleaf said.\r(Photo: REUTERS/Larry Downing)

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African Nations Back Nigerian for Next World Bank Chief - South Africa, Nigeria and Angola are all backing Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as a candidate for president of the World Bank, the world’s largest development agency. \r"She is the candidate of choice; not just for Africa but for everyone else," said Pravin Gordhan, South Africa's finance minister, according to the Wall Street Journal.\r(Photo: REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde)

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South Africa Offers Humanitarian Aid to Other African Nations - Last week, South Africa announced that it will offer humanitarian aid to the Sahel nations of Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad, who are struggling to feed their populations amid drought, conflict and displacement.\r \r“South Africa has taken heed of the call made by the four core Sahelian countries because of the humanitarian crisis currently confronting this region. As a short-term measure, emergency food and nutritional aid will be directly delivered to these sister countries as a matter of urgency,” said a statement released by the country’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.\r(Photo: REUTERS/Tim Cocks)

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U.K. Lesbian Fears Deportation to Jamaica - The brother of 22-year-old U.K. lesbian Coletane Lopez is pleading for immigration officials to stall her impending deportation to Jamaica, where he says she will likely be killed for her sexual orientation.\r \r “We’ve got terrorists [in the U.K.] that are making suicide bombs. They’ve been in prison, they come out and they can’t deport them because of human rights. What about her human rights? That’s the frustrating thing about it,” her brother Nestfield Lopez told Black British newspaper The Voice. "She said, 'I’m going to kill myself because if I get sent home, I’m going to get killed anyway.'"\r(Photo: Courtesy Facebook)

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African Union Force to Step Up Hunt for Kony - The African Union announced its plans to send 5,000 soldiers to join the hunt for notorious rebel leader Joseph Kony, a new mission that comes amid a wildly popular Internet campaign targeting the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.(Photo: AP)

Photo By AP

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Haiti Relief Work Taking Toll on Sean Penn - Actor, activist and humanitarian Sean Penn has been on the ground in Haiti for two years helping to assist with recovery efforts. However, an interview with the U.K.’s Telegraph magazine shows that all of Penn’s hard work may be getting the best of him.\r“You’re going up and down hills all day, stressed, eating a lot of c--p. And you tend to drink at night – rum punch – which I’m also trying to curb,” he said.\r(Photo: REUTERS/Jorge Silva)

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Cameroonian Woman Endures Racist Attack in U.K. - A 29-year-old Cameroonian woman in Pendleton, United Kingdom, was randomly attacked by a man who threw a container of corrosive liquid over her as she pushed her baby in a stroller after making a sexual and racist comment.\rPolice are searching for the man who will be tried for a hate crime.\r  \r \r(Photo: Greater Manchester Police)

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Israel Cuts Ties With U.N. Human Rights Council - Israel has severed ties with the U.N. Human Rights Council citing bias after the group launched an international investigation into human rights abuses occurring in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.\r \rIsrael’s decision means that the investigatory team will not be allowed to enter the West Bank or Israel.\r \r"They systematically and serially make all kinds of decisions and condemnations against Israel without even symbolically considering our positions," said Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor said. \r(Photo: AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

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Somalia National Theatre Reopens After Two Decades - After shuttering its doors for 20 years amid rampant violence, Mogadishu's National Theatre hosted a concert for the first time signaling a return to normalcy in the Somali capital. The calm was short lived, however, as Al-Shabab launched a series of attacks on the presidential palace nearby, sparking a firefight with African peacekeepers.(Photo: REUTERS/Omar Faruk)

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U.S. and China Bond Over North Korea - On the sidelines of a nuclear security summit, President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao came together over discontent with North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Eun.According to Ben Rhodes, a U.S. deputy national-security adviser, the Chinese delegation present at the meeting indicated that Beijing is possibly willing to work with the U.S. and its allies "to make it clear to the North Koreans the very grave concerns that the international community has about them going forward with this provocative act.” (Photo: REUTERS/Larry Downing)

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Kofi Annan Helps Reach Syria Peace Deal - Former U.N. Secretary General and international peace envoy Kofi Annan announced Syria has accepted his six-point plan to end violence. The plan requires Syrian government forces and rebels to agree to a cease-fire and engage in dialogue. It does not, however, require President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation from office. (Photo: REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov)

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French Shooting Suspect Had Al-Qaeda Connections - A lone gunman who confessed to the shooting deaths of three Jewish children and a rabbi outside of a school last week died amid a hail of gunfire as he tried to scramble away from a gun battle with police outside his apartment. In addition to the school shootings, before his death, 23-year-old Mohamed Merah admitted to the killings of three French soldiers and informed police of his links to Al-Qaeda.\r \rMerah recorded his attacks and the videos caused great controversy and speculation when an anonymous source mailed them to news broadcaster Al-Jazeera, which ultimately decided not to air the graphic tapes.\r \r(Photo: REUTERS/France 2 Television/Handout)