Year in Review: World

Former South African president Nelson Mandela waves as he leaves his hotel in London while in the United Kingdom to celebrate his 90th birthday, which was July 18, 2008. After changing his country so profoundly, Mandela has left the stage to younger leaders. But the strife that plagued his African National Congress party throughout 2008 has cast South Africa’s political future into doubt, and left many reluctant to allow the venerable leader to ease into a well-deserved retirement. (AP photo/Simon Dawson)

Children holding clay replicas of cameras pretend to take photographs in this picture, taken by Boston-based photojournalist Karen Sparacio during one of her visits to the Acholi Quarter in Uganda. When Sparacio first flew there in 2005, her goal was to bolster her portfolio to increase her chances of getting work taking pictures for relief organizations. Instead, moved by the plight of the people she met, she wound up founding a relief organization of her own called Project Have Hope. (Photo courtesy of www.photosbykisp.com)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, pirates leave the Ukrainian merchant vessel MV Faina for Somalia’s shore on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008, while under observation by a U.S. Navy ship. The MV Faina, which was carrying a cargo of Ukrainian T-72 tanks and related military equipment, was seized by pirates on Sept. 25. Somali pirates collected more than $150 million in ransoms last year, according to Kenya’s foreign affair minister. (AP photo/U.S. Navy, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason R. Zalasky)

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe (center right) welcomes South African president Thabo Mbeki (center left) at Harare International Airport on April 12, 2008. Mbeki visited Zimbabwe before a conference aimed at pushing Mugabe to release the results of Zimbabwe’s presidential election. Early indications were that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had ousted the longtime leader, but Mugabe claimed victory. Many depressing stories came out of Zimbabwe in 2008, including skyrocketing inflation, a still-deepening public health crisis and state-sponsored violence intended to keep Mugabe in power. Roundly criticized for his non-confrontational approach to mediating the Zimbabwean conflict, Mbeki too faced turmoil in 2008 — an intra-party power struggle with popular leader Jacob Zuma culminated in Mbeki’s forced resignation from his post atop the African National Congress in September. (AP photo)

This photo of a victim of violence during Sierra Leone’s civil war in 2001 was one of many on display in “A Memory of Humanity: From Solferino to Guantanamo — 145 Years of Red Cross Photography,” a traveling exhibit from the International Red Cross displayed at Suffolk University in February and March of 2008. The exhibit included photographs from both World Wars, the Holocaust, the Biafran Civil War in Nigeria and other historical conflicts. (Nick Danziger/International Committee of the Red Cross photo)

Cuban president Fidel Castro addresses a crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Bayamo, in the Granma Province, for the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks in this Wed., July 26, 2006, file photo. Amid failing health, the 81-year-old Castro resigned his presidency in February, 2008, ceding control of the communist nation to his brother, former defense minister Raúl Castro, and marking the end of an era in Cuba. (AP photo/Javier Galeano)

Former World Scrabble Champion Mactar Sylla studies the board during the final round of competition in the Duplicate category at the World Scrabble Championships, held in Dakar, Senegal, in July, 2008. For the third straight year, France lost to an African player in the one-on-one duel at the Francophone World Scrabble Championship, a development that highlights the increased popularity of Scrabble on the African continent — it’s even considered an official sport in some countries. (AP photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf delivered the graduation address during commencement ceremonies for the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in June. Johnson-Sirleaf, the first elected female president on the African continent, was a Mason Fellow who earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School in 1971. (Don West photo)

Ossama Abdel Meguid, founding director of the Nubia Museum in Aswan, Egypt, stands in his office next to a model of a traditional Nubian home. Three years ago, he came to Boston to research ancient Nubia, poring over the archives at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Center for Afro-American Artists in Roxbury. The Nubia Museum, which opened in 1997, plays an active role in preserving Nubian culture, housing exhibits that take visitors from thousands of years before the pharaohs all the way up to modern times. (Kenneth J. Cooper photo)