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More Americans think the U.S. is losing ground in scientific achievements compared to other countries, and a clear split emerges when the numbers are analyzed by political parties, according to a new poll.
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Michael A. Brooks
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BEIRUT (AP) — Every evening as the sun drops behind Beirut’s concrete skyline, Loubna Hamdan steps onto her rooftop and whistles. A flutter of wings follows. Dozens of pigeons — white, speckled, chestnut, black — circle above her, catching the day’s last light. Here, the 36-year-old office worker has found an unexpected refuge.
Hamdan never imagined she would keep pigeons. The interest began a decade ago through her husband, Ibrahim Ammar, who has raised birds since childhood. She admired how calmly they settled on him and how he always sensed when one was missing.
“I fell in love with pigeons because of the way he loved them,” she said. She scatters grain, checks the water and looks for any bird that seems weak or hurt. Ammar joins her, showing her how to handle them gently and how to read their behavior in the air.
As dusk deepens, the flock settles into the loft. “When the pigeons return,” Hamdan said, “it feels like home.”
Pigeons stand on the rooftop of the loft of Loubna Hamdan and her husband Ibrahim Ammar, who did the piercing on the beak of the pigeon on the right for a decorative ring, in Chiyah, where the couple leaves food out for birds in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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REEDS SPRING, Mo. (AP) — The first year Shirley Mease cooked up a free Thanksgiving feast in the Reeds Spring High School cafeteria, icy weather kept most people away. But when her family knocked on doors to offer the meals, the gratefulness they found confirmed the need in her Missouri community.
“When you work with the school system you know the families that are in need because there are a lot of babies that come to school and that’s the only meal they get,” says Mease, who is semi-retired from her job in the cafeteria.
That first year, 2009, Mease and her volunteer crew provided 100 meals. This holiday, they expect to serve 700, drawing on donations. That’s up from about 625 last year, to account for food insecurity in many households that count on SNAP food aid benefits suspended during the federal government’s recent shutdown.
All are welcome, no questions asked.
The 73-year-old Mease, her children and grandchildren have been preparing for weeks, loading shopping carts and picking up donations. When she and volunteers arrived at the school cafeteria Wednesday to begin cooking, at least 44 turkeys and 225 pounds (102 kilograms) of sweet potatoes awaited.
“I know (SNAP) is back in working order, but it will take time for that to really help people out,” she says. “Especially in this area, the food banks are being hit very hard, so I just feel like this is a time to step it up a little bit.”
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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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Nov. 21, 1940 | A balloon depicting Superman kicks off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade of 1940. It was an early Thanksgiving that year after U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt issued a proclamation setting the holiday one week earlier than anticipated. In 1941, a law was signed declaring that future Thanksgivings would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
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Jennifer L. O’Shea
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DARAYA, Syria (AP) — In the war-ravaged town of Daraya, on the outskirts of Damascus, a group of young Syrian artists has turned the ruins of a bombed-out house into a canvas of remembrance. On the collapsed ceiling, they painted a colorful graffiti mural honoring families lost during years of conflict.
The project was led by Bilal Shoraba, seen in a yellow T-shirt, who was an activist and graffiti artist during the Syrian army’s siege of Daraya between 2012 and 2016. During that time, when the city became a center of resistance to then-President Bashar Assad’s rule, Shoraba created about 30 graffiti works as quiet acts of defiance.
Assad was ousted in a lightning rebel offensive in December, halting nearly 14 years of civil war that killed around half a million people, displaced millions more, and left tens of thousands missing.
After returning to Daraya, Shoraba launched a workshop with the Dar Ebla Cultural Center to teach local youth the art of graffiti. The mural seen here grew out of that collaboration — a symbol of resilience and renewal in a place once synonymous with loss.
In the midst of shattered walls and broken homes, their paint brings a touch of color and hope back to Daraya.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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8/24
Democrat Abigail Spanberger, right, shares a moment with her mother after she was declared the winner of the Virginia governor’s race during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Va.
(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A crowd at Spanberger’s campaign headquarters in Richmond on election night.
LEESBURG, VIRGINIA – NOVEMBER 04: Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, joined by her husband Terence, delivers her concession speech during her election night watch party at The National Conference Center on November 04, 2025 in Leesburg, Virginia. Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Earle-Sears to become the first female governor in the commonwealth’s history in an election that was seen as a national political bellwether leading into the midterms.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A young girl holds up her to-do list, beginning with “vote”, outside Alexandria City Hall, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Alexandria, Va.
(AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
A voter completes her ballot at Alexandria City Hall, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Democrat Jay Jones, left, and Republican incumbent Jason Miyares shake hands at the start of the Virginia attorney general debate in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.
(Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, Pool)
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Jeffery Leon
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Election Day and Operation Desert Shield: Picturing This Week in History Nov. 3 – 9
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Jennifer L. O’Shea
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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Drumming, dancing, and bright lights. Pakistan’s centuries-old tradition of honoring Sufi saints comes alive during annual festivals known as Urs.
In the eastern city of Lahore, as many as one million people pour into a shrine complex that is the final resting place of Hazrat Ali Hajveri, known as Data Ganj Bakhsh or simply Data Sahib, for a three-day celebration of his life.
Processions arrive in Lahore from across Pakistan, with devotees reciting Quranic verses and offering ceremonial cloths at Ali Hajveri’s grave. Some perform a dhamaal — a ritual dance accompanied by drumming. They spin around until they enter a trance-like state.
Devotees look at a performer balancing clay pot with an iron structure on his head as they attend celebrations of the three-day annual festival or ‘Urs’ of mystic and scholar, Hazrat Ali Hajveri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh at his shrine, in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
A spiritual path devotee locally called ‘Malang’ ties ‘Ghungroo’, a set of small metallic bells strung together, on his feet for performing a devotional dance called ‘Dhamaal’ during celebrations of the three-day annual festival or ‘Urs’ of mystic and scholar Hazrat Ali Hajveri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh at his shrine, in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Youngsters with others look to a spiritual path devotee locally called ‘Malang’ performing a devotional dance called ‘Dhamaal’ during the celebrations of the three-day annual festival or ‘Urs’ of mystic and scholar Hazrat Ali Hajveri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh at his shrine, in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Ali Hajveri, a mystic and scholar, was born in Ghazni, Afghanistan, in 990. He traveled through Iran, Iraq, and Syria to meet the leading Sufi masters of his era and stayed in Lahore until he died in 1077. He is the city’s patron saint.
The shrine, Data Darbar, is already a landmark and one of the busiest Sufi pilgrimage sites in South Asia. But it transforms into a hub of faith, fraternity, and culture during Urs. A langar, or community kitchen, dishes out free meals around the clock to worshippers. Devotional singing, or qawwali, adds to the festive feel.
Devotees arrive with ceremonial cloth locally called ‘chaddar’ painted with ‘Quranic recitations’ which they place over the saint’s grave during celebrations of the three-day annual festival or ‘Urs’ of mystic and scholar Hazrat Ali Hajveri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh at his shrine, in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Devotees lay garland and ceremonial cloth locally called ‘chaddar’ on the shrine of mystic and scholar, Hazrat Ali Hajveri, popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh during celebrations of the three-day annual festival or ‘Urs’ at his shrine, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
“We have been coming here since my childhood, almost 40 years,” said Hussain Jilani, 57. “We feel spiritually fulfilled whenever we come. Data Sahib is a source of blessings. Whatever task we have gets resolved with his grace.”
Saleem Tayyab, 63, is also a regular. “Our pockets have never been empty, and our hearts never without peace,” he said. “Whoever comes here takes blessings with him.”
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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