Banjul / AFP Ansu Sanyang was ready. Sick of providing so little for his parents and sisters with any work he could find, the young Gambian resolved to take the migrant route through Libya to Europe. Then on Friday, December 1, he hesitated, hanging back to cast his vote in a presidential election that felt different to previous years. “I …

  Daraga / AFP A powerful typhoon with gusts of up to 235 kilometres (146 miles) an hour hit the Philippines late Sunday, disrupting Christmas celebrations for tens of thousands who fled its approach, officials said. Typhoon Nock-Ten made landfall in the eastern island province of Catanduanes at 6:30 pm (1030 GMT), the state weather service said. There were no …

  Tokyo / AFP Heavy snow in northern Japan caused transport chaos over the holiday weekend, with flights and train services cancelled and thousands of passengers forced to camp out at a regional airport for three straight nights. Sapporo on Hokkaido island had up to 96 centimetres (38 inches) of snow as of Friday night, the city’s heaviest snowfall in half …