What you're looking at right here, pictures from the nation of Mali.

These are police officers on patrol in the capital city.

They are getting support from France and other countries including the U.S.are considering getting involved too.

That is because Malian government forces are fighting against rebels .

The rebels are radical Islamic militants.

They have links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, they've been gaining control of territory in Mali for months now.

We're going to take a look at where exactly this is happening.

On the map here, you're going to see Mali.

It's in Western Africa, it's about twice the size of the U.S. State of Texas, and it's home to more than 15 million people.

This conflict started last year when a group of soldiers overthrew the government.

When that happened, the northern part of the country, which is mostly desert, was kind of left out there on its own.

And that's where the militants started their takeover.

We mentioned France is already involved in this conflict.

They have hundreds of troops on the ground and they are using jets to launch airstrikes on rebel training camps and other targets.

A spokesman for the rebels says, quote, “The war is only started.”

Next up, Cuba.

The island nation is less than 100 miles away from the U.S., just a short flight or boat ride, but getting from one country to the other has been severely limited for decades.

When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, and set up the nation's communist government, he put laws in place that restricted Cubans from traveling outside their country.

So let's say you lived in Cuba and had a family member who escaped to the United States.

There was a good chance you wouldn't see that person for years, because you wouldn't be allowed to leave Cuba.

Fidel's brother Raul Castro is president now.

He's lifting some of those travel restrictions, although the new rules won't be the same for all Cubans.

Sport stars, doctors and military officials still face restriction, because of the value to Cuban society.

But most Cubans now will be able to stay abroad for up to two years without losing the right to return, and for the first time, can take young children with them.

Reforms that were welcomed outside this Havana immigration office.

This is good, they should have done it years ago.

But at least now things will be easier, I suppose.

I sincerely think Raul is doing things better than his brother, but they left him a lot of problems to fix.