BEIRUT (AP) — A system of thousands of ridges and canals across a floodplain in southern Iraq has long been believed to be the remnant of a massive agricultural system built by slave labor.

She loves reporting in her home state. After graduating from Louisiana State University, Courtney began her career in Baton Rouge, LA as a breaking news reporter for a local morning show.

Much of the fighting has taken place in South Sudan’s Greater Upper Nile region, a vast floodplain that in recent years has been ravaged by extreme weather, disease, and severe food insecurity. “The ...