Anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as Guatemala's president in the early hours of January 15 after a chaotic inauguration that was delayed for hours by a last-ditch attempt by Congress opponents to weaken his authority.

The latest in a series of legislative setbacks triggered by opponents underscored the challenges Arévalo faces as leader of Central America's most populous nation, to which he has pledged to bring sweeping reforms and tackle the rising cost of living and violence, key drivers of migration to the United States.

Guatemalan police on January 11 arrested the country’s former interior minister for allegedly not carrying out his duties when he opted for dialogue with protesters rather than using force to remove them as a court had ordered. Police arrested Napoléon Barrientos at his home, leading him out in handcuffs and a bulletproof vest. Barrientos told reporters he didn’t know why he was being arrested.

A live broadcast by Ecuadorean television station TC was interrupted by a group of armed people who forced staff to lie and sit on the floor, as shots and yelling were heard. The country’s president has declared 22 gangs as terrorist organizations and said that the country is in a state of “internal armed conflict.”

The incident came after at least seven police officers were kidnapped, explosions occurred in several cities, and prison inmates seized dozens of guards as hostages, a day after President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Constitutional Court on January 9 confirmed President Felix Tshisekedi's landslide victory in a December election for a second term in the poor but mineral-rich massive central African country.

DR Congo held a presidential, legislative, regional, and local election on December 20 that opposition leaders had called a "sham." The President Felix Tshisekedi got 73.47 percent of vote during a December 20 election, the court said.

A former Gambian minister under ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh went on trial in Switzerland on January 8 for crimes against humanity in a milestone case where a serial rape victim will testify after a multi-decade wait for justice.

The Rwandan government on January 11 said Burundi had decided to shut its border with the East African nation, weeks after the Burundian president accused it of hosting a rebel group.

Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye in late December accused Rwanda of hosting and training the Red Tabara rebel group, which claimed responsibility for an attack near Burundi's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda has rejected his allegations.

U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of air strikes across Yemen overnight in retaliation against Iran-backed Houthi forces for attacks on Red Sea shipping, widening regional conflict stemming from Israel's war in Gaza.

Witnesses confirmed explosions at military bases near airports in the capital Sanaa and Yemen's third city Taiz, a naval base at the main Red Sea port Hodeidah and military sites in the coastal Hajjah governorate.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold public hearings in proceedings launched by South Africa against Israel over the Gaza war on January 11 and 12, it said on January 3.

South Africa had asked the ICJ on Friday for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against Hamas.

Israel had said it would appear before the court to contest the accusations.

Congo's election commission said it has cancelled votes cast for 82 of the 101,000 legislative candidates in the disputed December general election over alleged fraud and other issues, amid fresh opposition calls for a re-run of the vote.

Those disqualified include contenders for national, provincial and municipal assemblies, the results of which are yet to be published amid the fallout from the Dec. 20 poll that threatens to further destabilize the Democratic Republic of Congo, a top producer of cobalt and Africa's second-largest country.

The Bosnian state prosecution announced on Thursday that it has indicted Slobodan Savic, a former guard at the Bosnian Serb-run Military-Investigative Prison in the city of Banja Luka, known as Mali Logor, with committing crimes against civilians and prisoners of war in the period from April 1994 to December 1995.

“The crimes committed relate to beatings, abuse and other inhuman acts committed against several victims, civilians and prisoners of Bosniak and Croat nationality [ethnicity],” the prosecution said in a statement.