Madagascar’s government has banned public protests as concerns about the stifling of dissent grow seven months before the presidential election, Radio France International (RFI) reports.

A United Nations-backed panel of investigators alleges in a new report that several officials in South Sudan have perpetrated serious human rights violations and should be held accountable for their crimes.

Colombia’s new president Gustavo Petro was elected to office on a progressive campaign to strengthen democracy, implement social reforms, and bring “total peace” to the country. His approach to peace encompasses political negotiations with all remaining insurgent groups and simultaneous dialogues with criminal organizations geared toward their voluntary submission to justice in exchange for punitive leniency. But eight months into his administration, Petro’s efforts to deliver on his campaign promise are facing numerous challenges.

United States legislators have warned of a “stark acceleration in Tunisia’s autocratic consolidation” under President Kais Saied, while decrying the Tunisian leader’s “repugnant, racist, and xenophobic remarks about migrants.”

In a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week, members of the US House of Representatives urged President Joe Biden’s administration to “ensure that any US foreign assistance to Tunisia supports the restoration of inclusive, democratic governance and rule of law.”

The French parliament has recognized as “genocide” the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, a move welcomed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In a resolution adopted by 168 votes to 2, the legislators called on the French government to do the same as the current Russian invasion in Ukraine revives memories of the atrocity meted out on Ukraine in the 1930s by Stalin.

Myanmar’s military government took another major step in its ongoing campaign to cripple its political opponents on Wednesday, dissolving dozens of opposition parties including that of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to meet a registration deadline ahead of elections.

Calls mounted Wednesday for the Taliban to free a girls’ education activist arrested earlier this week in Kabul, as a minister in the Taliban-led government defended the detention.

Bangladeshi police have arrested a journalist of a leading daily under a controversial media law following the publishing of a story that criticized rising food prices in the country.

Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan later told reporters in his office that Shamsuzzaman Shams, a correspondent for Prothom Alo, was arrested under the Digital Security Act (DSA) as his report was “false, fabricated and ill-motivated.” The newspaper has denied the allegations.

An attack by the Colombian rebel group known as the National Liberation Army (ELN) has allegedly killed nine government soldiers, in a blow to the government’s efforts to negotiate a truce with armed groups and curb violence in the country.