The November 20 polls witnessed a wave of youngsters challenging the hegemony of the old guard of Nepali politics. While a handful of them won, many others secured substantial votes, with some of them even competing against popular leaders in their long-held constituencies.

Political analyst Bishnu Sapkota thinks the underlying message of this year’s election is change and youth are an obvious vehicle for that.

The president says peace talks have led to an agreement to allow the Indigenous Embera community to return to its lands.

Petro did not say when the Embera would return to their lands in the departments of Choco and Risaralda in western Colombia. They had fled violence between drug gangs, outlawed right-wing armed groups, and the National Liberation Army (ELN).

Many of the displaced Embera now live in Colombia’s capital and hold highly visible protests in parks, clashing frequently with police.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has said 272 civilians were killed in a massacre in the eastern town of Kishishe last week, raising the death toll from a previous estimate of 50, which the government blames on the M23 rebel group.

The UN’s peacekeeping mission in the DRC denounced reports of the atrocities last week, saying they could amount to “crimes under international humanitarian law” if confirmed.

This report presents findings from research on the needs and expectations of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in The Gambia. Based on focus group discussions with survivors and other stakeholders, it analyses obstacles to, as well as opportunities to improve, survivors’ access to justice and reparations. It urges all relevant actors, including the Gambian government, to establish and implement a national, comprehensive, gender-sensitive, and victim-centered reparations program.

Egypt announced late on November 24 the release of 30 political activists from jail, the latest in a series of mass releases from detention amid intensifying international scrutiny over the country's human rights record.

Since 2013, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's government has cracked down on dissidents and critics, jailing thousands, virtually banning protests, and monitoring social media.

It is estimated that there are about 60,000 political prisoners incarcerated in Egyptian prisons.

The European Union will try to set up a specialized court, backed by the United Nations, to investigate and prosecute possible war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

Ukraine has been pushing for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian military and political leaders it holds responsible for starting the war.

Only elections can lead Afghanistan out of political crisis, even if they legitimize Taliban rule, Afghan anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud told a conference in Tajikistan on Wednesday.

Massoud, exiled leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, made a rare public appearance at an Afghanistan-focused event in Dushanbe with stronger-than-usual security measures at the venue.

Domestic, regional, and international consensus is needed to work out a general elections framework in Afghanistan, he said. Massoud did not clarify who should be elected in such a vote.

The prominent Guatemalan investigative newspaper “El Periodico” announced Wednesday that it is stopping its print edition, after the government arrested the paper’s president.

All the paper’s reporters have been let go, and it is not clear how it can continue with digital editions only. The government has withdrawn advertising and has allegedly pressured businesses to do the same.

Following a recommendation from The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission final report, the government has sought to collaborate with the University of The Gambia to establish the Center of Excellence in Transitional Justice and Sustainable Peace. The Center has now been created.