Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina has appointed Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo as prime minister, as anti-government protests once again erupted in the country. 

The appointment of Zafisambo, a military general, on Monday comes a week after the government was dissolved in response to the protests. 

However, protesters are now calling on Rajoelina himself to resign. 

The International Criminal Court on Monday convicted a leader of the Janjaweed militia of playing a leading role in a campaign of atrocities committed in the Sudanese region of Darfur more than 20 years ago—including ordering mass executions and bludgeoning two prisoners to death with an ax. 

It was the first time the court has convicted a suspect of crimes in Darfur. The three-judge panel ruled that the atrocities, including mass murders and rapes, were part of a government plan to snuff out a rebellion there.   

ICTJ and its partners in the Bridges of Truth project hosted an event in Damascus on October 7 to present findings from their recent report on the community dialogues held in April in Syria and to commemorate the project’s eighth anniversary.

The UN’s top human rights body agreed Monday to set up an ongoing probe of human rights violations in Afghanistan under the Taliban, including against women and girls, in a measure pushed for by the European Union.   

With no opposition and only China opting out of the consensus, the Human Rights Council agreed to set up an “ongoing, independent investigative mechanism” to monitor rights in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power over four years ago. 

Protesters both for and against Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa rallied in the capital Quito on Sunday after a state of emergency took effect in 10 provinces. 

Anti-government demonstrations began two weeks ago, organized by the country’s largest Indigenous group, in response to the removal of a fuel subsidy that raised diesel prices. 

Police reported no injuries or arrests Sunday, but officers dispersed protesters using tear gas after some of them tried to break through the security cordon protecting the park. 

Israeli attacks across the besieged Gaza Strip have killed at least 70 Palestinians, medical sources said, despite calls from United States President Donald Trump for Israel to stop its bombardment after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war. 

At least 45 of the victims killed in bombardments and air strikes on Saturday were in famine-struck Gaza City, where the Israeli army has been pressing an offensive in recent weeks, forcing some one million residents to flee to the overcrowded south. 

Tens of thousands of people have marched in major cities across Europe to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, with mass rallies taking place in urban centers across the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. 

Iran has executed six fighters accused of waging armed attacks in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, according to state media, as the country continues its accelerated executions of people it says have ties to Israel following the 12-day June conflict with Israel and the United States.   

In a separate execution on Saturday, authorities hanged Kurdish fighter Saman Mohammadi after convicting him for “Moharebeh”—waging war against God.   

The Israeli military has dismantled an entire humanitarian flotilla seeking to break its siege on war-ravaged Gaza, arresting hundreds of activists from dozens of vessels. 

Livestream video showed Israeli forces forcing their way onboard the last vessel Friday morning. The Polish-flagged Marinette, which reportedly has a crew of six, was the final boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla—once a 44-strong fleet—to be seized by Israel.   

Russia launched its biggest attack of the war overnight against natural gas facilities run by Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz Group, officials said Friday. 

Russia fired a total of 381 drones and 35 missiles at Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s air force, in what officials was an attempt to wreck the Ukrainian power grid ahead of winter and wear down public appetite for the three-year-old conflict.