Human Rights

In a blow to the government, the court ruled that the executive didn't have the power to order a withdrawal without prior parliamentary approval and questioned the "unexplained haste" to quit the ICC.

Gambia's defeated leader Yahya Jammeh has departed the country, after a weeks-long standoff as he tried to maintain his grip on power which culminated in West African troops crossing Gambia's borders.

The government is suppressing rallies against President Joseph Kabila extending his term past the constitutional two-term limit. There are reports more than 20 people have been killed at protests.

In a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council, commission chief Yasmin Sooka reported murder and rape on an "epic" scale. "We are running out of adjectives to describe the horror," she said.

This vote marks the most serious challenge yet to the rule of President Yahya Jammeh. The president has ruled for 22 years since he led a coup, and has a dismal human rights record.

Forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have retaken the largest rebel-held district in the city, Masaken Hanano.

When staffers arrived for work, they found a seal over the door declaring that they were not allowed to enter without a city official. Amnesty calls it "an unwelcome surprise."