One woman was killed and two others remain missing after the remnants of Typhoon Halong battered western Alaska. The storm displaced more than 1,000 people, destroying homes and causing record flooding in remote coastal villages.
Madagascar’s embattled President Andry Rajoelina has issued a decree dissolving the National Assembly as he bids to avert a slide from power.
Rajoelina, who has fled the country, issued the decree on social media on Tuesday, ahead of a planned impeachment vote. However, with parts of the military and the police offering support to mass protests calling for his resignation, his efforts to cling to power threaten to send the island nation’s political crisis spiralling into chaos.
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The decree to dissolve the assembly “shall enter into force immediately upon its publication by radio and/or television broadcast,” the presidency said in a statement published on Facebook.
Rajoelina, whose current whereabouts are unknown, defended the move in a separate social media post as necessary to “restore order within our nation and strengthen democracy”.
But opposition leader Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko – who had been planning a vote to impeach Rajoelina on Tuesday – said the decree was “not legally valid”, because the president of the National Assembly, Justin Tokely, was not consulted over the move.
Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, said in a speech broadcast on social media on Monday night that he had left the country in fear for his life and was sheltering in a “safe space”.
A military source told the Reuters news agency that Rajoelina left the country on Sunday on board a French army aircraft, although President Emmanuel Macron refused to confirm that his government had played a role.
Rajoelina’s departure came after army units defected on Saturday, with the president condemning the move as “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force”.
Hours after his comments, the army’s elite CAPSAT unit, which played a key role in the 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power, said it had taken control of the country’s military.
It had earlier announced that it would “refuse orders to shoot” demonstrators.
On Tuesday, a privately owned news website in Madagascar, 2424.mg, reported that the police had also joined the military and gendarmerie in backing the demonstrations.
Led by Gen Z groups, the antigovernment protests over water and power outages began on September 25. However, they soon expanded to encompass wider grievances over the cost of living, poverty and alleged government corruption, fuelling widespread calls for Rajoelina’s resignation.
The president’s attempt to shut down the parliament made clear that he remains adamant that he will not meet the demand.
The 51-year-old said he was “on a mission to find solutions” to the political crisis and would not let the impoverished nation “destroy itself”.
That saw thousands gather in the capital once more to protest on Tuesday, with civil servants and trade unionists also joining the crowd.
Positioning himself as a reformist, Rajoelina led a transitional government until 2014, stepping aside to restore constitutional order. He returned after winning the 2019 election and secured a second full term in 2023.
The United Nations says at least 22 people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the demonstrations began, although the government disputes these figures.
One CAPSAT soldier died in clashes with the gendarmerie on Saturday, before a widespread move by the country’s security forces towards support for the demonstrations.
The protests have exposed deep frustration in one of the world’s poorest nations, where only a third of the population has access to electricity and blackouts routinely exceed eight hours a day.
The Gen Z Madagascar movement has drawn inspiration from recent uprisings that have challenged governments in several countries, including Kenya, Indonesia and Peru.
Such youth-led demonstrations in South Asia have unseated governments in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Cameroon opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has unilaterally declared victory in the country’s presidential election. Tchiroma made the claim in a social media address, inviting long-term incumbent, 92-year-old President Paul Biya to concede. There’s so far been no response from the government.
When I heard of the murder of Saleh Aljafarawi, I was in shock. The war had finally ended. We all should have been safe. How could this happen? His assassination not only broke hearts; it also brought back the feeling of insecurity and fear.
Saleh and I lived in the same neighbourhood of Gaza City. We all knew him as a cheerful young man who loved singing. I remember seeing him during Eid prayers in front of the mosque, distributing sweets to children. He would sit and sing for them; my little sister loved to ask him to sing for her and her friends.
Saleh began working as an independent journalist and photographer during the March of Return in 2018. He would contribute to local outlets and post on social media. When the war began in 2023, he started documenting it with his camera. His footage posted on social media would get many shares. On Instagram, his account accumulated 10 million followers, and like other popular accounts documenting Israeli crimes, it was suspended multiple times.
Through the lens of his camera, Saleh covered the genocide in all its horrible detail. He was not afraid to rush to bombing sites to cover massacres, risking his life and joining the rescue efforts. He selflessly dedicated himself to journalism and broadcasting the truth about what was happening in the Gaza Strip despite he himself suffering.
Saleh’s mother had cancer, and she had to be evacuated out of Gaza for treatment. His older brother, Naji, was forcibly disappeared from al-Shifa Hospital by the Israeli army. Saleh’s father was also sick, so after Naji was disappeared, Saleh had to take up care for his whole family while continuing his work as a journalist.
Because of his popularity, he became a target. Israel started issuing threats against him, just like it did against Anas al-Sharif, Ismail al-Ghoul and Hassan Eslaih before assassinating them.
The night the ceasefire was confirmed, Saleh released a cheerful video announcing it, which went viral. His family felt safe for the first time. They thought the danger Saleh was facing was finally over, and they were hoping for Naji’s release so they could all be reunited.
But Saleh did not stop covering events. Although the occupation claimed to have withdrawn from Gaza, they left behind armed militias to spread chaos in the Strip. When the resistance clashed with these militias in the Sabra neighbourhood, Saleh was there covering it.
According to reports, he was kidnapped, beaten and shot seven times.
This news came as a shock to his family. His father’s condition worsened. Naji was released as part of the exchange of captives, but the family could not celebrate. Naji collapsed when he was told that Saleh had been killed just the day before.
The assassination of Saleh just after the ceasefire was announced sent shockwaves through the journalistic community in Gaza. His colleagues mourned and eulogised him, just as they had done for the more than 250 other journalists killed during the genocide.
His murder, however, is more than a loss of yet another brilliant Palestinian journalist. It is also a sign, a warning that Gaza’s journalists are still not safe. Anyone who works in journalism now or who, like me, hopes to do so, now understands that the danger has not abated with the ceasefire.
The Israeli army may have withdrawn from parts of Gaza, but the shadow of its campaign of exterminating those who documented its genocide lingers on. Now the threat comes from the militias the occupation has organised to continue waging war on the Palestinian population after the ceasefire.
The message of Saleh’s assassination is clear: Anyone who continues to critically report on what is going on in Gaza, on Israel’s continuing destructive presence and the betrayal of its allies on the ground will be captured, tortured and killed.
Journalists, and the civilian population at large, will continue to be in danger for as long as these Israeli collaborators are empowered.
Still, the attempt to intimidate and scare will not work with Gaza’s media workers. Despite the mass killing of journalists, people continue to take up this profession. I myself no longer feel safe, but I still do not intend to give up my media studies and my ambition to work in the field.
That said, Palestinian journalists do need support from abroad. We need unions, press freedom organisations and human rights watchdogs to mobilise and ensure protective mechanisms are put in place so Palestinian journalists will be safe. Foreign journalists must also not fall for smear campaigns against Palestinian media workers and openly extend their solidarity.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians have been returning to northern Gaza following the ceasefire, only to find their homes reduced to rubble.