After being postponed several times, presidential elections were finally held in Haiti. According to preliminary results Jovenel Moïse has won the election with more than 50% of the vote, meaning that the second round of voting will not take place. He will take over from a transitional government in power since his predecessor Michel Martelly left office in February. Protests have sprung up with allegations that the election was rigged. The new president will face a multitude of challenges in governing the Western hemisphere’s poorest nation, including a cholera epidemic, continued recovery from the 2011 earthquake, galloping inflation, and high unemployment.

Cuba has declared nine days of national mourning to mark the death of Fidel Castro, whose demise at the age of 90 has prompted emotional scenes in Havana and Miami, tributes and reflections from world leaders, and ushered the island into an uncertain era. The US president, Barack Obama – who two years ago brokered a deal to restore diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana for the first time since they were severed in 1961 – offered his condolences and said the thoughts and prayers of the US were with the Cuban people.

After the public initially rejected a peace deal in a referendum a month earlier, both sides promptly returned to the table to renegotiate some of the finer elements. President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño “Timochenko” signed the deal on Thursday, definitively ending the war that has gripped the country for decades. The accord will be sent to congress, and is expected to pass after a debate in the following weeks. The original deal was rejected on grounds that it was too soft on guerrilla commanders responsible for war crimes, and rewarded them by allowing them to run for public office.

Following the historic deal reached at COP 21 in Paris, a further round of negotiations took place at the COP 22 summit in Marrakesh. Leaders from countries at all levels of development — as well as business, cities, regions, civil society and indigenous communities — renewed their commitment to the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The focus now is on implementation, so that any rise in global temperatures can be limited to 1.5°C or below, an absolute prerequisite for climate justice. The original target of limiting a rise in global temperatures to 2.0°C was adjusted as models still predicted a fifty percent chance catastrophic climate change for such an increase.

Russia is set to remove its signature from the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) founding document. The ICC was set up in the 2002 Rome Statute establishing its status and powers, and has 139 signatories but only 60 ratifications. The USA and Russia are amongst nations that have not ratified the document, along with Egypt, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan and Turkey. The decision comes two days after a UN committee approved a resolution condemning Moscow’s “temporary occupation of Crimea” and abuses against some people in the region.

In the second round, Igor Dodan has won the first direct presidential elections with 52.1% of the vote, defeating Maria Sandu of the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS). Dodon was the leader of the Socialist Party (PSRM), but due to the structure of Moldovan constitutional law has had to resign the position upon becoming President-elect. He is the first President in 20 years to be directly elected rather than being chosen by parliament, leading some observers to speculate that the office is going to gain authority under his tenure.