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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Venezuelan government violated the political rights of former opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles

Iran claimed Monday that the U.S. and Israel are behind the renewed fighting in Syria that has seen anti-government forces recapture Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, in a fast-moving offensive that has surprised forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

A top Romanian court has validated the first round of a presidential race in which a far-right outsider emerged as the frontrunner, plunging the country into a week of turmoil amid allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling

Court said five women were victims of ‘systematic kidnapping’ by state over forced removal from mothers as small childrenThe Belgian state has been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo.In a long-awaited ruling issued on Monday, Belgium’s court of appeal said that five women, born in the Belgian Congo and now in their 70s, had been victims of “systematic kidnapping” by the state when they were removed from their mothers as small children and sent to Catholic institutions because of their mixed-race origins. Continue reading...

A military spokesperson says at least 10 people were killed and an unspecified number of others were abducted in eastern Congo by extremist rebels linked to the Islamic State group

Divisions between countries have stalled negotiations on the world's first treaty to tackle plastic pollution, after a terse week of talks in South Korea's Busan.Here are some of the sticking points that led to a decision early Monday to resume discussions at a later date after negotiators were unable to strike a deal:- Production cuts -The 2022 resolution that kicked off two years of negotiations called for a treaty that would "promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics".But what that means has proved a key point of disagreement.Dozens of nations want the deal to mandate a reduction of new plastic production, and there have been calls to phase out "unnecessary" items such as some single-use plastics."Mopping the floor when the tap is open is useless," said Anthony Agotha, the EU's special envoy for climate and environment.But others, led by some oil-producing states like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, have pushed back against any binding reduction call."The objective of this treaty is to end plastic pollution, not plastic itself. Plastic has brought immense benefit to societies worldwide," Kuwait's delegate said Sunday.- 'Chemicals of concern' -An alliance led by Rwanda and Norway pushing for specific measures on production, the High Ambition Coalition (HAC), is also seeking controls on so-called chemicals of concern.These are components of plastic that are known or feared to be harmful to human health.Any agreement "must contain a clear, legally binding obligation to phase out the most harmful plastic products and chemicals of concern in plastics", Mexican delegate Camila Zepeda said in the final plenary session, in a statement backed by nearly 100 countries.Fiji's representative had earlier warned there would be "no treaty without a provision on chemicals of concern", calling it "a non-negotiable".But some countries have rejected any push to phase out or restrict the chemicals, pointing to existing international agreements and national regulations on toxins.The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said its analysis of a UN list of participants at Busan showed over 200 lobbyists from the fossil fuel and chemical industries were registered for the talks.- Finance -Implementing any treaty will cost money that developing countries say they simply do not have.An article on financing in the latest draft agreement released on Sunday was full of conflicting possible options, reflecting deep disagreement on who will pay what, and how.One focus of the talks has been creating a dedicated multilateral fund for the purpose -- after the hard-fought battle at COP29 climate talks to extract more finance from developed countries.But the details are proving complicated."As developing countries have repeatedly called for in the past few days, the instrument should respect national differences" and "reflect equity and inclusiveness," China's delegate said late Sunday.- Globally binding? -Will the treaty create overarching global rules that bind all nations to the same standards, or allow individual countries to set their own targets and goals?This has been another sticking point, with the European Union initially warning that "a treaty in which each party would do only what they consider is necessary is not something we are ready to support".On the other side are nations who argue that differing levels of capacity and economic growth make common standards unreasonable."There shall not be any compliance regime," reads language proposed during negotiations by Iran.Instead, it has urged an "assessment committee" that would monitor progress but "in no way" examine compliance or implementation.

Five rugby players formerly with French side Grenoble go on trial on Monday, accused of raping a student in a hotel in 2017, or failing to prevent the alleged sexual assault.The trial, held in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux, had originally been scheduled for June but was delayed after one of the defendants, Irish national Denis Coulson, was badly injured in a traffic accident.Coulson is "still weak" but will be present at the trial, said his lawyer, Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt.The former prop, 30, is accused of gang rape, as are New Zealander Rory Grice, 34, and Frenchman Loick Jammes, 30.Irish national Chris Farrell, 31, and New Zealander Dylan Hayes, 40, are charged with failure to prevent a crime.In the small hours of March 12, 2017, the student, identified only as V., was in tears as she left a hotel on the outskirts of Bordeaux, where the Grenoble team (FCG) spent the night after losing a Top 14 encounter against local team UBB.The then 20-year-old filed a complaint with police, saying she had met the players in a bar together with two friends and accompanied them to a nightclub where everybody had a lot to drink.The student said she had no recollection of how she got from the club to the hotel where she woke up, naked on a bed and with a crutch inserted in her vagina.She saw two naked men in the room and others fully dressed.Coulson, Jammes and Grice stated that they had sexual relations with V. but claimed the encounter was consensual and the student had been pro-active in bringing it about.Farrell, owner of the crutch, was present, as was Hayes."Perhaps this girl didn't want what happened to happen but her behaviour did not suggest to these boys, at least to my client, that she was not in agreement," Dreyfus-Schmidt said."When you go to a nightclub and you drink a lot, it's not to exchange sweet nothings but to have relations with boys," the lawyer said."She was very active. She kissed him (Coulson) in the club, performed fellatio on him in the cab and signaled that she was game."V.'s lawyer, Anne Cadiot-Feidt, rejected the argument, saying the players had acted "like thugs".- 'State of weakness' -On the basis of statements from the accused and witnesses, as well as a sextape shot by Coulson, investigators have concluded that there were several incidents of fellatio, and that a banana, a bottle and crutches were inserted in V.'s vagina.A toxicology report stated that her blood alcohol level was between 2.2 and 3 grams, a level considered in the danger zone for alcohol poisoning.CCTV footage showed her having difficulty standing up as she arrived at the hotel and being propped up by a player.Cadiot-Feidt rejected the players' version, saying of her client, V.: "Nobody can be expected to be perfect all the time."While the decision to drink as much as she did had been her client's, this did not authorize anybody "to do what they like with her body", she said.The players, she said, had a duty to "protect" the woman."You don't have to be a superhero but you can call a taxi without exploiting, or allowing others to exploit, the state of weakness she was in," the lawyer said.The three main defendants left Grenoble in 2017 after the accusations emerged, to pursue their careers in other clubs.Rape accusations have shaken the world of international rugby recently.The French trial comes just over a week before an Argentine judge is to decide whether to dismiss charges against two French international rugby players accused of raping a woman after a match in the South American country.Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both aged 21, were held for weeks in Argentina after the alleged July assault.And last month, a Fijian player at the French southwestern club Dax was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term for sexual assault and violence during a drink-fueled evening.

Poland's police say they have arrested and opened an extradition procedure for a Norwegian rapper who is wanted in his country for alleged drug crimes, causing bodily harm to a person and assault on a police officer