Lima (AFP) – Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Wednesday signed into law a controversial bill granting amnesty to military personnel, police and members of civilian self-defense units over a bloody 1980-2000 campaign against leftist Shining Path guerrillas.

"Today, with the enactment of this amnesty law, the government is paying tribute to the military and self-defense groups that participated in the fight against terrorism," Boluarte said during a ceremony at the presidential palace.

The law benefits uniformed personnel on trial but not yet convicted of crimes committed during fighting between state forces and the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups, in which 70,000 people were killed, according to official data.

About 20,000 people remain listed as "disappeared."

It also provides for the release of anyone convicted who is now over the age of 70.

"This law is quite simply a betrayal of Peruvian victims," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

"It undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities and weakens the country's rule of law even further."

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) had said Peru must "immediately suspend" approval of the law or -- if it was enacted -- refrain from applying it while the court looks into how the amnesty would affect victims' rights.

A report by UN experts last month urged Boluarte's government to veto the law, arguing Peru "has a duty to investigate, prosecute and punish gross human rights violations and crimes under international law committed during the conflict."

The new law could affect 156 cases that have been decided and more than 600 others still underway over crimes committed during that 20-year span, those experts said.

Boluarte -- whose approval rating is at an all-time low and whose term ends in July 2026 -- has rejected all criticism of the amnesty.

In August 2024, Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting.

The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities -- including the massacre of civilians by the army -- but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024.

It also helped 600 prosecuted military personnel.

According to Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, there are more than 4,000 clandestine graves in the country as a result of two decades of political violence.

South Africa has rejected a US government report accusing it of moving towards land seizures from white farmers, calling the allegation “deeply flawed” and “inaccurate”.

The claim was made in the latest annual human rights report from the US State Department, which has faced criticism for softening language on the abuses of Washington’s allies while targeting governments it clashes with.

In its section on South Africa, the report said the government had taken “a substantially worrying step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities”, describing the situation as worsening.

This was a marked shift from last year’s assessment, which found no significant change in the country’s human rights record.

“We find the report to be an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of our constitutional democracy,” Pretoria’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday, adding its “profound disappointment” at the claims.

The statement also reminded Washington that it had quit the UN Human Rights Council – “therefore no longer seeing itself accountable in a multilateral peer review system” – while issuing “one-sided fact-free reports without any due process or engagement”.

The report’s release comes days after Washington imposed 30 percent tariffs on a range of South African exports – the highest for any sub-Saharan country.

Trade ties are already under strain, with Pretoria keen to preserve access to the US market for agricultural, automotive and textile goods that support tens of thousands of jobs at home.

President Donald Trump has criticised South African land and employment laws aimed at tackling racial inequality decades after apartheid ended.

Earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed legislation allowing land expropriation without compensation in certain cases. It is part of a long-running effort to address the racial imbalance in land ownership.

Most farmland is still in white hands despite years of reform. While the law is described as a targeted, last-resort measure, it has faced strong criticism abroad – especially in the US, where Trump has echoed far-right claims of “violence against racially disfavoured landowners” and issued an executive order for the US to resettle Afrikaners.

South African officials say the government remains committed to constitutional protections and that land reform is being carried out within the law to promote equality.

Pretoria is seeking to counter the US criticism while maintaining its trade ties with Washington.

The US is its third-largest trading partner, but South Africa has been expanding links with other major economies such as China to the EU.

That gives it some room – at least in theory – to push back against what it sees as biased portrayals from the United States.

(with newswires)

Geneva (AFP) – Attempts to finalise a landmark treaty combating plastic pollution descended into disarray on the penultimate day on Wednesday as dozens of countries rejected outright the latest draft text, leaving the talks in limbo.

With some 30 hours left to seal a deal among the 184 countries gathered at the United Nations in Geneva, states lined up to slam the proposed text put forward by talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso.

The larger bloc of more ambitious countries blasted the dearth of legally-binding action, saying that the draft text was the lowest common denominator and would reduce the treaty to a toothless waste-management agreement.

But oil-producing states from across the aisle said that the text went too far for their liking, crossing their red lines too and not going far enough in reducing the scope of what the treaty should be about.

The talks towards striking an international, legally-binding instrument on tackling plastic pollution opened on August 5.

Five previous rounds over the past two and a half years failed to seal an agreement, including a supposedly final round in South Korea late last year.

However, countries seem no further forwards in finding a consensus on what to do about the ever-growing tide of plastic rubbish polluting land, sea and human health.

With a day left to go, Ecuadoran diplomat Vayas presented a new draft -- but matters quickly unravelled as the text was savaged from all quarters.

Panama said that the goal was to end plastic pollution, not simply to reach an agreement.

"This text is about closing a wound... but the text presented here makes that wound fatal and we will not accept it," their negotiator said, adding: "It is not ambition: it is surrender."

The EU said it was "not acceptable" and lacked "clear, robust and actionable measures", while Kenya decried that there were "no global binding obligations on anything", meaning it "does not have any demonstrable value".

Tuvalu, speaking for 14 Pacific small island developing states, said the draft risked producing a treaty "that fails to protect our people, culture and ecosystem from the existential threat of plastic pollution".

Britain called it a text that drives countries "towards the lowest common denominator", while Norway added simply: "It's not delivering on our promise... to end plastic pollution."

Bangladesh said the draft "fundamentally fails" to reflect the "urgency of the crisis", saying that it did not address the full life cycle of plastic, health, toxic chemical ingredients or reliable implementation.

"This is, as such, without ambition entirely."

A cluster of mostly oil-producing states calling themselves the Like-Minded Group -- including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran -- want the treaty to focus primarily on waste management.

Kuwait, speaking for the club, said the text had "gone beyond our red lines", insisting: "Without consensus, there is no treaty worth signing.

"This is not about lowering ambition: it's about making ambition possible for all."

Saudi Arabia said that there were "many red lines crossed for the Arab Group", and reiterated calls for the scope of the treaty to be defined "once and for all".

Environmental non-governmental organisations following the talks closely also blasted the draft.

The proposed text "is a gift to the petrochemical industry and a betrayal of humanity", said Greenpeace delegation chief Graham Forbes.

The World Wide Fund for Nature slammed the draft text, calling it a "devastating blow" to people suffering from the impact of plastic pollution.

The Center for International Environmental Law delegation chief David Azoulay said it "all but ensures that nothing will change" and would "damn future generations".

While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled.

Nearly half, or 46 percent, ends up in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter.

Rome (AFP) – At least 26 migrants died Wednesday when two boats sank off the coast of Italy's Lampedusa island, with around 10 others still missing, the coastguard and UN officials said.

Around 60 people were rescued after the sinkings in the central Mediterranean, a stretch between North Africa and Italy described by the UN as the world's most dangerous sea crossing for migrants.

The two boats had left Tripoli, Libya, earlier in the day, according to the Italian coastguard.

It said one of the boats started taking on water, causing people to climb onto the other boat, which itself then capsized.

"Currently 60 people have been rescued and disembarked in Lampedusa, and (there are) at least 26 victims. The toll is still provisional and being updated," the coastguard said in a statement.

Italy's Red Cross, which manages Lampedusa's migrant reception centre, said the survivors included 56 men and four women, updating a previous toll of 22 dead.

Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman for the UN's migration agency (IOM), said around 95 people had been on the two boats.

Given how many had been saved, "approximately 35 victims are feared dead or missing", he wrote on social media.

The UNHCR refugee agency said Wednesday that there had been 675 migrant deaths on the central Mediterranean route so far this year.

London (AFP) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said there was now a "viable" chance for a Ukraine ceasefire, ahead of talks between US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Starmer said Ukraine's military backers, the so-called Coalition of the Willing, had drawn up workable military plans in case of a ceasefire but were also ready to add pressure on Russia through sanctions.

"For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven't got anywhere near... a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire," Starmer told a meeting of European leaders.

"Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the (US) president has put in," he told the video conference he led alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The call was joined by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky from Germany, and US Vice President JD Vance, who is currently visiting the UK.

While Starmer said Friday's Alaska meeting between Trump and Putin was "hugely important", he reiterated that there "should be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine".

"This is a critical moment, we have to combine active diplomacy on the one hand with military support to Ukraine and pressure on Russia," he said.

The coalition has drawn up military plans "which are now ready in a form that can be used if we get to that ceasefire", Starmer added.

He said Britain and other European allies also "stand ready to increase pressure on Russia" through sanctions and "wider measures" if necessary.

He added that Trump had agreed to "debrief immediately" after his meeting with Putin.

"If we cannot produce them (hundreds of transissions) in Germany, we will relocate these volumes to a different plant, for example to the U.S.. This might take maybe 8 to 10 months, but, if there's no move forward, we will do it because we have this business," Sagel said.

In his annual report to the UN Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, Guterres said that Israel and Russia could be listed next year among the parties “credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence”.

In his warning to Israel, Guterres said he was “gravely concerned about credible information of violations by Israeli armed and security forces” against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention centre and a military base.

“Cases documented by the United Nations indicate patterns of sexual violence such as genital violence, prolonged forced nudity and repeated strip searches conducted in an abusive and degrading manner,” Guterres wrote.

In the case of Russia, Guterres wrote that he was “gravely concerned about credible information of violations by Russian armed and security forces and affiliated armed groups”, primarily against Ukrainian prisoners of war, in 50 official and 22 unofficial detention facilities in Ukraine and Russia.

Kourou (AFP) – The Ariane 6 rocket on Wednesday blasted off carrying Europe's next generation satellite for warning against extreme weather events.

As many European countries simmer in a deadly heatwave, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) said its MetOp-SGA1 satellite will give "earlier warnings to help protect lives and property from extreme weather".

"Metop-SGA1 observations will help meteorologists improve short- and medium-term weather models that can save lives by enabling early warnings of storms, heatwaves, and other disasters, and help farmers to protect crops, grid operators to manage energy supply, and pilots and sailors to navigate safely," the agency added.

The rocket carrying the four-tonne satellite took off from France's Kourou space base in French Guyana. MetOp-SGA1 was to be put into an 800 kilometre (500 mile) high orbit.

It will be Europe's first contribution to a US-led programme, the Joint Polar System, putting up satellites orbiting between the north and south poles.

The six monitoring instruments on the satellite are twice as precise as the agency's existing satellite, IASI. It will monitor ocean and land temperatures, water vapour and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the amount of desert dust and cloud cover.

"Extreme weather has cost Europe hundreds of billions euros and tens of thousands of lives over the past 40 years -- storms like Boris, Daniel and Hans, record heatwaves and fierce wildfires are just the latest reminders," said Phil Evans, EUMETSAT director-general.

"The launch of Metop-SGA1 is a major step forward in giving national weather services in our member states sharper tools to save lives, protect property, and build resilience against the climate crisis."

The liftoff was the third by Ariane 6 since its inaugural flight in July last year.

The Ariane company said that it had 32 launches planned from Kourou in coming years and that it was aiming to carry out nine or 10 launches each year.

Geneva (AFP) – Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan beat the altitude record for a solar-powered electric plane in a flight that took him soaring to 9,521 metres, his team announced Wednesday.

The SolarStratos plane made the landmark flight from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland on Tuesday, taking advantage of warm air thermals to go beyond the 15-year-old record.

The certified altitude record for a solar plane had stood at 9,235 metres (30,298 feet). It was set in 2010 by the Solar Impulse plane, with Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg at the controls.

Domjan's flight lasted five hours and nine minutes.

"I share this moment of joy with all the people who have been preparing for this achievement for years," he said, celebrating afterwards with the melted cheese of a traditional Swiss raclette.

The data will be sent to the World Air Sports Federation governing body, which will decide whether to validate the new record.

"It is the pressure altitude corrected to standard density altitude that is recognised as the official reference for aviation altitude records," the SolarStratos team said in a statement.

Domjan is aiming to be the first to take a solar-powered plane above 10,000 metres -- flying at the same altitude as airliners.

If this barrier is broken, the team hopes to go on and make a first manned solar-powered flight into the stratosphere, which at Switzerland's latitude begins at around 12,000 metres.

"This achievement marks a major milestone on the path toward reaching the stratosphere using only solar power -- and already fulfils the mission's goal: to capture imaginations with emblematic, spectacular challenges that promote solar energy and the protection of our biosphere and planet," SolarStratos said.

Hong Kong (AFP) – A Hong Kong court on Wednesday found J-pop artist Kenshin Kamimura guilty of indecent assault after he harassed a woman working as his interpreter at a restaurant earlier this year.

Kamimura, 26, is a former member of the boy band ONE N'ONLY, which expelled him shortly after the allegation.

Fans queued to get into court for hours before the hearing, and some broke down in tears upon learning Kamimura had been convicted.

The court heard Kamimura touched the woman's thighs multiple times despite her objections, and invited her to go to the bathroom with him.

Magistrate Peter Yu found he had assaulted her, adding his behaviour "clearly shows disrespect for women".

The incident took place in March during a celebratory dinner, after a fan meet for which the woman had been working as an interpreter for Kamimura and others.

The Japanese star was fined HK$15,000 ($1,900).

Kamimura, who is also known as an actor in the Japanese drama "Our Youth", hugged his court translator upon hearing he would be fined without facing jail time, media reports said.

Kamimura got "what he deserved", Yu said, adding that "had the victim not refused to remain silent and courageously come forward, she would have suffered an unpleasant experience in silence".

But ardent fans inside and outside the court were in tears.

Chan, a 30-year-old screenwriter and fan who gave only her last name, said she had come from northern China to watch the court session.

She told AFP before the verdict that the trial has had a negative impact on Kamimura's image, and had incited "public outbursts of vitriol against the artist".

Ankara (AFP) – Turkey's foreign minister and his Syrian counterpart on Wednesday warned Israel not to stir up chaos in Syria and demanded an end to all external interventions aimed at destabilising the war-torn country.

"Certain actors are bothered by the positive developments in Syria," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said after talks with Syria's Asaad al-Shaibani in Ankara, referring to Israel and Kurdish YPG fighters operational in northeastern Syria.

"Israel is currently one of the biggest actors in this dark picture," he said of its ongoing military incursions since the overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad late last year.

"The emergence of chaos in Syria... appears to have become a priority for Israel's own national security," he said.

Standing next to him, Shaibani also warned against efforts to foster chaos in Syria.

"We're facing new challenges that are no less dangerous than those we encountered during the years of war, foremost among them are repeated Israeli threats... through airstrikes," he said.

Fidan said efforts to destabilise Syria could be clearly seen in the March bloodshed in the coastal Alawite heartland of Latakia and in the recent deadly violence that gripped the southwestern Druze-majority province of Sweida as well as in the Kurdish-dominated northeast.

"The events in Latakia and Sweida and the failure to integrate the YPG (into the Syrian state) are evidence of the challenges and obstacles facing the positive process under way," he said.

Shaibani said foreign actors were exacerbating the unrest within Syria.

"We are also confronting multiple foreign interventions, both direct and indirect... (that) push the country toward sectarian and regional strife," he said without giving details but warning against "any reckless attempts to exploit events here".

During the war, Assad's government was backed by Russia, Iran and its Lebanon-based militant ally Hezbollah.

Fidan said the YPG -- part of the US-backed Kurdish-led SDF but seen by Ankara as an extension of PKK militant group -- remained a concern over its refusal to integrate into the Syrian state despite a March agreement to do so.

The PKK, which fought a decades-long insurgency against Ankara, is currently in the throes of disbanding as part of a peace agreement with the Turkish government.

"We have not seen any developments that indicate the organisation has eliminated the threat of armed action" nor sent home the foreign fighters in its ranks, he said.

"In an environment where Turkey's security demands remain unmet, we have no chance of remaining calm," he warned.

Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) – Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Iran's visiting security chief on Wednesday that he rejected any interference in the country's internal affairs, branding as "unconstructive" Iran's statements on plans to disarm Hezbollah.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani's visit comes after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans by the end of 2025 to disarm the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Following his arrival in Beirut, Larijani vowed that his government would continue to provide support, after it expressed opposition to the disarmament plan.

"We reject any interference in our internal affairs," Aoun said, adding that "it is forbidden for anyone... to bear arms and to use foreign backing as leverage," according to a statement from the Lebanese presidency posted on X.

Iran has declared its firm opposition to the Lebanese government's bid to disarm Hezbollah, while the movement itself has slammed the decision as a "grave sin".

In Beirut, Larijani said that no foreign power should give orders to Lebanon, adding that it was not Iran but the United States that was intervening.

Still, he implied Hezbollah should remain involved in state matters.

"Any decision that the Lebanese government makes in consultation with the resistance is respected by us," he said, while criticising the December deadline for the army to devise plans for Hezbollah's disarmament.

"The one who interferes in Lebanese affairs is the one who plans for you, gives you a timetable from thousands of kilometres away. We did not give you any plan."

Before the war with Israel, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.

It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.

In Beirut, Larijani vowed continued support.

"If... the Lebanese people are suffering, we in Iran will also feel this pain and we will stand by the dear people of Lebanon in all circumstances," Larijani told reporters.

As well as President Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Larijani was due to meet parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is close to Hezbollah.

He was also expected to visit the grave of Nasrallah, who was killed in a massive Israeli bombing in south Beirut last year.

Kaohsiung (Taiwan) (AFP) – Typhoon Podul pounded Taiwan on Wednesday, shutting down businesses in the south, grounding hundreds of flights and knocking out power for tens of thousands of households.

Wind gusts of up to 178 kilometres (111 miles) per hour were recorded shortly before the typhoon made landfall in Taitung County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

One person is missing after he went fishing and was swept away, and 33 have been injured, the National Fire Agency said.

More than 7,300 people have been evacuated from their homes, and trees and signs have been toppled, as the storm sweeps across central and southern regions still recovering from storms last month.

"Kaohsiung, Tainan and Chiayi will become major rainfall hotspots tonight, with increasing rain also expected in Penghu and Kinmen," CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen told a briefing attended by President Lai Ching-te.

"We are worried about this typhoon," Kaohsiung fisherman Huang Wei said as he tied down his boat with ropes hours ahead of Podul making landfall.

"We had already made general typhoon preparations yesterday, but this morning I woke up and saw news reports that the typhoon has intensified to be as strong as the last, (Typhoon) Krathon," Huang told AFP.

"Last time, the two boats behind us weren't tied properly and hit my boat," he added as he checked on other vessels.

Krathon slammed into Kaohsiung in October, with wind gusts of 162 kph.

All domestic flights across the island of 23 million people have been cancelled on Wednesday, along with dozens of international journeys.

More than 134,500 households have suffered power outages.

High-speed rail services on the west coast have been reduced, while train services in the southeast have been cancelled.

Many ferry services have also been suspended, and businesses and schools across the south are closed.

More than 31,500 soldiers were ready to assist in rescue and relief efforts, disaster officials said.

The CWA expects mountain areas in Kaohsiung and Tainan could be hit with a cumulative 400-600 millimetres (16-24 inches) of rain from Tuesday to Thursday.

Podul has already entered the Taiwan Strait.

Typhoon Danas, which hit Taiwan in early July, killed two people and injured hundreds as the storm dumped more than 500 mm of rain across the south over a weekend.

That was followed by torrential rain from July 28 to August 4, with some areas recording more than Taiwan's rainfall of 2.1 metres for 2024.

The week of bad weather left five people dead, three missing, and 78 injured, a disaster official said previously.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October.

Scientists have shown that human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.

Global warming, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels, is not just about rising temperatures, but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas.

Warmer air can hold more water vapour, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.

There was an average of 69.7 homicides per day in Mexico between January and July, a decrease of 15.9% compared to 2024.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://mexiconewsdaily.com/politics/daily-murders-lowest-level-since-2016-tuesdays-mananera-recapped/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Sydney (AFP) – Australian scientists have discovered a razor-toothed whale that prowled the seas 26 million years ago, saying Wednesday the species was "deceptively cute" but a fearsome predator.

Museums Victoria pieced together the species from an unusually well-preserved skull fossil found on Victoria's Surf Coast in 2019.

Scientists discovered a "fast, sharp-toothed predator" that would have been about the size of a dolphin.

"It's essentially a little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of sharp, slicing teeth," said researcher Ruairidh Duncan.

"Imagine the shark-like version of a baleen whale -- small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless."

The skull belonged to a group of prehistoric whales known as the mammalodontids, distant smaller relatives of today's filter-feeding whales.

It is the fourth mammalodontid species ever discovered, Museums Victoria said.

"This fossil opens a window into how ancient whales grew and changed, and how evolution shaped their bodies as they adapted to life in the sea," said palaeontologist Erich Fitzgerald, who co-authored the study.

Victoria's Surf Coast lies on the Jan Juc Formation -- a geological feature dating to the Oligocene epoch between 23 and 30 million years ago.

A string of rare fossils have been unearthed along the scenic stretch of beach, a renowned site for the study of early whale evolution.

"This region was once a cradle for some of the most unusual whales in history, and we're only just beginning to uncover their stories," said Fitzgerald.

"We're entering a new phase of discovery.

"This region is rewriting the story of how whales came to rule the oceans, with some surprising plot twists."

The species was named Janjucetus dullardi, a nod to local Ross Dullard who stumbled across the skull while strolling the beach in 2019.

It was described in the peer-reviewed Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Paris (AFP) – Britain, France and Germany have told the United Nations they are ready to reimpose UN-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a joint letter obtained by AFP.

The letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council says the three European powers are "committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon" unless Tehran meets the deadline.

The foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group threaten to use a "snapback mechanism" that was part of a 2015 international deal with Iran that eased UN Security Council sanctions.

Under the deal, which terminates in October, any party to the accord can restore the sanctions.

All three have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That came after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, partly seeking to destroy its nuclear capability. The United States staged its own bombing raid during the war.

"We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism," foreign ministers Jean-Noel Barrot of France, David Lammy of Britain and Johann Wadephul of Germany said in the letter.

All three countries were signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the United States, China and Russia that offered the carrot and stick deal for Iran to slow its enrichment of uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.

President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018 during his first term and ordered new sanctions.

The European countries said they would stick to the accord. But their letter sets out engagements that the ministers say Iran has breached, including building up a uranium stock more than 40 times the permitted level under the 2015 deal.

"The E3 remain fully committed to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis caused by Iran's nuclear programme and will continue to engage with a view to reaching a negotiated solution.

"We are equally ready, and have unambiguous legal grounds, to notify the significant non-performance of JCPOA commitments by Iran ... thereby triggering the snapback mechanism, should no satisfactory solution be reached by the end of August 2025," the ministers wrote in the letter first reported by the Financial Times.

Iran halted all cooperation with the IAEA after the strikes, but it announced that the agency's deputy chief was expected in Teheran for talks on a new cooperation deal.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the UN last month saying that the European countries did not have the legal right to restore sanctions.

The European ministers called this allegation "unfounded".

They insisted that as JCPOA signatories, they would be "clearly and unambiguously legally justified in using relevant provisions" of UN resolutions "to trigger UN snapback to reinstate UNSC resolutions against Iran which would prohibit enrichment and re-impose UN sanctions."

Washington (AFP) – The recent auction of a Martian meteorite -- for a record-grabbing $5.3 million at Sotheby's New York -- has sparked questions over its provenance and renewed debate over who gets to claim rocks fallen from the heavens.

The hefty 54-pound (25-kilogram) stone is the largest Martian meteorite ever discovered on Earth, according to its Sotheby's listing, and was found in November 2023 in the vast Saharan desert in Niger.

The government of Niger has announced that it will open an investigation following the auction, saying it appears to "have all the characteristics of illicit international trafficking."

On Friday, the government suspended exports of precious stones and meteorites until further notice.

Sotheby's has rejected the accusations, insisting that the meteorite was "was exported from Niger and transported in line with all relevant international procedure."

In light of the controversy, however, a review of the case is underway, a Sotheby's spokesperson told AFP.

"The stone journeyed 140 million miles through space, and hurtled through Earth's atmosphere before crashing in the Sahara Desert," the Sotheby's listing said.

Following its discovery, the jagged, ochre-colored stone was then sold to an international dealer, briefly exhibited in Italy, and eventually ended up in the auction catalog in New York.

For American paleontologist Paul Sereno, who has worked closely with Niger's authorities for years, all signs suggest that the stone left the country "illicitly."

"Everybody's anonymous -- from the person who found it, the dealers, the guy who bought it, everybody's anonymous," he told AFP, making no secret of his frustration.

"If they had put on baseball gloves and caught the meteorite as was hurtling towards Earth before it landed in any country, they could claim it... but I'm sorry, it landed there. It belongs to Niger," he said.

Laws governing the ownership of meteorites vary based on their point of impact.

In the United States, for example, if a rock falls on private land, the property owners have ownership rights.

In Niger, however, a law governs "national cultural patrimony," which includes rare mineralogical specimens, according to Matthieu Gounelle, a professor at France's National History Museum, and his father Max Gounelle, a French university professor.

Both are specialists in regulations governing the collection and sale of meteorites.

"In our opinion, there is no doubt that meteorites should be included among the rare mineralogical specimens" protected by Nigerien law, they told AFP.

Beyond the legal battle and the possible involvement of a trafficking network, the sale of the meteorite also raises science ethics questions.

The rock, named NWA 16788, has unique scientific research value.

Much larger than other Martian meteorites that have been recorded to date, it offers a unique insight into the geological history of the Red Planet.

Like other Martian meteorites, it is believed to have been ejected into space when an asteroid slammed into Mars.

"This is nature's heritage. In many ways, it's world heritage, and it's telling us things about the cosmos. We should respect it," Sereno said.

"It's not something to my mind that should be auctioned up to potentially disappear into someone's mantle."

Western media upholds the lie of objectivity as they erase the Palestinian journalists risking everything to report on the genocide

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2025/08/12/palestinian-journalists-israel/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

White House letter orders review as part of a broader push to assert oversight over cultural institutions

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250812215326/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/12/trump-administration-smithsonian-exhibits

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Seoul (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un have vowed to strengthen cooperation, days ahead of Putin's summit in Alaska with Donald Trump, Pyongyang's state media reported Wednesday.

Putin and Kim spoke by phone in a "warm comradely atmosphere" on Tuesday and confirmed "their will to strengthen cooperation in the future", the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The call came three days before the summit between Putin and Trump, the first between a sitting US and Russian president since 2021, as Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia's more than three-year war in Ukraine.

North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia's Kursk region as well as weapons to aid its war effort, with Kim offering Moscow his full support for the war during talks last month with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

During their call on Tuesday, Putin expressed appreciation for "the self-sacrificing spirit displayed by service personnel of the Korean People's Army in liberating Kursk", KCNA said.

Kim, in turn, pledged that North Korea would "fully support all measures to be taken by the Russian leadership in the future, too".

The Kremlin confirmed the phone call in a statement, adding that Putin had "shared information with Kim Jong Un in the context of the upcoming talks with US President Donald Trump".

The public disclosure of Kim and Putin's conversation signals the "intent to showcase their closeness to domestic and international audiences", Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.

Should Trump and Putin agree on a Ukraine peace deal, "Putin could convey Kim's stance on Trump's North Korea-related interests, potentially including a conditional summit on nuclear disarmament," said Yang.

Putin may also have been briefing Kim on matters of interest to the North Korean leader -- "mentoring him" in a way.

"If Russia-Ukraine peace talks gather momentum, they could have a positive spillover effect on US-North Korea and inter-Korean dialogue," he added.

During the US president's first term, Trump met Kim three times in a bid to reach an agreement on the denuclearisation of North Korea.

But since their second summit in Hanoi in 2019 fell apart over a failure to agree on what the North would get in return, Pyongyang has accelerated its nuclear programme.

Trump has talked up his "great relationship" with Kim, but the North Korean leader's powerful sister warned the United States late last month against pursuing denuclearisation, saying any push to deny the North its position as a nuclear weapons state would be "thoroughly rejected".

Kim Yo Jong said the "personal relationship" between her brother and Trump was "not bad", but warned that it should not be used to "serve the purpose of denuclearisation" in any future talks.

Relations between the two Koreas had been at one of their lowest points in years under former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, with Seoul taking a hard line towards Pyongyang.

However, newly elected President Lee Jae Myung has taken a different approach, saying he would seek talks with the North without preconditions.

Green party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick accused government MPs of lacking a ‘spine’ during debate on whether to recognise a Palestinian state

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/13/mp-removed-from-new-zealand-parliament-in-heated-debate-over-palestinian-recognition

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Israel is in talks with South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250812205908/https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-gaza-relocation-south-sudan-15191c194cb6f972bc627a382d830edd

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Senator Gerardo Fernández Noroña has been invited to visit Palestine, where he says he will rescue orphans for asylum in Mexico.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/senator-to-visit-palestine-orphaned-children/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

The UN human rights office on Tuesday urged Israel to allow foreign journalists immediate and unhindered access to the Gaza Strip, warning that attacks on journalists undermine efforts to document the realities on the ground, Anadolu reports.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250812-un-rights-office-calls-on-israel-to-grant-foreign-media-access-to-gaza/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Fatal infections more likely due to malnutrition, injuries and lack of medical facilities under Israel’s blockade

Archived version: https://archive.is/20250812235409/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/12/gaza-antibiotic-resistant-disease

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.