European rights court upholds French law against buying sex

European rights court upholds French law against buying sex

A French law criminalising clients of prostitutes does not infringe on the European Convention on Human Rights, the continent's top rights court ruled Thursday. A group of 261 men and women sex workers had turned to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the 2016 law, which threatens buyers of sex with fines of up to 1,500 euros ($1,630), which can be more then doubled for […]

July 25, 2024 13

Environment

Sweden seeks to be winemaking’s next frontier

By Camille Bas-Wohlert, with Johannes Ledel and Olivier Feniet in Stockholm Far north of iconic wine regions like Bordeaux and Tuscany, Sweden is seeing a burgeoning industry of vineyards and a first generation of winemakers trying to carve out a niche. "There are millions of techniques, and I don't have a grandfather or grandmother to ask. So we need to figure it out ourselves," Lena Magnergard, […]

July 25, 2024 15

World

Climate activists halt traffic at Frankfurt airport

By Lea Pernelle with Hui Min Neo in Berlin Police on Thursday arrested climate activists who glued themselves to the tarmac at Frankfurt airport, Germany's busiest, compelling it to temporarily suspend arrivals and departures. Traffic was halted during the busy summer holiday season for two hours before the first of the airport's landing runways was able to operate again at 0502 GMT, said a […]

July 25, 2024 6

Sport

Denmark’s Rune pulls out of Olympic tennis with injury

Denmark's Holger Rune said Wednesday that a wrist injury has forced him to withdraw from the Olympic Games tennis tournament. The former world number four has struggled for form this season, failing to reach a final since the first week of the year and slipping to 16th in the rankings. "I am really sorry that I will be unable to play the Olympics," the 21-year-old said in […]

July 25, 2024 10

Sport

Chaos, crowd trouble as Morocco beat Argentina in men’s Olympic football opener

Chaos and confusion reigned on Wednesday as Morocco beat Argentina 2-1 in their opening game of the men's Olympic football tournament, but only after a late equaliser for the South American side was disallowed and the final minutes were played out in an empty stadium following crowd trouble. Argentina thought they had escaped from the Group B match in Saint-Etienne with a 2-2 draw when Cristian Medina scored […]

July 25, 2024 4

Sport

Bradley says Tiger will be ‘as involved as he wants’ in Ryder Cup

New 2025 US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley says Tiger Woods, who was in talks for the post, will be as involved with the US squad as he desires. Bradley, speaking on the eve of the start of the US PGA Tour 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, said he spoke with 15-time major winner Woods at the British Open last week at Royal Troon. […]

July 25, 2024 7

Sport

Late-night gamer Verstappen eyes redemption at Belgian Grand Prix

A week after ranting on the team radio in Budapest, Max Verstappen heads to the Belgian Grand Prix warned to take "nothing for granted" and advised by Red Bull to give up late-night simulation racing during race weekends. The series leader and three-time world champion departed Hungary in a petulant mood after finishing a frustrated fifth, swearing on team radio and in post-race interviews, having gone to bed […]

July 25, 2024 5

Sport

Canada football staff sent home over Olympic drone scandal

An assistant coach and an analyst with the Canadian women's football team were sent home from the Olympics Wednesday for their part in a spying scandal. The analyst, 43-year-old Joey Lombardi, was also given a suspended eight-month prison sentence for flying a drone over a New Zealand training session this week in Saint-Etienne. Lombardi pleaded guilty when he appeared in court in Saint-Etienne on Wednesday, the court told […]

July 25, 2024 6

Sport

Emerging talents primed for Paris but Olympic boxing on the ropes

Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather and Lennox Lewis are among the boxing greats who have cut their teeth at the Olympics, with a new generation of fighters eager to follow in their footsteps in Paris. But there are serious questions over whether the sport will even remain on the Olympic programme. Boxing made its debut at the modern Olympics in 1904 and has been contested at every Summer Games […]

July 25, 2024 7