United Nations rights experts accused Iran of violating international law on Tuesday for executing a prisoner who was just 17 years old when he committed a crime.
Shayan Saeedpour, alleged to have committed murder in August 2015, was hanged on Tuesday, United Nations special rapporteurs Javaid Rehman and Agnes Callamard in a statement.
He was convicted and sentenced to death in October 2018, the Supreme Court confirming the sentence in February 2019.
"We are shocked that the Iranian authorities have once again defied their international obligations by executing a child offender," the UN experts said.
"We have repeatedly reminded the Iranian government and judiciary that international human rights law is clear: the application of the death penalty to child offenders is strictly prohibited and its practice is an egregious violation of the right to life."
Rehman is the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, while Callamard is the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or ...

UN experts 'shocked' as Iran executes young offender

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G20 agriculture ministers on Tuesday pledged to ensure "sufficient" global food supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic as the UN warned the number of people facing acute hunger globally could nearly double.
"We will work together to help ensure that sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food continues to be available and accessible to all people, including the poorest, the most vulnerable, and displaced people," said the ministers from the 20 most advanced economies.
"Under the current challenging circumstances, we stress the importance of avoiding food losses and waste caused by disruptions throughout food supply chains, which could exacerbate food insecurity and nutrition risks and economic loss," they said after a virtual meeting hosted by the group's current president Saudi Arabia.
As COVID-19 lockdowns disrupt the global economy, the G20 ministers also said they were working to prevent "excessive food price volatility" in international markets.
The ministers stressed it ...

G20 vows 'sufficient' global food supplies amid virus

The OPEC alliance of oil producers said "several" member states, and some of its allies in the OPEC+ grouping, held a teleconference Tuesday to discuss the plunge in oil prices caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The organisation tweeted that ministers held an "informal teleconference to brainstorm the current dramatic oil market situation" but it was not clear whether Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, took part.
A photo tweeted by the organisation appeared to show representatives from countries including Nigeria, Iraq and Venezuela taking part but there was no confirmation of which countries joined the meeting.
OPEC said the teleconference was held at the initiative of Mohamed Arkab, energy minister of Algeria, which currently holds OPEC's presidency.
A spokeswoman for Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Russia -- viewed as the leader of the OPEC+ grouping -- did not take part.  Novak said in a statement on Tuesday that there was no need to "dramatise" the current ...

OPEC ministers and allies discuss 'dramatic' oil situation

Over 2.5 million people have been confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 80 percent of cases in Europe and the United States, according to an AFP tally Tuesday based on official figures.
There have been 2,503,429 recorded cases and 172,551 deaths around the world. Europe, the most affected continent, has 1,230,522 official infections and 108,797 fatalities, while the US, the country where COVID-19 is spreading most rapidly, has 788,920 cases and 42,458 deaths.
However these figures likely reflect just a fraction of the actual number of cases, as many countries only test the most serious cases.

Over 2.5 mn confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide: AFP tally

Germany plans to buy 93 Eurofighters and 45 US-made F-18s to replace ageing combat jets, Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Tuesday, emphasising that the US planes satisfied NATO requirements.
Amid growing criticism over her decision to include US-made aircraft in the mix, the minister told Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper the F-18s were needed as "bridging technology".
To retire the present fleet of Tornado aircraft, the Luftwaffe (airforce) must maintain certain capabilities, and she told the German daily "it has to be said, that currently only US manufacturers are offering" the capacity to carry nuclear weapons.
In a letter to parliament's defence committee, the minister underscored that the Boeing-built jets would allow Germany to meet its NATO nuclear sharing duties as they can carry US atomic warheads.
At present, the Tornado is the only Luftwaffe plane certified to carry nuclear arms.
The minister stressed however that Eurofighters would be the "backbone of the ...

Germany plans to buy 93 Eurofighters, 45 F-18s: minister

The spread of the novel coronavirus may have reached its peak in the Swedish capital Stockholm last week and could now start to decline, health officials said on Tuesday.
The Public Health Agency concluded in a report using statistical models that 86,000 of Stockholm's one million residents had the virus on April 15.
According to the official tally, Sweden has recorded 15,322 cases nationwide since the outbreak began including 6,200 infections in Stockholm.  The researchers used modelling based on reported cases and a study of randomly selected Stockholm residents and assumed only about one in 1,000 cases were confirmed via testing.
"According to this model the peak was reached then and after that we can expect fewer cases per day, but that doesn't mean the infection stops," Anders Wallensten, deputy state epidemiologist, told a press conference.
Wallensten said the models would become more accurate as more data became available.
Sweden has not imposed the extraordinary lockdown ...

Swedish capital has past virus peak, say officials

The OPEC alliance of oil producers said "several" ministers from member states, and some of its allies in the OPEC+ grouping, held a teleconference Tuesday to discuss plunging global oil prices.
The organisation tweeted that ministers held an "informal teleconference to brainstorm the current dramatic oil market situation" but it was not clear whether major producers such as Russia and Saudi Arabia took part.

OPEC ministers and allies discuss 'dramatic oil market situation'

UEFA remains committed to completing the suspended football season in Europe despite the coronavirus pandemic after making "a strong recommendation" on Tuesday that leagues across the continent be played to a conclusion.
"There was a strong recommendation given to finish domestic top division and cup competitions," European football's governing body said in a statement after holding a videoconference with its 55 member associations.
However, it added that "some special cases will be heard once guidelines concerning participation to European competitions -- in case of a cancelled league -- have been developed."
That could be of particular interest to Belgium and Scotland, whose top flights appear to have been awaiting a green light from UEFA to call an end to their seasons now.
UEFA said any decisions would be announced after its Executive Committee meets on Thursday. Before that it is due to meet with the powerful European Club Association (ECA) and the European Leagues grouping, ...

UEFA urges leagues to complete suspended football seasons

Ireland on Tuesday said large-scale events would remain banned until the end of August, as part of measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
The government said in a statement that local authorities had been told that "events requiring licences in excess of 5,000 (people) will not be considered for the period up to the end of August".

Ireland bans gatherings of over 5,000 until the end of August

Latin America is set for its worst ever recession with a fall in GDP of 5.3 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a UN body said Tuesday.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said the last time the region had seen "a contraction of a comparable magnitude, you need to go back to the Great Depression of 1930 (-5%), or even further to 1914 (-4.9%)" and the start of World War I.

Pandemic to provoke worst ever recession in LatAm: UN

UEFA made a "strong recommendation" on Tuesday that domestic European football league seasons, currently on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, be completed.
"There was a strong recommendation given to finish domestic top division and cup competitions," European football's governing body said.
It added that "some special cases will be heard once guidelines concerning participation to European competitions -- in case of a cancelled league -- have been developed."
UEFA said any further decisions would be announced after its Executive Committee meets on Thursday.
League seasons across Europe were halted in March as coronavirus spread across Europe.
The German Bundesliga is set to become the first top-flight league to attempt to restart its season, with clubs expected to agree to a May 9 resumption when they meet on Thursday.

UEFA recommends completion of league seasons

Prevented from doing their jobs and often confined at home, there are concerns about the mental health of "isolated" and "lost" professional footballers during the coronavirus pandemic.
A study by global players' union FIFPro published Monday warned of a sharp rise in the number of footballers reporting symptoms of anxiety and depression since the game was suspended worldwide.
"We have had many concerns about players with their mental response to the isolation. Many of the foreign players don't have family with them, spend a lot of time on their own, away from their loved ones, which is very challenging," said Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, FIFPro's general secretary.
The union's survey of 1,602 players in 16 countries revealed 13 percent of men reported symptoms of depression, and 16 percent symptoms of anxiety. Among women the numbers were higher: 22 percent for depression and 18 percent for anxiety.
It is a major increase on a similar study done in January and indicates the same worries felt 

Depression a worrying side-effect of virus shutdown for idle footballers

South African Rugby announced on Tuesday huge budget cuts and the cancellation of several events because of the coronavirus pandemic but said it still hoped scheduled Test matches for the world champion Springboks would go ahead.
Chief executive of SA Rugby Jurie Roux said the sport's stakeholders had agreed to cut between R700 million (about US$36.8 million) and R1 billion (about US$52.6 million) from the budget for the next eight months against what he said was a "worst-case" scenario in which no rugby would be played during the period.
The cuts will include salary reductions for officials and players.
"Our income is tied to the playing of professional rugby and without matches we potentially don't have any income," said Roux.
He said the decision had been agreed in principle by all stakeholders, including representatives of players.
"These are unprecedented times, not only for rugby in South Africa, but across all spheres of life all over the globe," said Roux.
Roux said all age ...

SA Rugby cut budget but Springbok Tests still planned

Tottenham will speak to Serge Aurier and Moussa Sissoko after the Premier League stars flouted government guidelines on social distancing during the coronavirus.
Ivory Coast defender Aurier posted a video of himself training with Tottenham team-mate Sissoko on Instagram on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old, who was wearing a mask, has since deleted the videos, which showed him running shuttles and sitting next to France midfielder Sissoko, disregarding the current social distancing advice.
Aurier and Sissoko are the latest high-profile figures at Tottenham to ignore the guidelines while Britain is on lockdown due to the pandemic.
Just two weeks ago, Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho was pictured holding a one-on-one training session in north London with French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.
Mourinho was forced to admit his mistake, saying his "actions were not in line with government protocol".
On the same day, Tottenham duo Ryan Sessegnon and Davison Sanchez were filmed running side-by-side, while 

Spurs stars Aurier, Sissoko flout social distancing advice

Togolese security forces on Tuesday raided the home of opposition leader Agbeyome Kodjo over accusations of threatening state security, one of his lawyers said.
"Mr Kodjo was forcibly arrested today. The security forces broke down his gate and front door before arresting him and taking away," Claver N'dry told AFP.
A gendarmerie official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Kodjo was arrested for failing to comply with a police summons for a third time.
The 65-year-old former prime minister was runner-up in elections on February 22 that returned the incumbent, Faure Gnassingbe, as president of the poor West African country.
Kodjo's lawyers said he was unable to comply with any of the summonses -- on April 1 and 9 as well as on Monday -- for health reasons.
Lome prosecutors stripped Kodjo of parliamentary immunity in mid-March after he declared himself Togo's legitimate president and called on the armed forces to rise up against the Gnassingbe government.
The public ...

Togo opposition leader held after police raid

Mexico raised its health emergency level following a rapid increase in novel coronavirus cases and fears the health system could collapse, the government said on Tuesday.
Health Undersecretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said the country was moving to "phase three" of its response to the deadly pandemic after noting that "we're in a phase of rapid increase, where we're accumulating a large number of infections (and) hospital admissions."
The government has suspended all non-essential economic activity until May 30 and asked people to stay at home and observe social distancing, although it has not enforced a mandatory quarantine.
By Monday, Mexico had recorded close to 8,800 cases and 712 deaths from COVID-19. The government expects the peak of infections to hit between May 8 and 10.
Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been widely criticized for his response to the pandemic, taking much longer than other countries in the region to impose containment measures.
Last month, Human ...

Mexico raises health emergency level as virus cases mount

More than 60 cases of coronavirus infections have been recorded in a jail in southern Morocco, mostly among staff, the country's prisons service said.
The DGAPR agency, in a statement late Monday, said 60 workers and six inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 at the prison in the town of Ouarzazate after checks were carried out on all prisoners.
Nine staff and two inmates had previously tested positive at a jail in the southern city of Marrakesh and in Ksar Kebir, in the north of the kingdom, it said.
The prison service said that cases of contamination in Morocco's prisons -- which hold a total of 80,000 inmates -- were under control because of "preventives measures" such as quarantines for workers with the respiratory disease.
At the start of April, more than 5,650 prisoners were released to reduce the risks of the spread of coronavirus, which has cost 144 lives in Morocco and contaminated more than 3,000 people.
Other Middle East and North African countries have also released ...

More than 60 virus cases in Morocco jail

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday he would accept "no compromises" at a videoconference of EU leaders this week aimed at addressing the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
Conte told an Italian parliament session that he would not sign up to a "bargain deal" at Thursday's conference.
"The EU and the eurozone cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes they made in the 2008 financial crisis, when it not possible to offer a joint response," he said.
"Either we all win, or we all lose."
Conte's push for the issuance of mutualised EU debt -- dubbed coronabonds -- has run into opposition from countries such as Germany and the Netherlands.
EU finance ministers have agreed an initial rescue package worth about 500 billion euros ($545 billion) but pushed back any decision on joint debt earlier this month.
Up to 240 billion euros of the rescue are being made available through the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) -- a bailout fund whose use is usually accompanied 

Italy PM adopts tough line ahead of EU talks on virus fallout

Amnesty International has warned the Premier League that it "risks becoming a patsy" unless it takes a serious look at Saudi Arabia's human rights record in connection with the proposed takeover of Newcastle.
The Magpies are on the verge of being sold to a Saudi-backed consortium that involves Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for around ?300 million ($368 million).
It was reported on Tuesday that a non-refundable deposit of ?17 million has already been paid to current owner Mike Ashley as part of the deal.
The Premier League must decide if the new owners meet the criteria in its owners and directors test.
Amnesty, a global non-governmental organisation that seeks to prevent abuses of human rights, said that unless the league provides thorough justification for its decision to approve the takeover, it risks damaging its own reputation.
Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen has sent a letter to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters spelling out the concerns of the ...

Amnesty warns Premier League over Newcastle takeover

A Belgian biotech firm has started producing tests to rapidly detect antibodies against coronavirus infections, part of a push several countries are making to determine who might be immune.
The Liege-based company, ZenTech, told AFP Tuesday it has started making tens of thousands of the government-certified tests and plans to ramp up output to eventually make up to three million per month.
Founder and CEO Jean-Claude Havaux said diagnosis takes just 10-15 minutes and "sensitivity is 100 percent -- meaning all patients who have COVID-19 antibodies, we see them with our test".
He emphasised that the test kits were only for medical professionals, first in Belgium and then later in other countries in the EU and beyond. They are not for the public to use at home.
"We don't want, and don't intend for, these tests to be used by just anybody. It's not a pregnancy test," said Havaux.
"It's really pretty complicated to carry out and to interpret the results." Antibody, or serology, tests are ...

Belgian biotech firm to roll out coronavirus antibody tests

Protective masks will be required on public transport in most parts of Germany, with capital Berlin joining a wave of federal states in ordering the measure to stem contagion of the novel coronavirus.
Berlin mayor Michael Mueller told reporters that "to be able to protect people" in trains, busses and trams, his city government intended to make "protection of the nose and mouth compulsory from April 27".
Unlike in shops, it was "not possible to ensure a distance of several metres between each person" in public transport, he said.
Following similar announcements from states including Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Hamburg and Hesse on Monday and Tuesday, ten of Germany's 16 regions have now announced similar rules.
Mueller and other state premiers were keen to emphasise that improvised masks would also be acceptable.
"I said protection of the nose and mouth...it can also be a scarf," said the Berlin mayor.
Though the new rule will be limited to public transport in Berlin, other states ...

AFP

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