MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[US sanctions the International Criminal Court hours after a former judge wins the Nobel Peace Prize]]> Pillay, 85, sat on the court’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008, presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014 Donald Trump’s administration on Friday imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution, hours after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former judge of the court, “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”.

]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2026 20:53:00 GMT <![CDATA[US plans its first military execution since 1961, by firing squad and livestreamed]]> Hasan, then an Army major, opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol on November 5, 2009, at a medical centre on the base where soldiers were being prepared for deployment to Afghanistan The Pentagon will livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the military psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, scheduled for December 3. It will be the first execution carried out by the US armed forces since 1961, the first by firing squad since 1945 and the first publicly broadcast in the country’s history.

]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:48:00 GMT <![CDATA[US charges Maduro and Cilia Flores with torture and repression in Venezuela]]> Maduro and Flores, held since January 3 following a US operation in Caracas and detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, have pleaded not guilty to all charges US federal prosecutors on Thursday brought new torture and repression charges against former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, adding to the drug trafficking and narco-terrorism case both face in a New York court. The same day, the judge denied a request by Flores for house arrest on health grounds.

]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2026 07:35:00 GMT <![CDATA[Why Argentina's Falklands sanctions do not automatically reach Sea Lion's operator]]> Photo: Raphael WOLLMANN / Getty Images The sanctions Argentina has imposed on companies involved in the Sea Lion oil project north of the Falklands target specific entities rather than entire corporate groups, so the subsidiary currently operating the field is not automatically covered, according to a legal analysis by specialist site Diplomacy & Law.

]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2026 08:29:00 GMT <![CDATA[What could happen when Argentina's Sea Lion ultimatum to the UK expires]]> Milei ordered on September 28 the start of arbitration and said that, if London does not act, Argentina will seek provisional measures from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea The two-week deadline Argentina gave the United Kingdom to halt the Sea Lion oil project in the North Falklands basin expires around October 12. Its expiry will not in itself suspend the project or establish a British breach of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, according to a legal analysis published by specialist site Diplomacy & Law.

]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2026 08:18:00 GMT <![CDATA[Flávio Bolsonaro proposes constitutional reform to overhaul the courts and lower the criminal age]]> The candidate said he intended to use his party's legislative weight to choose the presiding officers of both chambers and “amend the Constitution, to redemocratise the country” Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who will face Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil's presidential runoff on October 25, has said that if he wins he will use his Liberal Party's congressional bloc to push a constitutional reform that would change the judiciary, lower the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16 and abolish presidential re-election.

]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2026 08:10:00 GMT <![CDATA[On the war's third anniversary, 5,600 children are waiting to be evacuated from Gaza]]> Some 5,600 children are waiting to be evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, according to the territory's Hamas-run Health Ministry, as three years pass since the group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people, saw 251 taken hostage and triggered the war.

]]> Thu, 08 Oct 2026 07:53:00 GMT <![CDATA[Trump promises payments to voters ahead of midterms dominated by the cost of living]]> The promise of US$5,000 per adult, made in September, is not an approved measure and would require authorisation by Congress US President Donald Trump has announced a series of direct payments to various groups of citizens in recent weeks and has promised US$5,000 to every adult if Republicans keep control of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections, in which the cost of living is shaping up as the central issue.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2026 08:07:00 GMT <![CDATA[Former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice says she was coerced into barring Machado]]> “My relatives' lives were used to force me to sign key decisions that affected the democratic course of the country,” said César Siero Former Venezuelan Supreme Court justice Bárbara César Siero has alleged that the detention of two of her brothers and her sister-in-law in late 2023 was used to force her to sign the rulings that kept opposition leader María Corina Machado barred from office. She made the claims in a 43-minute video posted on YouTube on Tuesday.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2026 07:11:00 GMT <![CDATA[Lula targets non-voters and over-70s to overturn the first-round result]]> Since Brazil returned to direct presidential elections in 1989, no candidate who came second in the first round has won the runoff. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will focus his campaign for the October 25 runoff on mobilising those who did not vote on Sunday, particularly people over 70, and on winning over centrist voters, after finishing almost two points behind Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.

]]> Tue, 06 Oct 2026 22:15:00 GMT