
The French Senate is ready to discuss and approve legislation aimed at removing any legal basis for the idea that marriage creates an obligation to ‘conjugal duty’ and engage in sexual relations.

Russia has been ordered to pay about 2.5bn dollars to former shareholders in defunct oil group Yukos by the European Court of Human Rights. Russia's Justice Ministry said the ruling was unfair and it had three months to appeal against the decision.

The European Court of Human Rights has upheld a ban by France on wearing the Muslim full-face veil, the niqab. A case was brought by a 24-year-old French woman, who argued that the ban on wearing the veil in public violated her freedom of religion and expression.