SYRIA: The Netherlands and Canada said today that they are taking Syria’s government to the United Nations’ highest court, accusing Damascus of massive human rights violations against its own people.

“Since 2011, Syrians have been tortured, murdered, sexually assaulted, forcibly disappeared and subjected to chemical weapon attacks on a mass scale,” the two countries said when they launched the case at the International Court of Justice in June.

POLAND: Two senior military officers resigned today over an apparent spat with Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak just days before a general election.

President Andrzej Duda accepted the resignations of Chief of General Staff General Rajmund Andrzejczak and operational commander General Tomasz Piotrowski.

The resignations have provoked questions about the state of Poland’s military under the current conservative government at a time of war in neighbouring Ukraine.

UNITED STATES: Hollywood writers have voted almost unanimously to approve a contract agreement reached by their union leaders that ended a strike after nearly five months, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has announced.

It said on Monday that 99 per cent of the 8,525 ballots cast had been in favour of ratifying the deal.

WGA-East president Meredith Stiehm said: “Together, we were able to accomplish what many said was impossible only six months ago.”

NIGER: Algeria has suspended efforts to mediate in the political crisis in Niger following the coup in July.

The Foreign Ministry in Algiers said that declarations by the Nigerien authorities had raised “legitimate questions about their real willingness to follow through on their acceptance of Algerian mediation.”