PHILIPPINES: Former president Rodrigo Duterte was flown to the Netherlands today to face an International Criminal Court charge of crimes against humanity linked to the deadly crackdown on drugs that he oversaw while in office.

Human rights groups and families of victims hailed Mr Duterte’s arrest on Tuesday as a major breakthrough the fight to end impunity.

GERMANY: A quarter of new recruits to the armed forces drop out within six months, the country’s military watchdog has reported.

The commissioner for the German armed forces told the Bundestag on Tuesday that poor retention meant the force was nowhere near meeting its target of 203,000 soldiers by 2031.

There are now just under 181,000 military personnel.

EUROPEAN UNION: Brussels has outlined plans to send hundreds of thousands of migrants to “return hubs” outside the EU if their countries of origin fail to take them back.

The toughening of migration policy was announced on Tuesday by European Commission vice-president Henna Virkkunen, who claimed that “EU return policy is failing” and had contributed to the rise of the far right across Europe.

COLOMBIA: President Gustavo Petro has vowed to call for a special election in which voters will be able to approve or reject labour and health reforms, which have been stalled for months in Congress.

In a nationally televised speech on Tuesday, he accused Colombia’s Senate of “mocking” voters and siding with the nation’s “oligarchy” by blocking his reform efforts.