- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
French rugby players accused of rape land in Paris
Two French rugby players held in Argentina for almost two months on rape charges landed in Paris late Tuesday, after a court allowed them to return home pending the conclusion of their case.
Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both aged 21, left the capital's Charles de Gaulle airport in the early evening, their lawyer told AFP.
The pair, accused of aggravated rape against a 39-year-old woman, managed to slip by the many journalists waiting at the hub.
On Tuesday a court in Mendoza, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, had ruled that the duo could leave the country immediately.
The prosecution had recommended that the players be allowed to travel because the accusation had "lost its initial force."
Jegou and Auradou were arrested in July, two days after winning their first international caps against Argentina in Mendoza.
The woman alleged they viciously assaulted her in a hotel room after a night out following the match.
The men deny the accusation, saying sex with the woman had been consensual.
They were released from detention into house arrest on July 17, and freed under supervision last month.
The pair were allowed to travel from Mendoza to Buenos Aires last week pending a hearing into a request for the charges to be dropped.
A date for that hearing has yet to be set.
Tuesday's ruling requires the pair to "appear if they are summoned to the Argentine consulate in France," to report virtually "as often as required," or return "to appear in Mendoza if requested."
A judge also rejected a request from the accuser for further psychological examinations of the rugby players.
- 'Like a brute' -
Late Tuesday, the plaintiff gave an account to the press of what she said happened the night she met Auradou in a nightclub in Mendoza.
"When he asked me to go and have a drink at his hotel, I said yes," she told journalists from France 2's Envoye Special, in clips released ahead of the program's September 12 broadcast.
Once in the hotel room, she said she asked to leave, but alleged the rugby player prevented her from doing so.
"He grabbed my neck. He put me on the bed. He stripped me like a brute," she said, before choking her "so that I had no oxygen left."
"I tried to react by slapping him. Instead of stopping him, this slap only encouraged him to carry on."
According to the complainant, Jegou then entered the room.
But instead of helping her as she believed he would, she alleges he went on to assault her as well.
- 'Joy and relief' -
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) welcomed Tuesday's ruling, and underscored the men must be considered innocent until proven otherwise.
Auradou's club in the French city of Pau expressed "joy and relief" at the news that he would be returning home.
According to the complainant's lawyer, Natacha Romano, her client suffered injuries to her face, back, breasts, legs and ribs, as well as bite and scratch marks.
Defense lawyers have pointed to witnesses and cameras allegedly detecting no injuries on the woman as she left the hotel.
The plaintiff's lawyers filed a motion on Monday for the recusal of the prosecutors in charge of the case, alleging a "lack of objectivity" on their part.
The woman, her representatives say, recently tried to commit suicide and would continue to suffer "irreparable harm" while the men she accuses resume their lives in France.
burs/tgb/sms
O.Karlsson--AMWN