- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- 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
Top French court studies fate of 'Europe's largest' hippo Jumbo
France's top administrative court is to decide if a three-tonne hippopotamus called Jumbo should be freed after decades working as "the largest hippo in Europe" for a family circus.
The decision, which is expected in the coming weeks, is the culmination of a lengthy legal battle between an animal rights group and the Muller Circus.
The One Voice group has accused the circus of mistreating Jumbo, leaving the semi-aquatic mammal alone for hours on end in an enclosure, locked up in a lorry, or standing in a water-filled skip from which it cannot clamber out on its own.
They have requested that Jumbo, who they say is obese, be transferred to a sanctuary.
The circus has rejected the claims, and said the animal should stay with them.
The centre of the case is an official permit issued by the southern Drome region in 2008 giving the Muller family the right to show the animal to the public.
One Voice took legal action in 2017 to repeal the permit, but an administrative court in 2019 refused to do so, and a regional appeals court in 2022 upheld that decision.
The case has now made its way to the State Council, France's highest administrative court, where the fate of Jumbo was discussed Wednesday.
The circus says the hippo, now in its late thirties, has retired. They did not however say when.
France has also since the start of the case introduced an animal rights law to gradually phase out the performance of wild animals from travelling shows by late 2028.
A rapporteur at the State Council has advised the court to send the case back to the appeals court, recommending it re-examine it taking into account new developments.
As Jumbo has retired, the contended 2008 permit to perform no longer applies, they argued.
One Voice's lawyer Thomas Lyon-Caen said that recommendation seemed "perfectly justified".
But the Muller family's lawyer, Helene Farge, argued Jumbo would be happier living out the rest of its days with the circus.
Won't it "be better off where it has always lived instead of in a retirement home?" she said.
Hippopotamuses hail from sub-Saharan Africa, where they usually wallow in water all day before emerging onto land at night to graze on grass.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists them as "vulnerable", as they are threatened by human activity and drought.
In 2007, a French court ordered the release of an 11-year-old hippopotamus called Tonga from another circus. It was flown to a sanctuary in South Africa.
C.Garcia--AMWN