Feed aggregator

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

Le plus grand pèlerinage hassidique du monde a lieu à Ouman, en Ukraine. Comme l'an dernier, les pèlerins venus d'Israël devraient atterrir dans les aéroports de l'est de la Roumanie, et non en République de Moldavie, pour aller ensuite se recueillir sur la tombe du rabbin Nahman de Bratslav.

- Articles / Destruction Juifs Balkans , Courrier des Balkans, Une - Diaporama, Roumanie, Ukraine, Relations internationales

Fin août 2025, la Croatie a détruit des cargaisons de fruits albanais contaminés. L'épisode révèle les failles du secteur agricole albanais et, alors que Tirana vise l'UE, l'urgence de réformes en profondeur.

- Articles / Courrier des Balkans, Agriculture, Albanie, Questions européennes, Economie, Santé

Fin août 2025, la Croatie a détruit des cargaisons de fruits albanais contaminés. L'épisode révèle les failles du secteur agricole albanais et, alors que Tirana vise l'UE, l'urgence de réformes en profondeur.

- Articles / Courrier des Balkans, Agriculture, Albanie, Questions européennes, Economie, Santé, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

Fin août 2025, la Croatie a détruit des cargaisons de fruits albanais contaminés. L'épisode révèle les failles du secteur agricole albanais et, alors que Tirana vise l'UE, l'urgence de réformes en profondeur.

- Articles / Courrier des Balkans, Agriculture, Albanie, Questions européennes, Economie, Santé, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

Fin août 2025, la Croatie a détruit des cargaisons de fruits albanais contaminés. L'épisode révèle les failles du secteur agricole albanais et, alors que Tirana vise l'UE, l'urgence de réformes en profondeur.

- Articles / Courrier des Balkans, Agriculture, Albanie, Questions européennes, Economie, Santé, Une - Diaporama, Une - Diaporama - En premier

A Szlovák Hidrometeorológiai Intézet (SHMÚ) elsőfokú meteorológiai figyelmeztetést adott ki pénteken (9. 19.) 10:00 óráig az északi járásokra a köd előfordulásának a veszélye miatt (50-200 m-es látótávolság). Óvatosan közlekedjenek az útnak indulók!

In today’s edition: EU ambassadors meet on the bloc’s 19th package of sanctions against Russia, protesters clash with police in France during nationwide anti-austerity strikes with 181 arrested, and EU countries tentatively agree to a vague 2035 climate pledge at the UN

Eddig 480 feljelentést tettek a Happy Travel megkárosított ügyfelei a Nyitrai Kerületi Rendőrkapitányságon – közölte Tomáš Havetta rendőrségi szóvivő.

Displaced people from Jabalia, Gaza, live in a destroyed building in downtown Gaza City. Demand action to end escalating Israeli crimes against Palestinians. Credit: UN News

By Human Rights Watch
NEW YORK, Sep 19 2025 (IPS)

World leaders gathering at the United Nations General Assembly from September 22-30, 2025, should commit to protecting the UN from powerful governments seeking to defund and undermine the organization’s capacity to promote human rights and international justice, Human Rights Watch said today.

On the eve of the General Assembly’s annual general debate, world leaders will hold a summit on the situation in Palestine, which French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to preside over.

“Human rights and the UN itself are in the crosshairs of powerful governments to an unprecedented extent,” said Federico Borello, interim executive director of Human Rights Watch. “World leaders should pledge action to ensure the world body has the resources and political support it needs to carry out its lifesaving human rights and humanitarian work around the world – in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, and elsewhere people are in need.”

Governments should also take action to stop Israel’s escalating atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Human Rights Watch said. They should condemn and take steps to counter US sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, prominent Palestinian organizations, and a UN expert.

They should rally behind institutions like the ICC, which is combating impunity for war crimes and other atrocities in Myanmar, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere around the globe.

World leaders should use the September 22 Palestine conference to publicly commit to action aimed at ending decades of impunity for Israeli authorities’ violations of international humanitarian and human rights law against Palestinians. This summit, a response to the landmark July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territory, is a continuation of a high-level meeting in July.

That ICJ advisory opinion determined that Israel’s decades-long occupation is unlawful, breaches Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and is marked by serious abuses, including apartheid. At the September 22 conference, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and others have said they would recognize a Palestinian state.

However, those declarations risk being empty gestures unless states commit to concrete actions to stop Israel’s extermination of Palestinians and expansion of unlawful settlements.

Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal settlements, and impose targeted sanctions on Israeli officials responsible for ongoing crimes against Palestinians, including crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, Human Rights Watch said. States should also press Hamas and Palestinian armed groups to release all civilian hostages.

The UN is in the throes of an existential financial crisis, largely due to the United States’ refusal to pay its assessed contributions – which countries are obligated to pay – and its cancellation of virtually all US voluntary funding for myriad UN agencies and bodies.

This is undermining UN humanitarian work, as well as human rights investigations in Ukraine, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Israel/Palestine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea, and elsewhere.

The US is not alone in defaulting on its financial obligations to the UN. China, the UN’s second biggest contributor, has been delaying its payments to the organization’s regular budget and peacekeeping operations. Many other governments are also in arrears.

Wealthy governments in the European Union, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and others have followed the US decision to gut its foreign aid programs by further reducing their own foreign aid budgets, exacerbating the UN’s financial troubles.

Governments that care about human rights should pay their assessed contributions in full and on time and increase voluntary contributions to the UN, prioritizing programs that protect human rights and save lives.

In 2023, the US contributed nearly $13 billion in assessed and voluntary contributions to the UN. That figure has dropped to nearly zero this year after Trump ordered a “review” of US contributions to the UN. It remains unclear if, when, and to what extent the US might resume UN funding.

The UN leadership should seek ways to reduce costs while avoiding across-the-board cuts that would disproportionately impact human rights work, which is already chronically underfunded. As the UN leadership presses ahead with a package of cost-cutting proposals as part of its “UN80” initiative, it should ensure that independent investigations of human rights abuses have the necessary resources to continue.

“UN monitoring and investigations can deter abusive governments from committing atrocities against civilians,” said Borello. “Powerful governments seeking to undermine the UN’s human rights and humanitarian programs should be condemned, not emulated. The lives of millions of people around the world depend on it.”

Leaders should press for meaningful action to address dire crises in Sudan and Haiti. In Sudan, civilians are facing famine, sexual violence, and other atrocities. In Haiti, criminal groups are expanding their control, escalating killings and sexual violence, including gang rape, forcing millions into displacement and facing acute food insecurity.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has declined to endorse calls from human rights defenders and member states to deploy physical protection missions to Sudan and Haiti.

On February 6, Trump issued an executive order that authorizes asset freezes and entry bans on ICC officials and others supporting the court’s work. The US government has so far imposed sanctions on the court’s prosecutor, his two deputies, six judges, the UN special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese, as well as three leading Palestinian civil society organizations.

These sanctions are a blatant attack on the rule of law and the international justice system. They aim primarily to thwart the ICC’s ongoing Palestine investigation, including the court’s pending arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

UN member states should affirm their support for the ICC’s global mandate and civil society’s critical work, and call on the US government to cancel the sanctions program. Member states should also commit to concrete steps to protect the court from these sanctions, including through legislation like the EU Blocking Statute, which aims to shield European companies from the effects of extraterritorial sanctions.

Member states should further commit to international justice by implementing all of the ICJ’s advisory opinions, including the court’s July opinion calling climate change an existential threat to the planet and arguing that states’ failure to protect the climate triggers legal consequences.

Delegates should urge member states to press ahead with negotiations on an international treaty to prevent and punish crimes against humanity. The treaty will fill a gap in international law that contributes to impunity for egregious acts of murder, torture, enforced disappearance, sexual violence, and persecution, among others, inflicted on civilians around the world.

Horrific, systematic abuses the Taliban have continued committing against women and girls in Afghanistan since retaking power in 2021 exemplify why gender apartheid as a crime against humanity should be included in any eventual treaty on crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said.

“The UN and international human rights system are being put to the test,” said Borello. “To be on the right side of history, it’s crucial to push back against powerful governments trying to undermine international norms and demolish avenues for accountability.”

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/09/17/un-world-leaders-should-commit-to-human-rights-international-justice
https://www.hrw.org/topic/united-nations
https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/north-africa/israel/palestine

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Itt-ott köddel vagy alacsony szintű rétegfelhőzettel kezdődött a péntek (9. 19.) reggel. A Szlovák Hidrometeorológiai Intézet (SHMÚ) előrejelzése szerint napos/enyhén felhős időjárás várható. Napközben északon és keleten helyenként felhős lesz az ég, s ott elvétve záporok alakulhatnak ki.

Portugal has secured €1.34 billion in EIB funding to build and renovate 12,000 affordable rental homes, in what officials call a landmark investment in housing, social cohesion, and economic resilience

Brussels wants to whittle down 76 pitches for hosting large AI training hubs into just a handful of actual projects

Striking a free trade deal with New Delhi this year would be a 'big challenge,' the veteran commissioner tells Euractiv

Advocates say the goods could prevent 360,000 unintended pregnancies

Ukraine's digital strides aren't inimitable wartime ingenuity; they show what is possible when digital governance moves from principle to execution

The European Commission recently proposed raising taxes on cigarettes as well as novel tobacco products

The Spanish and German leaders touted unity on Ukraine, but their meeting was clouded by splits over defence spending and the war in Gaza.

Onafriq et Visa s'associent pour lancer Visa Pay, ouvrant ainsi la voie à l'interopérabilité entre les cartes et le Mobile Money en RDC Onafriq, le plus grand réseau de paiement numérique d'Afrique. C'est un partenariat stratégique avec Visa pour le lancement de Visa Pay, une plateforme de paiement en tant que service (PaaS) née du cloud, conçue pour étendre l'accès aux services financiers numériques à travers la République démocratique du Congo (RDC).

À travers ce partenariat, les consommateurs en RDC pourront facilement approvisionner leur portefeuille Visa Pay directement à partir des réseaux de Mobile Money, leur donnant ainsi un accès transparent aux paiements numériques et au e-commerce au quotidien.

Grâce aux API d'Onafriq, cette collaboration permet d'effectuer des prélèvements et des versements à partir des portefeuilles M-Pesa, Airtel Money et Orange Money, reliant ainsi efficacement le réseau de cartes Visa à des millions de comptes mobile money à travers le pays.

“Notre collaboration avec Onafriq illustre notre ambition d'accélérer l'inclusion financière en RDC,” a déclaré Sophie Kafuti, directrice générale de Visa en RDC. “En connectant Visa Pay à l'infrastructure mobile money existante, nous ne nous contentons pas d'ajouter une fonctionnalité pratique, nous créons les bases de l'interopérabilité qui favoriseront l'adoption du e-commerce dans tout le pays.”

Le moment est propice pour une croissance significative du marché. Selon les données de la GSMA, le secteur des paiements mobiles en RDC devrait atteindre une valeur transactionnelle de 3,85 milliards de dollars cette année, soit un taux de croissance annuel composé de 19 %. Ce marché englobe les paiements au détail, le e-commerce, les services administratifs, le paiement des factures, le versement des salaires et les recouvrements commerciaux à l'échelle nationale.

“Onafriq relie depuis des années les consommateurs congolais à l'Afrique et au reste du monde, en tant qu'infrastructure fiable en arrière-plan,” a déclaré Christian Bwakira, directeur commercial d'Onafriq. “Ce partenariat démontre comment la fusion du réseau mondial de Visa associée à la forte présence locale d'Onafriq crée des possibilités sans précédent en matière d'innovation et d'inclusion financière à travers l'Afrique. Lorsque vous associez des capacités mondiales de premier choix à des réseaux locaux fiables, vous ouvrez des opportunités de transformation tant pour les partenaires que pour les millions de consommateurs que nous servons.” Au-delà de la RDC, ce partenariat ouvre la voie à l'expansion de Visa Pay sur d'autres marchés africains, où l'adoption du mobile money est déjà très répandue et où la demande de solutions interopérables et numériques s'accélère.

À propos d'Onafriq

Onafriq est un réseau omnicanal de réseaux qui réduit l'importance des frontières en offrant à nos partenaires une voie unique pour exploiter tout le potentiel des solutions de paiement transfrontalières et multiplateformes. Avec un réseau couvrant 43 marchés africains, Onafriq relie plus d'un milliard de portefeuilles électroniques, 500 millions de comptes bancaires et plus de 400 000 agents au Nigeria, permettant ainsi les paiements et les encaissements nationaux et transfrontaliers, l'émission et le traitement de cartes, les services bancaires par agence et les services de trésorerie.

Grâce à nos capacités de pointe en matière de réglementation et de conformité et à notre solide présence régionale, avec 10 bureaux en Afrique, ainsi que des sites au Royaume-Uni, aux États-Unis et en Chine, nous ouvrons la voie à une nouvelle ère d'accès pour les populations du continent africain et au-delà.

À propos de Visa

Visa (NYSE : V) est un leader mondial des paiements numériques, facilitant les transactions entre les consommateurs, les commerçants, les institutions financières et les entités gouvernementales dans plus de 200 pays et territoires. Notre mission est de connecter le monde grâce au réseau de paiement le plus innovant, pratique, fiable et sécurisé, permettant ainsi aux particuliers, aux entreprises et aux économies de prospérer. Nous pensons que les économies qui incluent tous les individus, partout dans le monde, améliorent la vie de tous, partout dans le monde, et nous considérons cette accessibilité comme fondamentale pour l'avenir des transactions financières.

A 90% climate target for 2040, which had deeply divided EU countries, is not referenced in the "statement of intent"