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Thursday 11 September

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Thursday 11 September

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Thursday 11 September

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Bruxelles hausse (enfin) le ton à l'égard de Belgrade après les violences qui ont marqué les manifestations étudiantes et citoyennes, ainsi que les attaques verbales du président Vučić contre des députés européens. L'heure des sanctions est-elle venue ?

- Articles / Serbie, Questions européennes, Politique, Vucic, Courrier des Balkans, Serbie UE (Union Européenne)

The State of Qatar delivered a message, September 10, to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and to Sangjin Kim, the Charge d'Affaires at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea and President of the Security Council for September, “regarding the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Hamas Political Bureau” in the capital, Doha. The message was delivered by the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani. The State of Qatar requested that the message be circulated to members of the Security Council and issued as an official document of the Council.

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Sep 11 2025 (IPS)

Israel’s brazen attack on Hamas’ negotiating team in Qatar while they were deliberating a new ceasefire with Israel raises serious questions not only about the legality of the attack, which violated international laws and norms, and concerns over Qatar’s sovereignty, but also the potential regional and international fallout.

The fact that Israel notified the Trump administration of its impending attack and was given the green light to proceed adds another troubling dimension for all those who will be affected, especially the Gulf states.

Israel’s attack was calculated to achieve several objectives. First, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not want a new ceasefire at a time when the Israeli military is engaged in a major incursion into Gaza City to eliminate the remaining Hamas leaders and fighters.

Second, the gathering of Hamas’ top leaders in one place provided him with an opportunity to eliminate many of them, which he did not want to miss.

Third, he wanted to send a clear message to other Arab states that he would not hesitate to undertake bold action against what he considers an existential enemy, regardless of where they reside and how that might affect their relationship with the Arab countries involved.

Fourth, he wanted to project Israel as the dominant power in the Middle East, if not the hegemon, especially at this juncture when Israel is enjoying nearly unconditional support of the Trump administration.

Fifth, Netanyahu wanted to prevent the collapse of his government by complying with the demands of two of his extremist ministers who threatened to resign if he were to stop the war before the elimination of Hamas “from the face of the earth,” however lofty and unattainable a goal that might be. The attack in Doha was too tempting to pass up.

It is rather hypocritical of Netanyahu to attack Hamas on Qatari soil, when in fact Qatar’s years-long aid payments to the Gaza Strip through Hamas, meant to pay public salaries and prevent a humanitarian crisis, was approved by Netanyahu himself and sent through Israeli territory in cash-filled suitcases—all in an effort to create a wider divide with the Palestinian Authority and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack and noted that Qatar has played a constructive role in efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

France’s President Macron said, “Today’s Israeli strikes on Qatar are unacceptable, whatever the reason. I express my solidarity with Qatar and its Emir, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani. Under no circumstances should the war spread throughout the region.”

The adverse implications of Israel’s attack will reaffirm the prevailing international view of Israel as a rogue state that blatantly ignores international norms of conduct and believes it can do so with complete impunity. Still, there will be a time when Israel will have to account for its mischiefs.

The attack further strained the relationship between Israel and Egypt, in particular, because it has been and continues to be involved in the ceasefire negotiations.

Moreover, the attack has certainly further damaged the chance of normalizing relations with other Gulf Arab states, even though both Netanyahu and Trump wanted to expand the Abraham Accords.

The Gulf states are now concerned about the US’ commitment to their security, given that the Trump administration allowed a close ally—Israel—to attack another ally, especially as Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region.

According to Al Jazeera, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani condemned Tuesday’s strike on Doha, calling it “state terrorism” allegedly authorized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the attack demanded a firm regional response and warned that Qatar would defend its territory, reserving the right to retaliate and take all necessary measures.

To be sure, the pitfall of all of these developments transcends the Israel-Hamas war and the prospect of a new ceasefire. Israel’s habitual assassinations of its enemies, irrespective of their country of residence, raises a serious question as to how far Israel, with the support of the Trump administration, will go in violating international norms of conduct and laws with presumed impunity.

Indeed, beyond the green light that Trump gave Netanyahu to attack Hamas leaders in Doha, his unrelenting support of Netanyahu’s genocidal war in Gaza is deeply troubling for many countries around the world. They now see the US, which has been leading and preserving the world order in the wake of World War II, as a country that lost its way and poses an extraordinary danger to global stability.

Without the US’ consent, Netanyahu would not have dared to attack any of Israel’s enemies across the region, be they Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Syria, and now Qatar. They see the US as the culprit and are extremely concerned about what might come next.

None of this augurs well for either Israel or the United States because sooner or later, these actions will sow consequences that neither nation can ignore and will come back to haunt them in a very real way.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Survivors of the flood tell the BBC they are still in need of government support.

South Africa win a chaotic, rain-affected opening T20 in Cardiff by 14 runs as England fail to chase 69 in five overs.

A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late on 31 August 2025, with its epicenter near Jalalabad in Nangarhar province. Early reports indicate a significant loss of life, including many children, with hundreds of fatalities and thousands injured, alongside widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. Credit: UNICEF/Amin Meerzad

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10 2025 (IPS)

Over the past week, Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly following the August 31 earthquake, which measured over 6.0 in magnitude and caused an immense loss of life and widespread destruction of critical infrastructure. Compounded by the nation’s fragile economy, severe shortages of essential resources, and persistent access challenges, humanitarian organizations have found it increasingly difficult to reach vulnerable communities—especially women and children.

On September 9, the United Nations (UN) launched a four-month emergency response plan totaling to USD 139.6 million in an effort to support roughly 457,000 people left struggling to survive in the aftermath of the earthquake. The response will prioritize communities in high-elevation areas as well as women, children, and the disabled, who are the most vulnerable populations. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) also announced a response plan that would target the Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, aiming to distribute cash assistance and essential items such as dignity kits.

“The Afghanistan earthquake has caused massive devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people in remote areas already scarred by decades of conflict and displacement have lost their homes and livelihoods,” said UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher. “Communities hit include those where people returning from Iran and Pakistan had only just begun to rebuild their lives”.

Prior to the earthquake, Afghanistan was already in the midst of a multifaceted humanitarian crisis marked by pervasive poverty, restrictive measures on women’s autonomy, and some of the lowest civic space conditions globally. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), roughly 22.9 million people in Afghanistan urgently required humanitarian assistance prior to the earthquake, nearly half of the nation’s population.

Additional figures from OCHA show that as of September 7, approximately 500,000 people across the Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar provinces of eastern Afghanistan have been directly impacted by the earthquake, with over 2,200 civilian fatalities and 3,600 injuries recorded. Over 6,700 homes were destroyed or damaged, with many families losing their food stocks and finding refuge in open, makeshift settlements that leave them exposed to the elements, compromising safety and privacy.

OCHA warns that millions are facing limited access to essential services, with critical infrastructures for sanitation, healthcare, water, food, and education having been damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. Stephen Rodriques, the resident representative for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, informed reporters that 68 major water sources have been destroyed, leaving thousands without access to clean water. Shannon O’Hara, Head of Strategy and Coordination for OCHA Afghanistan, has said that outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera are imminent due to an overwhelming lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, as well as roughly 92 percent of civilians residing in open shelters practicing open-defecation.

Afghanistan’s ongoing hunger crisis has further escalated following the earthquake. The World Food Programme (WFP) have reported that nearly 10 million people are facing acute food insecurity. Rates of child malnutrition have also skyrocketed to the “highest levels on record”, as roughly one in three children face stunted development and urgently require medical intervention. WFP projects that approximately 15 people will need lifesaving food assistance in the coming months, with winter weather conditions expected to amplify health risks and access challenges for humanitarian personnel.

Women and girls are projected to face the heaviest burden of this crisis. Estimates from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) show that thousands lack access to essential feminine hygiene supplies, while around 11,600 pregnant women have been directly impacted by the earthquake. This is particularly concerning as Afghanistan holds one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

“For pregnant women, a natural disaster can turn an already challenging time into a life-threatening crisis,” said UNFPA Representative in Afghanistan, Kwabena Asante-Ntiamoah.

“In a context like Afghanistan, it is essential that women are delivering assistance to women and girls,” added UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative, Susan Ferguson. “Cultural restrictions can make it harder for women to access support and services – as we have seen with the Afghan women returnees from Iran and Pakistan,” the UN Women official stressed. “Women humanitarians are vital to overcome these barriers. Without them, too many women and girls will miss out on lifesaving assistance.”

Currently, humanitarian access to vulnerable communities in high-elevation areas remains severely strained, as landslides and rock falls have destroyed critical roads and cut off remote populations. The approaching winter season is expected to exacerbate these challenges. “Even before the earthquake, these villages were difficult to reach,” O’Hara said. “Now, with the earthquake, it takes extraordinary effort to get there.”

Additionally, numerous aid groups have warned that persistent funding shortfalls threaten to curtail lifesaving emergency services in Afghanistan. WFP’s top official in Kabul John Aylieff noted that current funds can only feed earthquake victims in Afghanistan for a few more weeks before being depleted entirely. Meanwhile, helicopter support from the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS)— critical for reaching remote areas— has been suspended until additional funding is secured.

“As relief efforts are well underway, this week is a tragic testimony to the devastating impact of aid cuts on one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries,” said Ibrahim. “The international community must step up now to address Afghanistan’s escalating humanitarian needs—from drought-affected communities and returnee crises on both sides of its borders, to sudden natural disasters like the one that has just struck.”

Through its newly-announced emergency response plan, the UN is dedicated to providing multi-sectoral support, including shelter, clean water, food assistance, protection, education, and agricultural and livestock aid to help foster livelihoods. Relief efforts have already begun in the hardest-hit areas, with humanitarian personnel delivering hot meals, tents, warm clothing, and blankets to communities in need. Additionally, the UN is in the process of establishing safe spaces for women and children, aiming to keep high-risk populations at the center of their response.

“This is a moment where the international community must dig deep and show solidarity with a population that has already endured so much suffering”, said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan. “With winter fast approaching, we are in a race against time to support affected communities with just the bare minimum. The resilience of the Afghan people has been continually tested and there is a real danger, with each crisis that hits, that the fragile gains made in recent years will be reversed.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Verteidigung dominierte Ursula von der Leyens Rede zur Lage der Union – im Mittelpunkt standen Drohnen und eine Allianz mit der Ukraine.

Writtten by Anna Caprile and Tim Peters with Ana Luisa Melo Almeida.

One of the first, and boldest, measures taken by Western countries as a response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the immobilisation of the Russian central bank assets held under their jurisdictions, the value of which could be around €300 billion worldwide, according to recent estimations.

As the war is well into its fourth year, the debate on how to use the immobilised assets to sustain Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts – a cost estimated at US$524 billion – has evolved. A growing number of international legal experts and prominent political figures have defended the lawfulness of confiscating Russian central bank assets to sustain Ukraine, both for financing reconstruction efforts and military expenses, despite these assets being protected by state immunity. However, opinions among legal scholars differ significantly, as do the positions of the governments in whose countries these assets are held.

G7 countries reached an agreement in October 2024 on using the extraordinary revenues generated by those assets to service and repay a US$50 billion G7 loan to Ukraine, while the complex debate on the legality and related risks on the use of the principal capital continues. In the absence of a clear precedent or an uncontested legal basis, political considerations, such as US policy shifts, and calculations over the economic and financial risks incurred will play a decisive role in this debate. Notably, this subject was on the agenda, for the first time, of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Copenhagen on 29-30 August 2025.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Confiscation of immobilised Russian sovereign assets: State of play, arguments and scenarios‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Frozen Russian Assets

Opinion on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026 - all sections
Committee on Security and Defence
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

L’OTAN va enquêter sur l’incident impliquant des drones russes survolant la Pologne, a déclaré mercredi 10 septembre le secrétaire général de l’alliance militaire, Mark Rutte.

The post L’OTAN enquête sur l’incursion « imprudente et dangereuse » de drones russes en Pologne appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Das EU-Parlament hat den Bericht des Agrarausschusses zur Zukunft der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik angenommen – und damit bereits zum zweiten Mal in diesem Jahr ein Signal gesetzt, dass Kürzungen bei Agrarsubventionen nicht akzeptiert werden.

La présidente à l’origine du Pacte vert adopte désormais le kaki militaire.

The post État de l’Union : Ursula von der Leyen sonne le tocsin appeared first on Euractiv FR.

EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen hat in ihrer jährlichen Rede zur Lage der Union strengere Regeln für die Nutzung sozialer Medien durch Kinder und Jugendliche signalisiert.

Dans son livre « La traque de Hissène Habré », l'avocat américain Reed Brody révèle des détails inédits sur le processus qui a conduit à l'emprisonnement de Hissène Habré, condamné pour le meurtre et la violation des droits humains de centaines de milliers de personnes au Tchad, et explique en quoi l'arrestation d'Augusto Pinochet à Londres a été essentielle pour y parvenir.

Nach dem Eindringen russischer Drohnen in den polnischen Luftraum hat Warschau Artikel 4 des NATO-Vertrags aktiviert und damit offizielle Bündniskonsultationen eingeleitet.

EU-Kommissionspräsidentin Ursula von der Leyen hat ihre Rede zur Lage der Union genutzt, um die Gefahr eines möglichen militärischen Konflikts mit Russland zu betonen – und zugleich den Abschied Europas vom Selbstverständnis als reine Wirtschaftsmacht angedeutet.

Opinion on the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2026 - all sections
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Michael Gahler

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Szerdán a Parlament jóváhagyta az EU kohéziós-, és szociális finanszírozásának változásait, válaszul az új kihívásokra és az EU prioritásaira.
Regionális Fejlesztési Bizottság

Forrás : © Európai Unió, 2025 - EP