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France's highest administrative court has rejected an appeal by far-right leader Marine Le Pen, dealing a major setback to her efforts to remain eligible for the 2027 presidential race. The Council of State announced its decision on Wednesday, confirming the immediate enforcement of Le Pen's ineligibility sentence following her conviction earlie .

Placards and slogans against France that surfaced in demonstrations against impeached President Andry Rajoelina this week exposed deep resentment against the former colonial power. France out , Rajoelina and Macron out , said banners after French media reported that the president had fled on a French military plane as an army unit threw its we .

Former president Joseph Kabila rallied opponents of the Democratic Republic of Congo 39;s current government in Kenya 39;s capital on Wednesday, announcing a new movement to save his crisis-hit country.

Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España (Notion de "bagages")
Transport
Responsabilité des transporteurs aériens : les animaux de compagnie ne sont pas exclus de la notion de « bagages »

AirHelp Germany (Avion frappé par la foudre)
Transport
Un impact de foudre sur un avion peut constituer une circonstance extraordinaire

La présidente de la Commission européenne, Ursula von der Leyen, a annoncé fin septembre un paquet de 545 millions d'euros pour soutenir la transition énergétique en Afrique. Plus de la moitié de cette enveloppe sera concentrée en Côte d’Ivoire. Pourquoi Abidjan bénéficie-t-il d’un tel traitement et que révèle le chantier de la Dorsale Est sur les priorités énergétiques et géopolitiques de Bruxelles ?

Die Liebes-Affäre des geschassten Nestlé-CEO Laurent Freixe war nur ein weiteres Kapitel im Absturz des Schweizer Lebensmittelmultis. Woran es in Vevey VD hapert, warum der Aktienkurs eingebrochen ist und mit welcher Strategie es wieder aufwärtsgehen könnte.

Accusé par Marine Le Pen de contourner le peuple et les élections, le premier ministre a rappelé que la représentation parlementaire allait ce matin « censurer ou confirmer » son gouvernement.Marine le Pen a « été battue » aux présidentielles de 2017 et de 2022, a-t-il rappelé. C’est un « moment de vérité » entre « ordre républicain » et « désordre ».« Ne prenez pas … Lire la suite

DÉCRYPTAGE - Le chef d’Horizons s’oppose à la suspension de la réforme, afin de se distinguer des macronistes. Mais sa vice-présidente va jusqu’à appeler à la censure du gouvernement, tandis que trois autres membres ont rejoint l’équipe Lecornu, contre la ligne fixée.

Sie gehörte zu den ersten Frauen, die ins Schweizer Parlament einzogen – und zahlte dafür einen hohen Preis. Nun ist sie kurz vor ihrem 82. Geburtstag gestorben.

Marine Le Pen, présidente du groupe Rassemblement national à l’Assemblée nationale, a annoncé que son parti voterait « sans hésiter » la censure du gouvernement, estimant que « le budget présenté n’en est pas un ». La cheffe du RN a défendu la motion déposée conjointement par sa formation et par l’Union de la droite … Lire la suite

Az múlt héten ismét emelkedett Nyitra megyében az influenzások és influenzaszerű betegségben szenvedők száma – közölte a Nyitrai Regionális Közegészségügyi Hivatal (RÚVZ).

Wissenschaftler der ETH Zürich haben entdeckt, dass tiefe Seufzer die Lunge elastischer machen und das Atmen erleichtern. Eine spezielle Flüssigkeit in der Lunge entfaltet ihre Wirkung besonders bei starkem Dehnen, wie eine neue Studie zeigt.

Der vom Bundesrat in die Vernehmlassung gegebene indirekte Gegenvorschlag zur Volksinitiative «Für die Gleichstellung von Menschen mit Behinderungen (Inklusions-Initiative)» stösst auf Kritik. Behindertenorganisationen und Parteien sehen Verbesserungsbedarf.

Schöne Anerkennung für die Schweizer Nati-Spielerin Iman Beney: Sie gehört zu den zehn nominierten Talenten für den Golden-Girl-Award.

The UN General Assembly endorses New York Declaration on a two-State solution between Israel and Palestine. 12 September 2025. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Oct 16 2025 (IPS)

The ceasefire agreement and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are only the first steps on the long and treacherous road that could end the calamitous, decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In my recent article, “A Rare Alignment:The World Stands Ready, Are the Palestinians?”

I tackled what the Palestinians must do to realize their national aspirations. In this article, I address what the Israelis must do not only to end their conflict with the Palestinians, but also to salvage Israel’s moral standing, which lies in ruin in Gaza.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached a new breaking point, more precipitous now than any time before. Although Israelis have experienced unfathomable trauma as a result of Hamas’ horrific attack, now is the time for all Israelis to carefully examine the circumstances that have brought them to this fateful crossroads.

Decades of violent conflict and the persistent denial of each other’s rights culminated in Hamas’ savagery, followed by the longest and most devastating war, which has reframed the nature of the conflict. It made it clearer than ever before that those who wrote the obituary for a two-state solution must now rewrite their script. As much as co-existence is inescapable, so is the inevitable rise of a Palestinian state.

Choosing the right path would require courage and a new vision. The Israelis must first disabuse themselves of several beliefs embedded in their psyche and push for a just solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, which is central to gradually restoring Israel’s shattered moral standing, which only the Israelis themselves can reclaim.

Existential Threat
The Israelis have been indoctrinated to believe that a Palestinian state would pose an existential threat and must be prevented at all costs, which has been falsely promulgated for decades by egocentric, nationalist and corrupt politicians like Netanyahu. At this juncture, the Israelis need to accept the irrevocable reality of Palestinian existence and take action to mitigate their fear rather than perpetuate enmity.

Israel was created as a sanctuary for any Jew who wishes to live in peace and security. This millennium-old dream however, cannot be realized, as time has shown, as long as the Palestinians are denied a state of their own.

The Israelis need to overcome their anxieties and misguided beliefs by finding meaning and self-affirmation, which does not hinge on denying the Palestinians their own state. They should step away from the deeply rooted, misguided fear that a Palestinian state indeed poses an existential threat, because without it, Israel renders itself permanently insecure, as time has shown.

Hatred Toward the Palestinians
The Israelis’ hatred of the Palestinians is rooted in a century-old conflict, which has only deepened due to the continuing acts of violence and the prevalence of mutually acrimonious narratives. This is further compounded by the Israelis’ belief that the Palestinians refuse to accept Israel’s right to exist. Instead of focusing on practical measures of reconciliation necessitated by the inescapable coexistence, they clung to hatred, which subconsciously justifies their continuing resistance to Palestinian statehood.

A well-known proverb notes that “Hatred is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Indeed, hatred is self-destructive, and letting go of it is essential for peaceful coexistence. The Israelis must live in the present to free themselves from the shackles of past prejudices against the Palestinians and reach out rather than shun them.

Such an approach may surprise many Israelis, who will find that generally the Palestinians are a willing partner eager to engage, albeit only if they believe they stand a good chance of realizing their national aspirations.

Refusing the Reality of Coexistence
The Israelis need to come to terms with the fact that accepting what cannot be changed and embracing it with understanding and even compassion would ultimately serve their own interests. In essence, Israelis must use their collective power to create the conditions that produce mutual political, economic, and security gains, which is the only way to coexist peacefully. Israelis must ask what the alternative to peaceful coexistence is.

Has anyone come up with a viable and mutually acceptable alternative whereby both can live in peace, short of a two-state solution?

The irony is that while Netanyahu spent decades trying to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, his devastating onslaught on the Palestinians has only produced precisely the opposite. It has rallied the international community to support an independent Palestinian state like never before.

Israel can annex all the West Bank and Gaza, assuming that it could live with international isolation, sanctions, expulsion from various international organizations, etc., but where will the Palestinians go?

For how long can seven million Israeli Jews suppress seven million Palestinians living in their midst and around them? How many Palestinians can they kill, displace, or starve to death? What choice would the Palestinians be left with other than armed struggle?

Since coexistence is inescapable, under what kind of an umbrella do the Israelis want to live? Hamas’ savagery and Israel’s devastating retaliation only attest to the consequences of decades-long mutual systematic dehumanization.

Unless the Israelis accept coexistence as an unmitigated reality, they will have to raise generations of warriors trained to kill Palestinians, destroy their properties, and live by the sword for as far as the eye can see.

The Catastrophic Loss of Israel’s Moral Standing
There are no words to describe the lasting damage that the Netanyahu government has inflicted on Israel as a country and the Israeli people. The whole world was astounded to see Jews, of all people, committing crimes against humanity in broad daylight beyond the capacity of any human being with a conscience to grasp.

Yes, the world applies a double standard when it comes to the Jews, and for good reason. The Jews have suffered for millennia from persecution, discrimination, and expulsion, culminating with the Holocaust, and are expected, because of their tragic experience, to uphold the sanctity of life.

And while the Jews have lived by and spread the values of caring, compassion, empathy, and altruism—values that have shielded them throughout their dispersion—the barbaric Netanyahu government has betrayed these tenets of Judaism. It has left Israel, and by tragic extension, Jews round the world, with no moral ground to stand on while precipitating the exponential rise of antisemitism.

It is hard to imagine how any Israeli government would desert these values and perpetrate this inconceivable cruelty and vengeance upon the Palestinians. The killing of tens of thousands of women, children, and the elderly, the bombing of hospitals and schools, and the deliberate starvation of a whole people as a weapon of war, sent shock waves throughout the world, bewildering friends and foes.

The countries that admired Israel for its incredible achievements in all walks of life are now looking at it as a pariah state that has lost its moral compass and its way.

My Plea to the Israelis—Facing a Moral Reckoning
No one can make light of the trauma and the horrendous suffering so many of you have and continue to endure because of Hamas’ butchery and heartless imprisonment of the hostages. But your government’s retaliatory war, which quickly became a war of revenge and retribution that killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians, did not do justice to your sacrifices by committing horrific war crimes in your name.

The war in Gaza and its consequences demand that Israel face a moral reckoning. You need to confront your government’s actions that plundered the depths of human immorality. Your moral obligation is to rise against Netanyahu’s government.

Remember, the Palestinians will recover from the catastrophe they have endured, rebuild their lives, and coalesce around a renewed effort, with the mounting support of the international community, to realize their aspiration for statehood.

Israel, however, has sustained a far greater catastrophe by forsaking Jewish values. It will take a generation (or more) before your country can regain a measure of moral standing, and that is only if it ends the conflict with the Palestinians in a fair and just way based on a two-state solution.

Now it’s time for accountability. Following the release of the hostages, you now need to embark on bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Pour into the streets by the hundreds of thousands and demand the immediate resignation of Netanyahu and force him to face a commission of inquiry about his conduct before and after Hamas’ attack.

What you need to pursue now is building on the ceasefire and demanding that a newly-formed government move step-by-step toward implementing the Trump peace plan, which must culminate in establishing a Palestinian state.

This will not be a gift to the Palestinians. Rather, this is what you must do to transform the calamitous war in Gaza and the horrific pain, suffering, and losses you have sustained into a breakthrough on the road toward the long-awaited and desperately needed peaceful Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.

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

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Les débats ont commencé à l’Assemblée nationale. Aurélie Trouvé (LFI) a lancé le débat sur la motion de censure contre le gouvernement Lecornu. « La suspension annoncée » de la réforme des retraites « n’est qu’un leurre, une tromperie, un subterfuge », a déclaré ce jeudi la députée de la France insoumise (LFI) Aurélie Trouvé, en lançant le débat … Lire la suite

Sie erzählt von Angriffen, Lügen und Betrug. Angela Baumann aus Sissach im Kanton Basel-Land blickt auf vier schwere Jahre zurück.

In today's edition: NGTs, simplification, carbon farming

Donald Trump a confirmé, mercredi 15 octobre, avoir autorisé l’action de la CIA au Venezuela, et a dit « envisager » des frappes terrestres contre les cartels vénézuéliens. En réaction, Nicolás Maduro s’est insurgé contre « les coups d’États fomentés par la CIA ».