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EU foreign ministers on Monday (22 January) will hold a series of meetings with counterparts from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and key Arab nations about Gaza and prospects for a future peace settlement.

Die künftige Strategie der EU-Kommission für das CO2-Management wird vorsehen, bis zum Jahr 2050 jährlich bis zu 450 Millionen Tonnen CO2 zu binden. Damit wird die Debatte über die Zukunft des EU-Emissionshandelssystems nun auch auf politischer Ebene angestoßen.

Les forces de la Gendarmerie nationale de la wilaya d’El Oued ont réussi à saisir un million de comprimés hallucinogènes et à arrêter quatre barons […]

L’article Les autorités saisissent 1 million de comprimés hallucinogènes à El Oued est apparu en premier sur .

Welcome to Euractiv’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

A Fô-Daru, une localité de l'arrondissement de Tasso, dans la commune de Nikki, une femme a perdu la vie lundi 15 janvier 2024 alors qu'elle tentait d'abattre un arbre pour faire du bois de chauffage.

Décès tragique d'une femme à Fô-Daru, une localité de l'arrondissement de Tasso, dans la commune de Nikki. Selon Su Tii Dera FM, une radio locale, la défunte voulait abattre l'arbre afin de s'en servir pour des bois de chauffage. Pour y parvenir, elle met du feu au pied de l'arbre. Etant donné que l'arbre a brûlé à un certain niveau, les branches chargées de braises, elle se mit à le secouer.
Quelques instants après, alors qu'elle ramassait les petits morceaux qu'elle a réussi à faire tomber, une grande branche tombe sur elle. Sous le choc, elle passe de vie à trépas. Le corps sans vie a été retrouvé par des riverains. Agée de la quarantaine, elle laisse derrière elle, un enfant âgé de 05 mois environ.

F. A. A.

Written by Clare Ferguson and Katarzyna Sochacka.

The first January 2024 plenary session opened with a statement by Parliament’s President, Roberta Metsola, commemorating Jacques Delors, the former Commission President, who passed away on 27 December. The highlight of the session was the presentation by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of the programme of activities of the Belgian Presidency of the Council. There was also a debate on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 14-15 December 2023 and on the preparation of the special European Council meeting on 1 February, together with the situation in Hungary and frozen EU funds.

Further debates took place on the review of the economic governance framework; the recent ecological catastrophe involving plastic pellets lost off a ship and its impact on micro-plastic pollution in the maritime and coastal habitats; addressing urgent skills shortages and finding the right talents to boost job creation; improving the socio-economic situation of farmers and rural areas; ensuring fair incomes, food security and a just transition; the revision of the European Labour Authority’s mandate; and the fight against the resurgence of neo-fascism in Europe, in particular following the parade that took place in Rome on 7 January. Several debates were held on international issues: keeping commitments and delivering military assistance to Ukraine; the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the need to reach a ceasefire and the risks of regional escalation; the need for an EU and international response to the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and for continued support to the Yemeni peace process; the state of emergency in Ecuador; and Norway’s recent decision to advance seabed mining in the Arctic.

Finally, Jan-Christoph Oetjen (Renew, Germany) was elected a Vice-President of Parliament, replacing Nicola Beer.

Gas emissions

Although the Ozone Regulation is working to cut emissions from ozone-depleting substances (ODS), old products containing ODS remain a source of emissions. Parliament debated and adopted an agreed text, endorsed by its Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), to amend the current regulation. The text sets out how EU countries should deal with traders who do not comply with the rules. It commits the European Commission to maintaining a list of processes for which ODS use is banned, and to assess the availability of alternatives. It also extends the substances that must be recovered and destroyed, recycled or reclaimed to all those found in air conditioning, heat pumps and fire protection.

Because fluorinated greenhouse gas (F-gases) emissions also have big global warming potential, the EU has been regulating them since 2006. A Commission proposal seeks to reduce emissions even further by reducing the supply of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), banning F-gases in specific applications, and updating rules on implementing best practice. Parliament debated and adopted the provisional agreement reached between Parliament and the Council, which the ENVI committee had earlier endorsed. The text sets deadlines for phasing out altogether the placing of HFCs on the market (2050) and phasing down their production (2036), and allows room for additional quotas. However, the text does not include the minimum administrative fines Parliament proposed.

Empowering consumers for the green transition

Parliament debated and adopted a provisional agreement with the Council on a proposal that amends two key directives to protect consumers against misleading environmental claims, endorsed by its Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). The text includes several of Parliament’s demands, updated definitions, and sets rules for traders making environmental claims regarding goods, including digital components. It introduces a commercial guarantee of durability to improve consumer access to information on the sustainability and reparability of the things they buy, including the duration of the availability of software updates. The legislation will also cover claims made using audiovisual media.

Debt–equity bias reduction allowance (DEBRA)

Corporate debt rose to 110 % of EU gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, risking insolvencies and possibly even longer-term economic instability. When a company takes out a loan to boost business, this is often tax-deductible, but the same does not apply to investment. To encourage greater investment in European companies and reduce debt levels, Members voted on a report from the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON), under the consultation procedure, on addressing the debt–equity bias reduction allowance (DEBRA). Largely in favour of the proposal, the committee nevertheless seeks to ensure the impact on tax revenue is limited, given the current economic climate. The committee would reduce equity allowances from 10 to 7 years for large company groups and postpone the stricter interest deduction rules to 2027. The Council must now vote unanimously on the proposal.

EU-India relations

The EU and India have been strategic partners since 2004, cooperating in fields such as climate change, maritime security, digitalisation and health. The EU is India’s largest trading partner and its second largest export destination. Parliament held a debate and adopted the report of its Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) on EU-India relations. The report recommends strengthening the strategic partnership, based on democratic governance and international law, and calls for shared action and leadership, while recognising the importance of security and defence policy. It also expresses concern at India’s deteriorating human rights situation, inviting India to work with the EU on democratic and human rights.

Activities of the European Ombudsman: 2022 annual report

In the presence of Emily O’Reilly, European Ombudsman, Members considered and adopted the Committee on Petitions (PETI) report on the 2022 annual report on the European Ombudsman’s activities. The PETI committee endorses the report, congratulating Emily O’Reilly on her efforts to improve administrative practices and to promote the accountability and full transparency of the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. The Ombudsman’s report discusses ethical concerns, including conflicts of interest due to external employment of high-level officials once they have left, interactions with lobbyists, and the inquiry into Frontex.

Fisheries package

It is now 10 years since the last major reform of the EU’s common fisheries policy (CFP). In response to the Commission’s fisheries package, Members debated and adopted three own-initiative reports from the Committee on Fisheries (PECH). The first looks at the CFP’s execution and future perspectives, in the light of the European Commission’s decision not to propose further reform. The second considers the 2013 revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) Regulation for fisheries and aquaculture products. The third report largely criticises the Commission’s proposed marine action plan. Here, the PECH committee regrets in particular the lack of a socio-economic study into the effects of the plan. The report also considers the blanket ban on bottom trawling in all marine protected areas to be ‘simplistic’.

Opening of trilogue negotiations

One decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations from the Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee, on the European Disability Card, was approved without vote, another from the Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee, on effective coordination of economic policies and multilateral budgetary surveillance, was approved in a vote.

Read this ‘at a glance’ note on ‘Plenary round-up – January 2024‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

En Allemagne, les projets de construction d’une série de centrales électriques à hydrogène battent de l’aile face aux restrictions budgétaires et aux demandes de réduction des coûts de la part de l’industrie.

Le président de l'Assemblée nationale était au domicile de Jérôme CARLOS, grand journaliste, chroniqueur et écrivain béninois rappelé à l'eucharistie éternelle le lundi 15 janvier 2024. Au cours de cette visite, Louis VALVONOU a présenté les condoléances du Parlement béninois à la famille de l'illustre disparu.

« Jérôme Carlos était un pilier intellectuel de notre nation dont la plume talentueuse a illuminé nos esprits et marqué plusieurs générations. Sa passion pour la vérité, son engagement pour un journalisme de qualité et sa contribution exceptionnelle à la littérature ont indéniablement enrichi notre société », c'est à travers ces mots que le parlement béninois à travers son président a fait ses hommages à Jérôme CARLOS, journaliste béninois rappelé à Dieu lundi 15 janvier 2024. La disparition du journaliste regretté selon Louis VLAVONOU, est « une perte inestimable » car, de son vivant, il aura consacré sa vie à l'intellect, à la vérité et à l'élévation de notre société.
Le chef du Parlement béninois a, pour finir, formulé le vœu que son héritage intellectuel continue d'inspirer les générations futures.

F. A. A.

Alors que les États-Unis, la Grande-Bretagne et l’UE ont vivement critiqué les élections au Bangladesh, la Suisse, elle, a félicité le nouveau gouvernement via Facebook.

Wounded civilians at the Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Credit: WHO

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19 2024 (IPS)

Gaza’s healthcare system is “on its knees” as ongoing hostilities force hospitals to operate beyond their capacity and displace their healthcare workers, according to a WHO expert.

On Wednesday, WHO Health Emergency Officer Sean Casey spoke with reporters in New York on the healthcare crisis in Gaza. Following a five-week visit to the region, Casey elaborated on the WHO team’s work during his visit and their findings on the hospitals that were still running amidst the outbreak of violence since October 7. During his visit, he visited six out of the 16 hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip. He described them as either “minimally or partially functioning” with the limited medical supplies and personnel available to them. But without unfettered access to medical supplies or fuel to run generators in the facilities, the hospitals will not be able to stay open.

“Every time I went to a hospital, I saw again and again the simultaneous humanitarian catastrophe that’s unfolding—we see it every day in Gaza getting worse—and the collapse of the healthcare system,” he said.

The growing number of trauma patients impacted by the ongoing attacks is currently overwhelming the healthcare system. There are up to 60,000 injured people in the region that require urgent care. Yet, there is a backlog of patients in hospitals, which only increases with each passing day. This is causing hospitals in the field and in towns to essentially play catch-up with the previous days’ cases. Patients with specialized needs, such as mothers requiring maternal or natal care or patients undergoing dialysis treatments, have also been struggling to get the care they need.

Palestinian refugees flee the conflict. Credit: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra

There are not enough doctors or nurses in the hospitals to accommodate the ever-increasing number of patients. Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis is currently operating with only 30 percent of its staff, according to Casey. There are reportedly over 25,000 doctors and nurses in Gaza. However, a large number of them are no longer in their homes and are unable to travel to work. This includes specialists in other fields of treatment. Areas around hospitals have been evacuated, as it’s been observed that hospitals have been hit by gunfire and bombings, rendering them rubble.

Al-Shifa Hospital, one of the largest still open, has been operating beyond its 700-bed capacity. It now serves as a “trauma stabilization point,” according to Casey. Thousands of people, displaced by the loss of their homes, have taken refuge in the hospital, where there is nowhere else to go, filling up the operating rooms, corridors, and floors. For the patients, only five or six doctors and nurses are present.

“I saw patients in hospitals every day with severe burns, open fractures, waiting hours or days for care, and they would often ask me for food or water,” he said. “In addition to their injuries and illnesses, they’re crying out for the basic necessities of life.”

Constraints on security and access, as well as limitations on movement, have at times even prevented the safe passage of medical supplies and fuel. “The last week that I was in Gaza, we tried every single day for seven days to deliver fuel and supplies to the north, to Gaza City. And every day, those requests for coordinated movement were denied,” Casey said. Without a guarantee, fewer supply trucks are crossing the Rafah border. Meanwhile, needs are not being met adequately.

Rafah is currently hosting a million people, yet it does not have the health infrastructure to host so many internally displaced people. In order to address some of the care demands resulting from the hostilities, WHO is working to mobilize medical personnel and set up field hospitals.

The “rapid deterioration” of the healthcare system in Gaza is happening concurrently with the “dramatic humanitarian catastrophe” affecting the communities, Casey said. Due to the attacks, over 1 million civilians are now homeless and struggle with widespread food insecurity and a lack of access to potable water. For children, this will be particularly dangerous. UNICEF has warned that 10,000 children are at risk of dealing with child wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.

Casey remarked that a ceasefire would “provide immediate relief to the people of Gaza” and would allow for the UN and its partners to mobilize medicines, medical supplies, and other emergency resources.

More than a hundred days have passed since the beginning of the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The death toll has exceeded 24,000, and more than 60,000 have been injured.

Major leaders in the UN and its agencies, including Secretary-General António Guterres, have called for a humanitarian ceasefire to come into effect immediately to allow unimpeded aid to go through and to “tamp down the flames of wider war” that is threatening the region. “I am deeply troubled by the clear violation of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing,” he said to reporters on Monday.

The heads of WHO, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme (WFP) released a joint statement urging for the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid to mitigate the risk of famine and deadly disease outbreaks. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazzarini, in his statement to mark the 100 days, remarked that the current conflict in Gaza was a “man-made disaster compounded by dehumanizing language and the use of food, water, and fuel as instruments of war.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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En plein cœur d’Ingolstadt, dans le sud de l’Allemagne, une affaire lugubre secoue la communauté. Sharaban K., une esthéticienne germano-irakienne de 23 ans, d’origine algérienne, […]

L’article Allemagne : Elle tue son sosie algérien pour simuler sa mort, détails de l’affaire dévoilés est apparu en premier sur .

Vienna, Paris and Rome, along with nine other EU countries, are set to argue that meat grown in a laboratory is a threat to "genuine food production methods", a claim a diplomatic source told Euractiv is "exaggerated and premature".

The scheme, one of President Ruto's key policies, seeks to provide affordable healthcare to all Kenyans.

En appel, Ahmad al-Sabah, ancien ministre et membre du CIO, écope de 2 ans de prison avec sursis. Il avait faussement accusé un cheikh rival de haute trahison.

Im Rahmen der jüngsten kommerziell organisierten Mission des texanischen Start-up-Unternehmens Axiom Space starteten am Donnerstag der erste türkische Astronaut und drei weitere europäische Besatzungsmitglieder von Florida aus zur Internationalen Raumstation.

La course à la succession est lancée. Le service public pourrait miser sur une candidature interne ou jouer sur la rupture.

A la veille de la rencontre de l’Equipe d’Algérie contre le Burkina Faso, pour le compte du second match de poule de la CAN 2024, […]

L’article CAN 2023 : match Algérie – Burkina Faso « pas capital » selon Belmadi est apparu en premier sur .

La France dirigera une coalition de production de munitions et de missiles pour l’Ukraine, après être parvenue à réduire de moitié ses délais de production de l’artillerie, a déclaré le ministre des Armées, Sébastien Lecornu, jeudi (18 janvier).

Le groupe soutenu par l'Iran attaque les navires en mer Rouge. De quelles armes disposent-ils et l'opération menée par les États-Unis pour les arrêter peut-elle réussir ?

The government aims to block the sale of personal items to preserve the anti-apartheid hero's legacy.