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Magistrates and law enforcement are particularly worried about the Chinese firm handling highly sensitive police wiretap data

The Russian dictator has no reasons to end the war – but a few to pretend he wants to.

Après une semaine de garde à vue dans une affaire d'atteinte aux biens publics, l'ancien Premier ministre du Mali Choguel Maïga est inculpé. Son avocat dit qu'il est serein.

Officials hope to have a framework ready before a potential Zelenskyy-Putin meeting

Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa during an interview with IPS in Bilbao (Spain). Recently returned from Gaza, this Basque aid worker has spent three decades in the field of humanitarian work. Credit: Andoni Lubaki/IPS

By Karlos Zurutuza
BILBAO, Spain, Aug 19 2025 (IPS)

It’s 8am when Nasser Hospital in Gaza opens its doors. Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, Doctors Without Borders’ emergency coordinator in the besieged territory, has already been at work for more than three hours.

“The first thing is to check online where the explosions or gunfire I heard overnight actually took place. That’s when we start organising the day,” says the 61-year-old MSF staffer, during an interview with IPS in Bilbao —400 kilometres north of Madrid. He has just returned home after two months in Gaza.

“By half past eight, the hospital has already reached its daily capacity. Children, women, the wounded… many are left outside because the system is overwhelmed. It’s incredibly hard to manage,” Zabalgogeazkoa explains.

That has been the reality since October 2023, when Israel launched its military offensive on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave bordering Egypt but cut off from the West Bank, where most Palestinians live.

 

Gazans living in tents set up on the beach fetch water in jerrycans. Access to even the most basic supplies has become a daily ordeal during the war. Credit: MSF

 

According to Gaza’s health ministry, the campaign has so far left more than 60,000 dead and 145,000 injured. The vast majority are civilians, including thousands of women and children.

Israel argues its operation is aimed at destroying Hamas’s military capacity — the Palestinian militia and governing authority in Gaza — following the 7 October 2023 attack in which around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and more than 240 taken hostage. Fifty remain in captivity, though only about 20 are thought to be alive.

The UN has warned of an “unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” with more than 90% of the population displaced and swathes of the enclave reduced to rubble. Numerous governments, international organisations and UN human rights experts have called it “genocide.”

“It’s two million people trapped between bombs and hunger, in 365 square kilometres where conditions deteriorate by the day,” says Zabalgogeazkoa.

“Other than the war injuries, the most ordinary things can kill”: if you’re diabetic you’ll lose your foot because there’s no insulin; if you’re malnourished you can’t care for your children… Even being coeliac can kill you.”

 

A healthcare worker tends to a newborn in an incubator. The lack of fuel also affects hospitals, which rely on generators for electricity. Credit: MSF

 

“An orchestrated massacre”

The MSF coordinator notes that only two of the four food distribution points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) — an organisation backed by the US and Israel but heavily criticised — are still operating.

“Other than the war injuries, the most ordinary things can kill”: if you’re diabetic you’ll lose your foot because there’s no insulin; if you’re malnourished you can’t care for your children… Even being coeliac can kill you.”
“People have to cross war zones to get there, and then chaos breaks out. Many are injured in the stampedes of desperation. In the end, it’s thousands fighting for a few sacks of flour,” he recalls.

A Doctors Without Borders investigation published on 7 August, titled This is not aid, this is an orchestrated massacre, described the centres as “death traps”, called for the programme to be scrapped, demanded the reinstatement of the UN-coordinated mechanism, and urged governments and donors to cut support for GHF.

“Distributions start at nine, but two hours earlier you already hear the gunfire. Israel says there’s no other way to control the crowds, but we come across people with bullets in the head or chest,” explains Zabalgogeazkoa.

Since the offensive began, at least eight health facilities in Gaza have been targeted by the Israeli army, most of them bombed from the air.

“At Nasser Hospital they killed patients by firing a missile through a window on two occasions. Soldiers also stormed the building and we had to evacuate. We couldn’t return for weeks. It was one of the hospitals where babies were left in incubators, and nothing more was ever heard of them,” he laments.

Fuel shortages to power hospital generators have forced doctors in Gaza to take extreme measures, such as placing several babies in a single incubator. MSF staff have reported cases of up to six infants in one unit.

Even water supply is a major struggle. Zabalgogeazkoa notes that 70% of the urban network is destroyed, so much of the water never reaches its destination.

Israel maintains that Gaza’s hospitals often conceal military targets, including “Hamas command centres” and “tunnel networks.”

The MSF staffer rejects this outright: “They always use the same narrative, also when they kill journalists living in tents set up inside hospitals. For Israel, everyone is Hamas. Were all the journalists they killed Hamas too?”

 

Gaza residents in a district bombed by the Israeli army. After nearly two years of offensive, the territory has been reduced to rubble. Credit: MSF

 

“Inconvenient witnesses”

The UN reports that at least 242 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the offensive began — the highest number ever recorded in a conflict. The vast majority were Palestinian, as Israel has barred international press access. The few foreign correspondents who entered did so embedded with Israeli troops and were unable to work independently.

Nothing seems to stem the chain of attacks on local journalists, who bear the responsibility of documenting the horror.

On 30 June this year, an Israeli airstrike destroyed the al-Baqa café, killing at least 41 people, among them Palestinian photographer and filmmaker Ismail Abu Hatab. The café had been a popular meeting place for young people, journalists and artists, and one of the few places where residents could access the internet and charge their phones during the war.

On 11 August, four Al Jazeera reporters and a local fixer were killed when a bomb struck al-Shifa Hospital. The head of UNRWA accused Israel of “silencing the voices exposing atrocities in Gaza.”

“They’re killing journalists one by one. Now almost everything is left to 16-year-olds posting videos on social media with their phones,” says Zabalgogeazkoa, describing it as a “systematic elimination of inconvenient witnesses.”

With Hamas’s leadership decimated and no local government to manage resources or administer justice, the Strip is descending into chaos. “Israel is doing everything it can to bring about the complete breakdown of Gazan society,” he warns.

“Besides, medicines, food, fuel… they are manipulated in a cruel game. Just when supplies are about to run out, Israel allows enough for another three or four days. People are so consumed with survival that they cannot think about anything else,” adds the MSF staffer.

He is due to return to Gaza in mid-September, though he fears conditions will have worsened by then.

On 10 August, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the approval of a plan for a full takeover of Gaza as “the fastest way to end the war, eliminate Hamas and free the hostages.”

The announcement drew widespread international condemnation. Few doubt the already dire humanitarian situation will deteriorate even further.

 

Le ministre des Finances d'extrême droite, Bezalel Smotrich, a annoncé la mise en œuvre d'un projet visant à accroître considérablement les colonies israéliennes dans la zone sensible E1, à l'est de Jérusalem. Ses détracteurs affirment que ce projet, gelé depuis des décennies, pourrait mettre fin à la viabilité d'un futur État palestinien. Quel est ce projet et pourquoi est-il si controversé ?

The unrest marks a sharp escalation after nine months of largely peaceful marches

Oppositionsführer Péter Magyar wirft Russland vor, mit Desinformation und Cyberangriffen Einfluss auf die ungarische Parlamentswahl 2026 nehmen zu wollen.

In its 80th year, the UN faces a significant crisis. Severe funding shortfalls are forcing the organisation to make cuts. However, the focus should not be solely on cost savings. Reform presents an opportunity to address unresolved challenges and to restructure the UN both institutionally and politically.

In its 80th year, the UN faces a significant crisis. Severe funding shortfalls are forcing the organisation to make cuts. However, the focus should not be solely on cost savings. Reform presents an opportunity to address unresolved challenges and to restructure the UN both institutionally and politically.

In its 80th year, the UN faces a significant crisis. Severe funding shortfalls are forcing the organisation to make cuts. However, the focus should not be solely on cost savings. Reform presents an opportunity to address unresolved challenges and to restructure the UN both institutionally and politically.

On both security and trade, the EU has drifted into the role of payer and middleman, financing arrangements that serve US priorities while limiting its own ability to act independently

Cassis stressed he had “repeatedly" made this offer to host during recent talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called the reports "truly sad news"

It was the second disruption in a week, after a Ukrainian drone attack on a pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region briefly stopped flows last week

Wagenknecht will no longer be represented in the party’s name

Fishermen in the LNG rich Afungi Peninsula in the Palma District of Cabo Delgado Province, northern Mozambique. The area is the site of major LNG projects, including the Mozambique LNG project. Credit: Justica Ambential

By Maina Waruru
NAIROBI, Aug 19 2025 (IPS)

Environmental campaign groups are confident that a suit filed in the United States, seeking to stop the country’s Export-Import Bank (EXIM) from the ‘unlawful’ lending of nearly USD 5 billion to the controversial Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, will succeed.

The groups, including Friends of the Earth U.S. and Justiça Ambiental/Friends of the Earth Mozambique, with representation from EarthRights International, filed a lawsuit and believe the financial transaction in March in a deal with the project owners, TotalEnergies, was rushed through to avoid going through requisite requirements.

It alleges that EXIM rushed through approval without conducting required “environmental reviews, economic assessments, and the required input by the public and US Congress.

“EXIM failed to follow its own Charter and federal law, setting a dangerous precedent for future decisions,” they said in papers filed on 14 July.

They allege that in February, President Donald Trump ‘illegally’ constituted EXIM’s acting Board of Directors without the US Senate’s consent, and weeks later, in March, EXIM’s improperly constituted “acting” board of directors announced final approval of the massive USD 4.7 billion loan.

The bank, they charged, entered the transaction despite the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Mozambique and the fact that the project operator, TotalEnergies, declared force majeure more than four years ago after a violent uprising.

The French oil giant has been unable to resume operations since.

“EXIM’s Board charged ahead with subsidizing the project, without considering the conflict and the harms the project will inflict on the environment and local communities, and despite multiple nations’ open investigations into allegations of serious human rights violations at the project site,” they added.

An EXIM spokesperson would not comment on the ongoing legal proceedings.

“The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is aware of recent reports, letters, and inquiries regarding ongoing legal proceedings. As a matter of longstanding policy, EXIM does not comment on pending litigation,” the spokesperson said in an email. “EXIM remains committed to its mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services. The Bank continues to operate in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

According to Hallie Templeton, Legal Director of Friends of the Earth, EXIM is bound by a number of different federal laws that govern its actions and financing, including the Export-Import Bank Act, which is its charter.

“The US Congress placed a number of important limitations and procedural protections on EXIM’s activities, given the sensitive foreign policy, economic, and human rights issues that lending to foreign corporations for foreign projects can entail,” he explained.

“Among other things, this includes numerous notice and comment procedures, particular economic considerations to ensure EXIM isn’t harming the US economy, limitations on over-subsidization, the requirement that a quorum of Senate-confirmed members of the Board approve major transactions, and consideration of environmental and social impacts,” he told IPS News.

At the direction of Congress, EXIM also has put in place a number of important policies and procedures that govern the projects it finances and the conditions on which it does so. These include compliance with a number of important environmental and social standards and other safeguards.

“The acting board lacked legal authority to approve this loan. EXIM also failed to conduct mandated procedures and analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act and overall acted contrary to multiple provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act’s requirements on process and sound decision-making in the federal government,” Templeton explained.

Exim’s Act is clear as to how members of the Board are to be appointed. Those procedures weren’t followed in appointing the acting board, he said, adding that it was not clear whether President Trump’s intention for the appointments was so as to approve the loan.

“We cannot speak to the intent behind the way the President proceeded or the individuals he selected, but it was unlawful to bypass the Senate and appoint ‘acting’ members to the Board,” he noted.

He observed, “Likewise, rushing through the loan without federally mandated notice and comment or complying with the other legal requirements for final approval of a loan of this size was unlawful. EXIM should have taken these steps in any scenario.”

The financier’s “disregard of the law,” he said, is worsened by the ongoing conflict, allegations of grave human rights violations, and the numerous pending investigations, some of which specifically concern forces providing security to the project and the role of the project operator itself.

Friends of the Earth-US has the utmost confidence in the case’s success, especially given that EXIM has “violated multiple federal laws, with the board acting contrary to the ‘plain text’ of its Charter and other federal laws, ‘acting as if they are above the law.’”

“We are confident that they will be held accountable,” he added.

Through the US’s Freedom of Information Acts, it has been revealed that EXIM ignored the risks of Mozambique LNG when they approved the project in 2019/2020, and in 2025, they have not only ignored the risks but have also failed to follow the proper process, Kate DeAngelis, Economic Policy Deputy Director for Friends of the Earth US told IPS News.

Exim bank, she complained, did not want to provide the Congress or the public the time to comment because they know that this is a bad deal for American taxpayers.

“There are legal procedures and processes in place to ensure the U.S. Export-Import Bank does not waste taxpayer dollars on risky projects plagued by violent insurgencies.”

“Yet Exim—like the rest of the Trump administration—believes that it can operate outside the law. We will not stand by while it cuts health care and disaster aid so that it can give handouts to fossil fuel companies,” the official added.

“Exim’s Board’s illegal decision to subsidize this project, without even considering the risks to local people, let alone the serious allegations that project security committed a massacre at the project site, is beyond reckless. EXIM needs to do its job and actually consider the harms this project will inflict on local people,” said Richard Herz of EarthRights International

An Islamist insurgency in the Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique since 2017 has led to thousands of deaths and displacement of the civilian population in one of the bloodiest conflicts in Africa in the recent past.

While the Jihadist violence has diminished after intervention by regional forces, an attack was reported in the Meluco district of the gas region last March, indicating a province that is far from safe.

TotalEnergies suspended operations in the Mozambique LNG project in April 2021 due to the insecurity, leading to the withdrawal of personnel and a halt to construction, a decision directly linked to the escalating attacks by the militants in the province.

Last December, climate and environmental activists from Japan criticized the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for financing the LNG project to the tune of USD 3 billion in a loan signed in July 2024.

The groups, in a report, revealed that the bank supports the Mozambique LNG project directly with a USD 3 billion loan and through a loan of USD 536 million to Mitsui, a Japanese corporate group that is involved in the development.

“The Mozambique LNG Project is linked to violent conflict, has resulted in social injustices among Mozambican citizens, and is a potential source of massive carbon emissions,” the report noted.

It concluded that if it proceeded, despite becoming the biggest gas project in Africa, it would deliver low revenues to its host country and place the country at risk of liability if it failed.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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From 14 to 17 April 2025, the 7-Member delegation of the Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE) conducted a mission to Chișinău, Moldova and Odesa, Ukraine, reaffirming its strategic commitment to supporting the security, resilience, and democratic integrity of the EU's eastern partners and candidate countries. This marks SEDE’s second visit to Moldova in two years and SEDE’s first visit to Odesa since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Location : Chisinau (Moldova), Odesa (Ukraine)
SEDE mission report including the final programme
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

From 14 to 17 April 2025, the 7-Member delegation of the Committee on Security and Defence (SEDE) conducted a mission to Chișinău, Moldova and Odesa, Ukraine, reaffirming its strategic commitment to supporting the security, resilience, and democratic integrity of the EU's eastern partners and candidate countries. This marks SEDE’s second visit to Moldova in two years and SEDE’s first visit to Odesa since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Location : Chisinau (Moldova), Odesa (Ukraine)
SEDE mission report including the final programme
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

A 4-Member delegation of the Committee on Security and Defence travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to visit the EU’s EUFOR Althea operation. This was already the second visit of the SEDE Committee within two years (the last one as the Subcommittee in 2023) showing the keen interest of this committee to monitor the evolving security situation in a key country of the Western Balkans.
Location : Bosnia and Herzegovina
SEDE mission report including the programme
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP