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The case of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who was evicted from the flat in Madrid where she had lived for more than 70 years, has triggered outrage in Spain. Real estate company Urbagestión had raised her rent from 500 to 2,650 euros, well beyond what Abascal could afford on a monthly pension of 1,350 euros. Hundreds of demonstrators tried to prevent the eviction, without success. Spain is currently facing a severe housing crisis.

Portugal implemented the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) in April with the introduction of the Volta bottle deposit scheme. However, the system is now under fire: Lisbon's mayor Carlos Moedas has called on the government to scrap it on the grounds that it encourages the city's homeless to rummage through bins in search of returnable bottles, scattering rubbish on the street in the process.

Credit: IAEA
 
IAEA’s 70th General Conference highlights growing strains on safeguards and nuclear security as attention shifts to the first review of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.

By Katsuhiro Asagiri
VIENNA, Sep 24 2026 (IPS)

The international nuclear order is facing another test as governments move from an inconclusive review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in New York to renewed disputes over safeguards and nuclear security in Vienna—and toward the first Review Conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) later this year.

The 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), held in Vienna from September 14 to 18, came less than four months after the 11th NPT Review Conference ended without consensus on a substantive outcome.

It was the third consecutive NPT Review Conference, following those in 2015 and 2022, to conclude without agreement on substantive conclusions and recommendations—underscoring the growing difficulty of reaching consensus amid heightened nuclear risks and geopolitical tensions.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed disappointment at the outcome while reaffirming the NPT as a cornerstone of the global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime.

The IAEA does not negotiate nuclear disarmament. Its responsibilities include promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and applying safeguards to verify that nuclear material is not diverted to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

Yet the issues confronting the Agency—from Iran and North Korea to Ukraine and naval nuclear propulsion—show how safeguards, nuclear security and armed conflict are increasingly intertwined with wider questions about the future of the international nuclear order.

Map of Iran

Iran Puts Verification Under Pressure

Iran remains one of the most difficult issues facing the Agency.

For the IAEA, the central question is not simply the political dispute surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme, but whether it can maintain the continuity and credibility of independent verification.

Restrictions on access and uncertainty surrounding nuclear material, including highly enriched uranium, have intensified concerns about the effectiveness of safeguards.

The issue has taken on an additional dimension following attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. Beyond competing political and military claims lies a wider question for the international community: how can nuclear facilities—and the verification system surrounding them—be protected during armed conflict?

Ukraine Tests Nuclear Safety in Wartime

Ukraine presents another challenge.

The war has placed major nuclear facilities in or near areas of military operations, with the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant remaining at the centre of international concern.

The IAEA has maintained experts at the site as part of efforts to reduce risks to nuclear safety and security.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of actions threatening nuclear installations. While those claims remain contested, the underlying issue extends beyond this war: international nuclear governance mechanisms must now operate in circumstances where a major nuclear facility can be exposed to prolonged armed conflict.

Water is used to cool processes at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Credit: IAEA/Fredrik Dahl

North Korea and the Limits of Verification

Credit: journal-neo.org

North Korea remains another major test of the non-proliferation regime.

The IAEA continues to monitor developments in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from outside the country and maintains its readiness to resume verification activities should political circumstances permit.

The case illustrates a fundamental limitation of international verification: even sophisticated monitoring institutions ultimately depend on access and cooperation.

More broadly, the Vienna conference reflected the growing difficulty of achieving consensus. Political divisions are increasingly affecting debates even within an institution whose work is largely technical, encompassing safeguards, nuclear safety and security, and peaceful nuclear applications.

At the same time, progress in other safeguards cases shows that multilateral verification can produce results when governments provide access, transparency and sustained cooperation.

Civil Society Bridges the NPT and TPNW

Hideto Matsuura, head of Nihon Hidankyo, addresses an event hosted at the sidelines of the 2026 NPT Review Conference. Credit Naureen Hossain/IPS

The debate over the future of nuclear disarmament is not confined to governments.

At the 2026 NPT Review Conference, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was among civil society organizations advocating nuclear disarmament education, nuclear risk reduction and greater attention to the humanitarian and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons.

On April 30, SGI and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation co-organized a side event examining extended nuclear deterrence through the lens of the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons.

Hideto Matsuura, an atomic bomb survivor representing Nihon Hidankyo, described how radiation-related illnesses continue to affect Hibakusha more than eight decades after the atomic bombings.

The discussion raised a question that lies at the heart of the continuing debate over nuclear deterrence: whether security should be viewed primarily from the standpoint of states or also through the lens of human security.

Such civil society engagement provides a link between the NPT process and the humanitarian approach that contributed to the emergence of the TPNW.

From Vienna to New York

The next major stage of the 2026 nuclear diplomacy cycle now moves back to New York.

From November 30 to December 4, states parties to the TPNW will hold the treaty’s first Review Conference at United Nations Headquarters.

United Nations Headquarters. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri

The TPNW does not replace either the NPT or the IAEA.

The NPT combines three pillars—nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear disarmament and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy—while the IAEA provides much of the safeguards and verification machinery supporting the non-proliferation regime.

Credit: IAEA

The TPNW approaches the nuclear question from a different direction. It prohibits activities including the development, testing, production, possession, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons and establishes a legal framework aimed at their elimination.

The three frameworks therefore address distinct but interconnected dimensions of the nuclear order.

The 2026 NPT Review Conference demonstrated the difficulty of reaching political agreement on disarmament and non-proliferation. Vienna, meanwhile, highlighted the practical challenges confronting verification and nuclear security amid armed conflict, regional proliferation disputes and geopolitical divisions.

The first TPNW Review Conference will now examine what the prohibition treaty can contribute under these conditions.

Nuclear-armed states remain outside the TPNW, placing clear limits on what the treaty can achieve on its own. At the same time, its states parties and supporting civil society organizations have placed the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and their elimination at the centre of international debate.

When delegates gather in New York on November 30, the discussion will therefore extend beyond the implementation of a single treaty.

After another NPT Review Conference ended without substantive consensus, a broader question remains: how can established and newer multilateral frameworks work alongside one another to reduce nuclear risks, strengthen verification and advance nuclear disarmament?

From Vienna to New York, that question is set to remain at the centre of nuclear diplomacy in 2026.

This article is brought to you by INPS Japan in collaboration with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau

 

 

 

 

La Caisse nationale des retraites (CNR) enrichit ses services en ligne avec une nouvelle solution destinée aux retraités et à leurs ayants droit. L’organisme vient […]

L’article La CNR lance un nouvel outil pratique pour les retraités, accessible 24h/24 et 7j/7 est apparu en premier sur .

Alors que les dirigeants mondiaux se retrouvent à New York pour la 81e Assemblée générale des Nations unies, une promesse formulée quatre ans plus tôt à cette même tribune mérite d'être réexaminée. En septembre 2022, Moscou proposait de céder gratuitement 300 000 tonnes d'engrais immobilisées en Europe. En 2026, environ 80 000 tonnes manquent toujours à l'appel.

Une promesse spectaculaire à la tribune de l'ONU
Le 24 septembre 2022, devant l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies, le ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, Sergueï Lavrov, affirme que 300 000 tonnes d'engrais russes sont retenues dans des ports européens. Il propose de les transférer gratuitement aux pays en développement. La réalité est légèrement plus complexe. En novembre 2022, l'ONU évoque précisément 260 000 tonnes appartenant à des producteurs russes, tandis que le groupe Uralchem-Uralkali s'engage, plus largement, à donner environ 300 000 tonnes.L'opération doit être facilitée par le Programme alimentaire mondial. Les engrais ne sont pas directement visés par les sanctions occidentales, mais le gel de certains avoirs, les restrictions bancaires, les assurances maritimes et les procédures portuaires compliquent leur acheminement.

De 190 000 à 220 000 tonnes expédiées
Fin 2024, Uralchem annonçait environ 190 000 tonnes expédiées. Une nouvelle cargaison de 30 000 tonnes de potasse, destinée au Bangladesh en 2025, a porté le total déclaré par l'entreprise à près de 220 000 tonnes. Les cargaisons ont notamment été dirigées vers le Malawi, le Kenya, le Nigeria, le Zimbabwe, le Sri Lanka et le Bangladesh. Mais les livraisons se sont étalées sur plusieurs années. Le Zimbabwe, par exemple, n'a reçu ses 23 000 tonnes qu'en 2024, environ dix-huit mois après l'annonce faite à l'ONU. Le bilan est donc plus nuancé que celui présenté initialement : la promesse n'a pas disparu dans les ports européens, mais elle n'a toujours pas été totalement honorée. Sur les 300 000 tonnes annoncées, environ 220 000 ont été expédiées selon Uralchem, soit près de 73 %. Il en manque encore approximativement 80 000.

Une aide humanitaire devenue instrument diplomatique
Ces dons ont répondu à de véritables besoins agricoles. Mais ils ont aussi servi le récit diplomatique de Moscou : celui d'une Russie protectrice du Sud global, entravée par les sanctions occidentales.Quatre ans plus tard, le bilan révèle surtout l'écart entre la puissance d'une annonce et la lenteur de son exécution. À l'heure où la sécurité alimentaire revient dans les discours de l'Assemblée générale, une question demeure : les 80 000 tonnes restantes finiront-elles par parvenir aux pays destinataires, ou resteront-elles le reliquat oublié d'une promesse faite à la tribune de l'ONU ?

DIGITAL 08H : Avez-vous tenté votre chance ?

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RECEVEZ LA CROIX DU JOUR

Refusée par Robert Ménard en juillet 2023, l’union d’Eva et Mustapha semblait dans une impasse. Pourtant, le couple s’est finalement dit « oui » en […]

L’article Refusé par Robert Ménard, le couple se marie en Algérie : leur union finalement reconnue en France est apparu en premier sur .

Jake Horton, Ben Chu et Rupert Carey, de BBC Verify, ont examiné les déclarations du président et les ont recoupées avec les données et les éléments disponibles.

Jake Horton, Ben Chu et Rupert Carey, de BBC Verify, ont examiné les déclarations du président et les ont recoupées avec les données et les éléments disponibles.

By James Alix Michel
VICTORIA, Seychelles, Sep 24 2026 (IPS)

After decades in which the high seas were too often treated as a distant frontier—vast, ownerless and beyond meaningful protection—the High Seas Treaty entered into force on 17 January 2026.

It was a landmark achievement for international cooperation and a reminder that, even in an increasingly divided world, nations can still come together in defence of the common good. But celebration must not be confused with protection. A treaty on paper will not restore depleted marine life. It will not prevent harmful activity and it will not ensure that the benefits of ocean science are shared fairly. Nor will it secure a healthy ocean for future generations unless the international community gives it the resources, institutions, scientific capacity and political courage necessary to succeed. That is the real test now before us.

The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, also known as the High Seas Treaty, creates a framework for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It addresses four essential areas: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources; marine protected areas and other area-based management tools; environmental impact assessments; and the capacity-building and transfer of marine technology. These areas will secure the future of the global ocean—and, by extension, the future of every nation whose climate, food security, economy and heritage depend upon it.

For small island developing states, it is our climate regulator, our food source, our economic space, our history and our future. We do not look at the sea as a faraway expanse beyond our borders. We live with it every day. We prosper or suffer according to its health.

During my years as President of Seychelles, this understanding shaped my conviction that the ocean had to be placed at the centre of national development. Seychelles chose to pursue a blue-economy vision at a time when the phrase was less familiar than it is today. We worked to protect large areas of our maritime space, advanced marine spatial planning, and explored innovative approaches to ocean finance, including debt-for-nature arrangements and the blue bond.

Our actions were not driven by the illusion that a small island nation could fix a global crisis single-handedly. Instead, we acted out of a core conviction: true leadership belongs to more than just the largest landmasses, the richest economies, or the most dominant militaries. While we are a small island state in land, we are a vast ocean nation. We possess a wealth of experience, strategic maritime vision, and deep resolve. It is this exact spirit—proving that stewardship is measured by commitment rather than geographic size—that must anchor and define the High Seas Treaty.

The treaty rightly recognises the special circumstances of developing states, including small island developing states and coastal African states. It acknowledges that access to data, research, equipment, technical knowledge, monitoring systems and trained people is essential if all countries are to participate meaningfully in ocean governance. However, this principle must now be honored in practice. Too often, developing countries are invited to global negotiations only to discover that the real advantages remain concentrated elsewhere: locked away in distant laboratories, research vessels, satellites, and data systems. If the benefits arising from marine genetic resources are to be genuinely shared, then access to the knowledge and tools required to understand and use those resources must also be shared. The ocean cannot become another arena in which wealthier nations draw the greatest benefit while poorer and more vulnerable countries are asked merely to endorse the rules.

The first Conference of the Parties for the High Seas Treaty, scheduled to take place in early January 2027, will be a critical moment. It must not become a narrow exercise in procedure or a meeting dominated by those already best equipped to influence outcomes. It should establish an implementation culture based on ambition, inclusion and urgency. It must ensure that the financial mechanism is strong enough to support developing countries, that scientific cooperation is meaningful, and that capacity-building is not reduced to occasional workshops or vague promises. The treaty’s decision-making body is expected to convene within its first year in force, making the coming months decisive for how this new era of ocean governance is shaped.

There is another important lesson here. The world has too often separated environmental protection from development, as though nations must choose between conserving nature and improving the lives of their people. For island states, this is a false choice. A healthy ocean is development. It supports fisheries and livelihoods. It protects coastlines. It regulates climate. It sustains tourism, culture and community. It offers scientific discoveries that may help humanity confront disease, food insecurity and environmental change. To protect the ocean is not to turn away from progress. It is to redefine progress so that it can endure.

This is why the High Seas Treaty matters so deeply. It offers a chance to move beyond a culture of reaction—responding only after a fishery declines, a species disappears, a reef bleaches or an ecosystem is damaged beyond repair. It gives the international community an opportunity to act with greater foresight: to assess environmental risks before they are allowed to grow, to establish protected areas before the last refuge is lost, and to place stewardship alongside opportunity. But no agreement, however historic, can substitute for political will.

The treaty will need champions: governments willing to invest in its success; scientists willing to share knowledge; institutions prepared to support fair access; civil society determined to hold leaders accountable; and young people who refuse to accept that the ocean’s future should be decided without them. Seychelles has long believed that the world must see the ocean not as a boundary between nations, but as the great connector of humanity. That belief is even more urgent today.

The high seas belong to no single country and its condition affects us all. The High Seas Treaty is therefore more than a legal instrument. It is a test of whether multilateralism can still respond to the challenges that no nation can solve alone.

The ocean has a law and now the world must give it life.

James Alix Michel, is Former President of the Republic of Seychelles

IPS UN Bureau

 

 

 

 

Le grand Sud algérien passe en alerte. Ce jeudi 24 septembre 2026, l’Office national de la météorologie (ONM) a diffusé un nouveau bulletin météorologique spécial (BMS) classé au niveau […]

L’article Météo Algérie : six wilayas en vigilance orange pour de fortes pluies ce jeudi 24 septembre est apparu en premier sur .

Dr. Agnes Kalibata, speaking at the opening ceremony of the Africa Food Systems Forum in 2019. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

By Agnes Kalibata
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 24 2026 (IPS)

I was born in Rwanda, but my family soon became refugees in Uganda during the conflict and unrest on the cusp of independence. My father was a teacher and went to great lengths to make sure I was well educated. My parents were also smallholder farmers, and I saw firsthand the challenges my parents and other refugee families faced.

After I received my doctoral degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, I returned to a new Rwanda in 2005, managing a World Bank agriculture project with the government. In 2008, I became Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, and over the next six years, I oversaw the country’s transition from food deficit to food security, as Rwanda cut its global hunger index by more than 50 percent. We implemented what we understood to be true: effective deliberate agricultural investment drives poverty down.

Agricultural growth is up to four times more effective at reducing poverty than growth in other sectors, and it underpins food security besides. Yet despite that evidence, Africa’s agriculture sector faces an estimated $200 billion annual financing gap.

Less than a year ago, I joined the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) as Co-Chair of the Steering Committee because I have seen firsthand how GAFSP is a collaborative platform that connects governments, farmers, civil society and leverages the private sector and multiple partners to tackle food insecurity. Among its inaugural investments was a 60 million dollar investment in Rwanda’s Land Husbandry and terracing program which allowed farmers to reclaim degraded land by mobilizing more than 10 times this initial capital, reached hundreds of farmers and contributed to land restoration, food security and poverty reduction all at the same time.

GAFSP’s Business Investment Financing Track (BIFT) has made its second allocation (its first allocation was to the African Development Bank). Announced at the Africa Food Systems Forum “Investing in Africa’s Agri-Food Systems: Nourishing Nations, Growing Jobs, Building Resilience,” Rwanda’s BIFT allocation is a concrete step toward the GAFSP vision that sharing risk deliberately, and cooperatively, rather than leaving it with farmers alone, moves capital that reduces food insecurity. This $6 million allocation has already unlocked $15 million more from IFAD, the Bank of Kigali and Aceli Africa – 2.5 times GAFSP’s own contribution – reaching an expected 215 farmers’ organizations and 35,000 smallholders.

What is most encouraging about this funding is the paradigm shift it represents against the challenging context of reduced Overseas Development Assistance. Capital structured to absorb risk can shift lender considerations to bring private finance into a domain the private sector has avoided, catalyzing transformational change for smallholder borrowers.

The central obstacle isn’t capital or conviction – it’s risk. Agricultural lending is constrained by the risk of accelerating climate shocks and by the practical cost of financing smaller loans. Roughly 90 percent of staple food production in Sub-Saharan Africa depends on rain-fed agriculture, leaving households with no buffer when a season fails. Farmers in low-income countries bear the highest burden of worsening weather conditions, while African countries lose the most GDP to escalating natural disasters, from drought to surging storms. Finally, the loans these farmers need are relatively small, and small loans cost lenders more to appraise and administer.

As Rwanda’s Agriculture Minister, coordinating across ministries to run programs like the Land husbandry program mentioned above alongside the One Cow per Poor Family – a critical source of nutrition for poor families taught me that risk-sharing across government agencies, communities and financiers is what makes ambitious programs work.

It is now a question of scale. What worked for smallholders in Rwanda can work for millions more, if development finance institutions and private lenders treat risk-sharing as standard practice. I have spent my career watching farmers do more with less. Give them the finance they’ve earned, and there is no question they will transform the food system to be more efficient, resilient and a stronger driver of prosperity at scale.

IPS UN Bureau

 

 

 

 

Pressemitteilung der Projektgruppe Gemeinschaftsdiagnose: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin), ifo Institut – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung an der Universität München e. V. in Kooperation mit dem Österreichischen Institut für Wirt­schaftsforschung (WIFO), Kiel ...

Le développement au plus près des populations s'inscrit désormais au cœur de la nouvelle approche gouvernementale. Une réforme consacrée aux Pôles territoriaux a été présentée mercredi 23 septembre 2026 au Palais de la Marina, en présence du Président de la République, Romuald Wadagni, des membres du Gouvernement, des préfets et des maires des 77 communes.

Présentée par le Secrétaire général de la Présidence de la République, Aristide Djidjoho, et le ministre de la Décentralisation et de la Gouvernance locale, Janvier Yahouèdèhou, la réforme prévoit notamment la mise en place de pôles territoriaux dirigés par des Délégués généraux. L'objectif est de renforcer le suivi des politiques publiques dans les territoires et d'obtenir des résultats plus visibles à la base.

Les délégués généraux devront être au contact des réalités locales. Leur présence régulière sur le terrain doit permettre de mieux identifier les difficultés rencontrées par les populations et de suivre la mise en œuvre des programmes. Le dispositif cible notamment trois enjeux : la réduction de l'extrême pauvreté, le développement du capital humain et la création de richesses dans les territoires.

Une présence accrue dans les territoires

Lors de la présentation, Romuald Wadagni a insisté sur la nécessité pour les responsables territoriaux de ne pas rester éloignés des réalités locales. Les Délégués généraux sont appelés à résider dans leurs pôles, à effectuer des descentes régulières sur le terrain et à rendre compte des difficultés rencontrées ainsi que des progrès réalisés.

Le Chef de l'État a également invité les cadres occupant de hautes fonctions à davantage s'impliquer dans le développement de leurs régions et villages d'origine. Pour lui, cette mobilisation doit permettre de faire davantage bénéficier les territoires des compétences et des responsabilités disponibles au niveau national.

La question de la sécurité figure également parmi les préoccupations associées à cette réforme. La présence accrue des responsables dans les territoires doit notamment contribuer à mieux prendre en compte les vulnérabilités susceptibles d'exposer certains jeunes à l'influence d'organisations criminelles ou armées.

Romuald Wadagni a appelé à une évolution des comportements dans les communes. Il a notamment évoqué l'insalubrité, la gestion des déchets, l'indiscipline et le respect des règles de vie collective.

Les maires, préfets et autres responsables locaux sont ainsi invités à agir avec davantage de fermeté face à ces problèmes, tout en privilégiant l'exemplarité, la pédagogie et la responsabilité individuelle. L'ambition est également d'améliorer l'image et l'attractivité des communes, notamment à travers une meilleure organisation des entrées de villes et des espaces publics.

La réforme introduit enfin une logique de suivi des résultats. Les performances des Délégués généraux devront être évaluées à partir de critères précis. Un premier bilan est prévu au terme de la première année afin de mesurer les résultats enregistrés dans les différents pôles.

Un point présumé de vente et de consommation de stupéfiants a été démantelé, mardi 22 septembre 2026, à Ahouato, dans l'arrondissement de Ouèdo, commune d'Abomey-Calavi.

A la suite de renseignements, les agents de Police du commissariat d'arrondissement de Ouèdo ont investi, mardi 22 septembre 2026, un domicile présenté comme un ghetto au cœur du village Ahouato.

L'intervention a permis d'interpeller quatre individus, dont le présumé vendeur et trois consommateurs de produits psychotropes.

La fouille des lieux a également conduit à la saisie de 300 boulettes de chanvre indien, ainsi que de graines, pour un poids total de 470 grammes.

Les produits saisis ont été placés sous scellés. Les quatre suspects ont été conduits au commissariat pour les suites de la procédure.

M. M.

DIGITAL 00H : Avez-vous tenté votre chance ?

Le tirage DIGITAL 00H N°204 a livré son verdict !

Jeudi 24 Septembre 2026

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