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Andy Burnham, nouveau chef du Parti travailliste, a été officiellement nommé Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni par le roi Charles III. À 56 ans, l’ancien maire de l’agglomération de Manchester devient le quatrième chef de gouvernement nommé par Charles III depuis 2022, et le septième Premier ministre depuis la mise en place du Brexit. Que peut faire ce nouveau Premier ministre par rapport à ses prédécesseurs ? Alors que le parti d'extrême droite « Reform UK » accuse Andy Burnham d'être arrivé au pouvoir sans avoir été élu, dispose-t-il d’une légitimité suffisante pour engager les réformes déjà annoncées ?

Des présumés rebelles des ADF ont attaqué, lundi 20 juillet, le carré minier de Mambau, situé dans la chefferie de Babilo-Babombi, au territoire de Mambasa en Ituri.

Lors de cette incursion, les assaillants ont semé la désolation : plusieurs habitations ont été réduites en cendres, des biens commerciaux ont été systématiquement pillés, et un nombre indéterminé de civils ont été emmenés de force en brousse, rapportent des sources locales.

À Omsk, à 2 500 kilomètres de la ligne de front, la spectaculaire frappe de drones ukrainiens contre la plus grande raffinerie de Russie n’a quasiment pas perturbé le quotidien ni les approvisionnements en carburant : seulement deux jours de panne sèche et quelques stations-service irrégulièrement livrées. Mais dans les esprits, le choc est profond. Comment les habitants d’Omsk ont-ils vécu cette attaque ? Alors que le désir d’arrêter les combats est de plus en plus présent chez les Russes, peuvent-ils l’exprimer publiquement ?

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 22 2026 (IPS)

A proposal to restrict US visas to foreign journalists assigned to cover the US has triggered a strong protest from the New York-based Foreign Press Association (FPA).

The FPA says it is dismayed by the US administration’s proposals for restricting international press visas. The shortened duration of the press “I” visa would make it impossible for overseas press to maintain consistent coverage of the US, let alone staff a bureau.

The likely administrative backlogs and possible politically motivated visa denials fly in the face of the First Amendment in the US and challenge international media standards.

“The demand for frequent visa renewal obviates any chance that correspondents could maintain any kind of family life, let alone to develop the network of sources and resources essential for professional journalism.”

“The benefits of free press coverage stand in their own right. However, we should also point out that many essential US industries depend on international media coverage.”

Markets, education, entertainment, STEM, sports, and culture are just some examples of industries where companies and institutions could decide to relocate to more cosmopolitan and accessible countries, the FPA said.

The administration rule changes reducing the length of stay for foreign journalist (I) visas to 240 days and 90 days for Chinese journalists harm the international media’s ability to cover the United States. Journalists, who have spent years building relationships and developing a deep understanding of the U.S. economy, people, culture, and politics, would join the millions whose ability to travel to and work in the U.S. is challenged by the administration’s policies.

According to the US State Department, media (I) visas are for representatives of the foreign media, including members of the press, radio, film, and print industries. The media representative must be traveling temporarily to the United States to work in their profession. The individual may only participate in informational or educational activities, essential to the foreign media function.

Activities in the United States while on a media (I) visa must be for a media organization with a home office outside of the United States. Activities in the United States must be informational in nature and generally associated with the newsgathering process and reporting on current events.

Since at least the Second World War, the FPA pointed out, the State Department has set an example for other countries with its untrammelled welcome for the foreign press and its consistent defense of First Amendment rights. The flurry of reflexive xenophobia represented by these proposals reverses all those decades in a way that clearly does not take account of the needs of the press, nor indeed of the USA.

“Many of us can testify to the professional development of journalists from more restrictive countries like China when exposed to a more open press here, which makes it even more illogical that the proposals impose additional restrictions on Chinese media”.

“We recall that the Headquarters Treaty with the United Nations and other international bodies commits the host country, the US, to facilitate entry to press from member countries to cover the work, and cannot see any provisions to ensure that this international treaty obligation is fulfilled. Once again this suggests that these proposals were rushed through without consideration of the realities, and we can testify, with no consultation with the media affected”.

Ian Williams, President, Foreign Press Association of the USA, told Inter Press Service (IPS), “It’s worse than a crime; it’s a screw-up (mistake), as Napoleon’s general didn’t say… They have lumped journalists in with the overall category of foreigners and acted with reflexive xenophobia—perhaps exacerbated because if there’s any group they hate more than foreigners, it’s journalists.”

The proposals, he said, show no sign of intelligent appreciation of the role of journalism or journalists, and they have produced no statistics for journalists and the alleged threat to security or immigration. Their arguments and proposals are an exercise in knee-jerk prejudice, a reflex that operates without the intervention of the intellect.

“One also wonders whether they have given any thought to American interests. Whatever you think of their social utility, NYSE and NASDAQ depend on global media for international investors,” he said

Similarly, as one would expect from a bunch of Philistines with no professional experience, by bundling the media, along with educational visas, they may have muddied the waters. Higher education has a heavy dependence on foreign tuition income, and they will fight back politically and in the courts, maybe joined by the Murdoch Press, which has regularly imported reactionary talent from abroad.

“Ironically one thinks of the foreign press personalities who have come into the USA—people like Rupert Murdoch, Andrew Neill, Douglas Murray, Conrad Black, Andrew Sullivan, and Stuart Varney—and furthered the conservative cause here, but that is not who they are thinking about,” declared Williams, a former President of the UN Correspondents’ Association (UNCA).

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, President, Institute for Humanitarian Conflict Resolution, told IPS that by conditioning a journalist’s ability to live and work in the United States on repeated, discretionary renewals, the administration is creating precisely the climate of self-censorship that the First Amendment was meant to prevent.

If a reporter knows that a critical story about the president or his allies might translate into a denied extension, the line between immigration policy and political reprisal evaporates, he said.

“This is not a hypothetical danger. The rule expressly allows the government to scrutinize the “content” a journalist is covering when deciding whether to grant an extension, opening the door to ideological filtering of who gets to report from the United States. That logic is indistinguishable from the methods long used by authoritarian regimes that the United States has historically condemned,” said Dr Ben-Meir

The proposal also creates a ready-made instrument for selective punishment of journalists from countries with which the Trump administration has tense or adversarial relations. The singling out of Chinese journalists for especially harsh 90-day limits is an explicit signal that Washington is prepared to wield visa policy as a geopolitical stick, not a neutral administrative tool, he pointed out.

Once this precedent is established, nothing prevents the administration from tightening the screw further on reporters from other states whose governments it wishes to pressure—or punish.

The result would be a two-tiered press landscape in which journalists from favored countries enjoy relative stability, while those from disfavored states face constant uncertainty and the implicit demand to “behave,” he declared.

Dr. Ben-Meir said foreign governments and international bodies, including the UN, should make it clear that undermining foreign press access in the United States will invite reciprocal restrictions on American journalists abroad—further isolating US audiences from the world.

And American citizens, who ultimately bear the cost of an information-starved public sphere, must insist that their government not abuse immigration law as a backdoor censorship tool.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Alors que les Européens poursuivent leur réarmement stratégique face à la menace russe, le Kremlin multiplie les provocations. Un navire de guerre russe a ainsi mené un exercice de tir réel au large des côtes anglaises lundi soir, à la veille de l’arrivée au 10 Downing Street du nouveau PM britannique Andy Burnham. « Un salut viril en forme de menace », estime Bruno Fuchs, député MoDem et président de la commission des Affaires étrangères de l’Assemblée nationale, qui accuse Vladimir Poutine de vouloir ainsi « déstabiliser l’Europe » à l’heure où celle-ci se réarme. Bruno Fuchs qui ne croit pas en revanche « à une attaque imminente de la Russie », alors que Poutine « a déjà du mal à avancer dans le Donbass ».

La ministre de la Transition écologique Monique Barbut a présenté, mercredi, sa démission à Emmanuel Macron qui "ne l'a pas acceptée", et elle a décidé de "poursuivre sa mission à la demande" du président "qui l'a assurée de son soutien", a annoncé son cabinet à l'AFP.

Les familles Soglo et Vieyra commémorent, samedi 25 juillet 2026, le cinquième anniversaire du rappel à Dieu de l'ex-Première dame du Bénin Rosine Vieyra Soglo. Une messe d'action de grâce sera célébrée à cette occasion pour le repos de son âme.

La célébration eucharistique se tiendra, samedi 25 juillet 2026 à 11 heures, à la chapelle Saint-Joseph, située à l'étage de la paroisse Saint-Michel de Cotonou.
L'ancien président Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo, la famille Soglo et la famille Vieyra invitent parents, amis, proches et toutes les personnes ayant connu ou admiré l'ancienne Première dame à se joindre à eux pour ce moment de recueillement et de prière. Cette présence constituera un précieux témoignage de communion, d'amitié, de fidélité et d'affection à la mémoire de Rosine Vieyra Soglo.

Rosine Soglo, de son vrai nom Rose-Marie Honorine Vieyra, est décédée le 25 juillet 2021 à Cotonou à l'âge de 87 ans. Epouse de l'ancien président Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo (1991-1996), la défunte a été huissière de justice et une figure marquante de la vie politique béninoise.

Fondatrice de la Renaissance du Bénin (RB), elle a marqué plusieurs générations par son engagement politique et son action en faveur de la démocratie. Son souvenir demeure vivant cinq ans après sa disparition. Elle a également fondé l'Association Vidolé (ou ONG Vidolé), organisation caritative pour la protection des enfants et le soutien aux femmes et aux nouveau-nés.

Les incursions répétées d’hommes armés en provenance du Soudan du Sud inquiètent de plus en plus les populations vivant le long de la frontière dans le territoire d’Aru, en Ituri. Face à cette menace transfrontalière grandissante, la société civile et les notables locaux alertent également sur une montée de la criminalité dans les principaux centres commerciaux de la région.

Credit: Luke Dray/Stringer via Getty Images. Source IMF

By Martin Schindler, Nikola Spatafora and Andrew Tiffin
WASHINGTON DC, Jul 22 2026 (IPS)

A farmer in Kenya gets weather and planting advice on a basic phone. A teacher in Nigeria uses a chatbot to help students catch up in math. South Africa’s revenue authority uses data analytics to better target tax audits. These are not futuristic examples from Silicon Valley. They are early signs of the broader transformation that artificial intelligence (AI) could bring to sub-Saharan Africa.

AI will reshape the global economy. The question for Africa is whether it rides the wave or gets left behind.

Transformative potential

Our research shows AI’s promise, but it also points to significant risks and challenges. At current levels of preparedness, we estimate that AI will add just 0.2 percent to the region’s GDP over the next decade—little more than a rounding error. However, if countries can put the right foundations in place to accelerate adoption and extend the impact of AI beyond today’s digitally connected firms, the gains could rise to about 4 percent over the decade—nearly half a percentage point of additional growth a year.

That extra growth is critical given Africa’s vast jobs challenge. By 2030, sub-Saharan Africa will account for roughly half of new entrants into the global labor force. But the issue is not only the number of jobs needed—it is also their quality. Most workers are still in informal microenterprises or smallholder agriculture, where productivity is far below that of formal firms.

For the region, AI’s main promise is not about replacing office workers, but boosting productivity across the economy—helping informal firms manage inventory, enabling farmers to increase yields, and supporting mid-sized firms to transition to formality and export readiness.

The risk is that the opposite happens. AI adoption in sub-Saharan Africa currently lags well behind every other region. If richer economies race ahead while African firms and governments lag, the productivity gap between the region and the rest of the world will only widen.

A different reality

Aid flows have always fluctuated. But this episode stands apart.

The recent cuts are large and broadly simultaneous across countries. They are driven by donor decisions rather than changes in recipient economies. And they come at a time when traditional buffers are weaker: multilateral institutions and NGOs, which have often cushioned past declines, are themselves facing funding constraints. While non-traditional donors, such as China and the Gulf States, have grown their aid presence in the region, the magnitudes are not able to cover the reduction in traditional donors.

The cuts are also difficult to manage because they follow six years of successive shocks—including the pandemic, tighter global financial conditions, and food and energy crises—that have already eroded fiscal space.

Delivering on AI’s promise

Two priorities for AI adoption stand out.

First, countries must build the foundations for broad adoption.

AI depends on reliable electricity, affordable broadband and data infrastructure, and workers with digital skills. That means investing in power and connectivity, supporting regional data infrastructure where viable, and strengthening digital and AI literacy through education and training. Countries in Africa do not need to develop the world’s most powerful AI models. But they do need the capacity to adopt, adapt, and scale AI quickly.

Second, build trust—and scale.

AI can widen inequality if its benefits are concentrated among large firms, skilled workers, and urban hubs. It also creates risks around privacy, cybersecurity, misinformation, and dependence on foreign providers. Governments need clear and practical rules on data, competition, consumer protection, cybersecurity, and the public sector’s use of AI. Regional cooperation will also be essential. Many African economies are too small to build AI ecosystems alone. But together they can create the scale needed for infrastructure, data standards, regulation, and markets.

AI in Africa is not just a technology policy issue—it is central to the region’s growth strategy. Africa does not need to win the race to build cutting-edge AI models, but it must find ways to use AI widely, cheaply, and safely. The window is narrow. Over the next debate, Africa’s young and growing workforce will either find more productive jobs, or watch the global productivity gap widen further. The outcome will not be shaped in Silicon Valley, but in the choices made across governments, schools, farms, and firms from Dakar to Dar es Salaam.

Martin Schindler is an advisor, Nikola Spatafora is a senior economist, and Andrew Tiffin is a deputy division chief, all in the IMF’s African Department.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Les essais cliniques de nouveaux médicaments destinés à lutter contre la maladie à virus Ebola de la souche Bundibugyo se poursuivent en Ituri. D’après la coordination provinciale de la riposte, ce mercredi 22 juillet, les équipes de la riposte continuent le recrutement des participants dans le respect des protocoles scientifiques établis, avec l'objectif d'améliorer la prise en charge des patients infectés et de renforcer la protection des personnes exposées au virus.

Découvrez les favorites, le format et les horaires de coup d'envoi de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations féminine 2026, reportée au Maroc et qui débutera le 26 juillet.

A new Act for an old problem In December 2025, the European Commission (EC) proposed the Biotech Act, a legislative proposal intended to make Europe a more competitive place to research, develop, and manufacture biotechnology, with a particular focus on health.1 Its most consequential element for patients is a revision to the EU Clinical Trials […]

Hegseth had requested some $67 billion in supplemental funding for the Pentagon

Tensions between Addis Ababa and the Tigray Region are gradually mounting. Mis­calculations could even trigger another large-scale war, although the parties involved may not directly seek one. Since the war in northern Ethiopia ended in November 2022, no new, stable political order has emerged. Tigray remains suspended between war and peace. Responsibility for this lies with both the Ethiopian government and its partner in peace, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Having lost power in the national government in 2018, the TPLF has yet to find a new role for itself; in­stead, it has been marked by internal power struggles and characterised by authoritarian tendencies. Conversely, the Ethiopian government has not done enough to facilitate the return of internally displaced persons and restore Tigray’s territorial integrity. A renewed outbreak of hostilities could draw in Eritrea, Sudan and other regional actors. Germany and the European Union (EU) should firmly commit to crisis prevention in order to avoid further escalation in the already tense Red Sea region.

À Venise, la visite de l'ambassadeur des États-Unis en Italie, Tilman Fertitta, ne passe pas inaperçue. Vendredi 17 juillet, lors de la fête du Rédempteur, près de 400 militants ont déployé une banderole de 117 mètres de long, soit exactement la longueur de son superyacht, le Boardwalk. Un message aux couleurs anti-Trump et anti-milliardaires américains. Pour cause, la tournée du magnat texan d'origine sicilienne suscite de nombreuses critiques.

Parliament approves use of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone under pressure from farming lobby

DIW Energiewende-Monitor: Photovoltaik fällt hinter steigende Ausbauvorgaben zurück – Wärmepumpen und Elektrofahrzeuge gewinnen Marktanteile, kommen aber zu langsam voran – Strompreise zeigen wachsenden Flexibilitätsbedarf – Großbatterien wachsen Die Energiewende in Deutschland kommt weiter voran, ...

In today's edition: military mobility, IRIS², UK defence secretary

Spain’s proposed ‘AI secrecy law’ is putting transparency, taxpayer rights and algorithmic accountability at the centre of Europe’s tax debate

Better e-waste collection, stronger recycling markets and a coherent regulatory framework will be essential if Europe is to strengthen its supply of critical raw materials