Agrégateur de flux

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs is calling on the Commission to introduce a law to regulate the use of algorithmic technologies, including AI, within European workplaces.
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs is calling on the Commission to introduce a law to regulate the use of algorithmic technologies, including AI, within European workplaces.
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Le président américain tout comme d'autres dirigeants mondiaux, brille par son absence à ces négociations climatiques de l'ONU, ce qui soulève des questions sur la pertinence des sommets de la COP aujourd'hui.

Un travailleur chinois de 25 ans est mort sur un chantier à Stolac, révélant l'existence d'un réseau de travailleurs chinois sans papiers qui construisaient une centrale solaire photovoltaïque dans cette petite ville d'Herzégovine.

- Articles / Bosnie-Herzégovine, Radio Slobodna Evropa, Economie, Populations, minorités et migrations, Les Chinois à l'assaut des Balkans

Un travailleur chinois de 25 ans est mort sur un chantier à Stolac, révélant l'existence d'un réseau de travailleurs chinois sans papiers qui construisaient une centrale solaire photovoltaïque dans cette petite ville d'Herzégovine.

- Articles / Bosnie-Herzégovine, Radio Slobodna Evropa, Economie, Populations, minorités et migrations, Les Chinois à l'assaut des Balkans

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

As world leaders gather in Brazil for the COP30 climate summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent action to drive down global temperatures and keep the 1.5°C goal within reach. Credit: WMO/Guillaume Louÿs

By Pedro Barata
LISBON, Portugal, Nov 11 2025 (IPS)

I have been working on climate policy since the late 1990s. I was in the room when Europe’s early carbon market discussions were shaping the architecture that would eventually underpin the Kyoto Protocol.

That framework—built around international cooperation and market-based mechanisms—was born at a time when climate change was understood as a global problem requiring global solutions. For all its flaws, it carried an underlying logic: collective action was indispensable, and market-based tools could harness efficiency and scale.

Today, the mood has shifted. Public budgets are shrinking, geopolitical tensions are rising, and climate impacts are accelerating. Yet in the midst of this urgency, we are witnessing a troubling rise in what can only be called irrationality: a willingness to hold two or three contradictory ideas at once, even when the stakes are so high.

Take, for example, the persistent claim that carbon “offsetting” is no longer possible under the Paris Agreement. The argument goes like this: because countries now have emissions caps under Paris, offsetting somehow ceases to exist. But that is a fundamental misunderstanding. The very logic of cap-and-trade—whether under the EU Emissions Trading System or international markets—rests on offsetting, i.e. compensating emissions reductions elsewhere rather than reducing at home.

Offsetting is perfectly possible and even desirable, from an economic perspective, within a capped environment. The problem has never been with the principle. It has been with the credibility of particular credits, the uneven quality of oversight, and the lack of transparency in certain corners of the market.

These challenges are real. But the rational response is not to walk away from these challenges. It is to double down on the hard work: strengthen guidance and regulation, demand better data, increase transparency, expose bad behavior, and install integrity across the value chain. High-integrity markets are not easy, but they are possible—and they are already delivering results.

What’s more, evidence shows that international cooperation on carbon markets reduces costs in every modeled region compared to countries acting alone, with potential savings of as much as $250 billion by 2030. Walking away from these benefits would be an act of self-sabotage.

The irrationality extends beyond markets. Policymakers readily admit that public coffers are stretched thin, that development aid budgets are shrinking, and that climate is often being downgraded as a priority in national spending. Yet, in almost the same breath, some suggest that international mitigation can and should be financed primarily through public money rather than carbon markets.

Where is this money supposed to come from?

The data are stark: the world needs $8.4 trillion in climate finance annually by 2030, yet just $1.3 trillion was provided in 2021–2022. That leaves a $7.1 trillion gap today, still projected at nearly $4 trillion in 2030 even under business-as-usual scenarios. Magical thinking does not decommission coal plants, stop deforestation, or scale carbon removal.

Private finance is not just helpful, it is essential. External private finance for climate remains around $30 billion per year today. By 2030, that must rise to between $450 and $500 billion annually—an increase of 15 to 18 times.

There is no plausible pathway to close the gap without mobilizing capital at this scale, and high-integrity carbon markets are one of the few tools available right now that can channel such flows directly into mitigation.

What is needed is not purity, but pragmatism. We need the full suite of solutions—a portfolio approach for climate policy. Deep emissions cuts must continue at home. Rapid removals are essential to balance the carbon budget. And massive flows of capital to a wide range of solutions must scale together.

None of these tools alone will solve the climate crisis. There are no silver bullets. But rejecting viable tools because they are imperfect guarantees failure. Delay, not imperfection, is the greater risk.

Of course, criticism plays an essential role. Constructive critique strengthens systems, exposes weaknesses, and pushes for improvement. But when critique tips into absolutism—when markets are dismissed outright, or international cooperation is brushed aside in favor of isolation—it becomes self-defeating. At a time when geopolitical instability makes cooperation harder, walking away from available mechanisms is the height of irrationality.

I do not claim to have the full prescription for restoring rationality to climate policy. But I do know this: cynicism is not a strategy, and delay is not an option. Markets, when well-governed, remain one of the fastest ways to mobilize capital at scale for climate action. Public finance, though limited, must be directed strategically.

And international cooperation, however unfashionable, is indispensable. The future will not be won by choosing one path and discarding the others. It will be won by using every tool in the toolbox—and refusing to let irrationality steer us toward inaction.

Pedro Barata is Associate Vice President, Environmental Defense Fund

IPS UN Bureau

 

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La guerre civile au Soudan fait toujours rage, plus de deux ans et demi après son déclenchement, et sa durée est en partie due à l'ingérence d'acteurs étrangers qui apportent un soutien politique et militaire aux belligérants.

The Amazon rainforest, covering much of northwestern Brazil and extending into other South American countries, is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and is vital to fighting climate change. Credit: CIAT/Neil Palmer Source UN News

By Asoka Bandarage
WASHINGTON DC, Nov 11 2025 (IPS)

My recent visit to Brazil coincided partly with the Conference of the Parties (COP) 30, the 30th United Nations Climate Conference in Belém. Although I did not attend COP 30, I was very fortunate to visit the Amazon.

It was both awe-inspiring and humbling to experience —even briefly—the mystery and stillness of nature, and the ebb and flow of life in the Amazon: the largest tropical rainforest in the world, sustained by the ever-flowing Amazon River, the largest and widest river on Earth.

The magnificent forest, the river, and its tributaries, such as the black-water Rio Negro, teem with countless interdependent species. The great Samaúma—the “tree of life,” or giant kapok tree—stands tall above innumerable other trees, vines, and plants.

Many trees provide homes for birds and other animals that build their nests high among the branches or near the roots. Sloths do not build nests; instead, they spend their entire lives in the forest canopy, hanging upside down from branches while resting or sleeping.

In contrast, capuchin and squirrel monkeys leap from tree to tree in search of food, while birds—from the tiniest short-tailed pygmy tyrant to the colorful red-crested, green, and black Amazon kingfishers—flit from branch to branch, each awaiting its own prey. As night falls, the beautiful white owl-like great potoo emerges and sits patiently, seemingly forever, waiting for its turn to hunt.

In the river, silvery flying fish—sometimes in droves—leap from the water to catch insects, while gray and pink dolphins bob up and down, chasing fish or simply playing. Along the banks, proud egrets and fierce spectacled and black caimans lie in wait for their prey. Overhead, flocks of birds, including parakeets, fill the sky with song as vultures descend to feed on the remains of fallen animals below.

Humans have also lived in the Amazon for tens of thousands of years, in close symbiosis with other species, hunting in the forest and fishing in the river for their survival. Petroglyphs—carvings of human and animal figures, along with abstract shapes etched into rocks along the Amazon River—speak of their deep respect for nature and their ways of communicating with one another.

Even today, many of the indigenous communities who inhabit the Amazon remain devoted to protecting Mother Earth, upholding their eco-centric values and traditional ways of life.

There are also the river people (ribeirinhos), many of mixed indigenous and Portuguese descent, living along the Amazon River—often in floating homes or houses built on stilts. Their livelihoods and cultures are deeply intertwined with the river and forest, making the protection of the Amazon essential to their survival.

The Amazon lost an estimated 54.2 million hectares of forest—over 9% of its total area—between 2001 and 2020, an expanse roughly the size of France. The Brazilian Amazon, which makes up 62% of the rainforest’s territory, was the most affected, followed by Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. Along with deforestation, the Amazon is estimated to lose 4,000 to 6,000 plant and animal species each year.

COP 30

At the opening of the COP 30 Conference in Belém last week, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, the President of Brazil pointed out that concrete climate action is possible and that deforestation in the Amazon has been halved just in the past two years. He declared that the “era of fine speeches and good intentions is over” and that Brazil’s COP 30 will be a ‘COP of Truth and Action’, “COPs cannot be mere showcases of good ideas or annual gatherings for negotiators. They must be moments of contact with reality and of effective action to tackle climate change.”

President da Silva also emphasized that Brazil is a global leader in biofuel production—renewable energy derived from organic materials such as plants, algae, and waste—stressing that “a growth model based on fossil fuels cannot last.” Indeed, at COP 30, the future of the world’s tropical forests, vital ecosystems, and the shared climate of humanity and other species is at stake.

“Truth and Action”

Notwithstanding President da Silva’s optimistic pronouncements at Belém, troubling developments continue on the climate front in Brazil and around the world. In preparation for COP 30, the Brazilian government—along with India, Italy, and Japan—launched an ambitious initiative in October 2025: the “Belém 4x” pledge, which aims to quadruple global sustainable fuel use by 2035. This goal is projected to more than double current biofuel consumption.

However, environmentalists have expressed concern that a massive expansion of biofuel production, if undertaken without strong safeguards, could accelerate deforestation, degrade land and water resources, harm ecosystems, and threaten food security—particularly as crops such as soy, sugarcane, and palm oil compete for land between energy and food production.

Just days before COP30, the Brazilian government granted the state-run oil company Petrobras a license to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River. The government, including Minister for the Environment Marina da Silva, has defended the move, claiming that the project would help finance Brazil’s energy transition and help achieve its economic development goals.

Environmentalists have criticized the decision, accusing the government of promoting fossil fuel expansion and worsening global warming. They warn that drilling off the coast of the world’s largest tropical rainforest—a crucial carbon sink—poses a serious threat to biodiversity and indigenous communities in the Amazon region.

According to environmental activists, in the Amazon, “31 million hectares of Indigenous Peoples’ territories are already overlapped by oil and gas blocks, with an additional 9.8 million hectares threatened by mining concessions.”

Moreover, a controversial four-lane highway, Avenida Liberdade, built in Belém in preparation for the COP30 climate summit, is being defended by the Brazilian government as necessary infrastructure for the city’s growing population. Environmentalists and some locals are alarmed that clearing more than 100 hectares of protected Amazon Rainforest to build the road will accelerate deforestation, harm wildlife, and undermine the climate goals of the COP summit.

The onus of protecting the Amazon Rainforest—often called “the lungs of the planet”— cannot rest on Brazil alone; it is a shared responsibility of all humanity. Numerous studies show that the world can thrive without fossil and biofuels by adopting alternative renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power.

The global order, led by the United States and other Western nations, bears primary responsibility for the climate and environmental crises, as well as for deepening global inequality. Emerging powers from the Global South—particularly the BRICS nations, including Brazil—are now called to move beyond rhetoric and take concrete action. As President Lula da Silva himself has stated, COP 30 presents a critical opportunity to move decisively in that direction.

Negotiators and policymakers at COP 30 must take firm, principled moral action—resisting pressure from the fossil fuel lobby and prioritizing the interests of the planet and its people over short-term, profit-driven growth.

Dr Asoka Bandarage is the author of Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Politico-Economic Analysis (Zed Books, 1997), Sustainability and Well-Being: The Middle Path to Environment, Society and the Economy (Palgrave MacMillan, 2013) and numerous other publications on global political economy and the environment including “The Climate Emergency And Urgency of System Change” (2023) and ‘Existential Crisis, Mindfulness and the Middle Path to Social Action’ (2025). She serves on the Steering Committee of the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
MANILA, Philippines, Nov 11 2025 (IPS)

US President Trump’s economic strategy for his second term aims to get the rest of the world, especially its wealthy allies with greater means, to pay more to help strengthen the US economy.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Recent US initiatives have undoubtedly accelerated de-dollarisation but these have largely been unavoidable consequences of its own actions rather than due to any conspiracy by others to that end.

De-dollarisation distraction
Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff recently observed, “We are absolutely at the biggest inflection point in the global currency system since the Nixon shock to end the last vestige of the gold standard.”

After the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the gold price was set at $35 per ounce. In August 1971, US President Richard Nixon ended this gold-dollar parity.

De-dollarisation has gradually continued since, with occasional brief spurts and reversals. For example, capital flows abroad rose following the 2008-09 global financial crisis.

Growing weaponisation of economic relations has probably accelerated de-dollarisation. Rogoff observed, “this was happening for a decade before Trump. Trump is an accelerant.”

Governments, central banks and BRICS countries have been de-dollarising. Even US dollar hegemony advocates no longer deny alternatives to the dollar’s role as global reserve currency.

Meanwhile, private foreign investors, including foreign asset managers, investment banks and pension funds, do not want to be left behind.

Investment fund managers are increasingly ‘de-risking’ by cutting exposure to dollar-denominated assets.

Mar-a-Lago plan
Economist Stephen Miran has proposed a new Trump initiative to require other governments to pay the US for services purportedly rendered.

First appointed chair of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, Miran has since been appointed to the US Federal Reserve Board.

A few days after Trump announced his Liberation Day tariffs on April 2, Miran articulated five expectations. These expect other nations to pay the US for ‘public goods’ services it ostensibly provides the world.

Allies will be expected to pay the US more for the ‘security umbrella’ it provides to NATO and other allies. The US also expects those buying Treasury bonds to pay more for the ‘privilege’

In November 2024, Miran’s A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System proposed the Mar-A-Lago accord, named for Trump’s exclusive Florida island resort and residence.

He also referred to the Plaza Accord, which the Reagan administration imposed on its G5 allies in September 1985. Then, the US forced Japan and Germany to appreciate their currencies against the dollar.

The yen’s appreciation fuelled a massive Japanese asset price bubble that burst with devastating consequences in 1989, ending its post-war boom.

Trump now seeks the appreciation of other major currencies. Already, he has succeeded in getting his European allies to agree.

However, it seems unlikely that Trump will get China and other BRICS economies to do so, as they are aware of how the Plaza Accord affected Japan.

Century bonds
Other national monetary authorities buying US Treasury bonds to stabilise their own currencies have long caused dollar appreciation.

They are now expected to help depreciate the dollar. Miran has proposed that the US issue century, i.e., 100-year bonds, at very low interest rates, well below the current rates for US Treasury securities.

Miran wants foreign central bank reserve currency managers to sell off their dollar-denominated assets. They should “term out” their “remaining reserve holdings” and refinance short-term debt with long-term borrowings.

Miran is explicit: “The US Treasury can effectively buy duration back from the market and replace that borrowing with century bonds sold to the foreign official sector.”

His plan thus intends to force foreign holders of US government debt (‘Treasuries’) to extend the duration of their loans.

Very low interest rates for century bonds will ensure that foreign bondholders effectively pay the US more for the ‘privilege’ of borrowing dollars.

For Miran, the appreciation of other currencies against the dollar will also strengthen the American economy. US manufacturing will strengthen as its exports become more competitive.

Thus, his Mar-A-Lago accord plan expects other nations to pay more to strengthen the world’s largest and richest economy.

Miran’s Mar-A-Lago plan is not yet official US policy. However, this can change with Miran’s likely appointment as the next Fed chair, replacing Trump 1.0 appointee Jerome Powell.

BRICS de-dollarisation?
However, Miran’s declared plan to strengthen the US economy by depreciating the dollar against other major currencies has also accelerated de-dollarisation.

In recent years, the BRICS have been accused of conspiring to accelerate de-dollarisation worldwide, but this is certainly not a shared ambition.

Lacking significant trade surpluses, Brazil and South Africa have long advocated de-dollarisation. But Russia’s complaints have more to do with recent NATO weaponisation of financial instruments against it.

There is no comparable enthusiasm among other BRICS member states, which have much healthier trade surpluses and more dollar assets.

Its recent membership expansion will make an official BRICS de-dollarisation stance even more unlikely.

Nevertheless, Trump’s leadership relies on the American public believing the rest of the world is conspiring against them.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Une vague de haine a déferlé sur le Monténégro, entretenue par l'extrême droite et des élus de l'actuelle majorité, qui ont prétendu que « 100 000 » Turcs vivraient dans le pays et seraient impliqués dans des meurtres. Des accusations sans aucun fondement. Décryptage des mécanismes de la haine.

- Articles / Monténégro, Monitor (Monténégro), Société, Politique

Une vague de haine a déferlé sur le Monténégro, entretenue par l'extrême droite et des élus de l'actuelle majorité, qui ont prétendu que « 100 000 » Turcs vivraient dans le pays et seraient impliqués dans des meurtres. Des accusations sans aucun fondement. Décryptage des mécanismes de la haine.

- Articles / Monténégro, Monitor (Monténégro), Société, Politique

Alors que la Commission propose de durcir les expulsions, la commission des Libertés civiles (LIBE) du Parlement débattra mardi 11 novembre d’un projet de rapport sur le règlement de l’UE relatif aux retours prônant une approche plus équilibrée, axée sur le retour volontaire et le respect des droits fondamentaux.

The post Les libéraux veulent assouplir le futur règlement sur les retours appeared first on Euractiv FR.

The United States is about to celebrate a very worrisome Veterans Day.

La Cour de justice de l’Union européenne (CJUE) rendra ce mardi 11 novembre un arrêt très attendu sur la validité de la directive européenne sur le salaire minimum, et, par là même, elle définira les limites de l’autorité de Bruxelles sur les politiques sociales nationales.

The post Salaire minimum européen : la Cour de justice de l’UE s’apprête à rendre un arrêt décisif appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Experts say the industry’s argument that higher taxes fuel smuggling doesn’t stand up to scrutiny

Similar trends are being observed across Europe

As the EU is hardening its stance towards China, Madrid's warm relations with Beijing have stood out; Sánchez has made three visits to the Asian country since 2023 and this royal visit aims to strengthen "political, economic and cultural" ties

Food insecurity provokes violence—and weakens even wealthy states.

With the Donbas in peril, Europe must pressure Russia now.