Agrégateur de flux

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

With its public finances in shambles, the far right polling at 35 percent ahead of the 2027 presidential election, and a growing protest movement, is France’s crisis a threat to the EU’s geopolitical awakening?

The incident shone a spotlight on China's growing repertoire for transnational repression targeting Taiwanese leaders.

Afghan women say that they respond to Taliban oppression in vastly different ways depending on their social, cultural, and personal contexts. 

At the European Council, President Metsola called for a long-term EU budget that matches Europe's ambitions, faster progress on competitiveness, and continued momentum for enlargement.

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

It’s time for the OPCON transition process to move beyond military assessments into the realm of political responsibility.

The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) commander outlined how Africa is where operational problems are defined, solutions are tested in realistic conditions, and results are shared across the Army during the 2026 Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Oct. 14.

Cuba's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, denounced the grave impact on the human rights of the Cuban population of the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba. He made the remarks during the interactive dialogue with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in the Third Committee at the 81st session of the General Assembly.

A senior South African cricket official pledges to order a review into the low crowd which attended the first Test against Australia in Durban.

Following the publication of the long-awaited pre-enlargement policy reviews by the European Commission and just in time for the October Council Summit, Dr. Frauke Seebass (Research Fellow, Wider Europe Programme – ELIAMEP & think nea – New Narratives of EU Integration) and Ioannis Alexandris (Research Fellow, Wider Europe Programme – ELIAMEP & think nea – New Narratives of EU Integration) co-authored the policy brief “Preparing the EU for Enlargement Means Investing in Strategic Autonomy. And integrating the Western Balkans is key” in the framework of ELIAMEP’s initiative think nea – New Narratives of EU Integration which is supported by OSF-WB. 

Originally hailed as a possible “Helsinki Moment” for enlargement, this week’s Council Summit is unlikely to focus much on the issue. Work will continue in the Council and capitals in the coming months based on the long-awaited pre-enlargement policy reviews presented by the EU Commission on 6 October 2026 acknowledge the inherent connection between a bigger and a stronger Union. It will not be up to the Council to translate into practice suggestions for closer integration before accession and to prepare the EU itself.

European strategic autonomy risks remaining a buzzword if European leaders fail to understand it as a continent-wide strategic vision and not merely another EU-level policy and the Western Balkans as a key asset to include in their deliberations beyond the accession process. Locking the region into the EU is neither luxury nor charity – it is essential to the Union’s geopolitical actorness.

As can be seen in the current practice, candidates – with the possible exception of Ukraine in EU deliberations on common defence – are included in new initiatives most often as an afterthought rather than seeing their inclusion as a (geo-)strategic imperative. This is true for the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument, as well as for the Democracy Shield. In the meantime, geopolitical competitors and adversaries are securing mining and defence contracts in countries like Serbia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, and North Macedonia while deepening strategic dependencies contrary to EU interests. This is a geopolitical lose-lose situation for the EU as it continues to miss opportunities to strengthen its strategic autonomy while its competitors increase their footprint on the continent. The more these trends persist and the longer Western Balkan countries remain outside the EU’s vision and policy debates, the more entrenched strategic dependencies will become and more difficult to reverse course. Evidently, anticipating enlargement strategically requires consultations beyond the EU to accomplish its purpose of European strategic autonomy.

You can read the policy brief here.

AMENDMENTS 20 - 255 - Draft opinion EU Gender Action Plan IV – priorities for gender equality and women’s rights in external action
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hannah Neumann

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

AMENDMENTS 20 - 255 - Draft opinion EU Gender Action Plan IV – priorities for gender equality and women’s rights in external action
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hannah Neumann

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Le meurtrier de Colleen Slemmer a finalement été transporté à l'hôpital après que deux doses d'injection létale n'aient pas suffi à la tuer.

Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván. Credit: @CDHVitoria

By Clare Quirk
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Oct 15 2026 (IPS)

Kenia Hernández is an Indigenous Mexican lawyer and human rights defender dedicated to advancing women’s rights and social justice.

Arrested in October 2020, she has faced multiple criminal proceedings that human rights organisations, including CIVICUS, have denounced as politically motivated and linked to the criminalisation of her activism. This piece is the second in our series on the campaign that advocates for the immediate release of unjustly imprisoned or persecuted human rights defenders globally.



 

Additional reference: Five years of resistance: The case of Kenia Hernández and the battle against the fabrication of crimes 

Additional research and reporting: Cecilia Russell
Note: This feature is published with the support of CIVICUS: Stand As My Witness Campaign.
IPS is solely responsible for the editorial content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of CIVICUS.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

 

 

Le Premier ministre Navin Ramgoolam a imposé un couvre-feu après plusieurs jours de troubles déclenchés initialement par des pénuries d'eau.

Zwei Wochen nach Einführung des Tankrabatts zieht Wettbewerbsexperte Tomaso Duso, Leiter der Abteilung Unternehmen und Märkte im Deutschen Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin), Zwischenbilanz. Täglich verfolgt der Tankrabatt-Monitor des DIW Berlin die Preisentwicklung für Benzin und Diesel ...

The country is currently beset by wildfires, political ructions, and intensifying economic troubles.