Africa

The UK accuses Al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, also known as Abu Lulu, of committing acts of violence against civilians.

BBC Sport Africa picks out six players to keep an eye on at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January.

BBC Sport Africa picks out six players to keep an eye on at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January.

BBC Sport Africa picks out six players to keep an eye on at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January.

BBC Sport Africa picks out six players to keep an eye on at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January.

Wer von gezuckerten Skiferien und kuschligen Berghütten träumt, muss nicht zwingend auf einem oder zwei Brettern den Hügel herunterrasen. Diese Aktivitäten benötigen keine Piste, um für Spass zu sorgen.

Was gibt es Gemütlicheres, als in einer Pferdekutsche durch verschneite Landschaften zu reisen? Hier findest du 4 Orte, die solche romantischen Fahrten anbieten.

Jonas Lauwiner, selbsternannter König der Schweiz, schnappt sich herrenlose Grundstücke im ganzen Land. Der Kanton Bern will seinem Treiben mit einer Gesetzesanpassung nun einen Riegel schieben.

Hyundai präsentiert auf der Los Angeles Autoshow das Crater Concept. Ein rustikaler Geländewagen der XRT-Familie. Die Studie zeigt Hyundais Vision für künftige Offroad-Modelle und soll Kunden zu mehr Abenteuerlust inspirieren.

He is accused of using romance scams to defraud $8m, with the profits flaunted on Instagram.

Viele Menschen machen erst mal nichts, wenn sie vor einer Aufgabe stehen. Oder alles andere. Christian Rieck ist Spezialist für Aufschieberitis. Und weiss, wie man sie erfolgreich bekämpft.

Accords opaques, documents falsifiés et indulgence de l'UE envers l'élite au pouvoir en Serbie : une menace pour la mémoire culturelle et les standards démocratiques et juridiques.

- Libres opinions. L'espace de débat du Courrier des Balkans

This is the first time that officials have said how many foreign soldiers were deployed to help thwart the mutiny.

A family poses in front of their home rebuilt as part of the Sindh People’s Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF). At COP30 the project was showcased for its significant successes in empowering women in the rehousing the families of the devastating 2022 floods. Credit: SPHF

By Cecilia Russell
BELÉM, Brazil, Dec 12 2025 (IPS)

By any comparison, the statistics for Sindh People’s Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) are phenomenal.

In 2022, photographs from the region showed people treading carefully through waist-deep water with their few belongings grasped firmly above their heads in an attempt to escape the flooding caused by 784 percent more than average monsoon rains.

Tents housed tens of thousands of families as they contemplated an uncertain future, with estimates of 15 million people displaced and more than 1,700 dead.

That’s where the story ends for many international survivors of floods and other climate-related disasters. They need to pick up the pieces themselves. The financing for adaptation and loss and damage is still “running on empty.”

And if there was to be clarity at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, the so-called ‘adaptation COP,’ countries that arrived with clear objectives of leaving the negotiations with a roadmap for adaptation that included grant-based adaptation finance and increased support left disappointed.

The final Mutirão Decision calls for efforts to triple adaptation finance by 2035 (compared to 2025 levels). While this reaffirms the previous Glasgow goal of doubling it by 2025, the new goal was a compromise because the deadline was pushed from 2030 to 2035.

Amy Giliam Thorp, writing for Africa-based think tank Power Shift Africa, summed up the opinion of many analysts who say, although the final decision refers to “efforts to at least triple adaptation finance,” the language is “politically evasive and obscures who is responsible.”

Flashback: A flooded village in Matiari, in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Credit: UNICEF/Asad Zaidi

Yet, COP30 provided an opportunity to showcase the best that adaptation finance, albeit as loans and not grant-based, can achieve.

Let’s get back to those statistics.

Speaking at a swelteringly hot and humid Pakistan hall at COP30 Khalid Mehmood Shaikh, CEO of SPHF, reeled off the achievements of the housing project—it is in the process of constructing 2.1 million multi-hazard-resistant houses, directly benefitting over 15 million people—more than the population of 154 countries.

Currently, the construction of 1.45 million houses is underway, with 650,000 already completed and an additional 50,000 each month.

Photos displayed at the COP side event, Women Leading Climate Action in Sindh through SPHF: The World’s Largest Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction Program, showed women and their families involved in various stages of building their new homes.

The pictures showcased construction methods that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) calls “multi-hazard resilient” architecture—high plinths to prevent floodwaters from entering homes, as well as windows and ventilation systems that improve air flow and reduce temperatures during heatwaves; the region sometimes experiences temperatures exceeding 45 °C. Additionally, there is a transition from kutcha, which uses natural local materials like mud, straw, and bamboo, to pucca, constructed with modern materials such as brick, cement, steel, and concrete.

Completed homes, colorfully decorated, stand as testimony to a project that creates both shelter and dignity.

Speakers at a COP30 side event, Women Leading Climate Action in Sindh through SPHF: The World’s Largest Post-Disaster Housing Reconstruction Program. Credit: SPHF

The programme, fully managed by the private sector, began with a USD 500 million loan from the World Bank and PKR 50 billion (more than USD 178 million) from the Government of Sindh.

While this wasn’t enough to build the required 2.1 million houses, with a “robust system” of delivery with partners EY, KPMG, and PwC, and utilizing technology for monitoring, the SPHF was able to mobilize a further USD 2 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and additional support from the World Bank.

Apart from the loans, the project has benefitted women and those considered to be ‘unbanked,’ with 1.5 million bank accounts opened.

One of the achievements they list is the “largest residential asset transfer in the history of Pakistan,” benefitting women.

“About 800,000 women are direct beneficiaries, while the land title for each house is being awarded in women’s names—the largest residential asset transfer in the history of Pakistan,” Shaikh said. “This ensures that those most vulnerable to climate change, including women-headed households, widows, and elderly women, gain long-term security and financial inclusion, embedding justice and resilience into the recovery process.”

The manager of the Climate Change & Environment Division at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Daouda Ben Oumar Ndiaye, said the project reflected the bank’s focus on gender integration, especially for women, widows, and the elderly.

“The scale and transparency of SPHF set a new benchmark for climate adaptation projects worldwide. We are creating synergies in Pakistan, particularly in Sindh, with integrated health and women empowerment projects,” he said.

The director of Climate Change at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Noelle O’Brien, was impressed by SPHF’s transformative approach—especially as it linked financial inclusion and resilient infrastructure.

“SPHF demonstrates what true resilience in action looks like—placing women at the center of adaptation, finance, and governance. This is the kind of scalable, gender-responsive model the world needs.”
IPS UN Bureau Report

This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

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Excerpt:

Sindh People’s Housing for Flood Affectees ensures that those most vulnerable to climate change, including women-headed households, widows, and elderly women, gain long-term security and financial inclusion, embedding justice and resilience into the recovery process. — Khalid Mehmood Shaikh, CEO of SPHF

Remarks by Makis Keravnos, acting President of the Eurogroup, following the Eurogroup meeting of 11 December 2025 on the euro area’s resilience, fiscal coordination and budgetary plans for 2026, the selection process for the next ECB Vice President, and election of Kyriakos Pierrakakis as the new Eurogroup President starting 12 December 2025.

The Council has adopted an implementing decision authorising the sixth regular payment from the Ukraine Facility under the Ukraine Plan.

La Croatie a franchi une nouvelle étape dans la modernisation de ses forces armées en signant l'achat de 18 obusiers automoteurs Caesar MK2 et de 44 chars Leopard. Un choix stratégique qui renforce sa coopération militaire avec la France et l'Allemagne.

- Le fil de l'Info / Une - Diaporama, Courrier des Balkans, Croatie, Défense, police et justice

Le gouvernement de Rossen Jeliazkov a démissionné au lendemain d'une immense manifestation qui a rassemblé 150 000 personnes mercredi 10 décembre dans le centre de Sofia. Les manifestants dénoncent l'omniprésente corruption, alors que la Bulgarie doit rejoindre la zone euro le 1er janvier.

- Articles / Courrier des Balkans, Bulgarie, Une - Diaporama - En premier, Une - Diaporama, GERB, Politique

Health workers attend to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers at an outreach visit supported by UNFPA in Loima sub-county. Credit: UNFPA/Luis Tato

By James Nyikal, Margaret Lubaale and Anne-Beatrice Kihara
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 12 2025 (IPS)

For women in labour across Kenya, reaching a health facility, finding skilled health workers, and affording care can be a matter of life and death. These challenges are not rare, but daily realities for many families.

Every year on 12 December, the world observes Universal Health Coverage Day, a chance to renew the promise of health for all. But for this promise to be meaningful, it must reach every woman and child, everywhere in Kenya.

Slow Progress in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

While Kenya has made gradual gains in maternal, newborn and child health with improved vaccination and increased antenatal care, progress in maternal survival has been painfully slow.

Between 2014 and 2019, the maternal mortality rate dropped by less than two percent, even as investment increased. United Nations data shows that Kenya’s maternal mortality ratio remains one of the highest in East Africa, exceeding those of Ethiopia, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Newborn and child deaths have also declined slightly and are severely constrained by inequities. For example, children born to mothers with only primary education face far higher mortality than those whose mothers have secondary education and beyond.

Persistent inequalities continue to deny children a healthy start in life.

The Urgency of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Bill

Kenya’s MNCH services have suffered from fragmented policies, inconsistent county financing, and short-term funding. Devolution has blurred responsibilities between national and county governments, leading to gaps in planning, poor reporting, and weak accountability.

The Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Bill, 2023, proposed by Sen. Beatrice Akinyi Ogolla, presents a vital opportunity to change this trajectory.

The MNCH Bill seeks to establish a clear legal framework guaranteeing the right to maternal, newborn, and child health services. It obliges both national and county governments to respect, protect, and fulfil these rights through enforceable mechanisms.

At its core, the Bill affirms that every woman and child in Kenya, regardless of location or economic status, deserves timely, affordable, respectful, and high-quality care.

It embeds service delivery in the principles of universal access, equity, dignity, availability of essential services, and continuous quality improvement.

How the MNCH Bill Delivers on the Promise of UHC.

1. Guarantees the right to the highest attainable health for all mothers and children.
2. Ensures access to the full continuum of care, including before pregnancy and through childhood
3. Protects marginalised and hard-to-reach communities, such as people living with disabilities or those unable to pay for health services
4. Guarantees respectful, dignified and non-discriminatory care, irrespective of identity, such as age, marital status or social background
5. Strengthens health financing at the county level through mandated country budget allocation for MNCH
6. Improves service availability through infrastructure and supplies such as ambulances, essential medicine and skilled health workers.
7. Institutionalizes accountability and reporting, with both the Cabinet Secretary and County Executives mandated to submit annual reports to Parliament and County Assemblies on services, financing, and gaps
8. Strengthens monitoring, data, and quality assurance through mandated continuous monitoring, maternal and child death surveillance, with enforcement of quality standards.

The MNCH Bill is more than a piece of legislation; it is a lifeline and a turning point for millions of Kenyan families.

By making essential services enforceable rights, strengthening accountability, and securing sustainable domestic financing, the Bill lays the foundation for people-centred Universal Health Coverage.

Political Will and National Commitment

Political leadership is aligning behind reforms for women and children. President Ruto’s involvement with the Global Leaders Network for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health and his directive for real-time reporting of maternal and child deaths signal a strong executive commitment.

Cabinet Secretary Hon. Aden Duale’s focus on realizing the Social Health Authority and robust county leadership further demonstrates that Kenya is mobilizing on all fronts.

With government officials, communities, civil society, and health workers rallying together, Kenya stands ready to turn these commitments into action.

Call to Action

As the MNCH Bill reaches its final committee stages, now is a critical moment for public involvement. Citizens are encouraged to contact their Members of Parliament to express support for the Bill.

Advocates, experts, donors, and community members must unite and implement strategies to accelerate the reduction of maternal, newborn, and child mortality.

The passage of the MNCH Bill will show that “health for all” is no longer just a slogan, but a binding national pledge.

Hon. Dr James Nyikal is the Chairperson of National Assembly Health Committee; Dr. Margaret Lubaale is the Executive Director of Health NGO Network (HENNET); and Prof Anne-Beatrice Kihara is the immediate former President of International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Early on Friday morning, Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement on new EU circularity rules to cover the entire vehicle lifecycle, from design to final end-of-life treatment.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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