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Funkelnde Lichter, geschmückte Strassen und gemütliche Cafés: Es gibt Städte, die zur Weihnachtszeit einen ganz besonderen Charme versprühen. Hier ein paar Ideen für weihnachtliche Kurztrips, die dich bestimmt in Weihnachtslaune versetzen.

Bei der Kuppelshow «Bauer, ledig, sucht» ging es zwischen Bauer Sämi und Hofdame Jasmin heiss her. Jetzt offenbart sie aber: Sie liebt einen anderen. Wie reagiert Sämi darauf?

Die Partie gegen Lugano endete für Saidy Janko vorzeitig, er wurde mit einer Roten Karte unter die Dusche geschickt. Nun hat die Liga das Strafmass bekanntgegeben.

Wenn man sich äusserlich gehen lässt, kann dies das Beziehungsleben negativ beeinflussen. Man müsse das Problem unbedingt ansprechen, sagt Paartherapeutin Johanna Friedli. Die Wortwahl sei dabei zentral.

Plus Hygge conscripts, Canada SAFE, and Danes to the rescue

By Farhana Haque Rahman
TORONTO, Canada, Dec 22 2025 (IPS)

Our traditional “year-ender” usually kicks off with a grim litany of world disasters and crises over the past 12 months, highlights IPS partners and contributors and culminates in a more positive-sounding finale. This time I’d like to begin on a more personal note intended also as a metaphor.

Farhana Haque Rahman

On November 20 when the UN climate talks COP30 in Belem, Brazil, looked set to spill over into extra time as delegates harassed by fossil fuel lobbyists haggled over a concluding text, fire broke out in the conference centre. Cue flames and panic.

As thousands looked for the nearest exit, a young Bangladeshi diplomat saw me and instead of joining the mass scramble, he gallantly led me through the crowds to safety. Thank you Aminul Islam Zisan for demonstrating when in crisis people can come together in unique ways.

Thankfully no one was killed in the fire; talks resumed and the Conference of Parties process survived in the form of a concluding document that could be interpreted as a small step forward in the global battle to stem the climate crisis, even while making only an oblique reference to the fossil fuels that are largely creating it.

COP’s survival was not assured given the US boycott ordered by President Donald Trump who dismissed climate change as “the greatest con job” in addressing the UN General Assembly in September.

The US absence from Belem in fact inflicted more damage to the US in terms of its global standing, just as Trump’s decision to shun the G20 talks running parallel in Johannesburg only deepened its reputational harm. Salt was diplomatically rubbed into its self-inflicted wounds by the dignity of G20 host President Cyril Ramaphosa who ignored US opposition from afar and steered adoption of a declaration addressing global challenges, notably the climate crisis.

Looking back, perhaps this was the week that quietly brought the curtain down on the Age of America. Unpredictability, chaos, violence and institutionalised cruelty are the early symptoms of the dramatic shift in 2025 towards unilateralism and protectionism.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including scores of children, have been killed since the US-brokered “truce” between Israel and Hamas began on October 11. Russian air strikes against Ukrainian civilian targets have also regularly punctuated Trump’s flip-flopping efforts to end a war he said he could finish on day one of his presidency.

Sharp cuts in US aid ordered by Trump in January have “fuelled a global humanitarian catastrophe”, according to a statement by the UN Human Rights Council on July 31. Citing two independent experts on poverty, food and human rights, the Council said: “More than 350,000 deaths stemming from the aid cuts have already been estimated, including more than 200,000 children.”

Famine is spreading with the conflict in western Sudan, and lack of finance has also led to cuts in vital UN aid to South Sudan. Over one million people caught in Myanmar’s largely forgotten civil war had their lifesaving support cut by the UN World Food Programme because of funding shortfalls.

Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organizations and activists working to strengthen citizen action, says these multiple and connected crises – conflict, climate breakdown and democratic regression – are overwhelming the international institutions designed to address the problems that states can’t or won’t resolve. US withdrawal from global bodies threatens to worsen this crisis in international cooperation.

But as CIVICUS’s 2025 State of Civil Society Report outlines, civil society has ideas about how to save the UN by putting people at its heart: a theme embraced at COP30 by Open Society Foundations President Binaifer Nowrojee who endorsed Brazil’s democratic leadership for elevating Indigenous and Afro-descendant voices and bringing human rights back to the centre of climate action.

In this rapidly shifting world order, Nowrojee sees the Global South stepping forward with new ideas and a new vision rooted in dignity, fairness, and protection of the planet.

Arguably the most important agreement emerging from COP30 was the Just Transition Mechanism which aims to ensure fair development of a global green economy, protecting the rights of all people, including workers, women and Indigenous people.

Coral Pasisi, Director of Climate Change and Sustainability for the Pacific Community (SPC), highlighted at COP30 how critical the situation has become for island nations experiencing accelerating climate impacts and hoping for meaningful breakthroughs in Belem. She raised the need for stronger support from developed countries for Loss and Damage.

The Gen Z demonstrators who have rocked regimes in South Asia and Africa are certainly stepping up with their visions for fairer futures for all, their protests aimed against nepotism and corruption among entrenched elites. They have been met with bullets in Bangladesh last year, and in Nepal – where the government was forced to resign in September – as well as Tanzania where hundreds were reported killed. Gen Z protests this year also rocked Indonesia, the Philippines and Morocco.

As Jan Lundius, a Swedish researcher, wrote in IPS: “Even though specific incidents triggered these upheavals, they were all due to long-term, shared grievances evolving from stark wealth gaps, rampant nepotism, and unlimited corruption. Above all, youngsters protested against members of powerful dynasties, favouring a wealthy and discredited political elite.”

A combination of conflict and climate disasters can have disastrous long-term consequences, particularly for children’s education. Initiatives supported by IPS like Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and the Safe Schools Declaration focus on providing quality, inclusive education to crisis-affected children to prevent long-term cycles of poverty and instability.

Hurricane Melissa which swept through the Caribbean in October served as a harsh reminder that 5.9 million children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to loss of education as a result of climate change if governments do not intervene soon, according to UNICEF.

The World Bank estimated the physical damage inflicted by Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica at some $8.8 billion, or 41% of the country’s 2024 GDP.

However the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has also warned governments that they are underestimating or ignoring the inextricable links between climate change, nature loss and food security. Its latest assessment, approved by nearly 150 countries meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, warned that biodiversity is declining everywhere, largely as a result of human actions.

CGIAR, a global research partnership focused on food security, is facing a very different world from when it was founded nearly 50 years ago in terms of having to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and new conflicts, according to CGIAR Chief Scientist Dr Sandra Milach. A major focus is on equipping 500 million small-scale producers for climate resilience to protect their livelihoods and increase stable incomes.

A year-ender wouldn’t be complete in the run-up to festive celebrations without at least a mention of the major religious figures to dominate the news.

Pope Francis, one of the most outspoken pontiffs in modern times, died on Easter Monday. Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, 69, became his successor, the first North American elected to the role. Choosing to be known as Pope Leo XIV he called for an end to the ‘barbarity’ of the war in Gaza. He also took aim at climate sceptics and appealed for urgent actions to be taken by world leaders at COP30.

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, turned 90 in exile in India, and also made a call for peace in the world. To the delight of his followers, he made clear that he would be reincarnated and that only his trusted inner circle of monks would have the “sole authority” to locate his successor. China swiftly rebuffed his declaration, saying his successor must be approved by Beijing.

In 2025 the world marked 80 years since the end of the Second World War. Minoru Harada, a Buddhist monk and head of Soka Gakkai, recalled his childhood experience of the fire-bombing of Tokyo and pledged his organisation’s determination that no one should have to endure the horrors of war.

Farhana Haque Rahman is Senior Vice President of IPS Inter Press Service and Executive Director IPS Noram; she served as the elected Director General of IPS from 2015-2019. A journalist and communications expert, she is a former senior official of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Das Zürcher Obergericht hat einen 31-jährigen Eritreer zu vier Jahren Freiheitsstrafe verurteilt. Er stiess 2021 eine Frau im Zürcher Hauptbahnhof vor einen Zug. Zudem wurde eine sechsjährige Landesverweisung ausgesprochen.

Achtung, akute Gute-Laune-Gefahr: Kakadu Jackson ist der wohl coolste Vogel im Netz. Er tanzt, singt, wippt, steppt und macht Quatsch – vor über 606'000 Fans auf Instagram. Sogar die Alexa-Musikbox hört auf ihn. Und ja: Wir sind schockverliebt.

Sourou Berthe KOUGBLENOU, l'épouse du général de corps aérien BADA Bertin, sera inhumée le jeudi 15 janvier 2025. Voici le programme officiel des obsèques.

La famille BADA a rendu public le programme officiel des obsèques de Sourou Berthe KOUGBLENOU épouse BADA, qui se dérouleront à Akassato.

Les cérémonies débuteront le mercredi 14 janvier 2026 par une soirée de chants et d'animations spirituelles prévue à partir de 20 heures au domicile de la défunte, connu sous l'appellation maison BADA.

Le jeudi 15 janvier 2026, un moment de recueillement est prévu dès 6 heures au domicile familial.

La levée du corps interviendra à 9h30 en direction du stade de football MCA d'Akassato, où se tiendra le culte d'inhumation de 10 heures à 11h15.

À l'issue du culte, trois oraisons funèbres seront prononcées en hommage à Sourou Berthe KOUGBLENOU épouse BADA, avant la présentation des condoléances aux familles éplorées, prévue entre 11h30 et 12 heures.

L'inhumation aura lieu dans l'intimité familiale.

Sourou Berthe KOUGBLENOU est l'épouse du général de corps aérien BADA Bertin. Elle est décédée le 7 décembre 2025 lors de la mutinerie déjouée. L'illustre défunte est âgée de 62 ans.
M. M.

Ein Vers, ein Reim, ein sanfter Klang und schon wird selbst dem Chatbot bang. Was Prosa nicht schafft, schafft Poesie: Sie bricht die Mauern, fragt nicht wie. Schon Platon warnte einst vor Dichtern – nun müssen KI-Firmen das richten.

Das baldige Aus des Eigenmietwerts veranlasst viele Wohneigentümer, ihre Liegenschaft noch rasch zu renovieren. Ist das sinnvoll?

Deux des plus grands noms du football africain, Achraf Hakimi et Mohamed Salah, espèrent mener leurs nations à la gloire à la Coupe d'Afrique des nations.

Le débat autour de la déchéance de la nationalité algérienne et l’amendement du Code a pris, ces derniers jours, une tournure plus frontale à l’Assemblée […]

L’article Déchéance de la nationalité : les garde-fous exposés par le ministre de la Justice devant l’APN est apparu en premier sur .

Der ehemalige Milan-Profi Théo Hernandez kritisiert seinen Ex-Verein scharf. Er zeigt sich enttäuscht über die Art und Weise, wie mit ihm umgegangen wurde, und sagt, dass viele Falschinformationen über ihn verbreitet worden seien.

Baby-Glück bei einer ehemaligen Skirennfahrerin. Magdalena Fjällström freut sich über die Geburt ihres ersten Kindes.

Es gibt eigentlich immer einen Grund, die Korken knallen zu lassen: Sei es ein festlicher Anlass oder einfach die pure Lust am Leben. Doch nicht nur im Geschmack unterscheiden sich die einzelnen Schaumweine grundlegend.

Der US-Autohersteller Ford vollzieht eine Kehrtwende in seiner Strategie. Nach Verlusten von 13 Milliarden Dollar im E-Auto-Segment werden nun die meisten Stromer-Modelle eingestellt.

In today's edition: Weight loss drugs, tobacco, global health

La chambre d’instruction de Paris a confirmé le maintien en détention de deux hommes d’origine algérienne impliqués dans le cambriolage du domicile de François Hollande. […]

L’article Ils pensaient commettre un simple vol : 2 Algériens écroués après un cambriolage chez François Hollande est apparu en premier sur .

Kalt, keine Freundschaften, schlechtes Essen, sozialer Druck: Junge Schweizer Influencer rechnen auf Social Media mit ihrem Heimatland ab. Das kommt bei der Blick-Community nicht nur gut an. Es gibt aber auch Verständnis fürs Auswandern.