Afrique

La startup algérienne Zed Academy franchit une étape majeure. Elle annonce sa première levée de fonds le 8 février 2026 à Alger. Ce financement propulse […]

L’article EdTech : Zed Academy lève des fonds pour transformer l’éducation en Algérie est apparu en premier sur .

Every morning before sunrise, 10-year-old Amina Adan walks away from school and toward a shrinking water pan on the outskirts of Rhamu, Mandera County. By the time her classmates would be opening exercise books, Amina was already balancing a yellow jerrycan almost half her size. Her mother, Fatuma Adan, says the choice is no longer […]

This chapter discusses the uptake of climate change as a global challenge by the G7 and how climate-related policies evolved as items on the G7’s agenda. The focus is in particular on the G7’s role and approach to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and corresponding linkages to international cooperation. Accordingly, it traces the co-evolution of climate change as an emergent issue of international politics and cooperation vis-à-vis the unfolding uptake of climate change on the agenda of the G7/ G8 from the 1990s onwards. It then zooms in closer to review the G7’s major climate-related commitments and initiatives in the decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in particular. What have been the G7’s key initiatives with regard to global climate policy and finance? How do they interact with the processes of multilateral climate governance? What has been their impact on international climate cooperation, especially with regard to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement? Addressing these questions, the chapter presents a thorough review of G7 initiatives, focusing especially on G7 declarations and designated initiatives since the 2015 G7 Summit in Elmau, Germany, as the summit immediately preceding the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

This chapter discusses the uptake of climate change as a global challenge by the G7 and how climate-related policies evolved as items on the G7’s agenda. The focus is in particular on the G7’s role and approach to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and corresponding linkages to international cooperation. Accordingly, it traces the co-evolution of climate change as an emergent issue of international politics and cooperation vis-à-vis the unfolding uptake of climate change on the agenda of the G7/ G8 from the 1990s onwards. It then zooms in closer to review the G7’s major climate-related commitments and initiatives in the decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in particular. What have been the G7’s key initiatives with regard to global climate policy and finance? How do they interact with the processes of multilateral climate governance? What has been their impact on international climate cooperation, especially with regard to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement? Addressing these questions, the chapter presents a thorough review of G7 initiatives, focusing especially on G7 declarations and designated initiatives since the 2015 G7 Summit in Elmau, Germany, as the summit immediately preceding the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

This chapter discusses the uptake of climate change as a global challenge by the G7 and how climate-related policies evolved as items on the G7’s agenda. The focus is in particular on the G7’s role and approach to the implementation of the Paris Agreement and corresponding linkages to international cooperation. Accordingly, it traces the co-evolution of climate change as an emergent issue of international politics and cooperation vis-à-vis the unfolding uptake of climate change on the agenda of the G7/ G8 from the 1990s onwards. It then zooms in closer to review the G7’s major climate-related commitments and initiatives in the decade since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in particular. What have been the G7’s key initiatives with regard to global climate policy and finance? How do they interact with the processes of multilateral climate governance? What has been their impact on international climate cooperation, especially with regard to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement? Addressing these questions, the chapter presents a thorough review of G7 initiatives, focusing especially on G7 declarations and designated initiatives since the 2015 G7 Summit in Elmau, Germany, as the summit immediately preceding the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

Attention, un rappel massif est en cours pour des aiguillettes de poulet halal vendues, partout en France, notamment chez Carrefour, Intermarché et U, à cause […]

L’article France : du poulet halal contaminé rappelé massivement pour risque de salmonelle est apparu en premier sur .

Des millions de documents liés à Epstein publiés par le ministère américain de la Justice mentionnent les noms de personnalités riches et puissantes du monde entier.

Des millions de documents liés à Epstein publiés par le ministère américain de la Justice mentionnent les noms de personnalités riches et puissantes du monde entier.

Tuesday 10 February

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Tuesday 10 February

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Tuesday 10 February

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Millions of children are at risk of facing exploitation and abuse through exposure to and having their images being manipulated through generative AI tools. Credit: Ludovic Toinel/Unsplash

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 10 2026 (IPS)

New findings from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveal that millions of children are having their images manipulated into sexualized content through the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), fueling a fast-growing and deeply harmful form of online abuse. The agency warns that without strong regulatory frameworks and meaningful cooperation between governments and tech platforms, this escalating threat could have devastating consequences for the next generation.

A 2025 report from The Childlight Global Child Safety Institute—an independent organization that tracks child sexual exploitation and abuse—shows a staggering rise in technology-facilitated child abuse in recent years, growing from 4,700 cases in the United States in 2023 to over 67,000 in 2024. A significant share of these incidents involved deepfakes: AI-generated images, videos, and audio engineered to appear realistic and often used to create sexualized content. This includes widespread “nudification”, where AI tools strip or alter clothing in photos to produce fabricated nude images.

A joint study from UNICEF, Interpol, and End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) International examined the rates of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) circulated online across 11 countries found that at least 1.2 million children had their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes in the past year alone. This means roughly one in every 25 children—or one child in every classroom—has already been victimized by this emerging form of digital abuse.

“When a child’s image or identity is used, that child is directly victimised,” a UNICEF representative said. “Even without an identifiable victim, AI-generated child sexual abuse material normalises the sexual exploitation of children, fuels demand for abusive content and presents significant challenges for law enforcement in identifying and protecting children that need help. Deepfake abuse is abuse, and there is nothing fake about the harm it causes.”

A 2025 survey from National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) studied the public’s attitudes toward deepfake abuse, finding that deepfake abuse had surged by 1,780 percent between 2019 and 2024. In a UK-wide representative survey conducted by Crest Advisory, nearly three in five respondents reported feeling worried about becoming victims of deepfake abuse.

Additionally, 34 percent admitted to creating a sexual or intimate deepfake of someone they knew, while 14 percent had created deepfakes of someone they did not know. The research also found that women and girls are disproportionately targeted, with social media identified as the most common place where these deepfakes are spread.

The study also presented respondents with a scenario in which a person creates an intimate deepfake of their partner, discloses it to them, and later distributes it to others following an argument. Alarmingly, 13 percent of respondents said this behavior should be both morally and legally acceptable, while an additional 9 percent expressed neutrality. NPCC also reported that those who considered this behavior to be acceptable were more likely to be younger men who actively consume pornography and agree with beliefs that would “commonly be regarded as misogynistic”.

“We live in very worrying times, the futures of our daughters (and sons) are at stake if we don’t start to take decisive action in the digital space soon,” award-winning activist and internet personality Cally-Jane Beech told NPCC. “We are looking at a whole generation of kids who grew up with no safeguards, laws or rules in place about this, and now seeing the dark ripple effect of that freedom.”

Deepfake abuse can have severe and lasting psychological and social consequences for children, often triggering intense shame, anxiety, depression, and fear. In a new report, UNICEF notes that a child’s “body, identity, and reputation can be violated remotely, invisibly, and permanently” through deepfake abuse, alongside risks of threats, blackmailing, and extortion from perpetrators. Feelings of violation – paired with the permanence and viral spread of digital content – can leave victims with long-term trauma, mistrust, and disrupted social development.

“Many experience acute distress and fear upon discovering that their image has been manipulated into sexualised content,” Afrooz Kaviani Johnson, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Headquarters told IPS. “Children report feelings of shame and stigma, compounded by the loss of control over their own identity. These harms are real and lasting: being depicted in sexualised deepfakes can severely impact a child’s wellbeing, erode their trust in digital spaces, and leave them feeling unsafe even in their everyday ‘offline’ lives.”

Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), added that online abuse can also translate to physical harm.

In a joint statement on Artificial Intelligence and the Rights of the Child, key UN entities, including UNICEF, ITU, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Commission of the Rights of the Child (CRC) warned that among children, parents, caregivers and teachers, there was a widespread lack of AI literacy. This refers to the basic ability to understand how AI systems work and how to engage with them critically and effectively. This knowledge gap leaves young people especially vulnerable, making it harder for victims and their support systems to recognize when a child is being targeted, to report abuse, or to access adequate protections and support services.

The UN also emphasized that a substantial share of responsibility lies with tech platforms, noting that most generative AI tools lack meaningful safeguards to prevent digital child exploitation.

“From UNICEF’s perspective, deepfake abuse thrives in part because legal and regulatory frameworks have not kept pace with technology. In many countries, laws do not explicitly recognise AI‑generated sexualised images of children as child sexual abuse material (CSAM),” said Johnson.

UNICEF is urging governments to ensure that definitions of CSAM are updated to include AI-generated content and “explicitly criminalise both its creation and distribution”. According to Johnson, technology companies should be required to adopt what he called “safety-by-design measures” and “child-rights impact assessments”.

He stressed however that while essential, laws and regulations alone would not be enough. “Social norms that tolerate or minimise sexual abuse and exploitation must also change. Protecting children effectively will require not only better laws, but real shifts in attitudes, enforcement, and support for those who are harmed.”

Commercial incentives further compound the problem, with platforms benefitting from increased user engagement, subscriptions, and publicity generated by AI image tools, creating little motivation to adopt stricter protection measures.

As a result, tech companies often introduce guardrails only after major public controversies — long after children have already been affected. One such example is Grok, the AI chatbot for X (formerly Twitter), which was found generating large volumes of nonconsensual, sexualized deepfake images in response to user prompts. Facing widespread, international backlash, X announced in January that Grok’s image generator tool would only be limited to X’s paid subscribers.

Investigations into Grok are ongoing, however. The United Kingdom and the European Union have opened investigations since January, and on February 3, prosecutors in France raided X’s offices as part of its investigation into the platform’s alleged role in circulating CSAM and deepfakes. X’s owner Elon Musk was summoned for questioning.

UN officials have stressed the need for regulatory frameworks that protect children online while still allowing AI systems to grow and generate revenue. “Initially, we got the feeling that they were concerned about stifling innovation, but our message is very clear: with responsible deployment of AI, you can still make a profit, you can still do business, you can still get market share,” said a senior UN official. “The private sector is a partner, but we have to raise a red flag when we see something that is going to lead to unwanted outcomes.”

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Le spécimen du bulletin unique devant servir à l'élection présidentielle du 12 avril 2026, a été validé ce lundi 9 février lors d'une séance à la Commission électorale nationale autonome (CENA), en présence des représentants des deux duos candidats en lice pour ce scrutin.

Le spécimen du bulletin unique devant servir à l'organisation de la présidentielle d'avril 2026 au Bénin est connu. La CENA a procédé à sa validation lors d'une séance ce lundi 9 février, en présence des représentants des deux duos candidats en lice pour cette élection. Mariam Chabi Talata, colistière de Romuald Wadagni, candidat au poste de président de la République à cette élection, représentait la mouvance présidentielle.
Le parti Force cauris pour un Bénin émergent (FCBE), qui porte la candidature du duo Paul Hounkpè - Judicaël Rock Hounwanou, est représenté par Abdoulaziz Yarou Brisso.
Sacca Lafia, président de la CENA a rappelé à l'occasion, l'objectif de la séance. Une présentation détaillée du document a été ensuite faite à ces deux représentants afin de leur permettre d'apprécier la configuration générale du bulletin.
Les représentants des deux duos ont fait des recommandations à la CENA qui a assuré que l'institution examinerait leurs recommandations dans le strict respect des textes en vigueur.

F. A. A.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at the World Government Summit, Dubai, UAE 3-5 February 2026. Credit: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

By Kristalina Georgieva
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb 10 2026 (IPS)

It is a pleasure for me to join His Excellency, Minister Al Hussaini in welcoming you to this important dialogue here in the United Arab Emirates—a fast-growing global AI hub. A recent Microsoft study reports that 64 percent of the UAE’s working age population uses AI, which is the highest rate globally.

This illustrates the dynamism we see in the region—and the major investments and partnerships that some of the world’s biggest tech companies are making here.

Why such a huge commitment to this region? Because the UAE and the members of the GCC all understand just how transformative AI can be. They have made systemically significant investments in human capital over the last decades. IMF estimates show that, with the right measures in place, AI could fuel a boost to global productivity of up to 0.8 percentage points per year. This could raise global growth to levels exceeding those of the pre-pandemic period.

Here in the Gulf region, AI could boost non-oil GDP in Gulf countries by up to 2.8 percent. For economies that have long been dependent on hydrocarbon exports, this presents an enormous opportunity to diversify and build new sources of growth.

Now, major technology changes often bring disruption. And sure enough, we can expect disruption from AI. Especially to labor markets. On average, 40 percent of jobs globally will be impacted by AI—either upgraded or eliminated or transformed. For advanced economies, 60 percent of jobs will be affected. This is like a tsunami hitting the labor market.

We are already seeing the evidence: about one in 10 job postings in advanced economies now require at least one new skill. Workers with in-demand skills will likely see productivity and wage gains. This will create more demand for services, and increase employment and wages among low-skilled workers. But middle-skilled jobs will be squeezed.

That means that young people and the middle class will be hit hardest.

We can expect to see a similar divergence between countries. Those with an economic structure conducive to AI adoption—that is, strong digital infrastructure, more skilled labor forces, and robust regulatory frameworks—are likely to experience the largest and fastest benefits. Countries that don’t may get left behind. This is why we gathered here today. AI looks unstoppable.

But whether or not countries can successfully capitalize on AI’s enormous promise is yet to be determined. And this will largely depend on the policy regimes they put in place. So then, what must be done to ensure AI translates into broad-based prosperity for this region?

First, macro policies. Investment and innovation in AI will boost growth. Fiscal policies can support this by strengthening tax systems and by funding research, reskilling, or sector-based training programs. However, tax systems should not encourage automation at the expense of people. Likewise, effective financial regulation will be essential to ensure financial market efficiency and improved risk management.

Second, guardrails. AI needs to be regulated to ensure it’s safe, fair, and trustworthy—but without stifling innovation. Different countries are taking different approaches, ranging from risk-based frameworks to high-level principles. Whatever approach they take, it’s critical that countries coordinate.

That brings me to my third point: cooperation and partnerships. Scale is a big advantage in AI. But you can’t get scale without cooperation among governments, AI researchers and developers, including when it comes to data sharing and knowledge transfer.

Let me conclude. AI will transform our economies. It will present immense opportunities and pose significant risks. And it falls to you, the world’s policymakers, to ensure that the opportunities are maximized for your countries and the risks controlled.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Ivanka Trump était en Albanie fin janvier. L'épouse de Jared Kushner et fille du président américain a annoncé que les ambitions de la famille ne se limitaient par l'île de Sazan, réclamant l'ilôt de Zvernëc, où se dresse un prestigieux monastère orthodoxe.

- Pays / Une - Diaporama, Reporter.al, Albanie, Adriatique, PS Albanie, USA Balkans, Tourisme balkans, Economie, Environnement, Une - Diaporama - En premier

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Feb 10 2026 (IPS)

Despite lacking both evidence and theory, many economists claim trade liberalisation accelerates development. But only a few economies have gained many jobs from external market access.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Instead, most economies have experienced greater deindustrialisation and food insecurity, besides deepening their vulnerability to recent tariff threats.

Multilateral trade liberalisation
In conventional trade theory, gains from trade liberalisation are mainly one-time increases in output and exports due to static comparative advantage.

Post-World War Two (WWII) US foreign policy transformed multilateral relations and transnational institutions, including international economic governance.

With the growing power of transnational corporations, many multilateral institutions, including the United Nations system, have been reconfigured or marginalised.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was a ‘second-best’ compromise after the US Congress vetoed the creation of the International Trade Organisation, despite widespread international enthusiasm for the 1948 Havana Charter.

Almost half a century later, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established in 1995, following the 1994 Marrakesh Declaration concluding the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations.

Trade mahaguru Jagdish Bhagwati argued that multilateral trade has been undermined by plurilateral and bilateral arrangements favouring dominant partners.

With the era of trade liberalisation essentially over since the 2008-09 global financial crisis (GFC), free trade advocacy has received a new lease of life from mythmaking about the ‘pre-Trump’ era.

Uneven, mixed effects
Mainstream trade theory does not entertain the possibility of ‘unequal exchange’, however defined.

Nor does it even incorporate Bhagwati’s notion of ‘immiserising growth’ when productivity gains reduce prices for consumers, rather than increase producers’ earnings.

The three decades of trade liberalisation from the 1980s saw slower, but more volatile growth than the post-WWII quarter-century termed the ‘Golden Age’. More recently, stagnationist tendencies have dominated since the GFC.

With trade liberalisation, many developing countries have experienced greater food insecurity and deindustrialisation, as the manufacturing shares of their national income shrank.

Much import-substituting industrialisation after WWII or independence has since collapsed. Besides resource processing, very few new industries have emerged in Africa.

‘Aid for Trade’ for poorer developing countries implicitly acknowledges trade liberalisation’s adverse effects by mitigating some of them. Why then should they abandon protectionism if they need to be compensated for doing so?

Wealthy nations have also insisted that developing countries end manufacturing tariffs. But as Dani Rodrik has quipped, why rich nations “need to be bribed by poor countries to do what is good for them is an enduring mystery”.

African nations and Caribbean and Pacific small island developing states enjoyed preferential access to European markets, which full multilateral trade liberalisation would eliminate.

Such preferences for Sub-Saharan Africa have pitted African against Asian least developed countries, undermining the collective negotiating strengths of both.

Many countries had expected the current Doha Round to eliminate rich nations’ producer subsidies, tariffs, and non-tariff barriers, but that has not happened.

Cutting farm support in the North could make food agriculture in developing countries more viable, but would also raise food import prices in the interim.

World Bank ‘structural adjustment’ programmes and IMF fiscal discipline requirements have undermined rural infrastructure and productivity, setting back smallholder agriculture in most developing countries.

Setbacks, not gains
Trade liberalisation also reduces tariff revenue. Such losses have hurt developing nations, especially the poorest, for whom tariffs often accounted for up to half of all tax revenue.

Such revenue cuts severely undermined the fiscal means of developing nations, crucial for government spending and investment, including for development and welfare.

Most governments are unable to replace lost tariff revenue with new or higher taxes. Meanwhile, more borrowing to offset lost tariff revenue has worsened indebtedness.

Trade liberalisation advocates are typically vague about how it is supposed to raise exports, incomes, and tax revenue, besides compensating for lost tariff revenue.

Instead, tax burdens typically become more regressive as overall tax revenue declines. Real consumption is supposed to rise as import prices fall with lower tariffs, but could also decline due to increasing consumption taxes.

Less policy space
Trade liberalisation has also reduced available development policy tools, especially those relating to trade, investment, and industrialisation.

The constraints imposed by trade liberalisation and investment agreements have generally limited the scope for and potential of development policy initiatives.

The actual role and impact of trade policy for growth and employment remain moot. But there are no analytical reasons or robust empirical evidence that trade liberalisation per se ensures sustainable development.

World Bank and most other studies acknowledged modest, if not negative, net gains for most developing countries from any realistically achievable outcome.

It is often ignored that realistic expectations of gains from trade liberalisation rely crucially on a strong positive export supply response.

However, such a response is unlikely when internationally competitive, productive and export capacities do not already exist, as in most developing countries, especially the poorest.

Hence, most of the Global South has not been able to overcome the worst consequences of trade liberalisation to achieve sustainable development.

In any case, the WTO Doha Round talks were ended by rich nations in 2015.

With the increasingly blatant self-interested contravention of WTO rules by the US, European and other wealthy nations, developing countries may best enhance their development prospects by reverting to GATT rules.

This would allow them to opt in, as appropriate, rather than resign themselves to the uniform ‘one size fits all’ WTO rules and regulations, regardless of context, circumstances, capacities and capabilities.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Ghislaine Maxwell schwieg bei einer Kongressanhörung eisern zu Epstein-Themen und berief sich auf ihr Schweigerecht. Auch Trump hält sich bedeckt. Das Schweigen wird zum politischen Pokerspiel, während Maxwell Berichten zufolge einen Antrag auf Begnadigung stellte.

L’hiver ne compte visiblement pas céder sa place. Ce mardi 10 février, le temps hivernal continue de s’imposer sur une grande partie du territoire national, […]

L’article Le temps en Algérie ce mardi 10 février : pluies persistantes, froid et vents forts au programme  est apparu en premier sur .

Lindsey Vonns Comeback-Drama bei Olympia fasziniert die Welt. Arnold Schwarzenegger nutzt es für ein leidenschaftliches Plädoyer gegen Mittelmass. Er feiert Vonn für ihren Mut. Seine Freundin sei ein wahrer Champion, von dem sich alle eine Scheibe abschneiden sollten.

Lindsey Vonn liegt nach ihrem schweren Sturz in der Olympia-Abfahrt mit einem gebrochenen Unterschenkel in Treviso im Spital. Zehn Tage zuvor hatte sie sich in Crans-Montana das Kreuzband im linken Knie gerissen. Eine unangenehme Frage drängt sich deshalb auf.