European Union

Mit Lawrence Pilut angelte sich Überraschungs-Team Rappi eine echte Verstärkung. Der Verteidiger war zwar 17 Monate ohne Ernstkampf. Dass der Schwede nach einem Achillessehnen-Riss fit für ein starkes Comeback ist, hatte kaum jemand auf dem Radar.

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Heute Morgen wurde das Geheimnis um Taylor Swifts neues Album «The Life of a Showgirl» gelüftet. Obwohl der Hype gross ist, ist People-Redaktorin Sophie Ofer teilweise ernüchtert: Die angekündigten «Banger» wirken weitgehend einfallslos.

This week European leaders enjoyed Danish hospitality at a meeting widely billed as "informal", although it featured a royal banquet and plenty of hard talk

Das Festgelände am Münchner Oktoberfest ist schon wieder geschlossen. Die Vorsichtsmassnahme wird wegen des riesigen Ansturms umgesetzt.

It is estimated that the Taliban have enforced over 5,000 forced marriages over the past four years. Thousands of girls have not only been stripped of their right to education but compelled into marriages over which they had no choice. Credit: Learning Together.

By External Source
KABUL, Oct 3 2025 (IPS)

After the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, they banned girls’ education beyond the sixth grade. Human rights groups say the policy is a major driver of the rise in underage and forced marriages involving Afghan girls.

Zarghona, 42, a widowed mother of four, says her three underage daughters were taken from her and forcibly married to former classmates. After schools and universities for girls were closed, all three daughters, who hoped to become nurses and midwives, were deprived of education and confined to their home.

“To prevent my daughters from becoming depressed, I sent them to a madrasa (religious school) near our house, on the advice of neighbors,” Zarghona says. They received religious education for a year, but things soon began to change.

“One day, a woman came to our house under the pretext of renting a room, and after that, the frequency of her visits increased. I gradually realized that she was targeting my daughters.”

One day a Taliban recruiter, a classmate of theirs at the madrassa, followed the girls to her house and demanded the two younger daughters as wives to his brothers.

“When I rejected their proposal, they told me, either I marry off my daughters to the older men or they would harm my son, they threatened”.

Under pressure, Zarghona says she was forced to consent to the marriages without her daughters’ approval.

“For me and my daughters, the wedding was not a celebration, it was a mourning ceremony” Zarghona lamented, adding, “I had no choice but to surrender.”

The wedding was not a formal Afghan ceremony, but rather a simple religious ceremony conducted by the Mullahs. Her oldest daughter was not forcibly married.

Afterwards, Zarghona was barred from seeing her daughters. She said money had to be secretly sent to them through prepaid mobile transfers. Life became even harder for the daughters.

“Each day came with more restrictions on how they dressed and where they could go. I couldn’t defend them, and my heart was never at peace, she said, sad and embittered.

The older of the two daughters is now 19. She already has one child and is expecting another. The younger daughter has not yet become pregnant and because of that she was permitted to see a doctor, which also enabled Zarghona to meet her secretly in the doctor’s reception area. She said both had lost weight and were shadows of their former selves. Both had bruises and looked scared.

After being forced to marriage many young girls in Afghanistan are not allowed to go out. Credit: Learning Together.

Zarghona decided to go to Iran for a while to ease herself from the painful reality of her daughters’ situation. But when she heard their cries over the phone, she returned to Afghanistan. She says, “Less than three days after I came back, they beat me up and my daughters and even locked us inside our home.”

Zarghona adds that she now has no contact with her daughters and believes their situation remains critical. “All doors for seeking help are closed to me. The government is patriarchal, and no organization supports women’s rights,” she says.

It is estimated that the Taliban have enforced over 5,000 forced marriages over the past four years. Thousands of girls have not only been stripped of their right to education but compelled into marriages over which they had no choice.

Human rights organizations and the United Nations have warned that the ban on girls’ education is fueling domestic violence, poverty, suicides, forced marriages, and Afghanistan’s political isolation.

According to recent assessments by UNICEF and the World Bank, more than one million girls have been denied the right to education since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Excerpt:

The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons

A Parliament rejection of the plans would be a severe setback for the budget negotiations and would cast the ambitious timeline to agree by the end of 2026 into doubt

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President Rajoelina's move fails to quell the protest movement that is now threatening his own position.

Als Prinz Harry jüngst seinen Vater Charles besuchte, soll er ihm zum Abschied ein Foto geschenkt haben. Ob es dem Monarchen über seinen Schmerz hinweg hilft, ist eher fraglich. Denn egal, wen das Bild zeigt, der König wird leiden.

The group’s 2019 report helped shape the EU’s green farm policy. The new edition, however, lands in a changed political landscape

Written by Clare Ferguson.

With a substantial agenda for the first session to be held this October, Members gather in plenary to debate – among other things – European Union growth and prosperity, the EU’s response to Russian violations of EU countries’ airspace, the situation in Gaza and rising antisemitism, and two motions of censure against the European Commission. Members are also scheduled to attend a ‘This is Europe‘ debate with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Luc Frieden on Tuesday, and. the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen is due to make a formal address on Wednesday.

Following a debate on the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) on Tuesday, Members are expected to vote on amending the current rules on payments to farmers. The proposal aims at cutting red tape, one of the farming community’s key demands. Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development proposes the CAP simplification include more flexibility on environmental rules, easier access to crisis payments and increased support for small and medium-sized farms. The vote will set Parliament’s position for its negotiations with the Council.

On Wednesday, Members are set to vote on draft amending budget No 2/2025, updating the revenue side of the current year’s EU budget. A report from Parliament’s Committee on Budgets endorses the Council position on the Commission proposal to take revised revenue forecasts into account and notes the need for increased gross national income contributions from the Member States. The committee also reiterates that the EU must endeavour to find fresh funding streams for new EU policy priorities.

Many non-EU nationals can visit the Schengen area for 90 days without having to apply for a visa. To protect the system from abuse, the visa suspension mechanism allows the EU to temporarily end the visa exemption for citizens of certain countries for security reasons. A proposal to strengthen the EU visa suspension mechanism has been on the table since 2023, and Members are expected to return to the debate on Monday evening. Parliament is set to vote on a text agreed between Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Council which emphasises the links between the EU’s external relations and the need to revise the visa suspension mechanism to cover, for instance, cases of state-sponsored instrumentalisation of migrants, investor citizenship schemes and human rights violations.

The Council and Commission are  scheduled to make statements on Tuesday afternoon on a recent joint communication, laying out the path for negotiations on a new strategic EU-India agenda, set for adoption at a bilateral summit in 2026. The debate is expected to cover progress on a free trade agreement, financial supervision arrangements – and not least in view of today’s difficult geopolitics – security and defence ties.

Members are scheduled to debate a provisional agreement reached by Parliament’s negotiators on a revision of the European Works Councils Directive on Wednesday. European Works Councils represent workers employed by multinationals operating in at least two EU countries. The revision of the legislation aims at strengthening the enforcement of transnational information and consultation rights, excluding trivial issues and including stronger provisions on gender balance. Parliament has succeeded in including rules to ensure penalties will be dissuasive, effective and proportionate.

The EU aims at reducing CO2 emissions from heavy-duty vehicles by 43 % by 2030, with higher targets to follow. However, as zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles remain expensive, EU law allows governments to encourage their use by granting reductions or exemptions to road charges for such vehicles. On Tuesday morning, Members are due to vote on extending the derogation for heavy-duty vehicles with zero emissions, to June 2031, under the procedure used for urgent matters.

On Tuesday morning, Members are set to debate a proposed revision to the legislation ensuring safety and environmental protection on the EU’s inland waterways. Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism has reached an agreement with Council that the revision should establish a single digital information platform, ensure harmonised reporting, introduce a feedback mechanism and update privacy and security requirements. The committee would, however, prefer that the scope of the revision of harmonised river information services apply to waterways and ports that are part of a cross-border network.

Following a recommendation from Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries, Members are set to vote on Wednesday on granting Parliament’s consent for the conclusion of a new protocol covering the EU’s fisheries agreement with the Côte d’Ivoire. The protocol sets opportunities for EU vessels from Spain, France and Portugal to fish for tuna in Côte d’Ivoire’s waters, in exchange for a financial contribution to the country’s sustainable fisheries sector.

Quick links to all our publications for this plenary session:

• CAP simplification
• Draft amending budget No 2/2025
• Revision of the visa suspension mechanism
• A new strategic EU-India agenda
• European Works Councils and enforcement of transnational information and consultation rights
• Extension of the derogation for heavy-duty vehicles with zero emissions
• Revision of the Harmonised River Information Services Directive
• EU-Côte d’Ivoire fisheries agreement

For the next phase of the programme, the European Defence Agency suggests projects should focus on “strategic enablers, force multipliers and other complex domains”

Socialist and National Rally leaders cautiously welcomed the gesture after what was billed a “last-chance meeting" with the prime minister

Video-sharing platform removed “several bots” following yesterday's meeting, according to a Commission spokesperson

La ville de Parakou s'apprête à vivre un moment historique, ce samedi 4 octobre 2025, à l'occasion de la cérémonie officielle d'investiture du duo Romuald Wadagni- Mariam Chabi Talata pour l'élection présidentielle de 2026.

Plus de 20 000 participants sont attendus à la cérémonie d'investiture du candidat Romuald Wadadgni et de sa colistière Mariam Chabi Talata.

Délégations officielles, militants, sympathisants, élus, membres du gouvernement et figures politiques de tous horizons sont déjà dans la cité des Kobourou.

Les partis alliés tels que l'UPR, le BR, Moele Bénin, Renaissance Nationale, ainsi que d'autres forces seront également représentés.
« C'est historique ! Toute la ville est mobilisée. Il n'y a plus une seule chambre disponible dans les hôtels de Parakou », confie le responsable d'un établissement hôtelier du centre-ville.
Parakou s'apprête à vivre un week-end exceptionnel, marqué par une démonstration de force politique sans précédent.

Marina HOUENOU (Stagiaire)

Le Bloc Républicain (BR) et le Mouvement des Elites Engagées pour l'Emancipation du Bénin (MOELE-BENIN) s'apprêtent à signer un protocole d'accord en vue des élections générales 2026. L'annonce a été faite à l'issue d'une rencontre tenue, jeudi 02 octobre 2025, au siège du BR, à Cotonou.

La délégation de Moele-Bénin était conduite par son président, Jacques Ayadji. Elle a été reçue par Abdoulaye Bio Tchané, président du Bloc Républicain.

Dans un communiqué conjoint, les deux partis annoncent un accord législatif « imminent » en vue de mutualiser leurs forces pour mieux peser lors des prochains scrutins législatifs et communaux.

Le texte précisera les modalités de collaboration entre les deux formations. Il vise à « renforcer leur synergie et leur engagement commun au service du développement du Bénin », dans la continuité de la gouvernance initiée par le président Patrice Talon.

Le BR n'en est pas à sa première entente politique. Il a déjà scellé des accords avec l'Union Progressiste le Renouveau (UP-R) et la Force Cauris pour un Bénin Emergent (FCBE).

Pour Moele-Bénin, en revanche, ce serait une première incursion dans une alliance électorale à cette échelle.

Le parti de Jacques Ayadji veut franchir un cap. Il espère obtenir des sièges à l'Assemblée nationale et dans les conseils communaux à l'issue du double scrutin de janvier 2026.

La signature officielle du protocole est attendue dans les prochains jours.
M. M.

Plenary session Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Council extended EU restrictive measures against those responsible for Russia’s destabilising activities against the EU and its member states and partners by one year, until 9 October 2026.