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In today's edition: Space Act parliamentary dates, GDPR simplification, DSA probes closing

Au Bénin, un cybercriminel a été présenté, lundi 13 octobre 2025, devant le parquet spécial près la Cour de répression des infractions économiques et du terrorisme (CRIET), après son arrestation par des experts Néerlandais. Sa victime, une Néerlandaise qui a été dépouillée de 30 000 euros s'est donnée la mort ne pouvant plus supporter le poids des dettes. L'affaire fait grand bruit entre Cotonou et Amsterdam au point que la justice béninoise a été appelée à la rescousse.

Une arnaque qui conduit sa victime néerlandaise au suicide. C'est l'histoire d'un jeune homme de nationalité béninoise qui avait déjà fait la prison pour cybercriminalité mais qui récidive. Selon les informations de Libre Express, le jeune homme a arnaqué une ressortissante des Pays-Bas pour la coquette somme de 30 000 euros soit environ 20 millions FCFA. La victime qui croulait sous le poids de la dette ne pouvant pas supporter cette arnaque s'est suicidée en se jetant sous les rails d'un train.

Face à cette situation, le mari de la victime ainsi que sa fille âgée de 27 ans se sont mis sur l'affaire pour retrouver ce cybercriminel. C'est ainsi qu'au moins deux experts néerlandais se sont mis aux trousses de ce cybercriminel. L'enquête minutieuse menée à partir des messages échangés entre la victime et son bourreau a permis de localiser le cybercriminel au Bénin. Les experts néerlandais qui sont venus à Cotonou avec la fille et le mari de la victime ont pu localiser le domicile du cybercriminel. Ce dernier a été interpellé par ces derniers et remis au Centre national d'investigations numériques ( CNIN).

Présenté au parquet spécial de la CRIET, il s'est avéré que le jeune homme à l'origine des faits est un cybercriminel, qui a été déjà condamné par la CRIET. Ce repris de justice a été placé en détention préventive pour des faits d'escroquerie. Le jeune homme risque jusqu'à 20 ans de prison ferme pour escroquerie via internet avec situation aggravante, selon les dispositions en vigueur au Bénin.

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The S&D urged Brussels to set up a European Public Health Agency and coordination board to streamline EU health policy

Le Premier ministre slovaque Robert Fico pousse pour un report des élections locales et régionales slovaques de 2026 à 2027 — une proposition qui a semé la confusion parmi les autorités locales et suscité des interrogations, même au sein de sa propre coalition.

The post Le Premier ministre slovaque envisage un report des élections locales appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Under the framework of the Spain Digital Week, the first-ever initiative in Brussels that activates policy convenings (both public and private) on the role of the Spanish community in shaping the European Union’s economic and digital policy agenda, Adigital -the Spanish Association for the Digital Economy-, through its Permanent Office in Brussels, organizes this public […]

Bienvenue dans Rapporteur. Je suis Eddy Wax, avec Nicoletta Ionta à Bruxelles. Vous avez une information à nous communiquer ? Écrivez-nous, nous lisons tous les messages. À savoir : Migration : la Belgique demande le soutien de l’UE pour des expulsions coordonnées vers l’Afghanistan Défense : le secrétaire américain à la Guerre rencontre les chefs […]

The post La forteresse Europe retardée appeared first on Euractiv FR.

The press briefing ahead of the General Affairs Council will take place on Thursday, 16 October 2025 at 11.15.

The press briefing ahead of the General Affairs Council will take place on Thursday, 16 October 2025 at 11.15.

Hohe Inflation hat den Anstieg der Bruttostundenlöhne und Haushaltsnettoeinkommen gebremst – Einkommensungleichheit und Armutsrisikoquote stagnieren seit 2020 – Unter Geflüchteten und Erwerbslosen ist Armutsrisiko weit überdurchschnittlich hoch und deutlich gestiegen Die hohe Inflation der Jahre 20 ...

A delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), led by MEP Matjaž Nemec (S&D, SI) traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 16 to 18 September 2025. This was the first official visit of the AFET Committee to the Western Balkans in the 10th legislative term.
The visit aimed to underline the Committee's commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina's European integration, grounded in unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity. Members discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina's progress, and the further reforms needed to advance in its accession path towards the EU.
Press release
Mission report
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Mfor.hu: Erősödött a forint árfolyama a főbb devizákkal szemben szerda (10. 15.) reggel a nemzetközi devizapiacon. Az euró röviddel hét óra előtt 391,43 forinton állt, alacsonyabban a kedd esti 392,46 forintnál. A dollár jegyzése 338,31 forintról 336,89 forintra gyengült, a svájci franké pedig 422,07 forintról 421,07 forintra süllyedt. (MTI)

Les compagnies aériennes européennes reprochent aux eurodéputés d’ignorer les « réalités opérationnelles » dans leur position sur la révision des droits des passagers, affirmant que les voyageurs préfèrent payer pour les bagages à main si cela se traduit par une baisse du prix des billets, et que l’allongement du seuil d’indemnisation entraînerait une diminution des retards.

The post Droits des passagers aériens : les compagnies fustigent les exigences « irréalistes » du Parlement appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Journaliste et documentariste engagé, Hakan Tosun était connu pour son travail auprès de ceux qui luttent contre les expropriations pour la préservation de l'environnement. Il est mort après avoir été frappé à la tête vendredi soir par deux personnes. Ses proches demandent justice.

- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, Turquie, Médias indépendants, Défense, police et justice, Personnalités

Written by Györgyi Mácsai and Nadejda Kresnichka-Nikolchova, Members’ Research Service (EPRS) with Raffaele Ventura, GlobalStat, EUI.

This infographic provides insight into the economic performance of Georgia compared with the European Union (EU) and examines the trade dynamics between them. In 2024, Georgia achieved a sustained growth rate of its economy of 9.4%, while the EU-27 managed only a growth rate of 1.1%. Georgia’s public debt as a percentage of GDP continues to decline, recovering from the significant increase in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The EU-27 is Georgia’s primary trading partner, accounting for 22.1% of its trade share, with Germany being the leading country. The main exported goods to Georgia are vehicles, aircraft, mechanical appliances, and electrical equipment, while the EU mainly imports ores, slag, ash, and agri-food from Georgia.

Read this ‘infographic’ on ‘Georgia: Economic indicators and trade with EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

GDP growth
(annual change, %) Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita
(at PPP 1 in thousands of international dollars) Female labour force participation rate
(% of female population aged 15+) Total unemployment rate
(% of total labour force) FDI and remittances
Foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows (% of GDP) Public finances, monetary and financial data EU trade with Georgia Main trade partners (2024)
Trade in goods, exports plus imports Top EU partners (2024)
Trade in goods EU exports of goods to Georgia (2024) EU imports of goods from Georgia (2024)

A nyilvánosság segítségét kéri a rendőrség a nyitrai illetőségű Gabriel Molnár (56) megtalálásához, akit legutóbb 10 éve láttak, és jelenleg valószínűleg Csehországban tartózkodik.

The World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings for 2025 are taking place in Washington, D.C., October 13–18, at the World Bank Group and IMF headquarters. The meetings bring together the international community to discuss global economic challenges and opportunities, with a focus on creating jobs and driving sustainable growth, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and World Bank.
 
Meanwhile, with prices at record highs, the IMF should use its gold reserves to fund much-needed support for developing countries.

By Michael Galant and Ivana Vasic-Lalovic
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 15 2025 (IPS)

Countries across the Global South face an accelerating climate crisis, tepid growth, and unsustainable levels of debt. Yet hopes of finding support at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Annual Meetings in Washington are dim. The IMF is tightening its purse strings — even as it leaves untouched a vast treasure of more than 3,000 tons of gold that offers a prime opportunity to stabilize the global economy.

While IMF lending yielded record income in FY2024, fears that Trump will cut off funding — combined with the organization’s exposure on an ill-advised,
US-directed mega-loan to Argentina — have prompted the Fund to reassess its assistance to those most in need.

At last year’s meetings, the IMF implemented a system of tiered interest rates on loans made through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) — a formerly interest-free lending facility for low-income countries.

The Fund also elected to maintain (if slightly modify) its controversial “surcharge” policy, which generates revenue for the IMF by charging onerous fees to highly indebted middle-income countries. Income from surcharges is now effectively being used to fund the PRGT, forcing these distressed countries to
subsidize the Fund’s concessional lending.

Yet while the IMF squeezes financing from the very countries it is meant to support, it is, in fact, sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of idle firepower.

When the Fund was founded in 1944, members were required to pay at least a quarter of their initial contribution in gold, which at the time was the foundation of the global monetary order. The gold standard is long gone, but the IMF still holds 90.5 million ounces — or over 3,000 tons — of the precious metal, historically held at the central banks of major shareholders.

Critically, this gold is still on the IMF’s books at a price determined in 1944: roughly $48 per ounce. This year, amid geopolitical uncertainty and increased demand from central banks, prices soared to all-time highs; for the first time ever, gold prices now exceed $4,000 per ounce.

In other words, the IMF’s gold reserves are worth over 85 times more than its accounting would suggest.

Selling just 1.5 percent of these holdings would cover the income generated from all surcharge payments through 2030. Selling 10 percent would cover the PRGT’s entire current lending envelope for a decade.

There’s precedent for such a move. In 1999, when gold was $282 per ounce, the IMF sold about 444 tons of gold directly to IMF members, who immediately returned it at the same price in fulfillment of outstanding debts.

The IMF was thus left with the same quantity of gold holdings, but with about $3 billion in profit to provide debt relief for low-income countries as a part of the celebrated Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

In 2009, with gold prices still less than a third of today’s, the IMF board agreed to sell an eighth of its holdings outright, generating $15 billion in proceeds, a portion of which was transferred to the PRGT.

So, what’s stopping the IMF from doing the same today?

An agreement to sell gold reserves requires an 85 percent vote of the IMF board. As the proceeds from gold sales are, by default, distributed to IMF members in proportion to their quotas, a sale to bolster IMF lending power would require prior commitment from members to return their share of the windfall. But these political hurdles have been cleared before, in both 1999 and 2009.

While the US, which alone holds an effective veto over major IMF decisions, would have to agree to any arrangement, it’s difficult to see a cause for objection. Strengthening global economic stability — and therefore demand for US exports — at no new cost to the United States should hardly run afoul of an “America First” agenda.

Moreover, common concerns about the impacts of a sale on the gold market mean little in today’s context. With prices at record highs, the market can easily weather any price drops from an IMF sell-off, which can in any case be mitigated through the use of phased sales and off-market transactions.

And while some have historically fretted over the prudence of selling off a portion of the institution’s “rainy day” fund, selling while prices are sky-high makes good financial sense, and would easily leave plenty for future need.

Even if the political challenges to a gold sale prove insurmountable, there may still be a way to unlock its benefits; the IMF can simply revalue its gold holdings to match the market price, thus increasing the assets on its books without conducting even a single transaction.

Germany, Italy, and South Africa have all recently taken similar actions with their national gold holdings, and there is some speculation that the United States might follow suit. In fact, the IMF’s own accounting guidelines recommend countries value gold holdings at the market rate.

Awareness of the need to tap the IMF’s undervalued gold reserves is growing. In the past year, leading experts, top officials from Brazil and South Africa, and the G-24, which represents developing country interests at the Fund, all called on the organization to consider a gold sale.

Seeing that call through would take additional political will. But if the alternative is letting developing countries founder in the current crisis — or worse, bleeding them dry in order to protect the IMF’s balance sheets — then the choice couldn’t be clearer.

Michael Galant is a Senior Research and Outreach Associate, and Ivana Vasic-Lalovic is a Senior Research Associate, at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (cepr.net) in Washington, DC

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Plus, keeping societal peace with Romania's defence minister

Euronews: Intenzíven bombázták Harkivot az orosz erők kedden (10. 14.). Egy kórházat is találat ért a kelet-ukrajnai városban: legkevesebb hét ember megsebesült, 50 pácienst evakuálni kellett az épületből. Volodimir Zelenszkij azt mondta, hogy a becsapódások alapján a fő célpontok az energetikai rendszer létesítményei lehettek, és ismét arra kérte szövetségeseit, hogy segítsék a jelenleginél hatékonyabb légvédelmi rendszer létrehozását.

Szerdára (10. 15.) virradóra egy vágányon helyreállt Szádalmásnál (Jablonov nad Turňou/Rozsnyói járás) a vonatközlekedés, „A vonatok az érintett pályaszakaszon csökkentett, 10 km/ó-s sebességgel közlekednek” – közölte a Szlovák Vasúttársaság (ZSSK) a Facebookon.

In today’s edition: Belgium urges EU backing for coordinated deportations to Afghanistan, the US Secretary of War meets NATO chiefs as EU ministers debate aid for Ukraine, and MEPs say Ursula von der Leyen supports a renewed push to end daylight saving time