At the 20th EU–Canada Summit held in Brussels on 23 June 2025, leaders of the EU and Canada reaffirmed their strong political, economic and strategic partnership through the adoption of a joint statement and the signature of a Security and Defence Partnership. Source link
Asia heats up twice as fast as the rest of the world
Although there are records that exist to be beaten – the Olympics, for example – these extremes of monthly temperature are not worthy of the medal. And yet China was not the only Asian country to set a burst of new peaks in 2024.
The continent heats up twice as fast as the world average, according to a report published Monday by the World Meteorological Organization (Wmo). This warming rate – which shows no signs of stopping – leads to devastating consequences for lives and livelihoods in the region, and no country is exempt from the consequences.
“” A rigorous extreme time is already an unacceptable toll“Said the secretary general of the WMO, Celeste Saulo on Monday.
Large land mass, warmer temperatures
The WMO report said that Asia warms up twice as quickly as the world’s averages due to its large land mass, explaining that land temperatures increase more quickly than those on the sea.
“” Surface temperature variations have a significant impact on natural systems and on human beings“Said the report.
The oceans around Asia also experience temperature increases with surface temperatures in the Indian and peaceful oceans reaching record levels in 2024.
In addition, prolonged heat waves, both on land and on the sea, have wreaked havoc in the region, leading to the melting of glaciers and upwards of the sea level.
Too little water
Some Asian countries and communities have been ravaged by record precipitation. Northern Kerala in India, for example, experienced a deadly landslide that killed more than 350 people.
Record precipitation associated with the melting snow in Kazakhstan, which houses thousands of glaciers, has led to the worst floods in 70 years.
Others were ravaged by the exact opposite problem – not enough precipitation. Summer drought in China, for example, affected more than 4.76 million people and damaged hundreds of thousands of hectares of cultures.
WMO stressed in the report that the only way to adapt to these increasingly polar weather models is to install more complete early alert systems which are coupled with capacity building measures that allow communities to be more resilient.
Nepal: a case study in preparation
The WMO report praised the success that Nepal has experienced in the installation of early alert systems that monitor the risk of flooding, among others, even if they have declared that more complete measures were necessary.
Between September 26 and 28, 2024, Nepal experienced extreme precipitation which created landslides and floods through large expanses of the country. 246 people were killed, 178 injured and more than 200 missing following the climate emergency.
Although the impact of the crisis is extreme, the first flood alert systems allowed communities to prepare for evacuation in addition to crisis stakeholders to quickly reach the most affected regions.
“” It was the first time in 65 years that the flood was so bad. We had no victim thanks to the preparation and rescue measures, but the damage was deepened“Said Rameh Karki, mayor of Barahakshetra, a municipality affected in eastern Nepal.
In addition, complete national protocols on emergency financing assured that the financing of humanitarian and reconstruction needs was quickly dispersed throughout the country.
WMO said they were working with the Nepalese government and other partners to continue improving these systems.
“The work of national meteorological and hydrological services and their partners is more important than ever to save lives and livelihoods,” said Ms. Saulo.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
80th UN General Assembly: Council approves conclusions on EU priorities
The Council approved conclusions setting out the priorities that the EU will follow at the upcoming 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime: EU imposes restrictive measures on five Syrian individuals associated with the former Assad regime for supporting crimes against humanity and for fueling sectarian violence
The Council imposed restrictive measures on five persons responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses in Syria, including supporting the use of chemical weapons under the al-Assad regime, and for their involvement in the recent violence in coastal regions that resulted in many civilian casualties. Source link
Irano-Israelian crisis: the head of the AIAA urges access to damaged nuclear sites
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea), was addressed to the Council of Agency Governors, in the midst of new reports of new Israeli missile strikes on Iranian military sites in Tehran and elsewhere earlier on Monday. Iranian fire fire has also been reported through Israel.
Mr. Grossi – who also discussed a Emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday – insisted that the agency’s arms inspectors should return to Iranian nuclear sites and take into account their stocks.
There is a particular concern of around 400 kilograms of uranium enriched at 60% by Iran.
Under the terms of a 2015 nuclear agreement with the international community, Iran is authorized to enrich natural radioactive materials within four percent.
“Corteres are now visible on the Fordow site, the main location of Iran to enrich the 60%uranium, indicating the use of penetrating ammunition on the ground; This complies with the statements of the United States, “he told the Council of IAEA Governors.”Currently, no one comprising the IAEA, is able to fully evaluate the underground damage in Fordow. »»
Mr. Grossi said that taking into account the highly explosive payload used in American attacks, “very important damage should have taken place” very Sensitive centrifuge machines used to enrich Uranium with Fordow.
Several sites have struck
Fordow is one of the many nuclear sites across Iran that are known to have been damaged in strikes by the United States, including those of Esfahan, Arak and Tehran.
In comments to the UN Security advice On Sunday, in New York, the head of the IAEA said that although the radiation levels remained normal outside these nuclear installations, deep concerns remained concerning the Iran operational nuclear power plant in Bushehr.
Any strike on Bushehr could trigger a release of massive influence in the region – “the risk is real,” said Grosi.
Eleven days after Israel launched air and missile strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites, some 430 people were killed in Iran, most civilians.
According to Israeli reports, 25 people were killed and more than 1,300 injured by Iranian missiles.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
Streamlining financial transaction reporting: ESMA calls for input
As part of its Data Strategy and its contribution to simplification and burden reduction, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, launched today a call for evidence to gather feedback on opportunities to simplify, better integrate and streamline supervisory reporting.
ESMA aims to identify how best to enhance efficiency and reduce the costs associated with supervisory reporting, whilst maintaining a strong level of transparency and ensuring effective oversight from the authorities.
Verena Ross, ESMA’s Chair, said:
“As part of ESMA’s broader burden reduction efforts, we want to streamline the transaction reporting framework, which we know constitutes a significant cost for market participants. ESMA is launching today a call for evidence to identify ways to rationalise data flows, harmonise processes and eliminate duplicative or inconsistent requirements.
The time is right to look at reporting frameworks in a more comprehensive manner and present options to achieve simplification and burden reduction. The goal is to reduce complexity and costs for stakeholders while enhancing data quality, sharing and usability. Your input is important – please engage with ESMA to help us identify the changes needed to move forward.”
The call for evidence highlights some of the issues previously raised by market participants in their responses to consultations and interactions with regulators. These issues include the overlapping obligations across different reporting regimes (MiFIR, EMIR, SFTR, etc.), the duplicative reporting channels, and the burdens created by frequent and unsynchronised regulatory changes.
Considering this feedback, the document presents two options for simplification, on which ESMA would welcome input:
- eliminating overlaps without any change to the current reporting channels; or
- creating a unified reporting template based on the ‘report once’ principle to replace multiple reporting frameworks.
While the consultation and the analysis of the feedback received is conducted, ESMA will not propose changes to the existing reporting frameworks on transaction reports (RTS 22), order data (RTS 24) and reference data (RTS 23) under the ongoing MiFIR Review. ESMA is instead publishing final reports summarising the feedback received from market participants to the consultations on the review of MIFIR transaction, order book and reference data reporting.
Putting on hold the RTS changes will allow market participants to freeze their implementation efforts, already contributing to burden reduction by avoiding implementation cost in the short term. The rest of the MIFIR Review will go ahead as planned.
Next steps
All interested parties can submit their contributions by 19 September. Additionally, ESMA will reach out to different stakeholder groups to assess the implementation challenges that the different options entail in practice and gather further feedback on key drivers of cost.
Based on the feedback received, ESMA will publish a final report by the beginning of 2026, which will include the identification of key cost drivers of supervisory reporting and outline the proposed way forward.
Further information:
Cristina Bonillo
Senior Communications Officer
press@esma.europa.eu
Design of the Master Programme in Business Excellence
Join us in co-creating the future of digital business education in Europe Are you ready to contribute to a new Master School programme that will equip tomorrow’s digital leaders with the business excellence, innovation mindset, and technological expertise needed to transform Europe’s future? Submit your proposal to EIT Digital Design of the Master Programme in […]
Gaza: UN warns of ‘weaponised hunger’ and growing death toll amid food chaos
Speaking to journalists in Deir al Balah on Saturday, Jonathan Whittall, who heads the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) in Gaza and the West Bank, said: “The attempt to survive is being met with a death sentence.”
Since Israel eased its total blockade last month, more than 400 people are reported to have died trying to reach food distribution points.
“We see a chilling pattern of Israeli forces opening fire on crowds gathering to get food,” Mr. Whittall said, noting many of these sites are in militarised zones. Others have been killed along access routes or while protecting aid convoys.
“It shouldn’t be this way,” he said. “There shouldn’t be a death toll associated with accessing the essentials for life.”
Empty warehouses, overwhelmed hospitals
Conditions across Gaza continue to deteriorate. Water wells have run dry or are located in dangerous areas, sanitation systems have collapsed, and disease is spreading rapidly.
“Our warehouses stand empty,” Mr. Whittall said. “Displaced families flee with nothing – and we have nothing to give them.”
Partially functioning hospitals are overwhelmed by near-daily mass casualty events. Some have been directly hit, while others are choked by fuel shortages and forced evacuation orders.
UNICEF reports more than 110 children are being treated for malnutrition every day. Mr. Whittall said humanitarian agencies are capable of reaching every family in the shattered enclave but are being systematically blocked. “We have a plan…but we are prevented from doing so at every turn.”
Death sentence
He described the situation as “weaponised hunger”, “forced displacement”, and “a death sentence for people just trying to survive”.
“This is carnage,” Mr. Whittall said. “It appears to be the erasure of Palestinian life from Gaza.”
He urged the international community to act: “We need a lasting ceasefire, accountability, and real pressure to stop this. This is the bare minimum.”
Stability and growth pact: Council decides on way ahead for Belgium and Romania under the excessive deficit procedure
The Council today approved a decision regarding Romania and a recommendation to Belgium under the excessive deficit procedure.
EIT Community Hub Launched in Bulgaria
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Community is expanding its reach in Bulgaria with the launch of a new national hub to support local innovation and connect stakeholders to Europe’s wider innovation ecosystem. The EIT Community Hub Bulgaria was officially launched today during the Green Transition Forum 2025, held at the Sofia Event […]
