Geneva (AFP) – The UN Human Rights Council on Monday unanimously urged the Taliban to repeal all practices restricting the fundamental freedoms of women and girls, saying Afghanistan's institutionalised discrimination should shock humanity.

The United Nations' 47-country rights body adopted the resolution without a vote.

The council said human rights in Afghanistan were deteriorating and voiced serious concern about the "grave, worsening, widespread and systematic oppression of all women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban".

The council "deplores the Taliban's institutionalisation of its system of discrimination, segregation, domination, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls, and the harms that it has entrenched, which are unbearable, unjustifiable and should shock the conscience of humanity", it said.

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law.

The Taliban government remains largely excluded from the international community, which criticises it its repressive measures.

Women have been particularly affected by Taliban government measures. They are banned from public places including parks and from most jobs, while education for girls beyond age 12 is outlawed.

The UN council said it was deeply concerned about the "continuing, systematic, systemic and all-encompassing erosion" of respect for women's rights by the Taliban.

The council said many human rights had been "under concerted attack in Afghanistan in the past five years", while the Taliban "have enforced a growing web of edicts and institutional controls that has reshaped nearly every aspect of public and private life, engineering a society founded on ideological conformity, fear and exclusion".

The council urged the Taliban to repeal "all policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls", including the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, to education, to work and to vote.

The council urged the international community to "adjust further its engagement with any stakeholders in Afghanistan" with regard to human rights and fundamental freedoms for all Afghans.

It condemned all forms of discrimination against women and girls, and reiterated that sexual slavery of boys, and child marriages and forced forced marriages constituted human rights abuses.

The council deplored the suffering of Afghans and voiced deep concern about deeply entrenched impunity in the country.

The resolution was brought forward by 37 European countries, plus Canada and Chile. The council extended the mandate of its independent special rapporteur on rights in Afghanistan for another year.

Addis Ababa (AFP) – A drone strike on a displaced people's camp in Ethiopia's Tigray state has killed at least eight people, sources said on Monday, while the government consolidated control over the regional capital.

Fighting broke out between the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and federal forces on September 23, sparking fears of a return to the devastating civil war of 2020-2022 and a wider regional conflict.

The drone strike hit early Sunday at the IDP camp at Sheraro in western Tigray -- home to thousands displaced during the last war -- killing "eight people, including a child" and seriously wounding six others, an aid worker told AFP.

A witness, who also asked for anonymity, said "a mother along with her four children and one grandson were killed in the strike", along with three others.

Verification is difficult as media are prevented from travelling to affected areas and there are significant communication disruptions.

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Bucharest (AFP) – Two crew died and 11 were rescued on Monday after a fire broke out on a ship in the Black Sea which later sank, Romanian authorities said.

The cause of the fire was not given and authorities did not answer questions on whether a drone was involved. The Black Sea has become an increasing battlefield for drone attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war.

A Romanian naval spokesperson named the ship as the 139 metre (455 feet) long Royad Mammadov and the interior ministry said it sank about 30 nautical miles south of the fishing port of Sfantu Gheorghe.

"At around 11:00, Coast Guard border police officers were informed that a fire had broken out on board a commercial vessel located within Romania's exclusive economic zone," the ministry said in a statement.

"Eleven crew members have been rescued. Two deceased persons have also been identified," it added.

Asked by AFP if the vessel was possibly hit by a drone, the defence ministry did not reply.

Drone activity has become increasingly frequent across eastern European countries as Ukraine, which borders NATO member Romania, fights off a Russian invasion launched in 2022. Both countries increasingly rely on drone warfare.

Turkey has expressed concern over the attacks on Black Sea shipping and Turkish seafarers have staged protests over deaths suffered in the attacks.

The injured from the Royad Mammadov were rescued by a helicopter, authorities said.

"Three of the crew members have been injured, eight are in good condition," Irina Puscasu, spokesperson for the Romanian Naval Authority, told AFP.

Puscasu named the ship as the Royad Mammadov, while local media reported it was a Turkish cargo vessel.

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Madrid (AFP) – Spain's prime minister on Monday called a snap election for November 29, after parliament rejected housing relief measures proposed by his minority government amid nationwide protests.

The defeat on Friday was just the latest political setback for the Socialist premier Pedro Sanchez, one of the few left-leaning government leaders still in power in the European Union.

"To do more, we need to renew and broaden the support of the people," Sanchez said in a televised address, adding that his aim was "to secure a much broader, progressive majority in parliament".

The next general election was scheduled to take place by August 2027.

Sanchez brought the polls forward as protests over Spain's housing market have ballooned.

His announcement came after tens of thousands of protesters marched in Madrid and other Spanish cities on Saturday to demand action on housing affordability.

The proposed measures, which included automatic renewal of tenancy contracts and restrictions on evicting vulnerable tenants, were voted down by opposition parties in Spain's parliament.

The defeat infuriated those protesting the country's increasingly expensive housing market and underscored the difficulties his minority coalition government faces in passing legislation.

The demonstrations were fuelled by the eviction last month of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid flat, where she had lived for decades.

Hundreds of protesters have occupied a tent city in the heart of Madrid for more than a week, calling for housing reforms.

"This wave of indignation is unstoppable and we are not going to stop," Alicia del Rio, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, which has led the protests, said while renewing a call for a general strike.

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Paris (France) (AFP) – An Indian man went on trial in Paris on Monday, accused of running a neo-Nazi child exploitation ring in which young girls were allegedly coerced into performing sexual acts online and engaging in self-harm.

The group is believed to have abused numerous young girls, most of them minors, in countries including the United States, the Netherlands, Britain and Estonia.

Investigators say the victims were targeted by a group of men from Germany, New Zealand and the United States who communicated on the popular messaging platform Discord. They espoused racist and anti-Semitic views and expressed hostility toward feminists and the LGBT+ community.

Rohan Rane, a 29-year-old Indian national who came to France to study at a business school in the southeastern city of Antibes before becoming a fitness coach, is described by investigators as the group's leader.

He is being tried on charges including torture or acts of barbarity against minors, organised extortion and dissemination of child sexual abuse material. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

The case was triggered in November 2020 by a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The US child protection organisation discovered online images of a 12-year-old girl with her chest exposed while another user encouraged her to carve the name "Rohan" into her body.

Five American women, aged 18 to 21, have joined the case as civil parties and were expected to testify by video link this week.

According to a court document released by the US Department of Justice, the internet-based group dubbed CVLT espoused "neo-Nazism, nihilism, and paedophilia as its core principles."

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Paris (France) (AFP) – A 15-year-old student lost a hand on Monday picking up a police grenade as part of nationwide protests in France over classroom conditions that have disrupted lessons at hundreds of schools since last week.

Some students returned to classrooms but others maintained actions outside their schools, ahead of a day of larger demonstrations expected on Tuesday.

Authorities said the teenager was injured in the northern town of Lens. A police union source said he appeared to have picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot police and that it exploded in his hand.

Since late September, students have blocked the entrances to hundreds of schools, complaining of teacher absences, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings ill-adapted to rising temperatures, among other grievances.

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The French Human Rights League (LDH) on Monday accused security forces of using disproportionate methods against protesters, many of whom are legally minors.

"We can see that in the instructions given to the police, there is no directive to show restraint, even though they are dealing with children," LDH president Nathalie Tehio said.

More than 400 out of France's 3,700 high schools, known as lycees, were partially or totally closed on Monday morning, the education ministry said.

A third of the 468 lycees for teenagers aged 15 to 17 were expected to be closed in the Paris region, authorities said.

In central Paris, dozens of teenage students demonstrated outside a school while passing cars honked their horns. Some classmates made their way inside to attend lessons.

"We're missing our lessons to give you one," read one cardboard sign outside the Turgot high school, located in Paris's 3rd arrondissement.

In Bordeaux, in the southwest, some students returned to the classroom while others continued to demonstrate in the presence of riot police.

Some protesters outside the Gustave Eiffel high school set off fireworks in the direction of the police, who responded sporadiacally with tear gas, but overall the situation remained calm, AFP reporters said.

In the northern city of Lille, masked protesters destroyed bus shelters and set fire to dustbins, as police fired tear gas towards demonstrators.

The movement started on September 17 at a high school in the Paris suburb of Creteil, in support of teachers striking over a lack of staff and resources.

It gained momentum and spread across France, at times spiralling into vandalism, including the destruction of bus shelters, the burning of school entrances and clashes between protesters and security forces.

Since the start of the movement, 24 schools had been burned or ransacked, according to the education minister.

More than 5,000 people, 85 percent of them minors, have been arrested.

Protesters have also accused the police of using excessive force, and internal investigations have been opened into at least three instances of alleged police brutality.

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Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – A woman accused of spying for China on Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's son and his family in the United States was arrested Sunday, US and Taiwanese officials said.

Wanying Zhang, 34, is accused of acting as an unregistered agent of China and spying on a "close relative of a Taiwanese government official" in the United States, First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said Sunday in a post on X.

The woman allegedly surveilled Lai's "son and his family -- filming their home, vehicles, and reporting information back to (People's Republic of China) handlers", the FBI said on its rapid response account on X.

Lai's office confirmed Zhang's actions had targeted the president's family and said it was a case of "transnational repression."

China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex the island.

Zhang traveled to Seattle in 2025 and, acting at the direction of Chinese officials, sent "photos, videos, and license plate information to those officials", Essayli said.

She was detained by the FBI at Los Angeles International Airport "attempting to depart for China" on Sunday, he said.

FBI Director Kash Patel cheered the arrest in an X post, warning foreign adversaries that "America is no longer a safe place to run your espionage operations."

"Allegedly surveil a foreign leader's family on US soil for the PRC -- and try to catch a flight back to Shanghai? Not happening," Patel said.

Lai, who was elected president in January 2024, has been an outspoken defender of Taiwan's sovereignty and is detested by Chinese leaders.

Lai's office condemned the "barbaric acts," confirming they had targeted the president's family.

"Such behavior should not be tolerated in the civilized world," Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement, thanking US judicial authorities for "their assistance and protection of our citizens."

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Taiz (Yemen) (AFP) – Yemen's military backed by Saudi jets attacked Houthi targets on Monday as they launched an ambitious campaign to recapture all territory from the Iran-backed group after its lightning gains during the Middle East war.

The military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes, while 100 warplanes attacked at dawn, according to the Saudi-led coalition that supports Yemen's government.

Yemen's government announced the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory -- much of it held for more than a decade -- on Sunday.

Last month the Houthis seized swathes of coastline along the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint for oil and cargo shipping.

As the offensive began, a source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack on Sunday had again halted pumping in the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a key conduit since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz.

The long-running conflict in Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries and neighbour of Saudi Arabia, has flared anew months into the Middle East war that has sent crude prices soaring.

Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday that global oil stockpiles are "scarily thin" owing to the US-Iran war, days after G7 nations agreed to release more of their inventories to ease supply concerns.

"The system is already straining," Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London. "And with precious little else the world can turn to, the supply resilience cushion is scarily thin."

The Houthis have targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and tankers in the Red Sea since a ceasefire in Yemen's civil war unravelled in July.

The group has accused the Saudi-led coalition of carrying out hundreds of strikes.

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Yangon (Myanmar) (AFP) – Myanmar has repatriated nearly 10,000 migrants from Malaysia this year, state media said on Monday, a day after a flotilla returning almost 1,500 of its citizens docked in the country.

The United Nations (UN) has sharply criticised Malaysia's push to return migrants to Myanmar under an opaque scheme it says cannot guarantee safe homecomings to the war-torn nation.

A group of 1,476 returnees arrived by ship outside Yangon on Sunday, the first of 5,000 that Kuala Lumpur says Myanmar agreed to take back amid a wave of anti-migrant sentiment in Malaysia.

Rights monitors have raised concerns that members of the Rohingya minority may be sent back to Myanmar, where they have faced violent persecution, but Malaysia has not commented on the ethnicities of returnees.

Myanmar revealed on Monday that a parallel and larger repatriation push has also been taking place by plane.

Between January and August this year, "8,041 citizens were repatriated by air", state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar said.

While the ship returns have been highly publicised in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur has not commented on the returns Myanmar says it organised by weekly flights.

The total number of migrants Myanmar has said returned by plane and ship this year is 9,517.

Malaysia insists returnees under its scheme agreed to voluntary repatriation from detention centres, where Myanmar says they had "faced difficulties" after serving sentences for immigration offences.

But rights groups report dire conditions in the facilities, and the UN refugee agency says staff were not allowed to verify that decisions to return were "were genuinely free and informed".

More than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed in Myanmar since a military coup in 2021 unleashed civil war, according to monitor organisation ACLED.

The Rohingya started fleeing the country en masse to Malaysia before that, escaping a military crackdown starting in 2017 deemed a genocide by rights groups -- a charge the armed forces have always denied.

The Rohingya make up two-thirds of the 190,000 Myanmar refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, according to UN data, and have been the focus of recent anti-migrant sentiment.

After the ships carrying the 1,476 migrants docked Sunday in Thanlyin, just south of Yangon, AFP journalists saw dozens moved to a monastery holding centre for ID and health checks.

"Necessary arrangements are continuing to facilitate their swift reunion with relatives and family members, ensuring their safe return to their respective hometowns," The Global New Light of Myanmar said.

I've been working on a development board for a while now. To finalize the product, some people recommend printing a case (I don't have a 3D printer). Do you have any other suggestions (the most fun ones are also welcome), or should I invest in this type of machine?

Dev board

https://www.waveshare.com/esp32-s3-rlcd-4.2.htm

Some cases

https://www.printables.com/model/1763772-enclosure-for-waveshare-esp32-s3-rlcd-42

https://www.printables.com/model/1780357-slim-snap-fit-case-for-waveshare-esp32-s3-rlcd-42

Please give me as many practical ideas as possible, I'll make my selection later.

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will head to Beijing on Thursday for two days of make-or-break meetings with Chinese officials to try to stave off a trade war.

The European Union has toughened its stance towards Beijing to defend businesses against what it believes is unfair competition in critical sectors including cars.

Increasingly European leaders and observers warn of a "China Shock 2.0", used to describe Chinese firms' shift into more high-tech manufacturing, which is threatening many traditional EU industries.

The first shock in the early 2000s saw a glut of cheap, more low-tech exports from China hurt manufacturers not just in Europe but around the world.

EU and Chinese officials have been locked in talks since June to address Brussels' concerns about the current trade imbalance.

The EU is simultaneously preparing to boost its trade defence toolbox -- but Beijing has threatened to retaliate against any moves targeting China.

Sefcovic raised the stakes for this week's meetings in summer when he warned the EU expected "tangible results by October" from the process.

But experts cautioned against expecting too much from this week's meetings.

"There may be a few crumbs, but I would not expect any kind of major breakthrough," Penny Naas, director of the Brussels office of German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) think tank, said.

There could be "agreements on some specific issues, rather than any broad settlement of the trade relationship", said Zhu Tian, professor of economics at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai.

It is clear Brussels is aware the talks won't solve all of its woes, with the commission working in parallel on new tools to protect European industries, which are expected to be presented to leaders in December.

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Washington (United States) (AFP) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel Monday to Iceland to continue pressing US interests in the Arctic, two weeks after Washington sealed a security pact on Greenland.

Rubio will meet with officials in Reykjavik "to discuss economic and security collaboration," the US State Department said in a statement announcing the trip.

The lightning visit, as symbolic as it is political, comes after the US signed a security pact with Denmark and Greenland in late September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The agreement has apparently put an end to President Donald Trump's threats to buy or even annex Greenland, which soured relations with the EU.

Under the pact, Washington plans to establish two new military bases on Greenland, drawing the autonomous Danish territory further into US orbit.

With competition on the rise in the Arctic, Iceland has regained status as a strategic player, even as the island continues to rely heavily on the United States for security.

At the start of September, Trump sparked new controversy by sharing an AI-generated map that appeared to show all of North America, the Caribbean, Greenland and Iceland as "the United States of America."

In response, Reykjavic summoned the US ambassador "to convey a clear message that the image was wholly inappropriate," Iceland's foreign ministry said in a statement to AFP.

Icelanders had voted in late August 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent against resuming negotiations on joining the European Union, which have been frozen since 2013.

The last US secretary of state to visit Iceland was Antony Blinken in 2021.

Since gaining independence in 1944, Iceland has never had a military. It relies on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for its security and on a bilateral defense pact signed with the United States in 1951.

Washington does not have a permanent base in Iceland, but is looking to consolidate its control over Arctic access routes coveted by Russia and China.

Trump again signaled his obsession with Greenland on Sunday, posting on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of his face looming over what appears to be its landscape, accompanied by the words "Hello, Greenland!"

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