Diplomacy & Crisis News

(Own report) - The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras has announced a new initiative to force Germany to pay reparations and compensations to Greece. During a memorial service for the victims of a massacre committed by the German Wehrmacht in the western Greek village of Kommeno, on Tuesday, Tsipras declared that, should the Germany government persist in refusing to pay reparations, Athens will seek "through diplomatic channels - and if necessary at the judicial level - " to take action against Berlin. In early September, the Greek parliament is scheduled to discuss a recently completed report quantifying the German reparations debt at 269 billion Euros. German government assertions that the reparations issue has been "closed" are unfounded. In fact, payment of the binding 1946 reparations sum, recognized by the London Debt Agreement of February 1953, had been deferred, but not annulled. Only a fraction of it has been paid. As confirmed by Horst Teltschik, former advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Bonn had sought to evade its reparations obligations by explicitly not qualifying the 2 + 4 Treaty a "Peace Treaty." It had been feared that, with a peace treaty, suddenly "reparations demands from over 50 countries would land on the table," Teltschik explained.

Entre l'été 2014 et l'hiver 2015-2016, le prix du baril de pétrole a été divisé par trois. Plus de 250 000 emplois ont été supprimés dans un secteur qui a dû renoncer à de très gros investissements, ou les différer. Cette secousse planétaire affaiblit les géants de l'industrie pétrolière et bouleverse le (...) / Arabie saoudite, États-Unis, Iran, Nigeria, Proche-Orient, Russie, Venezuela, Commerce international, Dette, Économie, Énergie, Entreprise, État, Géopolitique, Industrie, Mouvement de contestation, Multinationales, Pétrole, Politique, Protection sociale, Technologie, Travail, Climat, Chômage, Crise économique - 2016/04

Les minerais qui entrent dans la fabrication des téléphones portables sont souvent extraits au mépris des droits sociaux. Sans compter les dégâts causés à l'environnement. Une entreprise a donc tenté de créer un « téléphone équitable ». Mais elle se heurte, entre autres, au marché noir et aux lacunes de la (...) / Chine, République démocratique du Congo, Commerce international, Conflit, Économie, Industrie, Mondialisation, Relations Nord-Sud, ONG, Technologies de l'information, Travail, Matières premières, Environnement - 2016/03

Al Qaeda wasn’t about to take ISIS’s defection from its ranks lying down. In Part III of an exclusive series, an Islamic State insider describes the events that led to civil war within the anti-Assad ranks.

The U.N. Isn’t Done With Saudi; Assad’s Chemical Stockpiles; And Lots More

Ban Ki-moon is threatening to put Riyadh and its allies back on a blacklist of countries that kill and maim children in war zones.

The ghost of Richard Nixon is back. And he’s mad as hell about the former secretaries of state and the Washington establishment.

Alarmed by escalating airstrikes and ground fighting in Yemen and along the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border since, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon repeated his call on all the parties to the conflict to immediately cease all hostilities and for the Yemeni parties to return to the recently-ended direct talks facilitated by his envoy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) today named Michael R. Bloomberg, former New York City mayor and philanthropist, as its Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs).

Appealing to donors to urgently help bolster the humanitarian response in Uganda following an influx of thousands of people fleeing violence in neighbouring South Sudan, the United and the Ugandan Government today announced that they will be forced to halve food rations or cash assistance in Uganda and put priority focus on those refugees most in need.

The Pacific lionfish has taken over the Caribbean, killing reefs and decimating local species. Could Whole Foods be the answer?

The Fed is still reluctant to raise interest rates despite avoiding Brexit fallout.

Donald Trump's plan would dredge up a Cold War-era law that critics say betrayed U.S. values without improving security.

Speaking ahead of the 10th anniversary of the illegal dumping of toxic waste in Côte d’Ivoire, a group of United Nations experts today urged the Ivorian Government, all responsible States and the international community to use the opportunity to address the ongoing human rights impacts of the incident.

Expressing deep regret at the failure of Indian and Pakistani authorities to grant the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) access to Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir respectively, the UN rights chief today voiced concern about recent allegations of serious violations and reiterated a request for access to the region.

A Brazilian judge issued an order preventing Lochte and another U.S. swimmer from leaving the country.

Critics of the Thailand's military government have been detained for voicing their opinions. But that hasn't stopped people from making fun of a photo of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.

The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned the 13 August killing of at least 50 civilians in a village in the restive North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), by suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Patricia Espinosa as the new Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in May this year.

Ms. Espinosa recently spoke with the UN News Centre about her work and the challenges ahead.

Best Defense is in summer reruns. Here is an item that originally ran on May 12, 2016.