Diplomacy & Crisis News

(Own report) - The German natural gas company, Wintershall Holding GmbH, is intensifying cooperation with Russia's Gazprom and will receive direct access to large Siberian gas fields. Last Friday, the two companies announced they would finalize an asset swap this year, which would allow Wintershall to participate in the exploitation of two blocks in the Achimov formation of the Urengoy natural gas field. The deal had been signed back in 2013, but was canceled by Moscow in late 2014, because of the escalation of the conflict with the West. This resumption enables BASF's subsidiary, Wintershall, to continue its rise in the global gas sector. The Austrian company, OMV, since July 1, under the management of former Wintershall CEO, Rainer Seele, is also participating. Gazprom, Wintershall, OMV and other gas companies have agreed to expand the Russia-to-Germany "Nord Stream" pipeline with two more pipelines. German business circles explicitly describe both as "flagship projects" and push for a rapid re-intensification of cooperation at the political level.

America can — and must — do more to help Europe’s migrants. I’m living proof of why.

Britain and other European governments want the U.N. Security Council to authorize their navies to help fight the worst migrant crisis in decades.

Denouncing the systematic cultural cleansing afflicting societies in Syria and Iraq as &#8220crimes against all of humanity,&#8221 United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, met in Paris today to discuss the destruction of cultural heritage and possible measures to counter the rise of violent extremism.

The United Nations special envoy on the Middle East today expressed deep sadness that Reham Dawabsha has succumb to the wounds she received in a terrorist attack in a West Bank village in late July that also killed her husband and infant son, calling the tragedy &#8220a shocking example of the destructive nature of extremism.&#8221

While the world&#39s forests continue to shrink as populations increase and woodlands are converted to agriculture and other uses, over the past 25 years, the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 per cent, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report published today.

As the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) continues to face challenges in funding its emergency response in Syria, the agency&#39s Executive Director Ertharin Cousin has thanked U2 lead singer and ONE co-founder Bono, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Ireland&#39s Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney for their efforts to give voice and support to the world&#39s hungry poor.

Supporting the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a key focus for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in years to come, Director General Yukiya Amano told a meeting of the Agency&#39s Board of Governors in Vienna today, where he also provided an update on the application of nuclear safeguards in Iran, Democratic Republic of Korea and Syria.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to European leaders &#8220to be the voice of those in need of protection&#8221 and to quickly find a joint approach to the refugee and migration crisis that shares responsibilities equitably, as Germany and Austria continue to welcome thousands of people fleeing their war-torn homelands.

On the International Day of Charity, marked annually on 5 September, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on people everywhere to volunteer and act charitably in the face of human suffering.

As Austria and Germany begin receiving thousands of refugees and migrants who crossed the border last night from Hungary, the United Nations refugee agency hailed the decision as &#8220political leadership based on humanitarian values,&#8221 while also applauding Austrian and German civil society groups gearing up to assist people as they enter their countries.

Saudi Arabia's king has rented every room in Georgetown's poshest hotel as he meets with top U.S. officials to discuss his bombing campaign against the Middle East's poorest country.

Richard Curtis is known around the world as the film-maker behind international hits such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mr. Bean, Love Actually, and Bridget Jones’s Diary, as well as for his involvement with the charity Comic Relief.

However, over the past year, the British filmmaker and founder of Project Everyone has been working closely with the United Nations to help give prominence to something completely different – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 targets aimed at achieving three main objectives in the next 15 years: end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change.

Estonian parents get two years of paid leave, U.S. prisoners make $.12 an hour, and other statistics to consider this Labor Day.

The United Nations envoy facilitating efforts to restore peace in Libya said today that real progress was being made as the participants wrapped-up the latest round of the political dialogue process, which has been taking place in Geneva.

Wrapping up a four-day mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Kyung-wha Kang, called strongly today for creative ways to reignite donor engagement and ensure that one of the world’s most protracted crises does not “fall off the humanitarian radar.”

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After running on an anti-corruption campaign, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari made his assets public this week.

As Germany faces a racist backlash to the influx of migrants and refugees, is the country forgetting its past?

The strange love affair between Indonesia’s speaker of the house, a volcano-fracking tycoon, and Donald Trump.