Barack Obama, talking peace but waging war

On his way to a critical climate change summit in Copenhagen, US President Barack Obama will be stopping off in nearby Norway first to pick up the Nobel peace prize. We look back on an award that has raised a few eyebrows.

FOCUS

Today's Focus guest is Anne Kraatz, a historian and foreign affairs specialist for Democrats Abroad France.

04/06/2013 - USA

'Green shoots of recovery' in the US economy?

While the eurozone is wading through troubled economic waters, and growth is hard to find, there are signs that things are improving elsewhere. And it's where many would say the whole crisis began in the first place: in the United States. The country that created the subprime mortgage crisis, and thought unemployment had no end, is now seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Don't cry "economic recovery" just yet, but the signs - those famous green shoots - are there.

03/06/2013 - USA

WikiLeaks: Bradley Manning trial begins

Three years after his arrest, former US soldier Bradley Manning is going on trial. He's accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of highly sensitive US government documents to Julian Assange's whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks. While for many Americans - particularly the authorities, who were highly embarrassed by the leak - Manning is a traitor who must be punished, others are coming out in support of him, saying it's not a crime to reveal "war crimes".

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03/06/2013 - GERMANY

Berlin pushes parents to make more babies

A blossoming economy, rosy employment figures, and a society where everything seems to work - Germany seems the ideal country to settle down with a family. And yet Germans are reluctant to have children. Despite a hefty €200 billion of public money behind its family policy, Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe. With a general election now looming, political parties are scrambling to offer families - or potential parents - more incentives.

31/05/2013 - FRANCE

Who is the alleged attacker of the soldier at La Defénse?

A man is being held by French police, accused of stabbing a soldier in the throat last week. The attack took place at the La Defénse business district outside Paris, when the adjoining shopping centre was swarming with Saturday shoppers. There has been speculation that the suspect, Alexandre Dhaussy, was inspired by the Islamist attack on a British soldier in London just days before. Dhaussy was already known to intelligence services, but there had not been enough evidence to arrest him.

31/05/2013 - RUSSIA

Kremlin orders foreign NGOs to declare themselves as 'foreign agents'

The Russian parliament has passed a law forcing all NGOs in Russia that receive funds from abroad to brand themselves as "foreign agents". Since the law took hold, several organisations have said they may have to close. As the Kremlin accuses them of conducting political activities financed from abroad, all of these organisations are coming under unprecedented pressure from the government.