by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS— Syria continues to descend into the inferno while the international community stands transfixed. A political solution seems elusive as ever, the civil war grinds on…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS—The global economy risks sliding back into recession. That’s the sober assessment from the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013, which cites weak economic growth…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS—“Since last summer’s onslaught by terrorists of the so-called ISIL, Iraq has been living through one of the most difficult phases of its modern history,” came…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer NEW YORK – A rhetorical tsunami followed the signing of the landmark nuclear limitation deal between Iran and six world powers in Vienna. On the one hand…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer PARIS – China’s Premier Li Keqiang descended upon Paris for a shopping spree; signing contracts and making deals which will energize the still anemic French economy. The…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer PARIS –“Terrorism: the Shockwave of Bloody Friday,” headlined the French daily Le Monde, after a series of deadly, coordinated, and barbaric attacks by radical Islamists on three…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS -The number of refugees fleeing their native lands as well as people being internally displaced in their home countries has surged beyond even the most…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS—Describing the situation as a “collapse of law and order” in the territories controlled by the self-proclaimed rebel Republics, and amid on- going hostilities between the…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS—Describing the situation as a “collapse of law and order” in the territories controlled by the self-proclaimed rebel Republics, and amid on- going hostilities between the…

by John J. Metzler Weirs Times Contributing Writer UNITED NATIONS—Amid modest economic growth worldwide, East Asia still leads the way. That’s according to the UN’s updated “World Economic Situation Prospects” where the global economic growth…