International law

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A long-standing debate over whether Germany still owes Greece war reparations stemming from the Nazi occupation erupted anew Thursday in a spat between Greece's foreign minister and Germany's finance minister.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted by German media as suggesting that Greece should focus on reforming its economy and that the issue of war reparations was definitively closed years ago.

BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S.-based rights group on Thursday accused Syria of committing war crimes by indiscriminate and sometimes deliberate airstrikes against civilians, killing at least 4,300 people since last summer.

Human Rights Watch said Syrian fighter jets have targeted bakeries, bread lines and hospitals in the country's north.

The report came as government forces launched a counteroffensive in the southern province of Daraa, where rebels have been making progress for weeks in the strategic region close to Damascus.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A newspaper op-ed piece by an Israeli writer has revived an emotional debate surrounding Israel's 45-year rule over the West Bank and east Jerusalem: Do Palestinians who throw rocks at Israelis exercise a "birthright" of resisting military occupation, as the author argued? Or is stone-throwing an indefensible act of violence?

The heated argument — along with a police complaint West Bank settlers filed against the author — was another sign of the deepening gulf between the two peoples after decades of conflict.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Rwandan-born warlord known as "The Terminator" has said he is not guilty of charges including murder, rape pillaging and using child soldiers in eastern Congo at his first appearance before the International Criminal Court since his surprise surrender last week.

Bosco Ntaganda had been one of the court's longest-sought fugitives until he unexpectedly became the first suspect to voluntarily turn himself in by seeking refuge last week at the U.S. Embassy in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.