The Germen president, Joachim Gauck, defying his government’s rejection of the concept, expressed support for Greek demands for reparations for the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War Two.

A senior United Nations aid worker has been suspended for disclosing a report outlining sexual abuse by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic.

Anders Kompass, who is based in Geneva, passed the document to French authorities due to the UN failure to take action to stop abuse reports The Guardian.

Mr Kompass was suspended from his post as director of field operations, and accused of leaking confidential UN information and breaching protocols.

The aid worker has been placed under investigation by the UN office for internal oversight service (OIOS), with the knowledge of senior UN officials, including the UN Human Rights Chief, Zeid AL Hussein.

The confidential report, Sexual Abuse on Children by International Armed Forces, documented details of the rape and sodomy of starving homeless young boys by French peacekeeping troops in the CAR.

Paula Donovan, the co-director of Aids Free World, calling for an independent commission of inquiry into the matter, said,

The president of France, Francois Hollande, on Thursday said there would be no mercy shown to any French soldiers who were found to have abused children in the Central African Republic while deployed there as UN peacekeeping soldiers.

“If some soldiers have behaved badly, I will show no mercy,” Mr Hollande told reporters.

Earlier this week a leaked UN report found that young boys in a camp for internally displaced persons in CAR had made allegations against a number of soldiers that they had been sexually abused.

The Israeli army struck seven UN schools, where Palestinians were sheltering from attacks, killing at least 44, a UN inquiry has found.

According to the UN, at least 2,189 Palestinians died during the 50 day conflict, of which at least 1,486 were civilians.

An independent board of inquiry looked into incidents at ten schools run by the UN, finding that one girls' school was hit by 88 rounds of mortar fire with other schools hit by missiles and anti-tank projectiles.

At another girls' school, the inquiry found, "no prior warning had been given by the government of Israel of the firing of 155mm high explosive projectiles on, or in the surrounding area of the school".