According to western and Hungarian diplomats in Budapest, Orbán is planning to purge the diplomatic service, culling up to three-quarters of Hungary's ambassadors.
Diplomats said Brahimi would first visit Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, all regional diplomatic heavyweights, for consultations before heading to Damascus.
Any news from the diplomatic rooms particularly creates volatility in Iran's currency market.
Relations with west: Putin said the west must respect Russia's interests if it wants to normalise diplomatic relations.
These eddies of trouble, the revival of secondary disputes and the mixture of economic policy with diplomatic grievances and popular rhetoric all echo the atmosphere of the early 1930s.
The prime minister will not get a substantive renegotiation of the UK's terms of membership before 2017, so the referendum question will not be about his supposed diplomatic triumph but rather: "Do you want to stay in the present EU, with all its deficiencies and problems?" The referendum will cause grave financial and economic instability and make the UK a laughing stock across the globe.
He told the Lowy Institute the milestone was proof the west's diplomatic pressure and sanctions against Russia – which is backing separatist rebels in the east – were bearing fruit.
Julian Borger, the Guardian's diplomatic editor, has now filed a piece about it (which you can read in full here).
A diplomatic response but one which reflects his mindset; for all Liverani's history, immediate ambitions at Brisbane Road are clearly dominating his thoughts.
Sekeramayi was more circumspect in direct diplomatic discussions but made it clear that the massacres were no accident.
In a statement shortly following the law was passed, the government said that "South Africa takes note of the recent developments regarding the situation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transsexual and Intersex persons (LGBTI) worldwide….[and] will, through existing diplomatic channels, be seeking clarification on these developments from many capitals around the world".
