Sebastian Kurz to take over Austria´s ÖVP leadership +++ Macron meets Merkel in Berlin +++

15. Juni 2017, 02:00

Sebastian Kurz to take over Austria´s ÖVP leadership

The Austrian People's Party has chosen foreign minister Sebastian Kurz to take over the party leadership, following last week´s surprise resignation of Reinhold Mittelehner. Kurz was elected unanimously at a special meeting of senior party figures yesterday in Vienna. He is meeting the Social Democrat Chancellor Christian Kern and President Alexander Van der Bellen today to discuss calling early elections, after signalling that he does not want to continue with the governing coalition.

Macron meets Merkel in Berlin

Emmanuel Macron will be meeting the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin later today, a day after being sworn in as French president. The trip is a signal that Macron will move rapidly on campaign promises to revive support for the European Union by reforming and strengthening it. He is also expected to announce his choice of prime minister.

Big election loss for Germany´s Social Democrats

Chancellor Merkel´s Christian Democratic Union is celebrating victory in state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Social Democrats´ traditional heartland. It´s also the home state of the Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz, who´s seeking to deny Merkel a fourth term in office in September´s national elections. Merkel´s CDU took 33 per cent of the vote, with the SPD on 31 per cent.

Massive cyber-attack affects 150 countries

Microsoft says a cyber-attack that has hit over 200,000 computers in 150 countries since Friday should be treated by governments around the world as a "wake-up call." It says the latest virus exploits a flaw in Microsoft Windows identified by, and stolen from, the US intelligence agency. The WannaCry ransomware took control of users' files and demanded $300 to restore access. Cyber security specialist Nick Bilorgorsky: "The attackers lost the element of surprise now and more people are aware of this threat and are patching for underlying vulnerabilities. I expect more copycat attacks. But I don´t expect much more infections from this original version of the malware."

North Korea launches another new ballistic missile

North Korea has claimed that the rocket it tested on Sunday was a new type of ballistic missile capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead. Repeated missile tests by the North this year, all in breach of UN sanctions, have caused international alarm and raised tensions with the United States.

The weather

A mix of cloud and sunshine with the chance of showers or thunderstorms. High temperatures from 15 to 24.

Übersicht

• News In English