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8. April 2017, 21:58

Ban Ki-moon in Russia for Syria talks

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the proposed international conference on Syria should be held as soon as possible and he warned against losing the momentum. Ban´s been meeting with Russia´s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Sochi and is expected to hold talks later today with the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Russia is opposed to any armed intervention in Syria by the West. Meanwhile, the American President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have pledged to increase pressure on the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down. Speaking after talks with Erdogan on Thursday at the White House, Obama said it´s time for Assad to go: "We both agree that Assad needs to go. He needs to transfer power to a transitional body. That is the only way that we are going to resolve this crisis." The United Nations Refugee Agency announced today that over 1.5 million Syrians have now fled the fighting.

UN peacekeepers released on the Golan

The United Nations says three peacekeepers have been released unharmed after being briefly abducted by gunman in the Golan Heights buffer zone between Israel and Syria. It's the third time troops have been seized from the region since March, amid the worsening security situation in Syria.

Boston bombing suspect leaves "boat" message

American media are reporting that the Boston marathon bombing suspect wrote a message inside the boat where he´d been hiding from police, describing the victims of last month´s attack as "collateral damage."19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also reportedly wrote that his brother was a martyr, and "When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims." Sources have told the media that the bombs were retribution for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nigeria´s army targets militant strongholds

Military officials say the Nigerian army has begun operations against Islamist militants in the north-east of the country, where the Boko Haram group has established bases. The raids come after states of emergency were declared in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, where 2,000 people have died since Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009

EU survey highlights homophobia

And the European Union is calling for action to counter discrimination and violence against gay people after a major survey revealed that many are living in fear across Europe. The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency questioned over 90,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The survey was released Friday to coincide with the International Day against Homophobia.

The weather

Heavy rain in the south and west, showers in the north and east. Top temperatures only around 12 in the west, up to 27 in Upper and Lower Austria.

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