29.07.2013

News in English

Israeli Palestinian peace talks to resume / Sectarian attacks escalate in Iraq / Ashton holds crisis talks in Egypt / Syrian troops recapture rebel stronghold / Bus crash kills dozens in Italy / Garzón freed on bail / Record turnout in Mali election / The Weather

8. April 2017, 21:58

Israeli Palestinian peace talks to resume

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to begin preliminary talks on re-opening formal peace negotiations in Washington later today. Peace talks have been stalled since 2010. The new initiative follows six months of intense diplomacy by United States Secretary of State John Kerry, and approval by the Israeli Cabinet yesterday of the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners. Earlier Kerry said few details of the negotiations will be released to give them the best chance of success: “The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private. Everyone knows this is not easy. If it were, it would have happened a long time ago.”

Sectarian attacks escalate in Iraq

More than a dozen car bombs exploded across Iraq early today, killing over 50 people in mainly Shi'ite areas. This has been one of the worst years for sectarian violence in Iraq since the US led invasion in 2003, with over 2500 killed since April.

Ashton holds crisis talks in Egypt

In Egypt, thousands of supporters of the deposed president Mohammed Morsi have staged marches on three key points in Cairo in defiance of an army warning. Police have arrested two leaders of the moderate Islamist Wasat party on charges of inciting violence. Meanwhile European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is holding crisis talks in Cairo today with the army chief and leaders of the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, after more than 70 Morsi supporters were shot dead on Saturday.

Syrian troops recapture rebel stronghold

Syrian state media say government troops have recaptured a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs. The area had been held by rebel forces since 2011. The death toll in Syria’s civil war is now over one hundred thousand.

Bus crash kills dozens in Italy

At least 38 people have been killed in southern Italy when a tour bus plunged off a viaduct into a ravine. The accident near the town of Avellino injured at least 10. An investigation into the cause of the crash is underway.

Garzón freed on bail

The driver of the train involved in the train crash outside Santiago de Compostela in Spain last week which killed 79 people has been freed from police custody on bail. Francisco Garzón has been provisionally charged with multiple cases of negligent homicide.

Record turnout in Mali election

Election officials in Mali say there was a record turnout for yesterday’s presidential election, which follows an army coup in March last year and a war led by French troops against separatists and Islamist extremists in the north of the country. No major incidents were reported, despite threats from militants to attack polling stations.