News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Ashton holds meeting with Mursi

The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has met Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Mursi on a visit to Cairo. She held two hours of talks with him yesterday evening at an undisclosed location. Mursi has been in detention since being deposed by the military at the beginning of July. Ashton told reporters about her meeting with him: "he's well. And we had a friendly and open and very frank discussion for the two hours that I saw him. I saw the facilities he has and of course I've tried to make sure that his family knows that he's well."

Taliban jailbreak frees hundreds

Officials in Pakistan say Taliban militants have freed more than 240 prisoners in an assault on a prison in the north of the country. The attack on the jail in the town of Dera Ismail Khan started with large explosions around midnight. Police say gunmen then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns. The prison houses hundreds of Taliban members and militants from banned groups.

Middle East talks get underway

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have held their first direct talks for three years. The two delegations met at a dinner in Washington hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry. President Barack Obama has welcomed the discussions but warned that "hard choices" lay ahead. White House spokesman Josh Earnest: "there's a lot of difficult work ahead. There are very difficult decisions that both sides are going to have to confront. And ultimately these are not decisions that will be made by the President or anybody in the US. These are decisions that are going to have to be made by the leaders of the Palestinian people and by the leaders of Israel."

Berlusconi waits for Supreme Court verdict

Italy's Supreme Court is convening to start the process of ruling on whether former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should be given a jail sentence for tax fraud. Five judges will hear a final appeal against a one-year jail sentence and a five-year ban from office which was handed down by a lower court. They could take up to 3 days to deliver their ruling.

FAO warning on dangerous pesticides

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has urged countries to speed up the withdrawal of highly hazardous pesticides from their markets. The move follows the deaths of 23 children from contaminated food in India. The youngsters died after eating a school meal which was tainted with a highly toxic pesticide.

Train collision in Switzerland

Investigations are underway in Switzerland following the collision of two trains. The driver of one of them was killed and 26 people are being treated in hospital for injuries. The crash happened in the western canton of Vaud.

The Weather

There'll be increasing sunshine but some isolated showers will be moving in from the north-west. Highs are ranging between 18 and 30 degrees, in the south up to 31.

Übersicht

• News In English