News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

US starts shutdown after budget row

The US government has begun a partial shutdown after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to agree on a new budget. The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform as a condition for passing the bill. Over 800,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over. Obama says the shut-down will be felt: "a shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people right away. Past shut-downs have disrupted the economy significantly - this one would too. It would throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained some traction." House of Representatives speaker John Boehner says the stand-off can still be resolved if the Senate is open to negotiation: "I would hope that the Senate will accept our offer to go to conference and discuss this so we can resolve this for the American people."

Golden Dawn MPs to appear in court

Four MPs from Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party are appearing in court today to face charges of belonging to a criminal organisation. The four were arrested over the weekend along with the party's leader and his deputy, both of whom are due to appear in court later this week.The developments are part of a crackdown on the party following the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, an activist and musician, who was stabbed by a man who said he was a Golden Dawn supporter. The party has denied any link to the killing.

South Korea stages military parade

South Korea has staged what officials are describing as its largest military parade in a decade. The demonstration was held to mark the 65th anniversary of the country's armed forces. South Korea's President Park Geun-hye described the situation on the Korean peninsula as "very grave" and said the country had to build a strong deterrence against North Korea because of its nuclear programme.

UN warning on global hunger

The United Nations says one in eight people around the world is chronically undernourished. In their latest report, UN food agencies say that the number of people affected has come down over the last two decades. But they warned that many countries were unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving the prevalence of hunger by 2015.

Talks begin on new Austrian government

Moves to form a new government are underway in Austria following Sunday's general election. The Social Democrat/People's Party coalition, which held onto its parliamentary majority, will formally resign today. This afternoon, President Heinz Fischer will start the first meetings with individual party leaders.

The weather

This afternoon's weather: frequent sunshine in the East. Elsewhere mainly overcast for the time being with a bit of rain. Highs this afternoon are ranging between 10 and 18 degrees.

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