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8. April 2017, 21:58

France to send troops to Central African Republic

France has said it is sending hundreds of extra soldiers to the Central African Republic to help restore security. The United Nations has warned the country is descending into complete chaos after a coalition of rebel groups, many from neighbouring Chad and Sudan, overthrew president Francois Bozize and seized power in March. UN deputy secretary general Jan Eliason: “The country faces a desperate security situation. The population is enduring suffering beyond imagination. The use of child soldiers is rising. Sexual violence is growing.” The French troops are to work alongside an African Union led peacekeeping force.

Ukraine to open economic talks Russia

Ukraine’s opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko has gone on hunger strike in protest at the government’s rejection of a European trade pact. Pro-Europe demonstrations continue in Kiev. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said consultations with Russia will start at the beginning of next month on a road map to re-establish economic relations.

Pakistanis protest US drone strikes

Demonstrators in Pakistan are blocking main supply routes for NATO forces in Afghanistan to protest against US drone strikes. Opposition politician Imran Khan who called the protests said they would continue until the drone strikes in north-west Pakistan stop. Khan said the US attacks had destroyed chances of a peace initiative with the Pakistani Taliban.

Karzai warned on security pact

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has told the United States he wants US forces to halt all military operations on civilians' homes and return Afghan citizens held in the Guantánamo prison camp before he will sign a bilateral security pact. The US national security advisor Susan Rice, at talks in Kabul, has told Karzai the US will plan to pull all troops out of his country after 2014 if he doesn't sign the pact promptly.

Syria’s rebel army rejects peace talks

The head of the opposition Free Syrian Army, general Salim Idriss, has said his forces will not join a peace conference in Geneva planned for January. He said conditions are not suitable for peace talks and his forces will continue their fight to topple President Bashar Assad.

Anti-government protests continue in Thailand

In Thailand, street protests are continuing in Bangkok where anti-government demonstrators have closed a number of ministries. The opposition is calling for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down accusing her of preparing to allow her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, to return to Thailand without serving a prison sentence for corruption.

The weather

Overcast with scattered snowfalls with a few sunny spells in the east. Mainly sunny in the south. Top temperatures minus 6 to plus 4 degrees.

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