News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Talks to end Ukraine´s political crisis

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjörn Jagland, is in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, to mediate talks in a bid to end the current political crisis. He´s meeting with the Prime Minister, Mykola Asarov, and representatives from all political parties. Further protests are planned for today over the government´s refusal to sign a landmark cooperation deal with the Europe.Ukraine´s Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara says the government is ready for talks: "We need to talk to the opposition today and I, as a foreign minister, cannot talk to every single protester of 7,000, who are on the streets now. So that´s why we need to talk to the leaders."

Hezbollah commander killed

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says one its senior commanders has been assassinated near Beirut. Hassan Lakkis was reportedly shot dead as he returned home from work. Hezbollah has blamed Israel for his death but Israel denies the accusation.

US biden to ease China tensions

The American Vice-President Joe Biden has arrived in Beijing, on the second leg of a tour of Asia that has been dominated by rising tensions between China and the US and its regional allies. Biden says he will use the visit to raise concerns about China´s recent declaration of an air defence identification zone, which covers a group of islands in the East China Sea also claimed by Japan.

Radioactive material “stolen” in Mexico

The United Nations´ nuclear watchdog says a truck carrying potentially dangerous radioactive material has been stolen in Mexico's northern city of Tijuana. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency says it was transporting cobalt-60 from a hospital to a radioactive waste storage centre. The material could in theory be used in a so-called "dirty bomb," where conventional explosives are used to disperse radiation from a radioactive source.

Eurozone growth slows

The European Union's statistics office, Eurostat, is reporting a slow-down in growth in the Eurozone in the third quarter of this year. The Gross Domestic Product of the 17 countries which use the Euro grew by 0.1%. The figure for Austria is zero point 2%.

EU fines banks for rate-rigging

The European Commission has fined eight banks a record total of 1.7 billion euros for forming illegal cartels to rig benchmark interest rates. Two of the eight, Barclays and UBS, were excused their financial penalties for revealing the cartels' existence. The Commission said it was shocking that competing banks were in collusion.

The weather

Mostly sunny, but some persistent fog. Top temperatures today from minus 2 to plus 8.

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