News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Syria's opposition discusses Geneva talks

Syria's main political opposition the Syrian National Coalition is meeting in Turkey to decide whether to go to next week's peace talks in Geneva. The group is under pressure from the US and its allies to take part, but there are divisions within its ranks with many members reluctant to go unless President Bashar al-Assad is excluded from any proposed transitional government. Meanwhile, the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem says the government is ready for a prisoner exchange with rebel forces. Speaking in Moscow, he also said he'd given the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov details for a ceasefire plan for the city of Aleppo: "today I presented a draft plan to Minister Lavrov for security procedures in Aleppo. If his efforts are successful - and I hope they will be - and everyone adheres to these procedures, I believe we can start with Aleppo and a blue print and replicate it in other cities."

UN warns of genocide in CAR

A senior United Nations official has warned of the risk of genocide in the Central African Republic. John Ging, a spokesman for the UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says there must be a strong international response to prevent the conflict from deteriorating further: "the stakes are extremely high. It has all the elements that we have seen elsewhere in places like Rwanda and Bosnia. The elements are there - the seeds are there - for a genocide."

Blast wounds protestors in Bangkok

In Thailand, around 30 people have been injured in an explosion which hit anti-government demonstrators who were marching through Bangkok. The movement's leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, was in the procession but wasn't wounded. Reports suggest an explosive device was thrown from a building.

Obama to review spying programmes

The US President Barack Obama is to announce changes to American electronic spy programmes in the wake of the revelations made by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The development comes as UK media reports said the US has monitored almost 200 million text messages every day.

UN report urges action on climate change

A leaked UN report has warned that delaying action on global warming will only increase the costs and reduce the options for dealing with the worst effects of climate change. The document, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says that CO2 gases grew by an average of 2.2% per year in the decade from 2000-2010, almost twice as high as the period from 1970 to 2000. The UN says the paper, which will be published in April, is a work in progress.

The weather

There'll be rain or snowfall in the west in the region between Vorarlberg and Carinthia. Elsewhere there’ll be a mix of cloud, fog and occasional sunshine. Highs ranging between zero and 12 degrees.

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