News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Ukraine says dozens of insurgents killed in east

Ukraine's Interior Minister says that 30 pro-Russian insurgents have been killed during operations to drive anti-government forces out of the eastern city of Sloviansk. Arsen Ava-kov also said that four government troops also died and 20 were injured during fighting in the insurgent stronghold. The escalation comes as European foreign ministers meet in Vienna to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

Boko Haram threatens more kidnappings

In Nigeria, the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, has warned that it will attack more schools and abduct more girls and threatened to sell the nearly 300 teenage schoolgirls abducted from a school three weeks ago. In a new video circulated by the group, a Boko Haram leader describes the girls as "slaves" and says he will sell them in the "marketplace." There is growing public anger in Nigeria over the government's handling of the crisis. Abi-kay Debeery Aray-wa, an opposition Member of Parliament in Nigeria, says the government has emboldened Boko Haram by not cracking down earlier: "If the federal government had done what they had to do from the onset it would not have escalated to this level. When you commit a crime and you go unpunished, nobody catches up with you, then you get emboldened. So these insurgents are now so emboldened. And as I speak with you every Nigerian is walking with trepidation and fear, because there is no faith in government. You don't know what will happen to you."

Al-Sisi says Muslim Brotherhood is finished

Egyptian presidential frontrunner Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ruled out reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and said that the group will cease to exist. Sisi, who ousted the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi from the presidency last July, says it was his duty to come forward to protect the country: "I think due to the challenges facing Egypt and the targetting of Egypt from inside and outside the country any responsible patriot has a duty towards his country and its future. And whoever has to come forward to protect this country, and this people and their future, has to come forward."

Thailand’s court to rule in PM abuse of power case

Thailand's Constitutional Court is to rule later today in an abuse of power case against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawat. A guilty verdict would likely to force her from office and bring her supporters on to the streets. That could lead to confrontation with anti-government groups who have been protesting in the capital, Bangkok, for six months in an effort to topple Yingluck from power.

A long forgotten song has been recovered

A song written by German composer Felix Mendelssohn has had its first public hearing since it went missing 140 years ago. Mendelssohn wrote the privately commissioned piece in 1842. It was never published but the original manuscript has now emerged in a private collection in the US. It will be sold at auction later this month.

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