News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

New hope for Ebola patients

The World Health Organisation is to meet today in Geneva for an emergency meeting on the Ebola crisis. The WHO earlier announced that a treatment - using serum from the blood of patients who´ve survived Ebola - could be available in West Africa within weeks. Jack Chow is a professor of global health in the United States: "What the WHO is doing is making a strategic choice - some might even say it´s a gamble - to expand the arsenal against Ebola as more people, survivors, their numbers are expanding, that this is a resource from which to draw the blood and to distil the serum."

Green light for new EU Commission

The European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg has approved the new EU Commission nominated by the incoming Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Juncker’s team of 28 Commissioners will formally take office on November 1. The new Commission will be streamlined to focus on addressing the big political challenges Europe is facing: tackling unemployment, encouraging more investment, formulating credible foreign policy and energy security.

DRC doctor wins Sakharov Prize

A gynaecologist from the Democratic Republic of Congo has won Europe's top human rights prize for helping to treat thousands of gang rape victims in the DRC. Denis Mukwege was awarded the Sakharov prize by the European Parliament.

US probe into “stray” Syrian air drop

The US Pentagon says it is examining an Islamic State video which appears to show jihadists with a weapons cache intended for Kurdish fighters in Syria. Some 27 bundles containing small arms, ammunition and other weaponry were dropped on Monday for militias defending the town of Kobane from the IS.

North Korea releases US citizen

The US state department has confirmed that Jeffrey Fowle, one of three American citizens detained in North Korea, has been released and is on his way home. Fowle was detained in June and charged with "anti-state" crimes after allegedly leaving a Bible in the toilet of a restaurant.

Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post died

Ben Bradlee, the editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 93. An investigation by the newspaper uncovered a vast scheme of surveillance and dirty tricks, which led to the impeachment and resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974. Bradlee was credited for transforming the Post into one the most respected newspapers in America.

The weather

Weather warnings remain in place after Tuesday´s severe storm. More snow is forecast for the Alps, with rain in lower lying regions. Some sun in the south and southeast. Highs today from 2 to 13, warmest in the south.

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