News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Ukraine to seek NATO membership

The Ukrainian parliament has voted to renounce the country's non-aligned status and seek membership of the military alliance NATO. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the change in Ukraine's status will increase tensions between the two countries. Ties are already strained over the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Australia on alert over terrorist threat

The Australian government says the threat of a terrorist attack remains high, following the interception of increased levels of communication between terrorist sympathisers. The warning follows the deadly siege last week at a cafe in central Sydney. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged people to remain alert. “The terror threat remains high and, as you’ll all understand, at this level an attack is likely. We don’t know when and how an attack may come but we do know that there are people with the intent and the capability to carry out further attacks.”

North Korea suffers internet outage

Websites in North Korea are reported to be back online, following what some analysts say was a complete internet blackout. The mysterious outage comes amid a row between North Korea and the United States over the hacking of Sony Pictures. US officials have refused to comment, amid speculation of a possible cyber attack.

US to review decision on Milwaukee shooting

The US justice department says it will review a decision by a prosecutor in Milwaukee not to bring charges against a police officer who shot dead an unarmed black man in April. Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm ruled that the officer, Christopher Manney, had acted in self-defence, after being attacked. “During the course of that struggle, Officer Manney deployed his baton, during the course of the further struggle he was disarmed of that baton, and then some of the witnesses observed Mr Hamilton actually strike Officer Manney or attempt to strike Officer Manney.” The fatal shooting of two other black men recently sparked widespread protests across the US.

Greek parliament fails again to elect president

Greece has moved a step closer to fresh elections, after lawmakers failed for a second time to agree on a new president. The Conservative led government's candidate Stavros Dimas received 168 votes, well short of the 200 required. Parliament will be dissolved if a third round of voting on December 29 fails to produce a result.

French PM says no link between recent attacks

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has moved to calm fears over a spate of attacks in France, saying there appears to be no link between the incidents. 10 people were injured on Monday when a man drove a van into a crowded Christmas market in the city of Nantes. It follows a similar incident in Dijon and an attack on police in the city of Tours over the weekend.

The Weather

Mostly sunny conditions are set to continue this afternoon, with some heavy cloud in the south. Temperatures will remain extremely mild, with maximums of between 4 and 18 degrees.

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