News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Fighting continues in Ukraine

Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko, says there is no guarantee that a peace plan reached this week in Belarus between him and leaders from Russia, Germany and France will ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine. At least 10 people have died in fighting since that peace plan was announced in Minsk. It is due to go into effect this weekend, but journalist Stefan Heubumm, who is on the frontline, says people in eastern Ukraine are skeptical the violence will end: “Fighting is continuing in Donetsk. The ceasefire will start on Sunday, but the people I’ve spoken to don’t quite believe there will be peace anytime soon. It’s hard for them to even believe there will be an end soon in this war.”

Greece seeks new deal with Troika

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has agreed to meet with the Troika which oversees the bailout to Greece and is made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He’s been attending his first EU summit in Brussels. Tsipras says he wants a better deal than the current one which calls for Greece to impose austerity and other unpopular reforms in exchange for financial aid to keep the Greek economy afloat: “There were all these scenarios of bankruptcies and crisis if we didn’t accept the solution in last night’s meeting. We didn’t sign it and the world didn’t end.”

20 die in Pakistan violence

In Pakistan, around 20 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks on a Shi’ite mosque in the city of Peshawar. Officials are blaming the bloodshed on Sunni militants.

Chad repulses Boko attack

For the first time, Boko Haram fighters from Nigeria have launched an attack inside neighboring Chad, The militants killed around ten people and set several buildings on fire before they were forced to retreat by Chadian troops.

Egypt frees two journalists

In Cairo, 8 Egyptian soldiers have been wounded in a bomb attack which is being blamed on religious militants. This comes as Egypt has freed two journalists from the Al-Jazeera television network. Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed spent over a year in prison on charges they had aided the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Human rights groups and much of the international condemned the arrests as a sham. Another Al-Jazeera journalist, Peter Geste, was freed two weeks ago and deported to Australia.

UN warns on Syrian war

The UN’s special envoy for Syria says the country will be completely destreoyed if the conflict is allowed to continue. Steffan de Mistura gave the warning in Vienna where he has met with Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz on a war which has killed over a quarter of a million people since it began four years ago. Almost four million other Syrians have been forced to flee the country.

Rebels take town in Iraq

In Iraq, Islamic State militants have taken captured part of the town of al-Baghdadi from Iraqi troops. Heavy fighting in the area continues. The town is close to a base in Ramadi where 300 U.S. Marines are training Iraqi soldiers.

More western missions close in Yemen

Italy and Germany have closed their embassies in Yemen because of ongoing unrest in the capital Sanaa. Britain, France and the United States closed their diplomatic missions in Yemen earlier this week. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said the country is approaching a full-scale civil war.

Germany marks Dresden firebombing

Ceremonies are being held today in Germany to mark the 70th anniversary of the firebombing of Dresden carried out by Allied air forces towards the end of World War Two. Over 25,000 people were killed and almost the entire city was reduced to rubble.

The weather

The afternoon will be mostly sunny with some hazy conditions in low-lying areas and strong winds out of the southwest. Highs today are ranging from minus 1 to plus 11 degrees.

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