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8. April 2017, 21:58

Tsipras meets Putin in Moscow

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and Russian president Vladimir Putin are holding talks in Moscow today. Greece has said the talks will deal with relations between the European Union and Russia. European parliamentary president, Martin Schulz, ahead of the visit warned Athens it must maintain solidarity with EU sanctions on Russia imposed over the Ukraine crisis. A Greek government official has dismissed suggestions Greece will ask Russia for financial aid and said Athens wants to resolve its debt problems within the European Union.

White US officer charged with murder

The FBI and United States justice department have launched a joint investigation into the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in South Carolina. The police officer Michael Slager has been charged with murder, after authorities viewed a video filmed by a bystander in which Slager appears to shoot the victim Walter Scott in the back as he runs away. There has been heightened scrutiny of shootings by white officers of unarmed black suspects after a number of controversial cases. The lawyer for the Scott family, Chris Stewart: “What if there was no video. The initial reports stated something totally different. The officer said that Mr Scott attacked him, but somebody was watching. And that doesn’t happen all the time across this country.”

US backs Saudi coalition in Yemen

United States officials say the US is speeding up delivery of weapons to the coalition led by Saudi Arabia carrying out airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi rebels. Reports from Yemen say the rebels have launched a fresh attack to try to gain control of the southern port of Aden, the last stronghold of government forces.

Frances’s Le Pen opposes father

The leader of France's far-right National Front, Marine Le Pen, has said she will move to stop her father Jean-Marie from standing in regional elections later this year. Last week she condemned her father for repeating his claim that the Nazi gas chambers were "a detail of history".

French air strike disrupts Europe flights

In France air traffic controllers have launched a 48 hour strike bringing widespread disruption across Europe. The strike is over working conditions and government plans to raise the retirement age.

Austria bank inquiry opens

An Austrian parliamentary committee has begun hearings into the Hypo Alpe Adria fiasco, the biggest banking scandal in the history of postwar Austria. The inquiry is the first instituted by the opposition under new parliamentary rules.

Major takeover in energy sector

Royal Dutch Shell has agreed a 47 billion pound takeover of the gas group BG in one of the biggest deals in the oil and gas sector for a decade. It will create a company worth more than 200 billion pound.

The weather

Mainly sunny in the west and south. Cloudy elsewhere with a few sunny spells and scattered showers. Top temperatures 6 to 16 degrees.

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