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8. April 2017, 21:58

No agreement at Greece bailout talks

The Eurozone's top official says Greece needs to make much more progress on its reform plans if it's to receive more bailout money. Speaking in the Latvian capital of Riga following a meeting of the Eurozone's 19 finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem said time was running out for Greece to secure the money it needed and that there were still big differences to overcome.

EU summit on migrants

EU leaders say they're going to triple the funding for search-and-rescue operations for migrant boats that run into trouble in the Mediterranean. At an emergency summit in Brussels, officials said they would also look at ways to capture and destroy smugglers' boats. Last Sunday around 800 people lost their lives on a boat crossing from Libya. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk: "saving the lives of innocent people is the number one priority for us. But saving lives is not just about rescuing people at sea it's also about stopping the smugglers and addressing illegal migration." The UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, says the EU summit's proposals are an "important first step towards collective European action". But some human rights groups have criticised the plan. Amnesty International says it was "woefully inadequate". The group's spokesman Steve Simmons says the number of migrants attempting to make the journey is unlikely to fall soon: "there are tens of thousands of people who are trapped in Libya at the moment. Libya is in a state of utter turmoil. Many of those people trapped include large numbers of Syrian refugees - of course they have no homes to go back to - and really they're left with only this option of making this incredibly dangerous journey."

Migrants killed on Macedonia railway

State media in Macedonia has reported that 14 migrants have been killed by an express train as they walked through a canyon near the central city of Veles. Police say the accident happened last night as the migrants - believed to be from Afghanistan and Somalia - were walking along the tracks.

Ceremonies in Armenia to remember mass killings

Ceremonies are taking place in Armenia's capital Yerevan to mark the centenary of the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Armenia says one and a half million people died in what it says was a genocide. Turkey disputes the figure and rejects the use of the term genocide. The Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande are among those attending today's ceremonies.

The weather

Frequent sunshine on the northern side of the Alps. Elsewhere a mix of cloud and occasional sunshine with some thundery showers in places. Highs between 12 and 22 degrees.

Übersicht

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