News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Syriza rebels form new Popular Unity party

Left-wing hardliners in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party have announced that they are forming their own independent movement in the Greek Parliament. The 25 lawmakers made the announcement a day after Tsipras resigned and called an early election to deal with a rebellion within Syriza over austerity measures demanded by creditors in return for a third bailout. The former Greek finance minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou says the situation is very complicated: "He´s asking Greeks to back him even though he was against the bailout to begin with. He´s asking Greeks to say no to the left platform, which is against all bailouts, and he´s asking for a renewal of a mandate even though, by all accounts, the last six months have been extremely bad for the country." The country´s president has formally given the conservative opposition New Democracy party three-days to try to form a government. The new radical left group, called Popular Unity, says it will also seek a mandate as the third largest party in parliament.

Macedonian police use force against migrants

Special police forces in Macedonia have reportedly fired stun grenades and tear gas to disperse thousands of migrants trying to enter the country from Greece, a day after its southern border was closed and a state of emergency declared. Police backed by armoured vehicles also spread coils of razor wire over rail tracks used by migrants to cross on foot from Greece. The migrants are demanding passage into Macedonia, with the aim of heading north to Hungary and the European Union´s Schengen zone.

Le Pen expelled from the French National Front

Jean-Marie Le Pen has been expelled from the French far-right National Front. Le Pen, who founded the party in 1972 and was honorary president, had defended past comments that the Holocaust was "a detail of history." The 86-year-old says he will contest the executive committee´s decision. His daughter, Marine, took over as leader in 2011 and has tried to steer the party away from its racist and anti-Semitic past.

North Korea on “war footing”

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered his frontline troops to be on a war footing, as tensions rise with the South. Pyongyang is threatening military action unless South Korea halts anti-North propaganda broadcasts by tomorrow. North Korea fired shells into South Korea to protest against the broadcasts on Thursday. The South responded with a barrage of artillery shells.

Israel launches strikes into Syria after rocket attack

Israel says it has killed four Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad in an air strike on the Golan Heights, after cross-border rocket fire from Syria prompted the heaviest Israeli bombardment since the start of Syria's four-year-old civil war. The Syrian army says the strike hit a car, killing five civilians.

The weather

Mostly sunny with isolated thundery showers in the mountains. Highs today from 16 to 26.

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