News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Refugee tragedy in Burgenland

It's being reported that around 30 refugees have been found dead in a lorry in the Austrian state of Burgenland. The vehicle was on the A4 motorway. Officials are expected to give more details at a press conference this afternoon.

Vienna hosts Balkan conference

Vienna is hosting a major conference bringing together senior EU officials with leaders from western Balkan countries including Serbia and Macedonia. The meeting was originally intended to discuss reform and infrastructure projects. But as thousands of people continue to flee conflicts in countries like Syria, the meeting has been dominated by the recent flow of refugees and migrants who've been using the route through Macedonia and Serbia to reach EU countries. Florian Bieber is a regional expert from the University of Graz: "you have thousands and thousands of refugees - from Syria mostly - finding their way to western Europe through the Balkans. The irony is people are crossing the Balkans from one EU country to another and many of them are stranded there. So all of a sudden you have tens of thousands of people from Syria on the main squares, on train stations, in countries which are ill-equipped and unprepared for this crisis."

IS seizes 5 villages in Syria

The Islamic State group has seized 5 villages from Syrian rebels in northern Syria. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, two of the villages are near the Turkish border. The area is one where Turkey and the US are planning to open a new front against IS. The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says the two NATO allies are preparing to launch a series of air operations to push IS fighters out of the region.

New cease-fire announced in Ukraine

The two sides in the conflict in eastern Ukraine have called for a fresh cease-fire on September 1st, the beginning of the new school year in the country. Cease-fires have been declared twice over the past year but have been widely violated.

2 TV journalists shot dead in US

In the US state of Virginia, a man who shot dead two journalists on live TV apparently sent a fax to ABC news describing himself as a "human powder keg" shortly after the attack. Vester Flanagan, who had been dismissed by WDBJ7 station killed himself after a police chase. The White House said yesterday's attack showed the need for better gun control. President Barack Obama: "gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism. We're willing to spend trillions of dollars to prevent terrorist activities. But we haven't been willing so far at least to impose some common sense gun safety measures that could save some lives."

The weather

Sunny with a lively wind at times in the East and in the mountains. Highs mostly between 25 and 32 degrees.

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