News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Refugee train leaves Budapest towards Austria

Hungarian police have allowed hundreds of migrants and refugees into the main international railway station in Budapest after days of refusing to let them to board trains to Austria and Germany. Hungary’s rail operator said initially that it was suspending all services to Western Europe indefinitely. But reports say that at least one special train service has left Budapest for Sopron near the border with Austria. A Hungarian government spokesman says police will check all those travelling on trains to the western border to make sure they have the proper paperwork. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who’s in Brussels for emergency EU talks on the crisis, has said that Hungary has done everything possible to uphold European Union regulations on asylum and he’s urged migrants not to come to Europe. “The Hungarians are full of fear. People in Europe are full of fear because they see that the European leaders, among them the prime ministers, are not able to control the situation.”

Tusk calls for more cooperation over migrant crisis

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, says EU countries must relocate at least 100,000 asylum seekers and set up refugee reception centres outside Europe. EU countries have so far committed to share about 32,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece.

Large military parade in China

China has held a huge military parade in Beijing to mark its defeat of Japan in 1945 and the end of World War Two. Russia's President Vladimir Putin was among the dignitaries who attended the event. But the leaders of China’s other wartime allies – the United States, Britain and France - chose to stay away. It’s believed those countries are uneasy about the risk of being seen to endorse a Chinese military which has been increasingly assertive in its region.

Guatemalan president steps down

Guatemala’s president, Otto Perez Molina, has resigned after a judge issued a warrant for his arrest. The president has been embroiled in a corruption scandal which has sparked huge protests in recent months. Perez Molina had resisted stepping down until today – even after Guatemala’s Congress voted to remove his immunity from prosecution.

Obama visits Arctic Circle

President Obama has become the first leader of the United States to visit the Arctic. During a three-day tour of Alaska, Obama went to the town of Kotzebue, north of the Arctic Circle, to highlight the havoc climate change is wreaking on the landscape: “When you have warming taking place twice as fast here in Alaska as in the bottom 48 states, you start getting an accelerated pace of climate change overall. We’ve got to do something about it. The good news is we can, if we take some smart steps now.”

The weather

This afternoon’s weather: cloudy with some rain and thundershowers – which could be especially heavy in western Austria. The east should be drier with occasional sunshine. Top temperatures will range from 14C to 27C.

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