News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Kurds battle IS for Sinjar

Kurdish forces in Iraq have launched an offensive to retake the town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants who captured it last year. The offensive is backed by United States-led air strikes. The recapture of Sinjar, which is near the Syrian border, would cut a main supply line between the Islamic State strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul.

Italy arrests 17 suspected jihadists

Italian authorities say 17 people have been arrested across Europe, suspected of being members of a terrorist network. They said the suspects had planned to free the group’s leader, who has been detained in Norway. Several of the suspects had travelled to Iraq and Syria to fight with jihadists.

EU and Africa agree migration deal

European Union and African leaders at a summit in Malta have signed an accord to combat illegal migration to Europe. The EU is setting up a trust fund of 1.8 billion euros to tackle the root causes of migration, as it seeks agreements with individual African countries on repatriation of people refused asylum. The accord is also meant to provide legal means for migration.

Sweden re-imposes border controls

Sweden has defended its decision to temporarily re-introduce border controls, as of today, in response to a record influx of migrants and refugees. Sweden currently has the highest number of refugees per capita of any EU country. Prime minister Stefan Lofven said his European Union partners understood the decision: “It’s not sustainable that one country or two countries take the biggest part of the responsibility and that is why I have said that all European countries need to take their responsibility because it is a crisis.”

General strike in Greece

Greece’s biggest unions have called the first general strike since the left wing Syriza party, led by Alexis Tsipras, initially came to power in January. The protests over austerity measures come as Greece faces a deadline on Monday to reach a compromise with international creditors over the next payment from its third bailout. The Syriza party is supporting today’s general strike against the bailout agreement it signed.

Bank Austria faces major change

Bank Austria's parent company, the Italian bank Unicredit, has announced that it will cut over 18,000 jobs by 2018. Unicredit says its central and eastern European business, most of which is run by Bank Austria, is to be transferred to Milan next year as part of the restructuring. The future of Bank Austria’s retail sector remains unclear.

Myanmar army ‘will cooperate’

Myanmar’s army chief Min Aung Hlaing has promised to cooperate with the new government, following the election last Sunday. Preliminary results give the opposition party, the National League for Democracy, a landslide victory.

The weather

Generally sunny and mild. Top temperatures 10 to 20 degrees.

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