News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

MSF hospital hit in Syria

It's been reported that a hospital supported by the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres in northern Syria has been destroyed in an air strike. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says nine people were killed and dozens wounded. It says it believes Russian warplanes were responsible. In another development, Turkey has dismissed a Syrian complaint to the UN Security Council that Turkish forces have violated Syria's sovereignty in their offensive against a Kurdish militia that controls territory in the north of the country. The Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz denied accusations that they'd sent in ground forces. Over the last few days, the Turkish army has shelled Kurdish YPG militia in the region after the group seized an air base north of Aleppo. Analyst Paul Rogers says Turkey regards the Syrian Kurds as more problematic than the Iraqi Kurds: "the Turks have long regarded the Kurds in Syria as being more radical and more directly opposed to the Turkish government and so they do not want to see the Kurdish part of Syria come under more firm Kurdish control in whatever settlement comes out."

Bosnia applies for EU membership

The EU's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini says Bosnia has applied to join the EU. She said the bloc's 28 states will now assess the country's application.

Olmert starts prison sentence

Israel's former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has started serving a 19-month prison sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Record drug bust in Australia

Police in Australia say they've made one of the biggest drug busts in the country's history. They seized 625 million Euros worth of methamphetamine - also known as "ice" after intercepting a shipping container from Hong Kong. The discovery led them to raid warehouses in Sydney where a further haul was discovered. 4 people have been arrested. Justice Minister Michael Keenan: "this is a devastating blow for the organised criminal gangs that peddle in ice. And it shows you that if you do target the Australian market, we have the powers and the resources to prosecute you. In this case because of the large quantity of these drugs the people involved could be imprisoned for life."

Central African Republic elections

Voters in the Central African Republic went to the polls yesterday in the delayed second round of presidential elections. The election follows years of sectarian violence which has killed thousands of people and displaced around half a million.

The weather

A mix of fog and cloud with not much sun and a bit of rain or snowfall. Should be dry in the western Danube region and in the Mühlviertel and Waldviertel. A lively wind in the East and highs ranging between 1 and 11 degrees.

Übersicht

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