News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Floods cause havoc

Several parts of western Europe are coping with the aftermath of heavy flooding. In Bavaria, four people have drowned in two villages around 120 kilometers east of Munich. Two other people are missing. Several thousand homes have had their power cut off by the flooding close to the Austrian border. Here in Austria, there has also been flooding in Upper Austria’s Innviertel region, Voralberg and in Salzburg’s Flachgau region. Flooding is also causing problems in France where more than 5000 people have been evacuated from their homes.

Strikes continue in France

Staying in France, strikes continue as part of a protest against the government’s plans to reform French labour laws. Unions say the planned changes would cut overtime pay and would make it easier for management to fire workers. The strikes have failed to spread to air traffic controllers or the Paris Metro, but they have succeeded in reducing train service by half. There have also been clashes near the port of Le Havre between police and protesters. Journalist Erin McLaughlin was there: “We were there earlier this morning at the train station here in Le Havre and we watched as striking union workers stormed the train tracks. Police responded by firing tear gas. Strikers responded by firing off firecrackers.”

US supports UN airdrops for Syria

The United States has joined Britain, France and other countries calling for the United Nations to air drop aid to Syrian civilians trapped by fighting between government troops and rebels. John Kirby is a spokesman for the US State Department: “It is far from sufficient from providing the relief to the hundreds of thousands of Syrian people who needed sustained and regular access to aid, so the United States supports the World Food Program and moving forward on their planning to carry out air operations to provide additional aid.”

Asylum hostel firebombed

In Upper Austria, a reward of 5000 euros has been issued for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons who torched a home for refugees in the town of Altenfelden. No one had yet moved into the building which has space for 48 migrants. Chancellor Christian Kern is among the political figures who have condemned the attack. The Red Cross says it plans to re-build the facility.

Convictions handed down in India

A court in India has convicted 24 Hindus on murder and other crimes committed during anti-Mulsim riots in the city of Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat in 2002. Around one-thousand people were killed across the state during the unrest which was one of India’s worst outbreaks of religious violence.

Germany to OK Armenian genocide resolution

Germany’s parliament is set to approve a symbolic resolution which declares the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks to have been a genocide. Turkey has warned Germany against approving such a resolution. More than 20 other nations, including Austria, have passed similar resolutions. Turkey concedes Armenians were killed during the First World War, but denies there was an organized campaign to wipe them out.

The weather

The afternoon’s weather conditions will remain variable with scattered rain showers and thunderstorms, especially in the northern Alps.
It will also be humid with high temperatures currently ranging from 15 to 25 degrees.

Übersicht

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