News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Period of mourning declared after Iraq attack

The Iraqi government has declared three days of mourning after yesterday's bomb attack in the capital Baghdad which killed almost 150 people. The IS militant group said it carried out the attack. Journalist Jane Arraf says the government is under huge pressure over the security situation in the capital: "it's been 13 years and more than 180,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in these attacks. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has now announced new security measures. But if you look at those security measures they are things that should have been done a long time ago.”

UKIP leader Farage announces resignation

The leader of Britain's anti-EU UKIP party Nigel Farage says he's resigning. He said he was standing down after realising his ambition of winning last month's referendum which resulted in a vote to leave the EU: "I now feel that I've done my bit – and that I couldn't possibly achieve more than we managed to get in that referendum. And so I feel it's right that I should now stand aside." Meanwhile, a law firm is taking action aimed at ensuring the formal process for the UK to leave the EU is not started without an act of Parliament. Mishcon de Reya is acting for a group of business people and academics. It says it would be unlawful for a Prime Minister to trigger Article 50 without a full debate and vote in Parliament.

Summit on western Balkans

Heads of government from 12 European countries are gathering for a summit in Paris focussing on the western Balkans. Among the issues on the agenda are the recent refugee and migrant crisis, economic development and investment and security. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern are among those taking part in the event which brings together senior officials from a number of countries across the region including Bosnia, Serbia and Albania.

Unclear outcome after Australia poll

There's political uncertainty in Australia in the wake of the country's general election on Saturday which resulted in an extremely close result. Neither the ruling centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull nor the opposition Labour party managed to secure an outright majority.

Memorial service held for Elie Wiesel

A private memorial service has been held for the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace laureate Elie Wiesel who died in New York at the week-end at the age of 87. Wiesel became famous after writing about his experiences as a teenager in Nazi concentration camps, where he lost his mother, father and younger sister. The US President Barack Obama has described him as "one of the great moral voices of our time".

The weather

Occasional sunshine but there's also some cloud about with brief showers in places. Highs ranging between 19 and 27 degrees.

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