News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Olympics open in Rio

Later today the summer Olympics will be officially opened in Rio de Janiero. The games have been overshadowed by the Russian doping scandal, the Zika virus, and unfinished construction. But still athletes from 206 nations and a refugee team will be competing in Brazil over the next two weeks. Austria is sending 31 women and 39 men to compete in 28 sports. David Wallechinsky in an Olympic historian who has seen the rehearsals for the opening ceremony: “Fantastic music, great dancing. There’s also a surprisingly powerful emphasis on environmentalism, climate change comes up, they address their history of slavery, they make a big push for diversity and tolerance. It’s a much more political presentation.”

More Austria-Turkey criticism

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has called on Turkish officials to moderate their comments when speaking about other countries. This comes after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu today called Austria “the capital of radical racism”. That is being seen as a reaction to Chancellor Christian Kern’s statement that the EU should end membership talks with Turkey because of the country’s economic and political deficits.

Cleric denounces Turkish allegations

Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen has denounced an arrest warrant issued by Turkey’s government which accuses him of being behind last month’s attempted coup. Gulen has lived in the United States since the late 1990s. The Obama Administration has rejected a demand by President Recip Tayyip Erdogan that Gulen be extradited to Turkey.

Obama sees IS as long-term threat

US President Barack Obama says the so-called Islamic State, or ISIL, remains a threat despite its recent loss of territory in Iraq and Syria. Obama also says that lone wolf attacks may increase as ISIL loses ground, and is calling for a long-term strategy to confront Islamic radicalism:
“Their military defeat will not be enough. So long as their twisted ideology persists and drives people to violence, then groups like ISIL will keep emerging and the international community will continue to be at risk.”

ANC set to lose ground in South Africa

Preliminary results from local elections in South Africa indicate the governing African National Congress will suffer its worst polls results since coming to power in 1994. The ANC is expected to remain the country’s dominant political force despite a loss in support, although it is also expected to lose power in the city of Port Elizabeth to the opposition Democratic Alliance. The election outcome is also expected to be close in Johanesburg and Pretoria.

The Weather

Cool conditions and heavy rains and thunderstorms in the west will be moving in to the rest of Austria this evening. Highs today are ranging from 13 in the west to 29 degrees in the east.

Übersicht

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