News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

UN refugee summit

The first-ever United Nations summit on refugees opens today in New York City. A record 65 million people are now refugees or migrants. Among those at the summit is British actor Ewan McGregor in his role as an honorary UN ambassador: "I guess my job as a UNICEF ambassador is to go and visit projects and see with my own eyes what's going on there. In this instance, to try and encourage world leaders who are going to be meeting for the next two days to put children's rights at the heart of their discussions, to remind them that children are victims in all of this."

Syria truce in doubt

In Syria, a rebel group supported by the United States, Fast Akeem, and a senior opposition official say a week-long ceasefire in the country is effectively over. The truce brokered by Russia and the United States has seen repeated violations which have blocked aid deliveries from reaching besieged areas. This comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry is urging Russia to exert its influence over Syrian President Bashir al-Assad: "The Russians need to be more serious about getting the Assad regime to adhere to the terms of the ceasefire after they have bombed schhools, civilians and hospitals. They really need to get down to the business of making this work and that requires Assad to be more responsible."

Putin party claims election victory

Elections officials in Moscow say the pro-Krelin United Russia party has won more than three-quarters of seats in the State Duma in yesterday’s parliamentary elections. With 93 percent of the votes counted, United Russia is set to win 343 of the 450 seats in the Duma.

CDU loses voter support in Berlin

Following yesterday’s state elections in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian democrats are not expected to be part of the next coalition in the German capital. The CDU lost five points, dropping to 17 percent of the vote. The Social Democrats won 21 percent, while the Greens and die Linke party both won just over 15 percent. Die Linke, Greens and and SPD are now expected to form a three-way coalition. In what could be a trend for next year’s general election in Germany, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD, easily entered its 10th state parliament with 14 percent of the vote.

The weather

Rainshowers can be expected this afternoon on the northern side of the Alps. There will also be a few scattered rainshowers, as well as some sunshine, in the south and east. High temperatures today are ranging from 11 to 23 degrees.

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