News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Heavy fighting resumes in Syria

Reports from Syria say heavy fighting has resumed in the city of Aleppo and on other war fronts following the breakdown of a ceasefire. Activists say attacks on rebel-held districts in Aleppo are some of the most intense in months with streets left burning from incendiary bombs. Rebel mortar fire has hit government held areas. The United States and Russia chair a meeting in New York later today to try to restore the truce. US secretary of state John Kerry during a tense session at the United Nations Security Council yesterday, condemned Russia’s continuing support of Syrian president Bashir Assad: “How can people go sit at a table with a regime that bombs hospitals and drops chlorine gas again and again and again and again and acts with impunity.” The United Nations has said an aid convoy is heading to besieged areas of rural Damascus today, in the first mission since a convoy was bombed outside Aleppo on Monday.

“Hundreds drowned” in boat tragedy

Survivors from a boat that capsized off the Egyptian coast yesterday say it was carrying over 500 refugees and migrants and hundreds of people have drowned. Egyptian officials say 160 people have been rescued and 42 bodies recovered. The vessel was thought to have been heading from Egypt to Italy.

Emergency declared in US city of Charlotte

The governor of the state of North Carolina in the United States has declared a state of emergency after a second night of violent protests in the city of Charlotte over the fatal shooting of a black man by a police officer. Police say Keith Lamont Scott was armed when he was shot but his family says he was carrying only a book.

EU Commission examining Kroes revelation

The European Commission has said it is considering whether to take action against former EU commissioner Neelie Kroes for failing to declare a directorship of an offshore firm in the Bahamas. Kroes was a commissioner for ten years from 2004, overseeing the competition directorate and then the digital agenda. New data published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media show she held a directorship in the Caribbean tax haven from 2000 to 2009.

Syrian rescuers win Alternative Nobel

A volunteer group in Syria that carries out search and rescue missions in bombed-out areas, and the Turkish independent newspaper Cumhuriyet are among the winners of this Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative Nobel prizes. Activists from Egypt and Russia were also honoured.

The weather

Mainly sunny with top temperatures 13 to 21 degrees.

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