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8. April 2017, 21:58

Merkel announces bid for fourth term

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that she will run for a fourth term in office. Speaking at a meeting of her Christian Democratic Union party in Berlin, she said she expected her toughest campaign to date. A general election is scheduled for next year.

Fillon wins centre-right primary

The former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been knocked out of a primary to choose the presidential candidate for the country's main centre-right party. Former Prime Minister Francois Fillon finished first in yesterday's first round, with Alain Juppe - another former Prime Minister - coming in second. They'll face each other in a run-off next Sunday. Speaking after his victory, Fillon said if he's successful in winning the presidency, he'll tackle bureaucracy, saying change was on the way: "the people want to talk, choose and want to get involved. The first round of the primary election has been a great popular success. It's a wave, a wave that demonstrates the interests of citizens for their country."

Officials say terror plot foiled in France

The French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says police have thwarted plans for a terrorist attack, arresting 7 people in Marseille and Strasbourg. Cazeneuve did not say what the target might have been and said most of the suspects arrested were not known to the intelligence services.

27 killed in bomb attack in Kabul

27 people are now being reported to have been killed in a suicide bomb attack which targeted a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul. Health officials say at least 45 others have been wounded.

Obama and Putin hold talks at APEC summit

The US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have held brief talks on the side lines of the APEC summit in Peru. Obama said he told Putin about his concerns about Ukraine and Syria: "we are still deeply concerned about the bloodshed and chaos that's being sown by constant bombing attacks by Assad and the Russian military against populations in Aleppo. There is a need for us to arrive first at some sort of humanitarian ceasefire and begin moving towards a political transition of some sort."

146 killed in train disaster in India

The death toll from India's worst train accident in years has risen to 146. Rescue teams have been combing through the wreckage after a train derailed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. It's thought a fractured rail may have been the cause.

The weather

Mainly sunny and very mild. A partly stormy föhn wind. Thick cloud with a bit of rain in places between Vorarlberg and Carinthia. Highs between 6 and 21 degrees.

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