News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

50,000 civilians flee fighting in east Aleppo

Rescue workers from the White Helmets civil defence organisation in Syria say that more than 45 people have been killed in artillery bombardments of rebel-held eastern Aleppo, most of them women and children. Dozens were reportedly wounded. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, over 50,000 people have now been displaced by the fighting. France has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, amid growing concerns for the thousands of civilians trapped in Aleppo as government forces make further advances in the east of the city. Betina Luescha is with the World Food Programme: "The women are giving all their food to their children. We have seen reports that they are going through garbage to look for food. It´s really dire and all of us, anybody with internet or television, can see what hellish situations these people are enduring."

German intelligence agency worker detained

It´s being reported that an employee of the German intelligence agency, the BfV, has been arrested after making Islamist statements and sharing agency material in Internet chatrooms. Die Welt newspaper says the man was suspected of planning a bomb attack on the agency´s Cologne office. He´s reported to be of Spanish origin and a convert to Islam, who now has German citizenship.

Tributes to footballers killed in Colombia

Two black box data recorders have been recovered following Tuesday´s plane crash in Colombia which left 71 people dead. Six survivors were taken to hospital. Tributes are being paid to a Brazilian football club, Chapecoense, which lost most of its players in the disaster. Three days of national mourning have been declared in Brazil.

Mass rally for Fidel Castro in Havana

Foreign dignitaries and hundreds of thousands of Cubans gathered in Havana´s Revolution Square on Tuesday night for a service commemorating the revolutionary leader and former president Fidel Castro. He died on Friday aged 90. A procession carrying his ashes will begin the long journey to the eastern city of Santiago later today.

Protective arch now in place at Chernobyl

A giant protective cover has been put over the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine - the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986. The concrete and steel arch is designed to prevent further radioactive material leaking out over the next century.

Lufthansa pilots´ strike continues

The pilots´ strike at the German airline Lufthansa is continuing today with nearly 900 flights and 100,000 passengers affected. The European Commission has warned of the high costs of the industrial action and has appealed to both sides in the pay dispute to settle their differences.

The weather

Some sunshine in the south and west, but increasingly cloudy in the north. Top Temperatures today from 0 to plus 8.

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