News in English

8. April 2017, 21:58

Rocket attacks near Damascus

Syria is accusing Israel of firing rockets from warplanes which hit a military airport near Damascus early this morning. Israel has not confirmed nor denied that it carried out the attack.

Iraqi army advances inside Mosul

Staying in the Middle East, the battle for the city of Mosul in northern Iraq continues. Iraqi special forces have captured a second bridge which links the city’s eastern and western neighbourhoods. They have also entered the complex housing Mosul University. The western part of the city is still being held by fighters loyal to the Islamic State. Iraqi journalist Ahmed Maher calls it a significant event: “The Iraqi forces after more than three months of launching this operation are now in the heart of the city. So now they are controlling between 90 and 95 percent of the whole eastern side of the city.”

UN chief optimistic on Cyprus agreement

United Nations talks in Geneva aimed at re-unifying the island of Cyprus have been suspended to allow diplomats to work out a final deal. The island has been divided into Greek and Turkish parts since 1974. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres: “We made important progress, but there is still a lot of work to be done. We are now going to be working at deputies’ level and I’m confident to make this the last effort to come to a solution.”

CIA nominee sees Russian meddling in US election

In the United States, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency has contradicted Trump on the subject of Russian cyber attacks during the US presidential campaign. Trump has cast doubt on such reports, but Mike Pompeo says he believes the Kremlin did try to influence the outcome of the election: “It’s pretty clear about what took place here, about Russian involvement in efforts to hack information and to have an impact on American democracy.”

France to host Mideast summit

France is hosting more than 70 countries on Sunday at a Mideast peace summit. The conference will urge Israel and the Palestinians to re-state their commitment to a two-state solution.

VW managers told to avoid travel US

In Germany, senior managers at Volkswagen have been warned not to travel to the United States after six current and former managers were indicted in the scandal surrounding the carmaker’s diesel test-cheating scandal. One of the six indicted, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested last week in Miami.

Journalist Ari Rath dies at 92

The prominent Israeli-Austrian journalist Ari Rath has died in Vienna at the age of 1992. He was forced to flee Austria for Palestine after the Nazi takeover in 1938. He was the chief editor of the Jerusalem Post from 1975 to 1989 during which the newspaper called for a peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict.

The weather

A chance of some sun this afternoon close to the Czech border, but overall it will remain mostly cloudy with scattered rain and snowfall. Highs today are ranging minus 3 to plus 6 degrees.

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