Hungary to extend border fence to Romania
One of the main routes used by refugees to reach the safety of the European Union was shut on Tuesday as Hungary closed its border. It finished fortifying a border fence and blocked off a pathway that has brought over 160,000 people into northern Europe since the start of the year. The government also declared a state of emergency in two of its southern counties bordering Serbia, a measure that paves the way for the deployment of the army to assist police with border patrol and migrant-related duties, a spokesman said. Shortly after midnight, about 100 people, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, were turned back from the legal land crossing in Horgos, on the border between Serbia and Hungary.
Germany says EU states must face pressure to take refugees
The European Union must consider putting financial pressure on member states that are unwilling to take in their share of asylum seekers, Germany's interior minister said on Tuesday. In a veiled threat to eastern European states that have resisted EU plans on sharing refugees, Thomas de Maiziere said these were the same countries that received development funding from the bloc. He said he was sticking to his forecast that 800,000 refugees would arrive in Germany this year, despite some senior politicians saying there could be as many as one million new arrivals.
Blasts in Nepal churches
Blasts in Nepalese churches and a police station were reported in Nepal on Monday night, hours after the constituent assembly drafting a new constitution rejected a proposal to declare the country a Hindu state. Police said no one was wounded in the low-intensity blasts around midnight at two churches in the far-eastern Jhapa district but a policeman was in grave condition after a bomb brought from another church exploded at a police station. Pamphlets belonging to an organisation called Hindu Morcha Nepal were found at the churches, said reports quoting local officials.
North Korea restarts nuclear site
North Korea said on Tuesday that it has revamped and restarted its Yongbyon nuclear facility. Pyongyang was ready to face US hostility with nuclear weapons any time, the country’s state media reported. North Korea was enhancing its nuclear weapons in quality and quantity, Korean agencies reported. Yongbyon's reactor was closed in 2007 but the country vowed to restart it in 2013, following its third nuclear test. The reactor has reportedly been the source of plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
Yemen troops press towards rebel-held Sanaa
Saudi-backed loyalist forces in Yemen pressed an offensive against Shiite Houthi rebels on Tuesday, day two of a major campaign aimed at retaking the capital a year after its fall. Fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi launched their much-anticipated attack against the Iranian-backed rebels and their allies in the key province of Marib. The escalation comes as the exiled government backed out of a proposed new round of United Nations-brokered peace talks, insisting that rebels should withdraw from captured territory.
Charlie Hebdo stirs controversy with migrant cartoons
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is courting controversy again by running cartoons deriding the response of Christian European countries to a flood of migrants from mainly Muslim war zones like Syria and Iraq. The magazine became a symbol of freedom of speech after it was the target of a deadly attack by Islamist militants in January for publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad. The latest edition has attracted renewed attention and criticism on social media.
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One of the main routes used by refugees to reach the safety of the European Union was shut on Tuesday as Hungary closed its border. It finished fortifying a border fence and blocked off a pathway that has brought over 160,000 people into northern Europe since the start of the year. The government also declared a state of emergency in two of its southern counties bordering Serbia, a measure that paves the way for the deployment of the army to assist police with border patrol and migrant-related duties, a spokesman said. Shortly after midnight, about 100 people, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, were turned back from the legal land crossing in Horgos, on the border between Serbia and Hungary.
Germany says EU states must face pressure to take refugees
The European Union must consider putting financial pressure on member states that are unwilling to take in their share of asylum seekers, Germany's interior minister said on Tuesday. In a veiled threat to eastern European states that have resisted EU plans on sharing refugees, Thomas de Maiziere said these were the same countries that received development funding from the bloc. He said he was sticking to his forecast that 800,000 refugees would arrive in Germany this year, despite some senior politicians saying there could be as many as one million new arrivals.
Blasts in Nepal churches
Blasts in Nepalese churches and a police station were reported in Nepal on Monday night, hours after the constituent assembly drafting a new constitution rejected a proposal to declare the country a Hindu state. Police said no one was wounded in the low-intensity blasts around midnight at two churches in the far-eastern Jhapa district but a policeman was in grave condition after a bomb brought from another church exploded at a police station. Pamphlets belonging to an organisation called Hindu Morcha Nepal were found at the churches, said reports quoting local officials.
North Korea restarts nuclear site
North Korea said on Tuesday that it has revamped and restarted its Yongbyon nuclear facility. Pyongyang was ready to face US hostility with nuclear weapons any time, the country’s state media reported. North Korea was enhancing its nuclear weapons in quality and quantity, Korean agencies reported. Yongbyon's reactor was closed in 2007 but the country vowed to restart it in 2013, following its third nuclear test. The reactor has reportedly been the source of plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
Yemen troops press towards rebel-held Sanaa
Saudi-backed loyalist forces in Yemen pressed an offensive against Shiite Houthi rebels on Tuesday, day two of a major campaign aimed at retaking the capital a year after its fall. Fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi launched their much-anticipated attack against the Iranian-backed rebels and their allies in the key province of Marib. The escalation comes as the exiled government backed out of a proposed new round of United Nations-brokered peace talks, insisting that rebels should withdraw from captured territory.
Charlie Hebdo stirs controversy with migrant cartoons
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is courting controversy again by running cartoons deriding the response of Christian European countries to a flood of migrants from mainly Muslim war zones like Syria and Iraq. The magazine became a symbol of freedom of speech after it was the target of a deadly attack by Islamist militants in January for publishing cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad. The latest edition has attracted renewed attention and criticism on social media.
