WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV Newsroom's headlines from 09:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT, January 29, 2017.

Yemen clashes

In war-torn Yemen, deadly clashes continue between armed groups loyal to Saudi Arabia and forces supported by the United Arab Emirates in the port city of Aden. Local sources say the UAE-allied forces, who have long demanded independence for southern Yemen, have sent reinforcements from the provinces of Ma’rib and Abyan. Witnesses have reported overnight clashes between the forces once united with foreign powers in their battle against Yemen’s army and Ansarullah fighters. Clashes erupted on Sunday and have so far claimed 15 lives and injured over 130 people. Aden is currently under the control of forces loyal to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a war on Yemen back in March 2015 in an attempt to bring Hadi to power. The onslaught has claimed over 13,700 lives.

Us Syria military presence  

The commander of the United States Central Command says American troops will not withdraw from the strategically important city of Manbij in northern Syria. Despite calls from Turkey, General Joseph Votel says withdrawing forces from Manbij is not something the US is looking into. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has called on the US to withdraw from Manbij and end its support for Syria’s Kurdish militants known as the YPG. Turkey launched an offensive against the Syrian Kurdish militants last Saturday. The onslaught has strained ties between Turkey and the US, with Ankara accusing Washington of supporting the YPG. Syria has condemned both the Turkish operation and the US military presence on its soil, describing both countries as invaders.

Kabul attack

A group of armed assailants have attacked an army outpost in the western outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul. A Defense Ministry official said several gunmen launched a pre-dawn attack on an outpost near the well-defended Marshal Fahim military academy. He added that at least eleven soldiers have been killed and many others wounded in the assault. The official also announced the end of fighting, saying one gunman was arrested while the rest of them were killed. Daesh terrorists have claimed responsibility for the assault. This comes two days after a Taliban bomb attack killed over 100 people and wounded many more in Kabul.

Syria peace talks

A new round of peace talks over the Syria crisis is beginning in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will attend the negotiations. Russian media say he will head a new constitutional commission that will be set up at the peace conference. Syria’s foreign-backed main opposition and Kurdish groups have boycotted the meetings. The two-day talks are sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey. This comes after the last round of UN-backed peace dialogue which was held in the Austrian capital, Vienna, last week. The UN talks have so far failed to yield any concrete results.

Bahrain court ruling

A Bahraini court has upheld a suspended one-year jail term and revocation of the citizenship of top Shia cleric Sheikh Issa Qasim. Bahrain’s Cassation Court issued the ruling on Monday. The jail term was given to the cleric last year after he was convicted of illegal collection of funds and money laundering. Bahraini authorities also stripped Sheikh Issa Qasim of his citizenship in 2016. Meanwhile, the Cassation Court upheld the death sentence handed to a political activist. Maher al-Khabaz had been convicted of being involved in the killing of a police officer. The activist had also been subjected to months of torture in the Al-Khalifah prisons. Manama has been clamping down on any sign of dissent since a popular uprising began in 2011. The crackdown has left scores of people dead.

EU-US trade showdown  

The European Union has expressed constant readiness to counter US President Donald Trump’s threat to wage a trade war on the bloc. The 28-member bloc also stressed that trade must be fair, open and rule-based. This, after Trump slammed the bloc’s trade policies as “very unfair”. He has also criticized the EU for paying very little in tax for the products it exports to the US. Last week, Trump demanded tougher trade rules and signed into law 30 percent tariffs on imports. The US president has repeatedly blamed unfair trade deals and abusive practices for the massive trade deficit and the loss of high-paying factory jobs in his country.

Plight of Rohingya Muslims

The United Nations has expressed concern over the condition of Rohingya refugees huddled in squalid, muddy camps of Bangladesh. A UN humanitarian report says more than 100,000 Rohingya will be in grave danger from landslides when the monsoon season begins. There are more than 900,000 Rohingya in the Cox's Bazar area of Bangladesh. Nearly 700,000 of them have crossed the border into Bangladesh following Myanmar's bloody crackdown on the ethnic Muslim minority since last August. Aid workers say the camps sheltering the new arrivals are completely inadequate. According to the UN report, the lack of space has turned the site highly congested, leading to extremely hard living conditions. The World Health Organization has already warned about the risk of disease spread as the number of diphtheria and cholera escalate in the refugee camps.

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