WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 1800 GMT, November 15, 2018 to 0800 GMT, November 16, 2018.

Syria civilian deaths

At least 23 civilians are killed in fresh airstrikes by US-led coalition warplanes in Dayr al-Zawr countryside in eastern Syria. Several homes were also destroyed when fighter jets targeted residential neighborhoods there. The attacks came less than 24 hours after US-led forces conducted another airstrike in Dayr al-Zawr, using banned weapons. The planes dropped cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods, leaving a number of casualties. Washington claims the aerial attacks target the Daesh terrorist group’s positions in Syria. The air raids, however, have mostly killed civilians.

Gulen extradition to Turkey

The US government is reportedly looking for ways to expel a Turkish opposition figure from America to persuade Ankara to ease political pressure on Saudi Arabia over the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The revelation was leaked by NBC News which cited four sources including two senior US officials. According to the report, one of the options is to relocate Fethullah Gulen to South Africa if his extradition to Turkey is not possible. The Turkish government has long demanded that the US extradite the cleric. It accuses Gulen of masterminding the failed 2016 coup, a charge he has denied. Ankara has ramped up pressure on Riyadh after Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month.

Brexit battle in Britain

The British prime minister vows to resist a leadership challenge as the resignations of four ministers over her Brexit plan have thrown her government into turmoil. Theresa May admitted that leaving the European Union after nearly 40 years has serious consequences for Britain. She said her proposed package is in the interest of all Britons. She underlined that delivering the result of the 2016 referendum requires making difficult and uncomfortable decisions. May also criticized those who oppose her Brexit draft, saying none of them has produced alternatives to her proposed EU agreement. The UK premier ruled out the possibility of holding a second Brexit referendum. However, hundreds of people have demonstrated outside the parliament in London to demand a second vote on Britain’s exit from the bloc.

US starvation threat

Iran has once again slammed the US for threatening to starve the Iranian people. Iran’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Es'haq Al-e Habib said using medicine and food as a weapon against civilians is a crime against humanity. Earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif adopted a similar stance saying the Islamic Republic will survive and even advance despite Washington’s sanctions. On Saturday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tehran must listen to Washington if it wants Iranian people to eat. The US has re-imposed sanctions against Iran which had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. President Donald Trump pulled out of the international agreement in May.

US troops deployment

The US Department of Defense says the number of American troops at the border with Mexico has peaked at some 5900. The Pentagon added that it may begin sending forces home or perhaps shifting some to new border positions. The troops have been deployed as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on large numbers of migrants who are on their way toward the frontier in caravans. Hundreds of these asylum seekers have so far arrived at the US border. Under a new executive order issued by Trump, such migrants will not be allowed to apply for asylum, and face automatic deportation.

US hate crimes charge

A US grand jury has charged a white man with three hate crimes over the fatal shooting of two black men and the attempted murder of a third victim. Gregory Bush is charged with shooting and killing two shoppers at a Kentucky supermarket in October and shooting at a third for their race and color. The 51-year-old allegedly tried, but failed to enter a nearby black church, just minutes before the supermarket attack. He also spared a white bystander, saying whites don't kill whites. Bush is facing a maximum penalty of life in prison or death, but the Justice Department said it would determine later whether to seek capital punishment. Many blame the US president's heated rhetoric for a toxic atmosphere encouraging hate crimes.

Khmer leaders committed genocide

A UN-backed international tribunal finds two surviving leaders of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge guilty of genocide and sentences them to life in prison. The tribunal convicted Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan in a trial for crimes against the country’s Muslim minority and ethnic Vietnamese. This is a landmark verdict and the first official acknowledgement that what the Khmer Rouge regime did was genocide. Between 1975 and 1979, some two million people were killed under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Many of the victims were succumbed to starvation and overwork as enemies of the state. Chea and Samphan are already serving life sentences for crimes against humanity they were found guilty back in 2014.

North Korea ‘test’

North Korea has reportedly tested a newly developed high-tech tactical weapon in a move that may raise temperature over denuclearization talks. Reports say North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un personally inspected the testing of the ultramodern weapon at the Academy of National Defense Science. The test is said to be successful. The state media, however, do not specify the type of the device involved but said the weapon strengthens the fighting power of the army. Meanwhile, the US State Department says it remains confident about denuclearization promises made during a summit between the US president and the North’s leader in Singapore last June. The new testing would cast grave doubts over the future of the talks with the US.

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