WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV Newsroom's headlines from 0900 GMT to 1700 GMT, March 20, 2019.

Brexit troubles

British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to ask the European Union for a short delay to Britain’s departure from the bloc. Media reports say that May will write a letter to Brussels for the postponement. British Parliament Leader, Andrea Leadsom, says the delay could be until June. However he says it’s up to the EU to decide the length of the period. Meanwhile, European Commission head, Jean-Claude Juncker says the EU has done much to accommodate Britain over its planned divorce deal. He says there will be no re-negotiations, no new negotiations, and no more guarantees in addition to those already granted.

US Venezuela intervention

The US president has once again threatened Venezuela, saying he is considering all options against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Trump was speaking at a White House meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro who has backed Washington’s campaign against Maduro. The meeting drew a harsh response from Caracas. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry accused the two presidents of forming a neo-fascist alliance against the Latin American country. The ministry said such an alliance will fail to spread hatred and war strategies. Trump has said he could use military force to topple the Venezuelan government. Russia, however, has warned against such intervention and defended Maduro as Venezuelan’s only legitimate leader.

Indonesia floods

Indonesia’s disaster agency says the death toll from flash floods and landslides has reached 104. The agency says dozens more remain missing in the aftermath of the disaster that hit Papua region at the weekend. It says a search operation is underway to find them. Scores of people have also suffered injuries, including cuts and broken bones. Almost ten-thousand people have been evacuated to shelters, with many more expected to join them, amid fears of more floods. Authorities say the evacuees are in urgent need of medical treatment and relief supplies. The government has sent thousands of rescuers to respond to the disaster.

Nuclear war warning

Russia's foreign minister says a limited nuclear war could break out if the United States and other countries do not bring stability on arms control. Sergey Lavrov was speaking at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. He criticized the United States for withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, INF, treaty between Moscow and Washington. He said the US move contributed to an arms race that could have consequences for peace and security. Lavrov said Russia is open to talks on the INF and backs a three-year extension to the treaty. The INF treaty served as a cornerstone of arms control since the Cold War. US President Donald Trump pulled out of the treaty last year.

Palestinian mourning

Relatives of two Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank are mourning their dead. The two were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of Nablus city. According to witnesses, an Israeli military bulldozer hit a car carrying the Palestinians. Then Israeli soldiers engaged them with direct fire. Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian suspected in a recent stabbing and shooting attack in the West Bank. The nineteen-year-old Palestinian was killed in a shootout in Abwein village. The incident came a day after the Palestinian man allegedly stabbed an Israeli soldier near a settlement and shot another Israeli at a nearby junction.

Karadzic life sentence

The United Nations’ judges have increased the sentence of former Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic to life in jail. The judges upheld Karadzic’s 2016 conviction for genocide and war crimes during the 1990s Bosnian war. The Hague-based UN court rejected his appeal and increased his original 40-year sentence to life. The panel of appeals judges said the original trial had underestimated the extreme gravity of Karadzic's responsibility for the crimes. In 2016, Karadzic was found guilty on 10 counts, including orchestrating a nearly four-year siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. He was also found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb troops slaughtered more than 8-thousand Muslim men and boys and buried them in mass graves.

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