WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 18:00 GMT, June 8, to 08:00 GMT, June 9, 2017.

An Arab crisis in the Persian Gulf

Qatar’s foreign minister says Doha will not give in to pressure from Saudi Arabia and its allies and it will never compromise the independence of the sheikhdom’s foreign policy. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was speaking after Riyadh and several other Persian Gulf states as well as Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. He said Doha had never experienced this type of hostility, even from a hostile country. The top Qatari diplomat warned the dispute is threatening the stability of the entire region. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said diplomacy is still Doha’s preferred option and there would never be a military solution to the problem. He stressed that they can survive forever despite attempts to isolate them. Regarding Iran, the Qatari foreign minister said Tehran has expressed readiness to help Qatar with food. Al Thani added that Iran has also offered to let the sheikhdom use three Iranian ports.

Comey testifies

Former FBI director, James Comey, says he began documenting his meetings with Donald Trump, fearing the president might lie. Comey was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee about his interactions with Trump, before and after the president’s inauguration. The former FBI chief said he took as a direction Trump's remark that he hoped Comey would drop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia. He described the demand as very disturbing. Comey added that he was fired because of a probe into Russia’s alleged interference in last year’s presidential election. He said he has no doubt Moscow interfered with the vote. Last month, Trump set a political firestorm after he sacked the FBI chief citing what he called Comey’s poor performance. A White House spokesperson denounced the remarks against Trump as insulting.

US in Syria

The United States says that one of its warplanes has shot down a pro-government drone in southern Syria. Ryan Dillon says the incident happened near a base in al-Tanf area, where US-led coalition forces are training militants. Damascus and its allies are currently battling militants in the same area. The attack, which further escalates tensions between Washington and Damascus, came just hours after the US bombed pro-government troops outside al-Tanf base. The Syrian government is opposed to the presence of foreign forces on its soil.

Condemning attacks in Tehran

People in Iran including prominent Sunni clerics have reacted to the deadly terrorist attacks that hit the country's capital on Wednesday. They say that such moves have no impact on the resolve of the nation as Iranians do whatever it takes to maintain their country's security and standing in the region.

Several Arab states draw up blacklist of Qataris

Four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia have designated dozens of people with alleged links to Qatar as terrorists intensifying an existing row between the countries. The UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt joined Saudi Arabia in listing 59 people as terrorists. The spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yousef al-Qaradawi is among those listed. Saudi state media also named 12 entities, including several Qatari-funded charities as supporters of terrorists. This follows remarks by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani that Doha will never compromise the independence of the sheikhdom’s foreign policy. The top Qatari diplomat also warned the dispute was threatening the stability of the entire region. He stressed that they could survive forever despite attempts to isolate them.

US strikes kill civilians in Syria

US-led airstrikes have killed over a dozen civilians in Syria. A Syrian opposition monitoring group based in the UK reported that at least 17 civilians were killed in the airstrikes that targeted Raqqah and its surrounding suburbs. US-backed fighters say they are currently engaged in fierce fighting in a bid to capture the city from Daesh. US-led airstrikes have been blamed for many civilian deaths in Syria. Earlier this year, the Pentagon acknowledged that at least 352 civilians had been killed in US airstrikes in Syria over the past three years. Independent sources have put that figure much higher.

Refugees in Uganda

Uganda is struggling to accommodate thousands of South Sudanese refugees who continue to cross into Uganda amid escalating violence in their homeland. Our correspondent Daniel Arapmoi has been speaking to South Sudanese refugees in Pagirinya refugee camp in Uganda’s west Nile district of Adjumani and filed this report.

Iran urges fight on terror

Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations has called on the international community and the UN Security Council to spare no efforts in combating violent extremism. Gholam Ali Khoshroo made the comment in a letter to the President of the UN Security Council, Sacha Llorenty, in the wake of Wednesday’s terrorist attacks in Tehran. He says the attacks happened at a time when the Middle East is going through turbulences and destabilizations, which is the result of exporting radical Takfiri ideology and funding extremist groups. Khoshroo has added that the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs threatened Iran a few hours before the attacks, saying that “Iran must be punished”. The Iranian diplomat has also stressed that the recent arms deal between Saudi Arabia and the US has deteriorated the situation in the region. He has noted that terrorist activities have multiplied following the deal.

Leader condoles with victims of Tehran attacks

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has offered his condolences to the nation, following twin terrorist attacks that hit the capital Tehran on Wednesday. Ayatollah Khamenei said the attacks are a clear sign of the hatred and enmity of arrogant powers towards Iranians and the Islamic Republic. The leader described the assaults as too small to be able to break the will of the nation, saying such moves will only lead to an increased hatred towards American leaders and their regional stooges like Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, gunmen stormed Iran’s Parliament and the Mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, killing at least 17 people. The Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Israeli arrests

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs has said that 57 Palestinians under the age of 18 were detained in May and transferred to Ofer prison. The committee said that the minors were detained during house raids, off the street, and at Israeli military checkpoints. According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, as of May, there were 62 hundred Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli prisons, 3 hundred of whom were minors. The Palestinian Ministry of Information also estimated that some 12 thousand Palestinian children have been detained by Israel since 2000. The ministry added that majority of them were beaten or tortured while in Israeli custody, handcuffed, blindfolded, and forced to confess to charges in the absence of a lawyer or a guardian.

Hung parliament in UK

As ballot counting draws to its end, results from the UK general election show the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Theresa May, has lost its outright majority in the parliament. From the 641 constituencies declared so far, the Conservative and Labour parties have won 311 and 260 seats respectively. Twelve Liberal Democrat lawmakers have also won their constituencies, but the party’s leader and ex-Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has lost his seat. In the north, the Scottish National Party has claimed 35 seats. The SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has described the results as disappointing. The Conservative Party's loss of majority at the Westminster leads to a hung parliament, where the Tories need a coalitional partner to form the government. But calls are growing on Theresa May to resign as the Labour Party gains ground.

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