WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 18:00 GMT, August 2, 2017 to 08:00 GMT, August 3, 2017.

Iran presidency endorsement

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is set be validated into office by Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei before he officially starts his second term. Rouhani will receive his validation edict from the Leader at a ceremony in Tehran on Thursday. The swearing-in ceremony for President Rouhani will also be held at Parliament on Saturday. Delegations from about 100 countries, including several heads of state, will attend the inauguration. The ceremony would be unprecedented in Iran’s history in terms of the ranks and the number of foreign dignitaries taking part. Rouhani garnered 57 percent of the votes in May’s presidential election. He was first elected Iran’s president in 2013.

Japan reshuffle

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has named new defense and foreign ministers as part of a cabinet revamp. Abe hopes to stem a decline in public support after a series of scandals. Former defense chief Itsunori Onodera to return to the government as defense minister. Outgoing defense minister Tomomi Inada was forced to resign lately over covering up internal records about risks faced by Japanese peacekeeping troops in South Sudan. Also, son of a former foreign minister Taro Kono will become the country's new foreign minister. Shinzo Abe has pursued a nationalist agenda alongside massive efforts to end years of deflation. He has also tried hard to rejuvenate the economy since he assumed office in 2012.

US shakeup

A top intelligence aide to the US president has been removed from his post as a shakeup continues within Donald Trump’s administration. Ezra Cohen-Watnick served as the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council. The White House says Trump’s national security adviser, General H. R. McMaster appreciated Ezra Cohen's good leadership, saying a different set of experiences is best-suited for him. Cohen-Watnick's new post was not specified. He was one of about a dozen people in the White House with access to a full range of classified information. It is the second major change in the US National Security Council in a week. McMaster also fired Trump’s top Middle East official, Derek Harvey last week.

Refugees return to Mosul

Over 250,000 displaced civilians have returned to the Iraqi city of Mosul after its liberation from Daesh. That’s according to the Iraqi ministry of migration and displacements, which says it is working on returning everyone displaced by the fighting. Many residents have also returned to Western Mosul’s old city which was ravaged recently by the fiercest fighting. According to the International Organization for Migration, around 830,000 people remain displaced by the battle for Mosul. In early July, Baghdad declared victory over Daesh following a nine-month military campaign to liberate what the Takfiri group described as the capital of their so-called caliphate.

Brazil politics

Brazilian lawmakers toss out a corruption charge against scandal-hit President Michel Temer, saving him from becoming the country's second leader in 12 months to be forced from office. The lower house of Congress failed to garner the needed votes to drag Temer before the Supreme Court. He has been accused of accepting millions of dollars in bribes. Temer is the first sitting president to face a criminal charge. The Brazilian president is expected to face at least one more criminal charge in the coming weeks. His predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached last year after being accused of corruption.

Two US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

The Pentagon says two US troops have been killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. The US service members were killed when Taliban militants targeted a NATO convoy in the south of the country. No reports on the number of wounded troops have been released. Taliban spokesman has put the number of casualties at fifteen. There are about 13,000 US and allied troops in Afghanistan. The White House is considering whether to increase forces in the war-torn country. Despite the foreign forces' presence, Afghanistan has been gripped by decades of militancy.

Israel wall

Israel is pushing ahead with the construction of an internationally-criticized barrier around the occupied West Bank. Israeli ministry for military affairs says it has installed more concrete walls, completing a 42-kilometer stretch of the whole project. Tel Aviv is planning to encircle the West Bank with a 712-kilometer network of walls, fences, and closed military roads. According to UN figures, only one-third of the contentious construction is left to be completed. Tel Aviv says it is building the wall to ward off Palestinian attacks. Palestinians see the move a flagrant land grab. In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the construction of the barrier was illegal and demanded it be dismantled.

Russian embassy targeted

The Russian embassy compound in the Syrian capital has come under mortar fire. The Russian foreign ministry has confirmed the attack, saying the mortars were fired from a militant-held position in the region. Two shells crashed inside the Russian diplomatic mission and two others, just outside the fence. No one was hurt but minimal damage was caused to the embassy compound. Back in April, militants fired a barrage of mortar shells and rockets at the Russian embassy but missed their intended target.

Russia US tensions

The Russian prime minister says Washington's new sanctions against Moscow are virtually the same as a full-scale trade war. Dmitry Medvedev also described as utterly powerless the Trump administration. He stressed that the sanctions will dash any hope for better ties between the Kremlin and the White House. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Washington’s policy to take anti-Moscow measures is dangerous. Earlier, US President Donald Trump signed into law the new sanctions which target Russia, Iran and North Korea. On Friday, the US House of Representatives and the Senate approved the legislation against Moscow for its alleged role in the US 2016 presidential election and over Crimea’s reunification with Russia.

Saudi crackdown

Saudi forces have, in their latest attack, killed one person in the Shia-majority town of Awamiyah. Troops targeted a bus carrying residents who were fleeing the town. Fighting between Saudi troops and activists has intensified over the past few days forcing many to take refuge in neighboring cities of Damman and Qatif. Residents accuse the security forces of pushing them out of Awamiyah firing randomly at homes and cars. Houses, shops and businesses have also been burned or ruined in the clashes. Unrest has been on the rise in the town since May when the Saudi military began razing to the ground the old section of Awamiyah in a bid to arrest fugitive anti-government activists. The escalating violence has left several civilians and two security forces dead.

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