WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 18:00 GMT, April 18, 2017 to 08:00 GMT, April 19, 2017.

Iran nuclear deal

Iran has said it is ready to deal with any possible scenario regarding the fate of the nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 group of countries. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Washington’s possible withdrawal from the agreement, also known as JCPOA, will be met with a firm and appropriate response. Araqchi added that Iran will never allow its interests to be harmed by Washington. The Iranian diplomat stressed that the world will witness how Tehran is able to reactivate its capacities and upgrade them to a much higher level. The remarks come as the US president has repeatedly described the JCPOA as bad deal. Donald Trump has threatened that May 12 will be the last time he waives sanctions against Iran unless the accord is “fixed”.

Yemen retaliation

Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters have launched yet another retaliatory ballistic missile attack against Saudi Arabia. The missile targeted the airport of the kingdom’s southern Jizan province. This came hours after another missile attack which targeted Jizan’s power facility. The attacks are in response to Saudi Arabia’s aggression against Yemen. Over 14,000 Yemenis have been killed and millions of others have been displaced since the start of the aggression in March 2015. The Saudi war is also to blame for a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Spy poisoning row

Russia says the global chemical weapons watchdog’s report about the alleged poisoning of an ex-double agent in the UK does nothing to help London's claims of Russia's involvement. Speaking at the UN Security Council, Nebenzia said the OPCW's report confirms the substance used in the alleged attack could be produced in any laboratory. He also said London has deliberately destroyed vital evidence in the case. Earlier, during an emergency session of the OPCW in The Hague, the British representative accused Russia of breaking the two-decade international ban on chemical weapons. London claims the substance used to poison ex-spy Sergey Skripal in March is known as Novichok and was produced by the Soviet Union. Moscow accuses Britain of staging the attack to provoke anti-Russia sentiments.

Puerto Rico power crisis

A power line failure in southern Puerto Rico has left over three million people without electricity. Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority says technical personnel are working to determine the cause of the outage. It said power will be restored within 24 to 36 hours. The Puerto Rican power utility has been dealing with multiple operational and political problems since Hurricane Marina swept across the US territory in September 2017. The region has suffered several blackouts since then.

Facebook data breach

Facebook’s Chief Executive has come under pressure from EU lawmakers to come to Europe and answer questions about the social network’s data breach. The European lawmakers criticized Mark Zuckerberg for ignoring the most basic data protection rules. They noted that Facebook is responsible regarding its users worldwide including its three million users in Europe. Zuckerberg fielded questions from nearly 100 US lawmakers last week. Facebook has been under fire after personal information of nearly 87 million users ended up in the hands of a British political consultancy that was hired by US President Donald Trump for his 2016 election campaign.

US-North Korea talks

The US president has expressed pessimism about a possible diplomatic thaw with Pyongyang ahead of his planned summit with North Korea’s leader. Trump was addressing a news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He raised the possibility that the yet-to-be-scheduled summit with Kim Jong-un might be called off because of lack of agreement over an agenda or because it might not be successful. The US president, however, outlined some of the parameters of the talks. He said he will seek the release of three American hostages and an agreement in which North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons. Washington currently does not have diplomatic relations with the North, although the two sides were in high-level contacts in the past. Trump has also confirmed that CIA director Mike Pompeo recently met with the North Korean leader.

China warns US

China has warned the US not to underestimate Beijing’s resolve to fight back when it comes to the trade war between the two countries. The Chinese commerce ministry says Beijing is ready to deal with any fallout from the trade dispute with the US. Commerce Ministry Spokesman, Gao Feng says the US would be making a miscalculation if it tries to prevent China's rise. The world’s two leading economies are locked in a trade war after Washington imposed tariffs on imports, which were directly aimed at China. Since then, Beijing has imposed its own tariffs on US goods.

Catalonia crisis

Catalan Parliament Speaker Roger Torrent has called for dialogue with the Spanish government without any restrictions. Torrent added that new elections are not in Catalonia’s interest while Madrid prevents the region from electing a new president. The Spanish government has urged the Catalan parliament to name new presidential candidates as all other nominees, including former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, are facing rebellion charges. The two sides have been locked in a dispute since Spain's central government imposed direct rule on Catalonia after the region unilaterally declared independence in October.

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