WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV Newsroom's headlines from 0900 GMT to 1700 GMT, March 11, 2019.

Iran-Iraq ties

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called for expansion of bilateral ties with Iraq. Rouhani made the comment in a joint press conference with Iraqi President Barham Salih in Baghdad. He said Tehran and Baghdad have the potential and necessary capacity to increase their relations in all sectors. Rouhani said the Islamic Republic considers Iraq a very important country whose peace and stability is essential for the stability of the region. Rouhani said both countries have faced the issue of terrorism in the past several years. For his part, Iraqi President Barham Salih hailed Iran’s support in fighting Daesh. He described Rouhani’s trip as very important and called for closer bilateral security cooperation.

Plight of Rohingya

A UN rights investigator has called on the Security Council to refer Myanmar to the international criminal court over its atrocities against ethnic Rohingya Muslims. The call came from Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on Myanmar. Lee told the Geneva-based human rights council that up to 10,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since last November due to continued violence and lack of humanitarian aid. She also expressed concern about Bangladesh’s plan to relocate thousands of Rohingya refugees from Cox's Bazaar to Bhashan Char Island. Bangladesh is currently hosting more than one million Rohingya who have fled Myanmar’s deadly army crackdown and persecution since 2017. A UN fact-finding mission last year said the military campaign was orchestrated with genocidal intent. Myanmar has consistently denied the accusations of murder, rape and other abuses committed by its forces.

Brexit uncertainty

Downing Street says Brexit negotiations with the EU remain deadlocked just a day before a crucial parliamentary vote on the withdrawal deal. Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Sunday night after a weekend of negotiations failed to achieve a breakthrough. Talks will resume on Monday morning with the aim of securing changes to the deal before Tuesday's vote. Meanwhile, senior conservative lawmakers have called on May to cancel the parliamentary vote because she is likely to be badly defeated. Parliament rejected the deal in January, prompting May to return to Brussels to address the so-called Irish backstop, an insurance policy designed to prevent the return of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29.

Boeing shares plummet

Boeing has seen its shares plummet nearly 13 percent after one of its passenger jets crashed in Ethiopia. The company dropped to 379-dollars a share in electronic trading before the opening of Wall Street. If confirmed through normal trading hours, Boeing will have lost 24-billion-dollars in market value in a single session. Meanwhile, Indonesia has joined Ethiopia and China in grounding its fleet of Boeing aircraft. On Sunday, Boeing 737 Max-8 belonging to an Ethiopian airline crashed. The plane came down six minutes after taking off from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The incident killed all 157 people on board.

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