WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom’s headlines from 18:00 GMT, July 11, 2017 to 08:00 GMT, July 12, 2017.

US's post-Daesh presence in Iraq

A top US general says Washington and some of its allies want to maintain their military presence in Iraq after the eventual defeat of Daesh.

According to Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the Iraqi government has also expressed an interest in the US-led coalition troops’ stay in the country. Townsend said discussions were in the final decision-making stages. In 2011, Washington completed a long-awaited withdrawal from Iraq, but maintained over 5,000 troops there for so-called training and advising purposes. Townsend said he anticipated the military presence to be smaller in the future and that troops would be housed in existing US facilities.

Qatar blockade

The four Arab countries boycotting Qatar say the sanctions on Doha will not be lifted until their demands are met.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have said in a joint statement that a recent anti-terror agreement between Qatar and the US is insufficient for the lifting of sanctions. The deal was signed after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Doha in an attempt to end the rift between Washington’s Arab allies. The four countries say they will be watching Qatar to see if it is serious in combating terrorism. Also, Egypt says Doha should be excluded from the so-called US-led coalition against Daesh because of its support for terror. The four Arab countries imposed sanctions on Qatar last month, accusing it of funding radical groups. 

Multidimensional misery 

The United Nations aid official to Yemen says the growing cholera epidemic is exacerbating another humanitarian disaster in the country.

Jamie McGoldrick says limited resources designated to Yemen’s famine crisis are being diverted to deal with the cholera outbreak. Speaking in the Jordanian capital Amman, McGoldrick said 500-thousand people were estimated to be facing famine and warned the figure could rise if conditions stayed the same. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the cholera outbreak has now surpassed 300,000 cases. The disease has also killed more than 1,700 people in Yemen, whose health facilities have been destroyed by Saudi Arabia’s war.

Trump kept in the dark?

US President Donald Trump’s eldest son has released a chain of emails indicating he embraced alleged Russian efforts to support his father's presidential campaign.

In the emails posted on Twitter, Donald Trump Junior was told by a publicist that he could get very high-level and sensitive information to incriminate Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Trump’s son purportedly welcomed the offer and set up a meeting with a Russian government attorney. The meeting was reportedly attended by Trump's campaign officials Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner. Meanwhile, the US House Intelligence Committee says it wants Donald Trump Junior to appear before the panel to answer questions about the June 2016 meeting.

EU calls for Iran deal to be respected

International calls are growing on the United States to respect the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in July 2015. EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini reminds Washington that the agreement does not belong to one country. This is while Russia says there is no alternative for the accord and calls on all sides of the deal to respect it. 

Jenin camp clashes

At least two Palestinians have been killed after Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and clashed with the residents.

Israeli soldiers attacked Jenin refugee camp and opened fire on residents on Tuesday night. A Palestinian man was killed immediately, and another succumbed to his wounds on early Wednesday. Several others were also wounded during the overnight raid. The occupied territories have been the scene of growing tensions since 20-15, when Israeli forces imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem al-Quds. Hundreds of Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces ever since.

Fallout from G20 protests

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has aimed sharp barbs at Chancellor Angela Merkel over street riots that marred the G20 summit in Hamburg last week. 

The unusually strong attack comes as Germany’s two major political factions are gearing up for the September federal elections. Gabriel, who is a member of the centre-left Social Democratic Party, has accused Merkel of using the event to promote her own Christian Democratic Union party. He says the chancellor has shown an unseen level of dishonesty and that the summit was a total failure. Merkel’s party members have called for the resignation of Hamburg’s mayor, a politician from Gabriel’s party, over days of violence that saw anarchist mobs torching cars and looting shops. Gabriel has angrily reacted to the call, saying those who demand the mayor step down should also seek Merkel’s resignation.

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