WATCH PRESS TV NEWS HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 18:00 GMT, January 7, 2018 to 08:00 GMT, January 8, 2018.

Hitting Saudi warplanes

Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters have hit a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over the country’s skies with a surface-to-air missile. Yemeni media say the plane was targeted while flying over Sana’a. Earlier, the Ansarullah movement announced that it had shot down a Saudi warplane in Sa’ada province. The movement noted that the fighter jet was a British-made Tornado. Saudi media, however, said the warplane crashed due to a technical fault while conducting military operations. Riyadh said the two crew members were rescued unharmed and returned to Saudi Arabia.

Syria army gains

The Syrian army and its allied forces are continuing to purge foreign-backed militants from the war-ravaged country. Government forces managed to break the terrorists’ siege on an army base in Syria's Eastern Ghouta. They also rescued the injured Syrian troops who were trapped inside the base. Elsewhere in Idlib province, the Syrian army, backed by Russian air cover, took control of Sinjar town and several villages. A British-based monitoring group says over the past two weeks, government forces have liberated nearly 60 villages during operations to clear the remnants of terrorists. The so-called Syrian observatory for Human Rights says the intense fighting in Idlib has also forced more than 60-thousand people to leave their homes.

Trump mental health

The US president has attacked the book Fire and Fury, which gives a deeply critical account of Donald Trump questioning his fitness for office. In a tweet, Trump branded the instant bestseller as a Fake Book, written by a totally discredited author. Trump and his aides have dismissed the unflattering portrayal of the president by author Michael Wolff. The book, which extensively quotes former top Trump adviser Steve Bannon, portrays the president as disengaged, ill-informed and unstable, with signs of serious memory loss. In an interview with CNN, Senior Trump policy adviser Stephen Miller called the book garbage and insisted that his boss is a political genius.

Israeli ‘land grab’

Israel is going ahead with the construction of a separation wall near Ramallah that surrounds the settlement of Beit El. Palestinians have slammed the move, warning that it is aimed at keeping the Israeli grip on Palestinian lands and make people’s lives intolerable. Our correspondent Mona Kandil reports.

Iran: Daesh resurgence must be prevented

Iran’s foreign minister calls for eradicating financial and ideological origins of extremist groups to prevent the resurgence of Daesh. Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks as he addressed the opening ceremony of the Tehran Security Conference in the Iranian capital. The top Iranian diplomat said Daesh and similar terror groups have set up extensive networks in different countries and for the same reason they are still considered grave threats. He said it's upon regional countries to understand the principles of collective security as the only means to curb the spread of extremism. Zarif also expressed hope that the conference would address emerging challenges and trends in Western Asia. More than two-hundred politicians and analysts from Iran and abroad have taken part in the event which is the second in less than two months.

Inter-Korean talks

South Korea seeks to put the issue of family reunions high on the agenda of the inter-Korean talks set to start on Tuesday. Baik added that Seoul is expected to discuss with Pyongyang a host of military issues as well as ways to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The two Koreas agreed last week to hold their first official dialog in more than two years. The rapprochement comes after North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un said in his New Year address that the country is willing to send a team to the Winter Olympics in Pyeong-chang. Seoul responded with an offer of talks. The US has said that Washington may join the process at a later stage only if the talks go beyond the Olympics issue.

Chaos at JFK

In the US, snowstorm and freezing temperatures have brought chaos to New York’s John F. Kennedy international airport. The Breaking of a water main at a terminal on Sunday caused the whole area to become flooded, leading to suspension of international flights. Water poured from the ceiling and the arrivals area was submerged by standing water. More than 100 million people living in the country’s East Coast have been affected by the severe weather. The two cities of New York and Philadelphia suffered a minus thirteen Celsius cold on Saturday. In Mount Washington, freezing winds at more than 140 kilometer per hour caused a massive temperature drop.

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