Daily News Brief for Tuesday, May 7th:

*)Reuters journalists freed from Myanmar prison

Two Reuters journalists in Myanmar who were jailed for reporting on security forces’ abuses of Rohingya Muslims have been pardoned and released after 511 days behind bars.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo (Chow So Oo), 28, were among 6,520 inmates released under a third round of pardons by President Win Myint to celebrate the traditional New Year.

The pair was arrested in December 2017 and later sentenced to seven years in jail in September 2018.

*)US AG faces contempt vote in Congress over Mueller report

US House Democrats will hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to produce a full, unredacted special counsel's report on the Russian election interference.

Shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was presented to the Department of Justice, Barr said US President Donald Trump was cleared of conspiring with Russia as well as obstruction of justice.

But Democrats accuse Barr of trying to protect Trump by refusing to present the full report or underlying evidence to Congress.

*) All directly involved in Easter Sunday attacks dead or arrested – Sri Lanka police

All those directly involved in the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka are either dead or under arrest. This is according to the acting police chief.

The bombings killed 257 people and wounded hundreds at three churches and three hotels.

Sri Lankan police detained 73 suspects since the bombings and have seized stocks of explosives as well as other assets connected to the attacks.

*)Turkey’s election body orders mayoral poll rerun in Istanbul

Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) announced the rerun of Istanbul’s mayoral election will be held on June 23.

The council accepted the governing AK Party's objection to results of the March 31 local government elections in Istanbul. Seven members voted in favour and four against.

The mayoral certificate of Ekrem Imamoglu, who is from the main opposition CHP, has also been cancelled. An interim mayor will be appointed for the time being.

*) Nature under siege as a million species face extinction, UN warns

And finally,

A landmark UN report on biodiversity warns humans are driving a million species to the brink of extinction.

Relentless plundering of nature by humans threatens societies “at least as much as climate change,” experts say.

The accelerating pace of extinction – much faster than over the last 10 million years – could tip Earth into the first mass extinction since non-avian dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago.

Experts urge a “transformative change” of how we produce and consume almost everything, especially food.

Daily News Brief for Tuesday, May 7th:

*)Reuters journalists freed from Myanmar prison

Two Reuters journalists in Myanmar who were jailed for reporting on security forces’ abuses of Rohingya Muslims have been pardoned and released after 511 days behind bars.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo (Chow So Oo), 28, were among 6,520 inmates released under a third round of pardons by President Win Myint to celebrate the traditional New Year.

The pair was arrested in December 2017 and later sentenced to seven years in jail in September 2018.

*)US AG faces contempt vote in Congress over Mueller report

US House Democrats will hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to produce a full, unredacted special counsel's report on the Russian election interference.

Shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was presented to the Department of Justice, Barr said US President Donald Trump was cleared of conspiring with Russia as well as obstruction of justice.

But Democrats accuse Barr of trying to protect Trump by refusing to present the full report or underlying evidence to Congress.

*) All directly involved in Easter Sunday attacks dead or arrested – Sri Lanka police

All those directly involved in the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka are either dead or under arrest. This is according to the acting police chief.

The bombings killed 257 people and wounded hundreds at three churches and three hotels.

Sri Lankan police detained 73 suspects since the bombings and have seized stocks of explosives as well as other assets connected to the attacks.

*)Turkey’s election body orders mayoral poll rerun in Istanbul

Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) announced the rerun of Istanbul’s mayoral election will be held on June 23.

The council accepted the governing AK Party's objection to results of the March 31 local government elections in Istanbul. Seven members voted in favour and four against.

The mayoral certificate of Ekrem Imamoglu, who is from the main opposition CHP, has also been cancelled. An interim mayor will be appointed for the time being.

*) Nature under siege as a million species face extinction, UN warns

And finally,

A landmark UN report on biodiversity warns humans are driving a million species to the brink of extinction.

Relentless plundering of nature by humans threatens societies “at least as much as climate change,” experts say.

The accelerating pace of extinction – much faster than over the last 10 million years – could tip Earth into the first mass extinction since non-avian dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago.

Experts urge a “transformative change” of how we produce and consume almost everything, especially food.

Daily News Brief for Tuesday, May 7th:

*)Reuters journalists freed from Myanmar prison

Two Reuters journalists in Myanmar who were jailed for reporting on security forces’ abuses of Rohingya Muslims have been pardoned and released after 511 days behind bars.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo (Chow So Oo), 28, were among 6,520 inmates released under a third round of pardons by President Win Myint to celebrate the traditional New Year.

The pair was arrested in December 2017 and later sentenced to seven years in jail in September 2018.

*)US AG faces contempt vote in Congress over Mueller report

US House Democrats will hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to produce a full, unredacted special counsel's report on the Russian election interference.

Shortly after special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was presented to the Department of Justice, Barr said US President Donald Trump was cleared of conspiring with Russia as well as obstruction of justice.

But Democrats accuse Barr of trying to protect Trump by refusing to present the full report or underlying evidence to Congress.

*) All directly involved in Easter Sunday attacks dead or arrested – Sri Lanka police

All those directly involved in the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka are either dead or under arrest. This is according to the acting police chief.

The bombings killed 257 people and wounded hundreds at three churches and three hotels.

Sri Lankan police detained 73 suspects since the bombings and have seized stocks of explosives as well as other assets connected to the attacks.

*)Turkey’s election body orders mayoral poll rerun in Istanbul

Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) announced the rerun of Istanbul’s mayoral election will be held on June 23.

The council accepted the governing AK Party's objection to results of the March 31 local government elections in Istanbul. Seven members voted in favour and four against.

The mayoral certificate of Ekrem Imamoglu, who is from the main opposition CHP, has also been cancelled. An interim mayor will be appointed for the time being.

*) Nature under siege as a million species face extinction, UN warns

And finally,

A landmark UN report on biodiversity warns humans are driving a million species to the brink of extinction.

Relentless plundering of nature by humans threatens societies “at least as much as climate change,” experts say.

The accelerating pace of extinction – much faster than over the last 10 million years – could tip Earth into the first mass extinction since non-avian dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago.

Experts urge a “transformative change” of how we produce and consume almost everything, especially food.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Gaza was quiet this morning, and Muslims begin Ramadan.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Monday, May 6th.

Ceasefire takes hold in Gaza

Gaza was relatively quiet Monday morning after Israeli air strikes.

At least 25 Palestinians and 4 Israelis have been killed since fighting flared over the weekend.

Some 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza, which is suffering under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade.

Russian plane crash leaves 41 dead

At least 41 people died when a Russian passenger plane caught fire during an emergency landing in Moscow.

The Sukhoi Superjet took off from Sheremetyevo airport but circled back after reporting trouble. There were 78 people on board.

Authorities are investigating the incident.

Voting begins in the fifth phase of India elections

Voting is underway for the fifth phase of general elections in India.

In this phase, people in 7 states are voting for 51 parliamentary constituencies.

Some 900 million people are eligible to vote in the seven-stage election. Counting begins on May 23rd.

Cortizo declared winner of Panama presidential vote

In Panama, Laurentino Cortizo has been declared the winner of Sunday's presidential election.

The second-place candidate, Romulo Roux, has not yet conceded.

The fasting month of Ramadan begins

And finally,

The fasting month of Ramadan begins today for many Muslims around the world.

That includes in Turkey.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a time to reset the mind, body and soul.

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Gaza was quiet this morning, and Muslims begin Ramadan.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Monday, May 6th.

Ceasefire takes hold in Gaza

Gaza was relatively quiet Monday morning after Israeli air strikes.

At least 25 Palestinians and 4 Israelis have been killed since fighting flared over the weekend.

Some 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza, which is suffering under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade.

Russian plane crash leaves 41 dead

At least 41 people died when a Russian passenger plane caught fire during an emergency landing in Moscow.

The Sukhoi Superjet took off from Sheremetyevo airport but circled back after reporting trouble. There were 78 people on board.

Authorities are investigating the incident.

Voting begins in the fifth phase of India elections

Voting is underway for the fifth phase of general elections in India.

In this phase, people in 7 states are voting for 51 parliamentary constituencies.

Some 900 million people are eligible to vote in the seven-stage election. Counting begins on May 23rd.

Cortizo declared winner of Panama presidential vote

In Panama, Laurentino Cortizo has been declared the winner of Sunday's presidential election.

The second-place candidate, Romulo Roux, has not yet conceded.

The fasting month of Ramadan begins

And finally,

The fasting month of Ramadan begins today for many Muslims around the world.

That includes in Turkey.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a time to reset the mind, body and soul.

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.

Monday, May 6, 2019

Gaza was quiet this morning, and Muslims begin Ramadan.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Monday, May 6th.

Ceasefire takes hold in Gaza

Gaza was relatively quiet Monday morning after Israeli air strikes.

At least 25 Palestinians and 4 Israelis have been killed since fighting flared over the weekend.

Some 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza, which is suffering under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade.

Russian plane crash leaves 41 dead

At least 41 people died when a Russian passenger plane caught fire during an emergency landing in Moscow.

The Sukhoi Superjet took off from Sheremetyevo airport but circled back after reporting trouble. There were 78 people on board.

Authorities are investigating the incident.

Voting begins in the fifth phase of India elections

Voting is underway for the fifth phase of general elections in India.

In this phase, people in 7 states are voting for 51 parliamentary constituencies.

Some 900 million people are eligible to vote in the seven-stage election. Counting begins on May 23rd.

Cortizo declared winner of Panama presidential vote

In Panama, Laurentino Cortizo has been declared the winner of Sunday's presidential election.

The second-place candidate, Romulo Roux, has not yet conceded.

The fasting month of Ramadan begins

And finally,

The fasting month of Ramadan begins today for many Muslims around the world.

That includes in Turkey.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a time to reset the mind, body and soul.

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.

Friday, May 3, 2019

Venezuela orders the arrest of one of the coup leaders, and Facebook cracks down on hate speech.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Friday, May 3rd.

Opposition's Lopez hides in Spanish ambassador's residence

Venezuela’s top court has ordered the arrest of opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez.

Lopez stood beside Juan Guaido when he launched his coup attempt on Tuesday.

Lopez is now hiding in the Spanish ambassador's residence in the capital, Caracas.

Turkey says it will be hard to replace Iranian oil

Turkey's foreign minister says, "It does not seem possible for us to diversify the sources of the oil we import in a short time."

Mevlut Cavusoglu was speaking on Thursday as a US waiver on the import of Iran's oil expired.

Tehran is one of the most important suppliers of oil to Turkey.

Ankara wants Washington to review the decision to end the waivers.

Regime continues to attack Syrian de-escalation zone

Russian and Syrian forces hit a de-escalation zone in the northwest overnight according to the White Helmets.

At least eight civilians were killed in the assault on the region which is still in the hands of rebels and the opposition.

Russia and Turkey agreed to demilitarise the area last year in a bid to de-escalate the violence.

Monster cyclone smashes into eastern India

Cyclone Fani slammed into India on Friday, tearing down trees, blowing away food stands and cutting off power and water.

It's one of the biggest storms to come off the Indian Ocean in recent years.

Facebook bans extremists in crackdown on hate speech

And finally,

Facebook says it's banning people like Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer and Paul Joseph Watson from its platforms.

They're all extremists who specialise in hate speech.

Facebook is also banning Louis Farrakhan, who preaches black separatism and has called Jews "termites."

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.

Friday, May 3, 2019

Venezuela orders the arrest of one of the coup leaders, and Facebook cracks down on hate speech.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Friday, May 3rd.

Opposition's Lopez hides in Spanish ambassador's residence

Venezuela’s top court has ordered the arrest of opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez.

Lopez stood beside Juan Guaido when he launched his coup attempt on Tuesday.

Lopez is now hiding in the Spanish ambassador's residence in the capital, Caracas.

Turkey says it will be hard to replace Iranian oil

Turkey's foreign minister says, "It does not seem possible for us to diversify the sources of the oil we import in a short time."

Mevlut Cavusoglu was speaking on Thursday as a US waiver on the import of Iran's oil expired.

Tehran is one of the most important suppliers of oil to Turkey.

Ankara wants Washington to review the decision to end the waivers.

Regime continues to attack Syrian de-escalation zone

Russian and Syrian forces hit a de-escalation zone in the northwest overnight according to the White Helmets.

At least eight civilians were killed in the assault on the region which is still in the hands of rebels and the opposition.

Russia and Turkey agreed to demilitarise the area last year in a bid to de-escalate the violence.

Monster cyclone smashes into eastern India

Cyclone Fani slammed into India on Friday, tearing down trees, blowing away food stands and cutting off power and water.

It's one of the biggest storms to come off the Indian Ocean in recent years.

Facebook bans extremists in crackdown on hate speech

And finally,

Facebook says it's banning people like Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer and Paul Joseph Watson from its platforms.

They're all extremists who specialise in hate speech.

Facebook is also banning Louis Farrakhan, who preaches black separatism and has called Jews "termites."

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.

Friday, May 3, 2019

Venezuela orders the arrest of one of the coup leaders, and Facebook cracks down on hate speech.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Friday, May 3rd.

Opposition's Lopez hides in Spanish ambassador's residence

Venezuela’s top court has ordered the arrest of opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez.

Lopez stood beside Juan Guaido when he launched his coup attempt on Tuesday.

Lopez is now hiding in the Spanish ambassador's residence in the capital, Caracas.

Turkey says it will be hard to replace Iranian oil

Turkey's foreign minister says, "It does not seem possible for us to diversify the sources of the oil we import in a short time."

Mevlut Cavusoglu was speaking on Thursday as a US waiver on the import of Iran's oil expired.

Tehran is one of the most important suppliers of oil to Turkey.

Ankara wants Washington to review the decision to end the waivers.

Regime continues to attack Syrian de-escalation zone

Russian and Syrian forces hit a de-escalation zone in the northwest overnight according to the White Helmets.

At least eight civilians were killed in the assault on the region which is still in the hands of rebels and the opposition.

Russia and Turkey agreed to demilitarise the area last year in a bid to de-escalate the violence.

Monster cyclone smashes into eastern India

Cyclone Fani slammed into India on Friday, tearing down trees, blowing away food stands and cutting off power and water.

It's one of the biggest storms to come off the Indian Ocean in recent years.

Facebook bans extremists in crackdown on hate speech

And finally,

Facebook says it's banning people like Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Laura Loomer and Paul Joseph Watson from its platforms.

They're all extremists who specialise in hate speech.

Facebook is also banning Louis Farrakhan, who preaches black separatism and has called Jews "termites."

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Guaido's bid for power appears to fizzle, and another child dies in US custody.

This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Wednesday, May 2nd.

Guaido's coup attempt appears to fizzle

The power grab in Venezuela by Juan Guaido earlier this week appears to be petering out.

President Nicolas Maduro appears to be firmly in control with the backing of the military.

The Trump administration appears to have egg all over its face.

Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks for jumping bail

A British judge has sentenced Julian Assange to 50 weeks in jail for

skipping bail in the UK.

For the WikiLeakers founder, it could get worse fast.

Today, he faces an unrelated hearing that could see him extradited to the US on a computer-hacking charge.

Among the data WikiLeaks dumped was a video of the US military murdering two Reuters journalists in Iraq.

William Barr says 'no thanks' to House questioning

US Attorney General William Barr has been defending his rollout of the Mueller report on the Russian hack of the 2016 US presidential election.

But even Mueller has objected to Barr's soft sell of his report that did not rule out that the president obstructed justice.

Trump is reported to be happy with Barr.

UN adds Masood Azhar to 'global terror' list

The UN has declared Masood Azhar a global terrorist.

The Security Council backed the US-sponsored move after China withdrew its opposition.

Azhar is head of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

JeM claimed a suicide attack in India-administered Kashmir in February that killed 44 Indian paramilitary police.

16-year-old migrant boy dies in US custody

And finally,

A 16-year-old boy trying to migrate to the US has died in custody.

He died at a hospital in Texas after he was caught after he crossed the border.

He was the third child to die in US custody since Trump ramped up his attacks on refugees and immigrants.

And that’s your daily news brief from TRT World ... For more, head to TRTWorld.com.