Trump on Iran Deal

US President Donald Trump will announce later today whether his administration will pull the US out of the seven-party Iran nuclear deal.

Trump has repeatedly trashed the deal, and threatened to pull the US out, unless it's changed.

The 2015 deal involves Iran, the US, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and China, and lifted some sanctions in exchange for curbs to Tehran's nuclear programme.

Armenia elects new PM

Armenia's parliament has elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country's prime minister.

The key Republican Party provided enough votes to ensure Pashinyan's election, after blocking him a week ago.

Pashinyan has led weeks of opposition protests against what they call ‘Armenia's elite’, whom they blame for the country's troubles.

Russian helicopter crashes in Syria

A Russian helicopter crashed in Syria late on Monday killing both pilots, Moscow's defence ministry says.

The accident is the second in less than a week for the Russian military. On May 3rd, a Russian fighter jet crashed after taking off from an air base, killing both pilots.

The latest incident brings Russia's official military losses in Syria to 88. Moscow is a key ally of regime leader Bashar al Assad.

Child deaths in Afghanistan

The UN says an air raid by the Afghan Air Force last month killed at least 36 people, including 30 children.

The assault on April 2nd targeted a Taliban stronghold in northern Kunduz province. However, the UN says the Afghan military hit a religious gathering attended by hundreds of men and boys.

The UN said Afghan forces sprayed the gathering with rockets and heavy machine gun fire. Over 70 people were wounded, including more than 50 children.

Cannes Film Festival

The most political Cannes Film Festival in years opens today in France.

The annual gathering of the world's cinema elite comes as the industry is dealing with sexual abuse and harassment exposed by the #MeToo movement.

Some female stars are vowing to protest on the red carpet. Two top directors were barred from attending. And some movies are facing bans or backlash.

Trump on Iran Deal

US President Donald Trump will announce later today whether his administration will pull the US out of the seven-party Iran nuclear deal.

Trump has repeatedly trashed the deal, and threatened to pull the US out, unless it's changed.

The 2015 deal involves Iran, the US, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and China, and lifted some sanctions in exchange for curbs to Tehran's nuclear programme.

Armenia elects new PM

Armenia's parliament has elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country's prime minister.

The key Republican Party provided enough votes to ensure Pashinyan's election, after blocking him a week ago.

Pashinyan has led weeks of opposition protests against what they call ‘Armenia's elite’, whom they blame for the country's troubles.

Russian helicopter crashes in Syria

A Russian helicopter crashed in Syria late on Monday killing both pilots, Moscow's defence ministry says.

The accident is the second in less than a week for the Russian military. On May 3rd, a Russian fighter jet crashed after taking off from an air base, killing both pilots.

The latest incident brings Russia's official military losses in Syria to 88. Moscow is a key ally of regime leader Bashar al Assad.

Child deaths in Afghanistan

The UN says an air raid by the Afghan Air Force last month killed at least 36 people, including 30 children.

The assault on April 2nd targeted a Taliban stronghold in northern Kunduz province. However, the UN says the Afghan military hit a religious gathering attended by hundreds of men and boys.

The UN said Afghan forces sprayed the gathering with rockets and heavy machine gun fire. Over 70 people were wounded, including more than 50 children.

Cannes Film Festival

The most political Cannes Film Festival in years opens today in France.

The annual gathering of the world's cinema elite comes as the industry is dealing with sexual abuse and harassment exposed by the #MeToo movement.

Some female stars are vowing to protest on the red carpet. Two top directors were barred from attending. And some movies are facing bans or backlash.

Putin inauguration

Vladimir Putin has been in power since 2000, either as Russia's president or prime minister. On Monday, he starts a fourth term as president, extending his leadership for another six years after he won the March election in a landslide.Anti-Putin protests were held in Russia on the weekend, but the president remains by far the country's most popular politician.

Lebanon elections

The results of Lebanon’s first general election in almost a decade are expected to confirm Hezbollah as the big winner.Unofficial vote counts indicate the Iran-backed group and its political allies won more than half the seats.But analysts say no single alliance in the 128-seat parliament will enjoy a stable majority.They expect a repeat of the current fragile status quo, with incumbent Prime Minister Saad Hariri forming the next government.

India rapes

A 17-year-old in India is battling for her life after being raped, doused in kerosene and set on fire.The teenager was attacked in the same eastern state of Jharkhand as a 16-year-old, who was raped and burned to death.Both crimes were late last week.In neighbouring Odisha state, police arrested six people for the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl on Friday.40,000 rapes were reported in India in 2016, although many more cases are believed to go unreported. Child rape accounts for about 40 percent of the reported cases.

Idlib strikes

Air strikes in Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province killed at least four people on Sunday.A UK-based war monitor says a school and residential buildings were hit.Idlib is the largest remaining territory held by the opposition in Syria.Damascus, backed by Russia, has been targeting it, after recent gains near the capital.The province in northern Syia is one of the "de-escalation zones" that Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to last year as part of the Astana peace process.

Hawaii volcano

At least 26 homes and four other buildings have been destroyed after Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted and spewed lava hundreds of feet into the air.A lull in the eruptions on Sunday allowed residents in the lava path to return home for their pets and some belongings.Scientists have no idea how long the volcano could be active, so we're glad the pets made it out.

Putin inauguration

Vladimir Putin has been in power since 2000, either as Russia's president or prime minister. On Monday, he starts a fourth term as president, extending his leadership for another six years after he won the March election in a landslide.Anti-Putin protests were held in Russia on the weekend, but the president remains by far the country's most popular politician.

Lebanon elections

The results of Lebanon’s first general election in almost a decade are expected to confirm Hezbollah as the big winner.Unofficial vote counts indicate the Iran-backed group and its political allies won more than half the seats.But analysts say no single alliance in the 128-seat parliament will enjoy a stable majority.They expect a repeat of the current fragile status quo, with incumbent Prime Minister Saad Hariri forming the next government.

India rapes

A 17-year-old in India is battling for her life after being raped, doused in kerosene and set on fire.The teenager was attacked in the same eastern state of Jharkhand as a 16-year-old, who was raped and burned to death.Both crimes were late last week.In neighbouring Odisha state, police arrested six people for the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old girl on Friday.40,000 rapes were reported in India in 2016, although many more cases are believed to go unreported. Child rape accounts for about 40 percent of the reported cases.

Idlib strikes

Air strikes in Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province killed at least four people on Sunday.A UK-based war monitor says a school and residential buildings were hit.Idlib is the largest remaining territory held by the opposition in Syria.Damascus, backed by Russia, has been targeting it, after recent gains near the capital.The province in northern Syia is one of the "de-escalation zones" that Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed to last year as part of the Astana peace process.

Hawaii volcano

At least 26 homes and four other buildings have been destroyed after Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted and spewed lava hundreds of feet into the air.A lull in the eruptions on Sunday allowed residents in the lava path to return home for their pets and some belongings.Scientists have no idea how long the volcano could be active, so we're glad the pets made it out.

Presidential candidates

Political parties in Turkey have started announcing their candidates for the June 24 presidential election.

The governing Justice and Development Party and opposition party MHP are fielding President Erdogan as their joint candidate.

The main opposition party CHP has announced Muharrem Ince as its presidential candidate.

Meral Aksener, the head of the IYI Party, will apply as an independent candidate on May 9, and Temel Karamollaoglu is running for the Saadet Party.

The HDP is expected to announce former co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, currently in jail, as its presidential candidate later today.

India storms

Nearly 150 people have died in powerful storms in India this week.

Dust storms in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Punjab killed 121 people, while lightning struck an estimated 40,000 times in southern India, killing another 21 people.

Officials warn the death toll could rise as more extreme weather is expected.

Gaza protests

Israeli troops fired tear gas and live rounds at protesters on the Gaza-Israel border on Friday, on the 6th Friday of an ongoing protest Palestinians are calling "The Great March of Return."

The protests began on March 30 and are set to end on May 15, when Palestinians mark the "Nakba", or Catastrophe, commemorating their displacement in 1948 from today's Israel.

Israeli forces, mainly snipers, have shot dead 43 unarmed demonstrators so far during the protests. No deaths have been reported yet today.

Struggle ends

The Basque separatist group ETA is ending its 50-year campaign for a Basque homeland in the Spanish-French border region.

Over 800 people died in five decades of sometimes violent struggle on both sides of the political and cultural divide. Victims included police, politicians, and ordinary citizens.

The group will formalise its dissolution at an official event in France today. Last month, it apologised to its victims and their relatives.

Prize postponed

And finally...

The Swedish Academy has announced it will not award a Nobel Literature Prize this year. It's the first time in 70 years there hasn't been an award.

The delay follows a developing scandal. The Academy is in turmoil after 18 women accused prominent photographer Jean-Claude Arnault of sexual harassment and assault.

Arnault is married to Academy member and author Katarina Frostenson.

The scandal also involves the leaking of winners' names before they were announced - a problem because punters like to bet on the winners.

The secretive institution says it needs time to heal. It says it will name this year's literature winner next year, when it announces the 2019 laureate.

Presidential candidates

Political parties in Turkey have started announcing their candidates for the June 24 presidential election.

The governing Justice and Development Party and opposition party MHP are fielding President Erdogan as their joint candidate.

The main opposition party CHP has announced Muharrem Ince as its presidential candidate.

Meral Aksener, the head of the IYI Party, will apply as an independent candidate on May 9, and Temel Karamollaoglu is running for the Saadet Party.

The HDP is expected to announce former co-leader Selahattin Demirtas, currently in jail, as its presidential candidate later today.

India storms

Nearly 150 people have died in powerful storms in India this week.

Dust storms in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Punjab killed 121 people, while lightning struck an estimated 40,000 times in southern India, killing another 21 people.

Officials warn the death toll could rise as more extreme weather is expected.

Gaza protests

Israeli troops fired tear gas and live rounds at protesters on the Gaza-Israel border on Friday, on the 6th Friday of an ongoing protest Palestinians are calling "The Great March of Return."

The protests began on March 30 and are set to end on May 15, when Palestinians mark the "Nakba", or Catastrophe, commemorating their displacement in 1948 from today's Israel.

Israeli forces, mainly snipers, have shot dead 43 unarmed demonstrators so far during the protests. No deaths have been reported yet today.

Struggle ends

The Basque separatist group ETA is ending its 50-year campaign for a Basque homeland in the Spanish-French border region.

Over 800 people died in five decades of sometimes violent struggle on both sides of the political and cultural divide. Victims included police, politicians, and ordinary citizens.

The group will formalise its dissolution at an official event in France today. Last month, it apologised to its victims and their relatives.

Prize postponed

And finally...

The Swedish Academy has announced it will not award a Nobel Literature Prize this year. It's the first time in 70 years there hasn't been an award.

The delay follows a developing scandal. The Academy is in turmoil after 18 women accused prominent photographer Jean-Claude Arnault of sexual harassment and assault.

Arnault is married to Academy member and author Katarina Frostenson.

The scandal also involves the leaking of winners' names before they were announced - a problem because punters like to bet on the winners.

The secretive institution says it needs time to heal. It says it will name this year's literature winner next year, when it announces the 2019 laureate.

Nikol Pashinyan

Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan has paused protests as he seeks assurance from the Republican Party that it won't continue to block his bid to become prime minister.

Armenian politics has been paralysed since mid-April over the crisis pitting Pashinyan's populist movement against what they call the 'ruling elites.'

The Republican Party controls parliament. It blocked Pashinyan in the first vote for the top job on Tuesday.

But it's now saying it will back whoever is nominated for the position. So far Pashinyan is the only candidate.

Cambridge Analytica

Cambridge Analytica is shutting down, pleading it's going bankrupt.

The political consultancy mined 87 million user profiles from Facebook. It's suspended CEO later boasted they'd used the harvested data in targeted marketing to deliver the 2016 US presidential election to Donald Trump.

Now Cambridge Analytica looks like it's just going to disappear, although the UK government's investigation of the firm is expected to continue.

Stormy Trump

And on the theme of Trump, Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined the president's legal team, says Trump repaid $130,000 to his lawyer Michael Cohen, that Cohen earlier said he'd paid adult-film star Stormy Daniels, and that the whole affair was entirely legal.

Daniels claimed she had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006. Trump has said he didn't know about any payment, allegedly to buy her silence.

Now, the high-profile Giuliani is saying he did -- and that the president knew about the $130,000 payment and reimbursed Cohen.

The White House has not yet commented.

Elon Musk

Shares of Tesla dipped 5 percent after Chief Executive Elon Musk cut off analysts asking about profit potential, during a conference call.

Tesla posted its 2018 Q1 results on Wednesday, and posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss. However, it also reported record revenues.

The markets briefly slammed the company when Musk tried to turn the conversation away from the economic realities to his grand plans for the future.

But, perhaps as a sign of faith in Musk's vision, Tesla shares ended the day barely changed.

GM 3D

And finally...

and still on cars, General Motors is working with design software company Autodesk to make 3D-printed auto parts.

The ability to print lightweight parts could be a gamechanger for the electric vehicle industry.

Making the cars lighter would extend their range and improve fuel efficiency.

Consumer concern over the relatively high cost of electric technology compared to gasoline has been blocking its adoption in the vehicle industry.

Nikol Pashinyan

Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan has paused protests as he seeks assurance from the Republican Party that it won't continue to block his bid to become prime minister.

Armenian politics has been paralysed since mid-April over the crisis pitting Pashinyan's populist movement against what they call the 'ruling elites.'

The Republican Party controls parliament. It blocked Pashinyan in the first vote for the top job on Tuesday.

But it's now saying it will back whoever is nominated for the position. So far Pashinyan is the only candidate.

Cambridge Analytica

Cambridge Analytica is shutting down, pleading it's going bankrupt.

The political consultancy mined 87 million user profiles from Facebook. It's suspended CEO later boasted they'd used the harvested data in targeted marketing to deliver the 2016 US presidential election to Donald Trump.

Now Cambridge Analytica looks like it's just going to disappear, although the UK government's investigation of the firm is expected to continue.

Stormy Trump

And on the theme of Trump, Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined the president's legal team, says Trump repaid $130,000 to his lawyer Michael Cohen, that Cohen earlier said he'd paid adult-film star Stormy Daniels, and that the whole affair was entirely legal.

Daniels claimed she had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006. Trump has said he didn't know about any payment, allegedly to buy her silence.

Now, the high-profile Giuliani is saying he did -- and that the president knew about the $130,000 payment and reimbursed Cohen.

The White House has not yet commented.

Elon Musk

Shares of Tesla dipped 5 percent after Chief Executive Elon Musk cut off analysts asking about profit potential, during a conference call.

Tesla posted its 2018 Q1 results on Wednesday, and posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss. However, it also reported record revenues.

The markets briefly slammed the company when Musk tried to turn the conversation away from the economic realities to his grand plans for the future.

But, perhaps as a sign of faith in Musk's vision, Tesla shares ended the day barely changed.

GM 3D

And finally...

and still on cars, General Motors is working with design software company Autodesk to make 3D-printed auto parts.

The ability to print lightweight parts could be a gamechanger for the electric vehicle industry.

Making the cars lighter would extend their range and improve fuel efficiency.

Consumer concern over the relatively high cost of electric technology compared to gasoline has been blocking its adoption in the vehicle industry.

Armenia tension

The political crisis in Armenia shows no signs of abating, as protesters take to the streets after parliament blocked opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan from becoming prime minister.

Pashinyan responded to Tuesday's vote with a call for nationwide disobedience.

His supporters responded, with some routes into the capital Yerevan shut down on Wednesday, and a road to the airport closed.

The next steps in this stand-off between the protesters, and their target, the so-called 'ruling elite,' are unclear.

Law 10

Over 12 million Syrians who've fled their homes to escape war, might now lose them.

It's called Law 10. And it gave property owners in Syria and Syrians who've fled abroad just one month to present their title deeds to local council offices, inside the war-torn and divided country.

What's more, the statute says the Assad regime can confiscate any homes that aren't registered under the law.

Critics fear the regime will use law to force millions of refugees into permanent exile.

Mueller-Trump

US media are reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller might subpoena President Donald Trump in his investigation into the Russian hack of the 2016 elections.

The reports follow the leak of a list of questions Mueller apparently has for Trump.

The president said the leak was 'disgraceful' and repeated his mantra that the justice department inquiry is a 'witch-hunt' and there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians.

Facebook dating

And staying with the subject of leaks, Facebook is promising that its new dating app will be private and secure, in other words, not leaky.

Can we trust Zuckerberg on this? After all, Facebook more or less handed over 87 million user profiles to a political consultancy without really asking permission.

And what's the hype about a dating app anyway? We thought Facebook WAS a dating app.

Mo Salah

And finally...

Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah completes the double in this year's UK football awards, taking the writers' Player of the Year, to go with his earlier win in the players' Player of the Year.

The Egyptian international makes history by becoming the first African to win both awards in the same season.

But he deserved it, with a brilliant season, that isn't over yet.

Armenia tension

The political crisis in Armenia shows no signs of abating, as protesters take to the streets after parliament blocked opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan from becoming prime minister.

Pashinyan responded to Tuesday's vote with a call for nationwide disobedience.

His supporters responded, with some routes into the capital Yerevan shut down on Wednesday, and a road to the airport closed.

The next steps in this stand-off between the protesters, and their target, the so-called 'ruling elite,' are unclear.

Law 10

Over 12 million Syrians who've fled their homes to escape war, might now lose them.

It's called Law 10. And it gave property owners in Syria and Syrians who've fled abroad just one month to present their title deeds to local council offices, inside the war-torn and divided country.

What's more, the statute says the Assad regime can confiscate any homes that aren't registered under the law.

Critics fear the regime will use law to force millions of refugees into permanent exile.

Mueller-Trump

US media are reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller might subpoena President Donald Trump in his investigation into the Russian hack of the 2016 elections.

The reports follow the leak of a list of questions Mueller apparently has for Trump.

The president said the leak was 'disgraceful' and repeated his mantra that the justice department inquiry is a 'witch-hunt' and there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians.

Facebook dating

And staying with the subject of leaks, Facebook is promising that its new dating app will be private and secure, in other words, not leaky.

Can we trust Zuckerberg on this? After all, Facebook more or less handed over 87 million user profiles to a political consultancy without really asking permission.

And what's the hype about a dating app anyway? We thought Facebook WAS a dating app.

Mo Salah

And finally...

Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah completes the double in this year's UK football awards, taking the writers' Player of the Year, to go with his earlier win in the players' Player of the Year.

The Egyptian international makes history by becoming the first African to win both awards in the same season.

But he deserved it, with a brilliant season, that isn't over yet.