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April 23rd, 2018 - Daily News Brief
SDC targets DC
The Syrian Democratic Council, which is dominated by the YPG terror group - has filed a request to open an office in Washington DC.
“The SDC's mission in the United States will primarily focus on educating the American people about the Democratic process in Syria," the application reads in documents obtained by TRT World.
Turkey's foreign ministry said it is aware of the filing and intends to take it up with the US State Department.
Regime strikes
The Syrian regime continues to pound a rebel-held area near Damascus, as Assad forces step up efforts to wipe out the insurgency's last foothold near the capital.
On Sunday, the regime targeted a region just south of Damascus that is controlled by Daesh and the Nusra Front, formerly Al Qaeda.
"Yarmouk has been transformed into a death camp, like one of the lower regions of hell," a UN official in the area said, calling for safe passage for sick, wounded and dying civilians.
Afghanistan
Two suspected Taliban attacks in Afghanistan's western Badghis province killed at least 14 troops and police on Monday.
The Taliban have not claimed the attacks, but a deputy police chief in the region blamed the insurgency, and said they had stepped up their attacks on Afghan security forces across the province.
The attacks followed a blast in Kabul on Sunday in which over 50 people were killed when a Daesh suicide bomber attacked a voter registration centre.
Mohamed Salah
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah has won the PFA Player of the Year award. The Professional Footballers' Association award is voted by the players themselves. So the best of the best in English football clearly think the Egyptian international is pretty good.
Salah's response - "I'm really honoured just to be nominated because the Premier League has fantastic players ... all the other players who also voted played a really good season and they also deserved to win."
Harry Potter
And finally… After a hit debut on London's West End, "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" has opened on Broadway in New York.
The five-hour production is set 19 years after Rowling's book series concluded the boy wizard's teen years with "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in 2007. The new story centres on the lives of an adult Harry Potter and his son.
Whoopi Goldberg and Glenn Close were two of the stars who attended the play's red-carpet opening on Broadway.
Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:09:58 +0000
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April 20th, 2018 - Daily News Brief
This is TRT World’s Daily News Brief for Thursday, April 20th.
Gaza protest
Thousands of Palestinians are expected to gather along the Gaza-Israel border, as they have every Friday for the past month for mass demonstrations.
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The protests, dubbed the “Great March of Return”, are calling for Palestinians refugees to return to their former homes, now inside Israel.
Israel’s response to the protest has drawn international criticism, with its security forces killing over 30 Palestinians and wounding hundreds.
The protest ends on May 15, when Palestinians mark the day of the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, when 700,000 people were forced from their land during the creation of Israel in 1948.
Turkey vote
Turkey is set to debate a bill in parliament seeking early presidential and parliamentary lelections.
President Erdogan announced the snap elections for June 24 in a bid to fast-track Turkey’s transition to a presidential system of governance….that was approved in a referendum last year.
Erdogan says the new system is needed to respond to developments in Syria and Iraq, and will ensure economic stability on the domestic front.
Russia Syria
Turkey’s concerns over regional stability have increased since the US-led strikes on Syria.
The strikes, aimed at punishing the Assad regime for the suspected use of chemical weapons, have pit Russia against the US and its allies.
And now Moscow says it has no moral obligation to withhold its S-300 anti-aircraft missiles systems from its ally, the Syrian regime.
Meanwhile, international chemical weapons inspectors are yet to enter the site of the alleged gas attack by the regime, as Washington accuses Russia and the regime of a cover up.
Asperger Nazi regime
A new study says Hans Asperger, the paediatrician who pioneered research into autism, "actively co-operated" with the Nazi regime in Austria.
Asperger, whose name describes a form of autism, "publicly legitimised race hygiene policies" of the Nazis by deeming certain children unworthy to live, the study claims.
He referred them to the notorious Spiegelgrund facility, where nearly 800 children lacking "hereditary worthiness" and "racial purity" died.
Besiktas-Fenerbahce
And finally…
There are two big stories in Football today.
The much-anticipated match between Besiktas and Fenerbahce saw more action off the pitch than on the field.
The Turkish Cup semi-final second leg was abandoned in the 57th minute after the Besiktas manager was hit on the head by an object thrown by Fenerbahce fans..
And in the English Premier League, Arsene Wenger who led Arsenal football club to 10 titles in 22 seasons...will be stepping down at the end of the season...
Fri, 20 Apr 2018 13:26:31 +0000
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April 19th, 2018 - Daily News Brief
Turkey elections
Turkey is headed to the polls on June 24, seventeen months ahead of schedule
President Erdogan announced the snap presidential and parliamentary elections in a bid to fast-track Turkey’s transition to a presidential system of governance approved in a referendum last year.
Erdogan says the new system is needed to respond to developments in Syria and Iraq, and will ensure economic stability on the domestic front.
Chemical probe
One trigger for the early elections in Turkey was the war in Syria across the border.
Ankara welcomed the recent US-led strikes on the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons facilities.
But OPCW inspectors have yet to enter Douma, after its advance security detail from the UN was fired on.
The town in eastern Ghouta was the site of the suspected gas attack that triggered the recent US-led strike on the regime.
Cuba president
Cuba’s parliament has nominated Miguel Diaz-Canel to succeed Raul Castro as president.
Diaz-Canel is a trusted Castro ally. But his elevation to the top job still means it will be the first time since the 1959 revolution that a Castro hasn't been at the helm of the island nation.
Cuba is the only communist country in the Americas.
No confidence Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov has sacked his cabinet after a no-confidence vote in parliament.
The governing coalition withdrew its backing for Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, leading to his ouster.
The move exposed an apparent power struggle between the president and ex-president Almazbek Atambayev.
The former president is not a member of parliament, but heads the Social Democratic party, the core of the governing coalition.
Galatasaray win
And finally…
Basketball. And Istanbul's Galatasaray has won the EuroCup women's title.
It was the second EuroCup title win for the Turkish team. It lost Wednesday's return match to Italy's Reyer Venezia, but won the two-game final on aggregate.
Thu, 19 Apr 2018 12:01:02 +0000
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April 18th, 2018 - Daily News Brief
Douma
OPCW experts have yet to enter Douma….The town in Syria that was hit by a suspected chemical attack on April 7, triggering US-led strikes on Syria on Saturday.
The chemical weapons inspectors were meant to go in today, but gunfire in the area prevented that.
The US and its allies say Russia and the Assad regime are stalling the OPCW mission in a bid to clean up the attack site, where dozens died.
Korea peace talks
South Korea is hoping to use a summit with the North next week to start discussions on formally ending the Korean War.
The three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a ceasefire. So the two Koreas are technically still at war.
The US also signed the treaty, so it has a stake. And the North-South summit comes ahead of an expected meeting between Trump and the DPRK's Kim Jong-un.
Pompeo nomination
Some of the hype around the Korean meetings comes after US officials said Trump's CIA director at the time met Kim Jong-un two weeks ago.
That ex-CIA director is Mike Pompeo, who's currently in the process of being confirmed as the next US secretary of state.
Although Pompeo is expected to get the job, Senate Democrats aren't making it easy for the trusted Trump lieutenant, last week grilling him on foreign policy.
As Washington's top diplomat he might be meeting Kim again soon, and this time not in secret.
Support for pastor
Relations between Turkey and the US will likely take another hit after Trump voiced support for an American pastor on trial in Turkey on terrorism-related offences.
Andrew Brunson was charged with helping the network of US-based Fetullah Gulen, who orchestrated the attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016.
Trump tweeted, "They call him a spy, but I am more a spy than he is."
We don't know whether Trump was joking, or whether there's even more we don't know about the US president.
Starbucks race education
And finally…
Coffee giant Starbucks is shutting 8,000 stores across the US on May 29 for an afternoon of 'racial bias' training.
Starbucks reacted to the fairly pointless arrest of two black men at a store in Philadelphia, after an employee called in police.
Racial bias training might help. But Starbucks is sure to milk the exercise for the PR. So I guess that'll be a white Americano please, if I can find somewhere to get my fix.
Wed, 18 Apr 2018 14:55:33 +0000
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April 17th, 2018 - Daily News Brief
Chemical weapons
Moscow has dismissed US suggestions that Russian forces in Syria may have tampered with the site of an alleged gas attack by the Assad regime, which triggered Saturday's US-led strikes.
The OPCW which has gone to investigate the attack has been unable to enter Douma, although Russia says they will let in the chemical weapons inspectors on Wednesday.
The US meanwhile, has done a U-turn on its Russia policy with President Trump saying there won't be any new sanctions on Russia for its support of the Assad regime. This, after UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said Russian companies linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme would be sanctioned.
New missile strikes against Syria reported on Tuesday were denied by the Pentagon. If confirmed, experts believe it was likely an Israeli attack.
Facebook lawsuit
The privacy debate continues to swirl with Facebook well and truly at the centre of it.
After a scandal over the mishandling of user data, Facebook now faces a class action lawsuit over allegations it violated the privacy of its millions of users by using a facial recognition tool on their pictures without their consent.
Facebook says it will fight the case “vigorously."
Russian journalist
Maksim Borodin, a Russian crime reporter who recently wrote about Russian mercenaries fighting for the Assad regime in Syria, has been found dead in unexplained circumstances.
Police are investigating whether he killed himself by jumping from his apartment balcony.
The editor in chief of Novy Den, where Borodin worked, says she does not believe Borodin committed suicide.
#MeToo coverage
The New York Times and New Yorker magazine have won the Pulitzer Prize for public service for their reporting on the sexual harassment scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The coverage sparked the #MeToo movement that pushed the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace to the centre of US public debate.
Since then, the #MeToo movement has gone global, with an ever-growing list of powerful and abusive men being brought to account for their behaviour.
Plastic eater
And finally…
Scientists have accidentally created an enzyme that could wipe away our plastic waste.
Researchers at Britain’s University of Portsmouth and the US energy department’s renewable energy lab made the discovery while testing an enzyme thought to have evolved in a waste recycling centre in Japan.
The bug, critter, thing, can digest a form of plastic used in millions of tonnes of plastic bottles. Researchers want to improve it so it can work on an industrial scale.
We don't know whether they've considered what might happen if the enzyme gets out, and well, goes public.
Tue, 17 Apr 2018 12:48:22 +0000
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April 16th, 2018 - Daily News Brief
Russia sanctions
The US is planning new sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s continued support for Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad.
The sanctions will target companies that Washington says have links to Assad’s chemical weapons program.
The move follows the US-led attack on Syria on Saturday, which targeted chemical weapons production and launch sites.
Douma investigation
The US-led strike on Syria followed an alleged gas attack on rebels and civilians in Douma. More than 40 people died in the attack, prompting the retaliation from the US, UK and France.
Meanwhile, the world’s chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, is in Syria and due to start its investigation in Douma.
The OPCW says it won't lay blame, but only try to find out whether chemical weapons were actually used in the Douma attack blamed on the Assad regime.
NATO chief in Turkey
The US, UK and France are all members of NATO, which was united in its support for Saturday's missile strike on Syria.
Turkey is also a NATO member, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Turkey for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and senior government and military officials.
Stoltenberg has called on all allies to provide more support to Turkey, which is active in Syria where Ankara is fighting terror groups in a bid to secure its borders.
Planet hunter
In one of its most ambitious programs ever, NASA is about to go planet hunting again, in a bid to find Earth-like worlds around stars beyond our solar system.
The Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is set to lift off later today from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
TESS is designed to orbit around the Earth and the moon and focus on 200,000 pre-selected stars where planets might be lurking.
The launch will use one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets, the Falcon 9.
Boring games
And finally…
The Commonwealth Games are over for another four years. For the first time at a multi-event games there were an equal number of medal events for men and women across all sports.
And at this year's games, hosted by Australia, five countries won Commonwealth Games medals for the first time.
However, it wasn't all fun and games on the Gold Coast.
The games’ boss had to apologise for what many called a dull closing ceremony. Some athletes went missing, and activists protested the games, in a bid to draw attention to the treatment of indigenous Australians since colonisation over two hundred years ago.
Mon, 16 Apr 2018 12:30:44 +0000
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April 13th, 2018 - Daily News Brief
Palestinians protest
Palestinian 'right of return' protests are entering their third week on Gaza's border with Israel.
Israeli forces have already killed more than 30 demonstrators, with the protests expected to continue for another month.
Much of the international community has condemned the Israeli military’s use of live ammunition against the protesters demanding the right to return to their homes across the border.
Syria
Chemical weapons experts are headed to Douma in Syria to investigate a suspected gas attack, which France says was the work of the Assad regime.
Damascus and its key ally Russia, which has deployed military police to Douma, deny the charge.
US President Donald Trump has walked back his threat of an imminent missile strike on Syria, as the region grapples with the possibility of a US-Russia showdown.
Nawaz no more
Ex-Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been banned for life from holding public office.
Pakistan's Supreme Court made the ruling on Friday.
Sharif's governing party said the ruling was a joke and a conspiracy.
Sharif and his family's problems began last year with the publication of the Panama Papers, investigative journalism which detailed globally the corruption of many of the world's rich and powerful.
Rape cases
There have been protests in India and Indian-administered Kashmir after police officers and a governing party politician were named separately in connection to two unrelated child rape cases.
Outrage continues over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old Muslim girl, whom police allege was gang raped and murdered in a Hindu temple, in India-administered Kashmir.
In the second case, a man died this week in police custody after accusing a lawmaker from the governing BJP Party in the Uttar Pradesh province…. of the abduction and rape of his 16-year-old daughter nine months ago.
Boss Trump
Former FBI director James Comey has blasted US President Donald Trump as unethical and "untethered to truth," comparing him to a mob boss in his forthcoming book.
Keep in mind this is the same Comey that critics say helped deliver the White House to Trump through the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's email ahead of the 2016 election.
Trump then fired Comey in 2017 over what has become Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the alleged Russian hack of the vote, and alleged collusion with the Trump camp.
Comey's book should make interesting reading. It's out on Tuesday.
Fri, 13 Apr 2018 13:02:41 +0000
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