True News

Preparations are underway in the US state of Wisconsin for a presidential vote recount, amid speculations of electoral fraud. While the White House says there is no evidence of fraud in the November 8th election, Chairman of the state’s elections commission Mark Thomsen maintains that a recount will demonstrate the integrity of the election in Wisconsin. This comes as President-elect Trump has once again alleged voting fraud, claiming that millions of people had voted illegally. The remark has raised questions about the authenticity and legitimacy of the electoral procedure across the United States. In an interview with Press TV, political commentator, Frank Emspak, asserted that the fraud claims by Donald Trump have seriously challenged the integrity of the US election process, an issue which, according to him, is threatening the American democracy and may harm public confidence in the establishment. “It is pretty crazy. Three weeks ago, Trump was saying that if he lost, he ...

Armed men fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir have stormed a military base, triggering a fierce gunbattle that left three army officers dead. Officials said the attackers opened fire on the large military camp in Nagrota, a town on the main highway linking Kashmir’s two major cities of Srinagar and Jammu in the early hours of Tuesday. Four militants were also killed in the clashes with security forces, police said. The deadly developments came on the same day as Pakistan’s new army chief, Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa, took command of the country’s powerful army. In his first remarks after taking charge of the armed forces, Bajwa signaled that the current alarming situation at the common border in the Kashmir region “will hopefully improve soon.” Outgoing army chief General Raheel Sharif, however, issued a stern warning to India over violence in Kashmir as he handed over the reins to Bajwa at a military ceremony in Rawalpindi. "I want to make it clear...

The presence of US forces is the main problem currently facing the Persian Gulf, an informed source at the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy says. “Today, it is no secret to anyone that the main problem in the Persian Gulf is the presence of Americans, who try to show that conditions [in that region] are abnormal through [their] inappropriate and unprofessional conduct,” the IRGC source said on Tuesday after Washington falsely claimed that an Iranian vessel had pointed its weapon at a US helicopter in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Two US defense officials told Reuters on Monday that a small IRGC vessel had trained its weapon on a US Navy MH-60 helicopter on Saturday as it flew within half a mile (0.8 km) of two Iranian vessels. The IRGC source referred to the US claims, stressing that Washington must stop spreading false propaganda against Iran. He added that US officials occasionally level such allegations against Iran, an issue whi...

The Turkish president says his country is still hopeful about joining the European Union (EU) despite a recent freeze on its accession talks, stressing, however, that Ankara has many other options at its disposal other than joining the bloc. "We have not yet closed the European Union book right now," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an international conference in Istanbul on Tuesday, adding, “But nobody should forget that Turkey always has many other alternatives." If the EU path is blocked, "we'll continue our road by evaluating one of those alternatives," Erdogan emphasized. "I don't find it right to say it here but we are of course continuing our talks with those alternatives,” the Turkish leader further pointed out. The remarks came less than one week after Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) approved a motion urging the European Commission and member states’ governments to halt Turkey’s EU membership negotiations in response to A...

American Muslim leaders have strongly condemned a stabbing attack at Ohio State University on Monday, which left 11 injured and led to the death of the assailant. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said Muslim community is saddened and heartbroken by the attack. A third-year student at OSU, Artan, was a Somali refugee who was staying in the United States as a legal permanent resident. Some media reports have connected the 18-year-old student to the Daesh terrorist group. Massoud Shadjareh, with the Islamic Human Rights Commission, told Press TV’s Top 5 that the Muslim community in the United States is suffering from growing hatred attacks by the American citizens who have been provoked by hatred speeches of the US president-elect during his election campaign. The anti-Muslim attacks are “rising due to the election of US President-elect Donald Trump” and innocent Muslims are being targeted in the country on a daily basis, Shadjareh said on Tuesday. The activist...

Amnesty International has criticized the Spanish government for the treatment of refugees in two of Spain's overseas territories of Melilla and Ceuta. The Britain-based rights group published a report on Tuesday showing that the refugees were not given adequate protection by Spanish authorities in the two North African territories on the Moroccan border. The report said there were "videos where you can see how Moroccan police hit" refugees and "make them fall and send them away." Spanish officers, Amnesty said, often remain indifferent to the treatment of the refugees. About 50 people interviewed by Amnesty have recounted cases of police abuse of vulnerable people. Esteban Beltran, the director of Amnesty International Spain, said the majority of refugees arriving in camps on the two territories "find themselves blocked in the limbo." However, Syrians have been subject to a better treatment, Beltran added. Ceuta and Melilla have a c...

Three mosques in California have received letters warning that US President-elect Donald Trump would “cleanse” the country of Muslims, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR said Saturday that the letters were similar and postmarked as being sent from Santa Clarita in Los Angeles. They were sent last week to the Islamic Center of Long Beach, the Islamic Center of Claremont and the Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose. “Your day of reckoning has arrived,” a letter reads. “There’s a new sheriff in town — President Donald Trump. He’s going to cleanse America and make it shine again. And, he’s going to start with you Muslims.” Trump was “going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the jews [sic],” adds the letter that was signed by “Americans for a Better Way.” "You Muslims would be wise to pack your bags and get out of Dodge," the letter says. Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of CAIR, said he believed...

US authorities say they are aggressively pursuing those behind a series of threatening letters sent to mosques in the state of California, but said the letters do not rise to the level of a hate crime.   Speaking at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles on Monday, law enforcement leaders said they are searching for the letter-writer or writers to ensure they don’t pose a larger threat. “We know that incidents routinely evolve into crimes,” said Horace Frank, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).   “We don’t want to wait until this evolves,” said Frank, who was surrounded by faith leaders and police commanders. He said the LAPD was making “significant headway” in tracking the source of one of the letters Stephen Woolery, the head of the counter terrorism division at the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles, said the messages are too vague to constitute a hate crime. “The letters don’t specifically contain a threat. The letters d...

US President-elect Donald Trump has again denounced CNN, saying the news network has become "worse" since he defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election.  “I thought that @CNN would get better after they failed so badly in their support of Hillary Clinton however, since election, they are worse!” Trump wrote in a tweet on Tuesday morning. Trump had repeatedly accused the media, particularly CNN,  The Washington Post , and  The New York Times , of bias over their lop-sided coverage of the election campaign. In addition, he called the election process rigged, and said the media was colluding with Clinton in order to stop him winning the White House. On Sunday night, Trump tweeted that there were “serious voter fraud” issues “in Virginia, New Hampshire and California - so why isn't the media reporting on this? Serious bias - big problem!” Earlier on Sunday, Trump claimed that “millions of people” voted illegally and said he wo...

South African President Jacob Zuma has reportedly survived an attempt for a no-confidence vote within his own African National Congress (ANC) party. The president survived the vote following an extended and tense debate within the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on Tuesday. Zuma is on a visit to Cuba to attend funeral ceremonies for former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, local press reports said. “The NEC resolved it was more urgent to direct the energies of the ANC in its entirety to working towards the unity of the movement,” the local News24 reported. According to the report, a motion of no confidence in President Zuma was first rejected by NEC member and Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom on November 26, resulting in an extended meeting that continued well past Monday night. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi are the main proponents of Zuma's ouster. International Relations Minister Maite Nkoane Mashabane, State Security Min...

The Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) has elected three Iranian sports officials as new members of different commissions at the international governing body of Olympic fencing.  Davood Reza Shafaat, Assistant Professor at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, joined representatives from other countries as a member of the Medical Commission, whose task is to examine all medical, dietetic or climatic matters relating to fencing. It proposes all measures that may be useful in the struggle against drug abuse.  Sarkis Assadourian was elected to the SEMI Commission, which is responsible at all times for any studies on the safety of the equipment, examines any suggestions or proposals relating to the equipment and presents a report on these proposals to the Executive Committee. The commission also presents a report to the Congress on all the proposals submitted to it, drafts the Congress decisions, supervises the control of the fenc...

Up to 16,000 civilians have fled the militant-held parts of eastern Aleppo amid the Syrian army’s recent advances, the United Nations says. UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said in a statement in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that thousands more were likely to flee if the fighting continued to intensify in the coming days. "The intensity of attacks on eastern Aleppo neighborhoods over the past few days has forced thousands of civilians to flee to other parts of the city," the statement read, adding, "It is likely that thousands more will have no choice but to flee should fighting continue to spread and intensify over the coming days." Elsewhere in his remarks, O'Brien voiced concern about the "deeply alarming and chilling situation unfolding" in Aleppo. Meanwhile, Jens Laerke, the spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in Geneva on Tuesday that 10,000 of those fleeing the intense bat...

US Muslim leaders have strongly condemned a stabbing attack at Ohio State University on Monday, which injured 11 people and led to the death of the assailant. The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Tuesday that Muslims were “saddened and heartbroken” by the attack. “We want to condemn in the strongest possible terms this and any other kind of senseless violent act,” Jennifer Nimer, CAIR’s Ohio legal director, told reporters. The attack took place when a Somali man, identified as Abdul Razak Ali Artan, rammed his car into pedestrians on the Columbus campus before getting out of the vehicle and going on a stabbing rampage. According to police, around 80 people were on the sidewalk when Artan violently drove the car over the kerb. However, he was immediately gunned down by an officer before hurting more people. “Millions here in the United States, billions across the globe condemn acts of violence,” said Roula Allouch, who chairs CAIR’s national board. “The...

Amnesty International has denounced “extrajudicial executions” in Uganda after security forces violently cracked down on members of a tribal militia in a remote southwestern area over the weekend. Dozens were killed during   clashes between royal guards of Bakonzo tribal king and government troops on Saturday and Sunday in Kasese, the largest town in the country’s restive Rwenzori region. According to police figures, the bloodshed killed at least 46 members of the king's guards and 16 police officers. Security forces also arrested 140 others, including King Charles Wesley Mumbere himself. “The full picture of the weekend’s events is yet to emerge, but there appears to be shocking examples of unlawful killings and a complete disregard for human rights during the arrests,” Amnesty said.  “In a shocking display of heavy-handedness, many people appear to have been summarily shot dead and their bodies dumped,” Abdullahi Halakhe, Amnesty International’s E...

A senior Iranian cleric and Shia marja (source of emulation), Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, has passed away after suffering cardiac and digestive complications. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili died at the age of 91 at the Laleh Hospital in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Wednesday. He had been taken to hospital with chest pain on Monday. His condition worsened after a second heart attack, according to his medical team. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebelli was born in Ardebil in 1926. After the Islamic Revolution, he became a founding member of the former Islamic Republic Party. He had also held positions in the Council of the Islamic Revolution, the Assembly of Experts, and the Attorney-General’s Office. He had been appointed the head of the Supreme Court in 1981 after the assassination of Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, who had held the office until then. Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili served at the position for 6 years. In the final years of his life, he served as the dean of Mof...

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, one of his most vocal critics during the presidential campaign, as US ambassador to the United Nations, sources say. Haley, who had endorsed Trump’s primary election rivals Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, has accepted the UN role, US media reported Wednesday, citing sources close to Trump’s transition team. Born from Indian immigrant parents, Haley would be the first non-white female who has been given a cabinet-level position in the Trump administration. Haley is the youngest governor in the US and is generally viewed as an up-and-coming star in the Republican Party. The 44-year-old is South Carolina’s first-ever female governor and America’s second-ever Asian-American governor. However, Haley has limited experience in foreign policy, an issue that is likely to draw some scrutiny from the Senate during confirmation hearings. If confirmed, Haley would replace Samantha...

Five people have been sentenced to death and another eight have been sentenced to prison over the gruesome killing two years ago of a Christian couple in eastern Pakistan. The lawyer representing the family of Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi, the couple who were lynched and then burned in a kiln near the town of Kot Radha Kishan in Punjab in 2014, said on Wednesday that the court in Lahore exonerated a total of 90 people from the violent mob involved in the attacks but found 13 people guilty. The five people "were involved in dragging, beating and burning the couple while the other eight played a supportive role according to the judgment," Riaz Anjum said, adding that the eight others were given two years' imprisonment. A senior prosecutor in Lahore confirmed the ruling, without elaborating. Khurram Khan did not specify when the death sentences would be carried out. The couple had been accused of desecrating the Quran by tossing out pages of the holy Muslim book...

Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned the United States about the consequences of renewing the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA). Ayatollah Khamenei has said that Iran will definitely react to violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - the nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 group, including the US, Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany. Mohammad Marandi, professor at the University of Tehran, told Press TV’s Top 5 that the US authorities should pay attention to Iran’s warning that America would pay the price if Washington continues to violate the JCPOA. Marandi noted, “If the United States passes this sanctions regime or its extension, then obviously Iran will have to react in kind.” According to the academic, “The concern in Iran is that if the United States is allowed to continue to act with impunity, the agreement will ultimately become meaningless.” “Obviously, this warning is a serious warni...

The Slovenian government has reopened its embassy in the Iranian capital after nearly four years of closure. Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec attended a ceremony for the reopening of the embassy in Tehran on Wednesday. Speaking during the ceremony, Zarif said the reopening of the Slovenian embassy would set a good trend towards the promotion of relations between the two countries. “There are good and suitable grounds for bilateral cooperation, which… we can advance [to a level] beneficial to the regional nations,” Zarif said. Pahor, for his part, said the reopening of his country’s embassy in Tehran bears testimony to good cooperation between the two countries. “We want to create common interests among our nations, and we believe that today is a very significant and promising moment for both countries and highly important for the development of Slovenia's diplomatic a...

Germany's flagship carrier Lufthansa has announced plans for the cancelation of over 900 more flights as a second day of strike by the airline's pilots is expected to ground more passengers and planes across the country. Lufthansa said on Wednesday that 912 flights, roughly one-third of its schedule, would be canceled on Thursday after a union of pilots announced that members had decided to continue their walkout for a second day. The airline had decided to cancel nearly 900 of short- and long-haul flights out of Germany on Wednesday, leaving about 100,000 passengers stranded in airports. The new wave of cancelations is also expected to affect 115,000 passengers, Lufthansa said. Vereinigung Cockpit, the union which represents the pilots, has insisted that the industrial action was a natural response to Lufthansa's continued rejection of demands on pay and other working conditions. The union has staged 13 previous walkouts in Germany since April 2014. It says a ...

Iraqi security sources say volunteer fighters have managed to complete the isolation of Daesh-held Mosul by cutting off the Takfiri terrorist group’s only remaining supply line between the northern Iraqi city and Syria. According to the officials, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi forces, reached the path connecting the towns of Tal Afar to Sinjar, west of Mosul, and linked up with other Iraqi troops there on Wednesday. "Hashd forces have cut off the Tal Afar-Sinjar road," senior PMU commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (seen below) said. Daesh still remains in control of the 60-kilometer road between Mosul and Tal Afar, he further pointed out, adding, "This is what we are dealing with now.” Additionally, an unnamed Kurdish security official confirmed that the PMU forces had linked up with Kurdish troops in three villages around the Tal Afar-Sinjar road. The advance came as Mosul was already ringed to the south, north and east ...