WATCH PRESS TV NEWSROOM HEADLINES

Here is a brief look at Press TV newsroom's headlines from 09:00 GMT to 17:00 GMT, May 8.

May concerned over Macron win

Reactions are pouring in following Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French Presidential election.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May is the only head of state to have voiced concern over Macron’s victory. Speaking a month before general elections in Britain, May said the young French candidate’s electoral victory with a “strong mandate” will enable him to adopt a tough position during the Brexit talks. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has congratulated the French president-elect. Rouhani expressed hope for better relations between the two countries. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also congratulated Macron and expressed optimism about the European Union’s stability. Macron has been elected to lead France as president after winning over 66 percent of the votes in Sunday’s runoff.

Putin congratulates Macron

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory message to France’s president-elect urging Emmanuel Macron to bridge what he called the deep rifts between the two countries.

Putin said it is necessary for Russia and France to work together in the face of the growing threat of terrorism and violent extremism.

According to the Russian leader, Europe and the entire world are in the middle of a difficult period that is accompanied by an escalation of local conflicts and the destabilization of regions. Putin further said he is ready for constructive cooperation with Macron on bilateral, regional and global issues. Macron has been elected to lead France as president after winning over 66 percent of the votes in Sunday’s runoff.

Syria de-escalation deal

The Syrian government has welcomed the deal recently reached in the Kazakh capital Astana on the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria. Foreign Minister Waleed al-Muallem says Syria agrees with any honest initiative that aims to put an end to years of bloodshed in the country.

Trump travel ban

US President Donald Trump’s travel ban is to face a legal battle in front of federal judges in Richmond, Virginia.

Two months ago, a federal judge in Maryland put a nationwide hold on Trump's revised order which barred Muslims from six countries from entering the US. The judge concluded that the travel ban probably violated the Constitution, saying it disfavored Muslims. The US Justice Department appealed that decision in March. Now the case is in the hands of a federal appeals court considerably reshaped by six judges appointed by former President Barack Obama. The case is also likely to be appealed at the US Supreme Court, which will make the final decision.

Barzeh evacuation

Syrian media said hundreds of foreign-backed militants and their families have begun leaving an area on the outskirts of Damascus under an evacuation deal with the government.

The militants are leaving Barzeh for Idlib province. A UK-based monitor has confirmed the report. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more people will leave Barzeh in the coming days. On Sunday, an agreement was also reached, under which Nusra Front terrorists will leave Yarmouk Refugee Camp south of Damascus for Idlib. This represents the second phase of an earlier deal with the government. As part of the agreement, pro-government residents from two northern towns besieged by militants and anti-government armed men holed up in two other towns on the Lebanese border will also be evacuated. The first phase of the deal was implemented last month.

Iran mine

Iranian rescue workers have recovered 13 more bodies of trapped miners from the site of a blast north of the country.

Local officials in Golestan province said the bodies were found at the site of explosion some two kilometers underground, bringing the total death toll to 35. They added that search operations continued for more possible bodies. On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visited the coal mine to oversee the rescue operations. The president said the cause of the incident is being investigated.

Yemen cholera

The number of people killed by a cholera epidemic in Yemen has risen to 25.

According to medical sources, the deaths have occurred in and around the capital Sana’a over the past week. More than 1,670 cholera cases have been detected since April 27. The World Health Organization says the figures are extremely alarming. Saudi Arabia’s almost daily airstrikes and its crippling blockade on Yemen have led to a humanitarian crisis in the impoverished nation. The United Nations says every ten minutes, a child aged under five dies of preventable causes in Yemen.

Muallem's press conference

The Syrian foreign minister says Damascus will abide by the terms of a Russian de-escalation plan in the country provided that the foreign-backed groups do so.

Speaking at a news conference in Damascus, Walid Muallem said Syria trusts Iran and Russia as the guarantors of the deal. He said the groups that have signed the de-escalation deal must push terrorist groups including those affiliated to Nusra Front out of their areas. Muallem said under the deal, there will be no international forces under UN supervision to maintain the safe zones. He said Syria does not trust Turkey and that the Turkish forces have no legal role to play in Syria. The Syrian foreign minister said that Ankara’s military presence in the country is considered as an aggression.

Baqeri warns Pakistan

A top Iranian military commander says Islamabad is duty-bound to secure its borders with Iran and deal with terrorists.

Major General Baqeri said Pakistan has turned into a haven and breeding ground for U-S-backed terrorists who are in the pay of Saudi Arabia. He said if terrorists continue their attacks, Iran will strike their positions and hideouts, wherever they are. On April, nine Iranian border guards were killed in attacks by terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. Tehran has time and again asked Islamabad to tackle terrorists and beef up border security.

Sudan kids

The United Nations says more than two million children in South Sudan have fled their homes due to war and famine in the northeastern African country.

Two UN agencies addressing the problems of children and refugees said that over one million children have fled South Sudan while another one million are internally displaced. They added that more than a thousand children were also killed in the fighting. The UNHCR described refugee crisis in the oil-producing country as the most worrying one in the world. Conflict in South Sudan began in 2013, two years after it won independence from neighboring Sudan. Many refugees have fled into neighboring Uganda, Kenya, Sudan or Ethiopia, which are already struggling to provide enough food for their own populations.

Nigerian girls

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has received the eighty two schoolgirls freed by the Takfiri group, Boko Haram. They were from a group of 276 girls abducted in northeastern Nigeria in 2014.

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