Wednesday, January 7, 2020 - a podcast by TRT World

Daily News Brief for Wednesday, January 8th:

*) Ukraine passenger jet crashes in Iran, killing at least 170

A Ukrainian passenger plane has crashed near Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing at least 170 people.

Iranian authorities say a fire struck one of the Boeing 737-800’s engines which is an older model of the Boeing 737 MAX.

The plane underwent its last technical maintenance on January 6, 2020,” Ukraine International Airlines said.

*) Iran fires missiles at US troop bases in Iraq

Staying with Iran, it has carried out retaliatory, ballistic missile strikes on US troops at Ain al Asad military base in Anbar and a base in Erbil in Iraq.

Iran said it has now ended its reprisal over the US drone strike that killed its General Qasem Soleimani.

Soleimani was buried shortly before the attacks.

His burial was postponed when at least 50 people were killed in a stampede at his public funeral in Kerman.

*) Haftar forces take Libya’s Sirte

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar's militia has seized the coastal city of Sirte from the UN-backed Government of National Accord.

Haftar has set his eyes on Tripoli, launching an offensive on the capital in April to unseat the GNA.

The UN-recognised Government of National Accord had taken back control of Sirte from Daesh in 2016.

*) Australia braces for more bushfires

To Australia now, where officials have warned people to evacuate Victoria state ahead of another heatwave.

There are fears the heat would trigger intense bushfires that have already destroyed eight million hectares of land and sent smoke clouds to Brazil.

An estimated one billion animals have died, more than 2,000 homes destroyed and 26 people killed.

And finally,
*) Facebook to ban ‘deepfake’ videos

Facebook says it is banning “deepfake” videos in an effort to fight online manipulation.

Deepfake videos are false but realistic clips created with artificial intelligence and sophisticated tools.

But the new rules won't include parody or satire, or clips edited just to change the order of words.

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