Month: October 2019

Israel was swearing in its newly elected parliament on Thursday for what could be a very short term after the country’s second inconclusive election of the year left it with no new government on the horizon. The normally festive event also takes place in parallel to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s high-profile pre-indictment hearing on corruption charges, which have threatened to end his political career and contributed to the current paralysis of the country’s political system. Neither Netanyahu nor his chief rival Benny Gantz has been able to build a parliamentary majority with his natural allies. They now depend on each …

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A group representing French-American taxpayers said Thursday it had filed a suit against France with the European Commission, hoping to avoid strict US compliance rules that could see them blacklisted by French banks starting in January. The “Accidental Americans” association has been battling for years to be exempt from a US demand that all its citizens overseas file bank details along with yearly tax returns. The group says thousands of French and other foreigners are deemed Americans because they were born in the US, even though they may have lived there only a few months or years when they were …

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Australia’s ban on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei’s involvement in its future 5G networks and its crackdown on foreign covert interference are testing Beijing’s efforts to project its power overseas. In its latest maneuver, China sent three scholars to spell out in interviews with Australian media and other appearances steps to mend the deepening rift with Beijing — a move that appears to have fallen flat. In a recent press conference at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, Chen Hong, the head of Australian studies at East China Normal University, accused Australia of acting as a “pawn” for the United States in lobbying …

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The EU’s incoming president Ursula von der Leyen plans to live in a tiny flat attached to her Brussels office rather than rent an apartment, her staff told AFP on Thursday. The president of the European Commission has no official residence, a fact that irked von der Leyen’s predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker, who complained to a German newspaper that he was forced to live in a hotel suite at a cost of 3,250 euros ($3,560) a month. Instead von der Leyen is having a 25-square-metre (270-square-foot) room next to her office on the 13th floor of the commission’s Berlaymont building converted …

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed on the importance of protecting the rights of Christian minorities in the Middle East during a meeting at the Vatican on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said. Pompeo, whose trip to Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Greece has been overshadowed by an impeachment inquiry at home targeting President Donald Trump, met the pope for about a half an hour. “They reaffirmed the United States and Holy See commitment to advancing religious freedom around the world, and in particular, protecting Christian communities in the Middle East,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said. Ancient Christian communities …

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Asli Pelit from VOA’s Turkish Service contributed to this report. The killing of prominent Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi shook the world one year ago, when the public learned how a Saudi government team assassinated and dismembered him inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi had criticized Saudi Arabia’s leaders for their repeated violations of human rights, persecution of critics and aggressive regional policies, including their role in Yemen’s four-year-long civil war. The CIA concluded, according to published reports, that Khashoggi’s murder was ordered by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, which led U.S. lawmakers to publicly condemn …

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Iran’s state TV says the constitutional watchdog has ratified a bill granting citizenship to children of Iranian mothers but non-Iranian fathers. Wednesday’s ratification came after parliament approved the bill in May following decades-long demands by rights activists. Under the new law, children born to Iranian mothers will be eligible for Iranian citizenship. Until now, more than 100,000 children of Iranian women who had married foreign nationals, mostly Afghans and Iraqis but also men of other nationalities, weren’t recognized as Iranian citizens in the eyes of the law. The new law is expected to go into effect in less than a …

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A new video that shows people casually discussing gene editing and designer babies is making waves because of who posted it: the government-funded group leading efforts to set standards for the ethically dicey science. The National Academy of Sciences posted the video earlier this week. It also sent a tweet that it removed after criticism arose. The tweet asked, “Do you dream of having a top student or star athlete?” And it said gene editing might eventually make this possible. Most scientists and the academy itself oppose altering the DNA of embryos to bestow such traits. Last year, a Chinese …

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A former North Carolina NAACP leader has softened his denial of sexual misconduct accusations. In a written statement given to The Associated Press, the Rev. Curtis Gatewood says he never intentionally harassed anyone, but realizes his actions “may have been received as sexual.” Gatewood says in the statement issued Tuesday that he’s “deeply sorry,” but denies committing any kind of sexual assault. No criminal charges have been filed. Courtney Sebring of Durham told the AP that she was a 17-year-old summer intern in 2014 when Gatewood’s stares, comments and touches made her so uncomfortable that she told her parents and …

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