Israel’s president has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to form a new government after last week’s deadlocked elections that have paralyzed the country. The office of President Reuven Rivlin made the announcement after meeting Wednesday with Netanyahu and his primary challenger, Benny Gantz. Rivlin has the responsibility of selecting the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition government after neither Netanyahu nor Gantz captured the required support of the parliamentary majority. Rivlin mediated two previous meetings this week between the politicians, hoping to reach a deal between Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party and Gantz’s centrist and liberal Blue and White alliance. FILE – Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz delivers a statement in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 19, 2019. The talks ended, though, because of disagreements over who should lead a new unity government. Gantz has said he would not participate in a Netanyahu-led government because of the prime minister’s legal problems. Netanyahu is desperate to remain as prime minister amid an ongoing corruption investigation against him. The country’s attorney general recommends charging Netanyahu fraud, bribery and breach of trust stemming from a number of scandals. Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, is scheduled to …

The decision by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to launch an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump has complicated what already was Trump’s uncertain road to re-election next year.  Public opinion polls suggest Trump is in a weaker position for re-election than most other incumbent presidents have been, and he is counting on a strong economy and loyal supporters to overcome what is expected to be an intense turnout of motivated Democratic voters next year. …

President Donald Trump is meeting Wednesday in New York with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid reports the U.S. leader pushed his Ukrainian counterpart during a phone call to investigate Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden over a high-paying job his son Hunter had with a Ukrainian gas company. The phone call between Trump and Zelenskiy is now at the center of an impeachment inquiry announced by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump has acknowledged the issue of the Bidens came up during a phone call Zelenskiy but insists there was no pressure put on the Ukrainian leader. President Trump confirmed he told his staff to withhold about $400 million in aid to Ukraine days before the phone call.  He has said he will release the transcript of the conversation. “You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!” Trump tweeted Tuesday. Ahead of his talks with Trump, Zelenskiy told VOA’s Ukrainian service “We just want the U.S. to always support Ukraine and Ukraine’s …

Egyptian authorities have arrested more than 1,000 people, two rights groups said Wednesday, in the wake of rare anti-government protests last week. The Egyptian Center for Freedoms and Rights said 1,003 had been arrested, while the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights reported the figure of 1,298 detained. Two prominent academics were detained on Tuesday, relatives and lawyers said. Sissi, Egypt’s undisputed leader Since ascending to power in 2014, Egypt’s general turned president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has imposed himself as an uncontested leader, stamping out opposition despite criticism by human rights groups. His government has taken no chances and arrested more than 600 people after hundreds of Egyptians protested against his rule last week. The rare demonstrations followed an appeal by Mohamed Ali, an Egyptian businessman exiled in Spain, to topple Sissi. The construction contractor has posted videos accusing Sissi of corruption and the military of wasting public money on building luxury properties. The president has dismissed the allegations as “lies and slander”. He has also warned against the dangers of protesting, describing the 2011 revolution that unseated long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak as a “mistake”. Sissi, a champion of relative stability in a turbulent region, commands the support of …

Nine and a half million Afghans will head to presidential polls Saturday. Thirty percent of them will be women. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem is in Afghanistan talking to them about their hopes, fears, and complaints. …

Estonian police said Wednesday they found the body of the former head of Danske Bank in Estonia who was at the center of a 200 billion-euro ($220 billion) money laundering scandal and had disappeared two days ago. Police said Aivar Rehe, 56, went missing Monday, fueling speculation it might be related to the 2007-2015 money laundering scheme that had engulfed the Danish bank. The executive was found Wednesday after a search involving dogs, drones and volunteers near his home in the capital, Tallinn. Police had said earlier that no third parties were suspected in Rehe’s disappearance and suggested the possibility of a suicide. According to Estonian media, Rehe’s body was found in his house’s back yard and everything at the scene pointed toward death by suicide. Rehe, who was head of Danske Bank in Estonia from 2006 to 2015, said in an interview with the Estonian newspaper Postimees in March that he feels responsible but also believes Danske Bank’s anti-money laundering mechanisms at that time were adequate. Rehe wasn’t considered a suspect in the case. Prosecutor Marek Vahing of the Estonian state prosecutors’ office in charge of investigating the case in Tallinn told the Estonian public broadcaster ERR on Tuesday …

Dozens of women have marched in the capital of Ghana to protest impunity surrounding attacks on women and girls in the West African country. The activists added their voices to the global conversation on justice for victims of sexual abuse, and holding abusers accountable. Protesters marching through Accra – a sign that Ghana’s #MeToo movement is gaining strength here. Victims of domestic and sexual violence are publicly naming abusers, while authorities are being criticized for not making the safety of Ghana’s women and girls a priority. Ghanaian broadcaster and activist Felicity Nana Nelson uses radio and social media to advocate for women. This is a sentiment shared by Ghanaian radio broadcaster, activist and feminist, Felicity Nana Nelson. She uses her work on the radio, as well as her large social media following, to hold perpetrators to account and advocate for the rights of women. She is one of a few strong female voices on breakfast radio in Ghana. “I’m putting gender on the agenda. That is the whole point. When an issue comes up it’s like okay, what is the women’s side of this, how are women being affected by this issue? So I try to bring that to the fore,” …

If nothing is done to improve food production and land use, the world may face unrest and conflict, according to a landmark report. The study by a coalition of universities and environmental organizations says current farming practices contribute to food shortages and global warming. One proposed solution is to rely more on insects as a food source.  Some farmers in Kenya are already doing that by raising crickets to sell as food. At a farm in Kisumu, Kenya there’s bread that was baked with flour derived from crickets. 54-year-old Charles Odira a farmer. Odira rears the insects that usually are known for their chirping. He says he got the idea to raise them for food after visiting a farming fair in Thailand. “When I went there and I saw how they were rearing crickets there. How it was helping the poor, the malnourished. How it was bringing income to the farmers. Then when I came back, I came back a cricket farmer,” Odira said. Odira started with 50 crickets he trapped in the wild. Now a few years later, he has a colony of up to 300,000 insects. They live in pens and thrive on chicken feed and plant leftovers. …

One of the wonderful ways that playgrounds have changed is in the way many are now making room for the disabled. Khrystyna Shevchenko visited one of the first special needs playgrounds in California. Anna Rice narrates her story. …

A tech company is offering literature and short films created specifically for mobile devices. They already have 50 million monthly subscribers. Deana Mitchell tunes in. …

Dozens of activists have marched in the capital of Ghana to protest impunity surrounding attacks on women and girls in the West African country.  The women activists added their voices to the global conversation about seeking justice for victims of sexual abuses, and holding abusers to account. Stacey Knott reports from Accra on the weekend protest march. …

The number of invasions of indigenous lands in Brazil has jumped in the first nine months of President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, a Brazilian Catholic Church agency said Tuesday. The Missionary Indigenous Council said illegal miners, loggers and tappers of natural resources are involved in most of the invasions. The council reported at least 160 cases of “possessive invasions, illegal exploitation of natural resources of damage to heritage” on indigenous lands in the first nine months of 2019. There were 111 recorded cases for all of last year under conservative President Michel Temer. The far-right Bolsonaro, who has the support of Brazil’s powerful agro-business sector, has often complained that indigenous lands cover too much of Brazil and that development there should be easier. Critics say that encourages invaders seeking to exploit them. Catholic priest Roque Paloschi, who heads the council, said in a press conference that Bolsonaro’s “aggressive rhetoric fuels violence against indigenous land and peoples.” The council’s report said 13 of Brazil’s 26 states reported indigenous lands invasions in 2018. This year that figure rose to 19 states. Roberto Liebgott, a coordinator of the report, said the current situation is “more worrying for indigenous peoples than in any previous administration.” …

An Army veteran who was deported to Mexico in 2018 arrived back in Chicago Tuesday for a final chance at becoming a U.S. citizen and living in the city he has called home since boyhood. Federal immigration authorities granted Miguel Perez Jr. a two-week parole into the U.S. for an immigration hearing, according to his attorney. The 41-year-old Perez has a green card as a permanent U.S. resident, but after serving time for a 2008 non-violent drug conviction was deported last year. Then last month, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a pardon , erasing the conviction and reviving Perez’s chances to become a citizen. “I’m speechless. I wish I could say a lot more but it’s just, I’m choked up,” a teary-eyed Perez said outside a church, hours after landing in Chicago. “I’m so blessed to be here.” His immigration hearing was set for Wednesday, but it’s unknown when immigration officials will decide the case. Perez’s attorney, Chris Bergin, hoped for a speedy decision so Perez wouldn’t have to return to Mexico after the 14 days are up. Officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment, citing privacy laws. Perez is among …

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking at a New York synagogue on Tuesday night, lamented the perception that the Supreme Court is becoming politicized and that the justices’ decisions are guided primarily by their partisan affiliation. Roberts’ concerns about the impression of the court comes during a highly-charged political moment when the judiciary is getting hit from all sides. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized federal courts and judges who have blocked his policies, while some Democratic politicians have implied that the court’s conservative majority is motivated mainly by politics instead of interpreting the law. “When you live in a polarized political environment, people tend to see everything in those terms. That’s not how we at the court function and the results in our cases do not suggest otherwise,” said Roberts before hundreds in attendance at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in Manhattan. Roberts in November rebuked Trump after the Republican president called a judge who ruled against his policy barring asylum for certain immigrants an “Obama judge.” In August, a handful of Democratic senators filed a brief in a firearms case the justices had agreed to hear, suggesting the high court was too influenced by politics. “The Supreme Court …

The United States led more than 30 countries on Tuesday in condemning what it called China’s “horrific campaign of repression” against Muslims in the western region of Xinjiang at an event on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly that was denounced by China. In highlighting abuses against ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in China, Assistant Secretary of State John Sullivan said the United Nations and its member states had “a singular responsibility to speak up when survivor after survivor recounts the horrors of state repression.” Sullivan said it was incumbent on U.N. member states to ensure the world body was able to closely monitor human rights abuses by China and added that it must seek “immediate, unhindered, and unmonitored” access to Xinjiang for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR). Sullivan said Tuesday’s event was co-sponsored by Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, and was joined by more than 30 U.N. states, representatives of the European Union and more than 20 nongovernmental organizations, as well as Uighur victims. “We invite others to join the international effort to demand and compel an immediate end to China’s horrific campaign of repression,” he said. “History will judge the international community …

Long lines of drivers at gas stations in Cuba and hours of wait for public transport are signs of the impact of sanctions imposed by the United States this year on the Caribbean island and its main ally, oil producer Venezuela. President Miguel Diaz-Canel this month warned Cubans of difficult times ahead due to limited fuel imports. He exhorted citizens to show solidarity and do their utmost to improve energy efficiency. After sanctioning Cuba’s state-run Cubametales in July and a group of shipping firms and vessels, the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday targeted four additional maritime companies and tankers they own or operate for transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba in violation of sanctions. When Did the Fuel Shortage Start? Cuba has relied for decades on crude purchases from allies to feed its refineries. It also imports fuel to help satisfy consumption of about 145,000 barrels per day by power plants, industrial complexes, gas stations, airports and homes. Fuel shortages have gradually grown worse since Cuba’s main ally, Venezuela, started reducing oil shipments as far back as 2016 after its own production declined and its economy slipped into a deep recession. A bilateral pact signed in 2000 allows Cuba to pay for …

North Korea has quietly reopened a construction firm in Senegal in an apparent violation of United Nations sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s nuclear programs, VOA Korean has confirmed. At least 31 North Koreans are working at the firm, Corman Construction & Commerce Senegal Sural (CCCSSS), according to interviews and official documents reviewed by VOA Korean. Under a series of sweeping sanctions enacted two years ago, the U.N. prohibited member states from conducting most business activities with North Korea. The sanctions also prohibited member states from allowing in new North Korean workers and required any North Korean workers in place be expelled by the end of 2019. Senegal told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in January 2018 that it had responded to the most recent sanctions by shutting down the North Korean company, Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies (MOP). North Korean workers take a break in front of the compound in Quakam, Dakar, Senegal, Sept. 16, 2019. (Credit: Kim Seon-myung) But documents show that Corman Construction was registered in June 2017 under management of a North Korean national. The company is working on some of the same construction projects that Mandudae Overseas worked on before it was closed. Reporters from VOA …

Amazon.com has launched an initiative that would allow users to access its Alexa, Microsoft Corp’s Cortana and multiple other voice-controlled virtual assistant services from a single device. The move comes as competition has intensified among global technology companies to dominate the market for voice assistants, which are commonly housed in smart speakers and mobile devices. The notable exclusions from Amazon’s Voice Interoperability Initiative are Alphabet’s Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri and Samsung Electronics’ Bixby. Google was approached by Amazon but only over the weekend, giving it a very small time frame to evaluate the proposal, a source familiar with the matter said. “We just heard about this initiative and would need to review the details, but in general we’re always interested in participating in efforts that have the broad support of the ecosystem and uphold strong privacy and security practices,” a Google spokesperson said. More than 30 companies The initiative, which has been supported by more than 30 companies, also includes Salesforce.com’s Einstein. Chip companies including Intel, Qualcomm , MediaTek and NXP Semiconductors NV will develop the related hardware, Amazon said. Spotify, Tencent, Baidu, BMW, Bose, Harman, Orange, Sonos, Sony Audio Group are also supporting the partnership. Microsoft and Amazon have …

A threat by Donald Trump to pull the United States out of the global postal system could lead to a “nightmare scenario” of mail going undelivered, packages piling up and American stamps no longer being recognized abroad, the U.N. postal agency said. The Universal Postal Union (UPU) has been holding an emergency meeting in Geneva to persuade Washington not to follow through on a threat to quit the agency, which sets rules to ensure mail gets delivered around the globe. The Trump administration says it wants to charge other countries more than UPU rules now permit to have letters and packages delivered in the United States. It has set a deadline of next month for rates to be raised or it will quit. Universal Postal Union (UPU) Director General Bishar Hussein attends a press conference during an extraordinary congress of the UPU in Geneva, Sept. 24, 2019. “It is really a nightmare scenario,” the UPU’s secretary-general, Bishar Hussein, told a news conference, noting that no country had ever left since the agency was founded nearly 150 years ago. It now has 192 members. “If the United States leaves, you’ll get those piles, because somehow every country has to figure out …

Sweeping goals to end poverty, inequality and other global ills are being derailed by climate change, conflicts and violence, the head of the United Nations told world leaders in New York on Tuesday, calling for a “decade of action.” Sustainable development needs more financing, investment in health and education, and broader access to technology to succeed, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the first high-level review of the global goals adopted in 2015. Launched with great fanfare and optimism, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by the 193 U.N. member states set out an ambitious “to-do” list tackling conflict, hunger, land degradation, gender inequality and climate change by 2030. But assessments of their progress have been bleak. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the Climate Summit in the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York. “Let us be clear: we are far from where we need to be. We are off track,” Guterres said. “Deadly conflicts, the climate crisis, gender-based violence and persistent inequalities are undermining efforts to achieve the goals. “Uneven growth, rising debt levels, heightened global trade tensions are creating new obstacles to implementation. Another assessment came on Tuesday from global business leaders who complained of …

House and Senate leaders are reacting along party lines to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of a Trump impeachment inquiry. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is accusing Democrats of having a “predetermined conclusion” about Trump’s guilt, calling Tuesday’s developments part of an “impeachment parade in search of a rationale.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivers remarks during a weekly Senate Luncheon press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sept. 24, 2019. “It simply confirms that House Democrats’ priority is not making life better for the American people, but their nearly three-year-old fixation on impeachment.” McConnell’s statement came just after he was part of the Senate’s unanimous consent agreement that the whistleblower’s complaint be immediately handed over to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. McConnell’s House counterpart, Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, says Democrats are still bitter about losing the 2016 presidential election and have wanted to impeach Trump from “day one.” FILE – House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) addresses a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, Aug. 7, 2019. But the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, reminded Republicans that history will show they ignored their duty to the Constitution if …

Algeria’s powerful army chief on Tuesday urged massive participation in a presidential election planned for December, responding for the first time to protests rejecting the planned vote. The election has been scheduled for Dec. 12 to replace President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who stepped down in April after demonstrations against his 20-year-rule. But protesters have called for it to be canceled, believing that members of the old ruling elite will manipulate the vote to keep their grip on power. Demonstrators gather during a protest demanding social and economic reforms, as well as the departure of the country’s ruling elite in Algiers, Algeria, Sept. 24, 2019. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Algiers and other cities on Friday to demand the vote be scrapped and remaining Bouteflika-era figures leave power. “What we noticed in recent days is the intransigence of some parties and their insistence on chanting some tendentious slogans,” a defense ministry statement quoted army chief of staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah as saying at a military base in the southwestern province of Bechar. “We urge citizens to mobilize massively to make this vote a starting point for the renewal of institutions,” he added. “This will allow the election of …

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attacked the media on Tuesday for “lying” about the fires in the Amazon and criticized international concern for the rainforest as fueled by interest in the region’s biodiversity and mineral wealth. A day after shunning a high-profile U.N. meeting on climate change, Bolsonaro used his speech to the General Assembly to reinforce Brazil’s sovereign right over its 60% share of the Amazon. “It’s wrong to say the Amazon is part of a global heritage and wrong to say, as scientists affirm, that our rainforest are the lungs of the world,” Bolsonaro said. The surge in fires in the Amazon this year, the highest since 2010, has caused worldwide concern over the rainforest, considered a bulwark against climate change, and criticism of Bolsonaro’s government for not doing enough to stop the deliberate setting of fires to expand pastures. Climate change has been at the top of the agenda at this year’s gathering of world leaders, with Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg urging immediate action to avoid an environmental catastrophe. Bolsonaro said the dry weather at this time of year favored fries, both spontaneous and illegal, stating that the rainforest is not being devastated by the blazes “as …