 | | | Highlights | | | | | | Netanyahu clutches political lifeline. Israel’s president has thrown Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a political lifeline, asking him to try to form a government after he failed to secure a clear election victory twice in six months. Neither Netanyahu nor his rival Benny Gantz was able to put together a coalition with a ruling majority, or reach a power-sharing deal for a unity government between their two parties. Facing stalemate, President Reuven Rivlin has tasked Netanyahu with what could be an impossible mission. | | | | Former French President Jacques Chirac dies, aged 86. A political chameleon who dominated French politics for decades in roles ranging from mayor of Paris to the second-longest serving leader of the nation. “He passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his loved ones,” his son-in-law Frederic Salat-Baroux told Reuters. | | | | Khashoggi murder 'happened under my watch,' says Saudi crown prince. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said he bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year by Saudi operatives “because it happened under my watch,” according to a PBS documentary to be broadcast next week. Mohammed bin Salman has not spoken publicly about the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The CIA and some Western governments have said he ordered it, but Saudi officials say he had no role. | | | | | | | | Pride parades in Poland prove flashpoint ahead of general election. Alicja Sienkiewicz was attending a gay pride event in the Polish city of Bialystok in July when a group of young men shouting expletives surrounded her wheelchair and hurled firecrackers. The 18-year-old student and gay-rights activist said she witnessed the group beating and kicking some parade participants and hurling homophobic insults, prompting police to intervene. In Poland, parades to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender life have become violent flashpoints ahead of an October 13 general election. | | | | | |
