California has become the first state in the country to mandate that women be included on the board of directors of publicly traded companies. Governor Jerry Brown on Sunday signed into law that every California-based corporation should have at least one woman on its board of directors by the end of next year. By the end of 2021, a board of directors with five members will be required to have at least two female members and larger boards will require three or more. “One-fourth of California’s publicly traded companies still do not have a single woman on their board, despite numerous independent studies that show companies with women on their board are more profitable and productive,”Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, the bill’s author, told The Wall Street Journal. Jackson said the companies, despite being urged to add women to their boards, have done nothing to increase the numbers, making government intervention necessary. …

The high-profile airing of sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has led victims around the country to flood support center lines with calls, come forward with reports of rapes and publicly share long-held stories of their own experiences of being attacked. For many who had stifled painful memories for years, hearing Christine Blasey Ford share her accusation against Kavanaugh reopened old wounds. For others dealing with a recent experience of assault, it has spurred them to report the crimes or seek counseling or other help. “Having this in the news all the time has flipped their lives upside down,” said Kristen Houlton Shaw, executive director of the Sexual Violence Center in Minnesota, where the number of first-time callers has increased in the past week. “So many different things can trigger people, and this time it’s the news.” Kavanaugh has denied any wrongdoing and gave an impassioned defense …

Stricter Trump administration immigration policies have stymied Pentagon plans to restart a program that allowed thousands of people with critical medical or Asian and African language skills to join the military and become American citizens, according to several U.S. officials. The decade-old program has been on hold since 2016 amid concerns that immigrant recruits were not being screened well enough, and security threats were slipping through the system. Defense officials shored up the vetting process, and planned to relaunch the program earlier this month. But there was an unexpected barrier when Homeland Security officials said they would not be able to protect new immigrant recruits from being deported when their temporary visas expired after they signed a contract to join the military, the U.S. officials said. They were not authorized to publicly describe internal discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity. The program is called Military Accessions Vital to the …

The firestorm surrounding U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh continues this week, as the FBI conducts a limited investigation of some accusations of sexual misconduct leveled against Kavanaugh. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, last week’s testimony by the nominee and one of his accusers did not alter a bitter partisan split in the Senate, but did delay a scheduled final vote on Kavanaugh. …

Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to President Donald Trump, said on Sunday that she was the victim of sexual assault and that women who survive such experiences should be heard. “I feel very empathetic, frankly, for victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment and rape,” Conway told CNN while defending the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault by one woman and sexual misconduct by two other women. “I’m a victim of sexual assault,” Conway said. Conway and White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The court nomination has been upended by the allegations, and President Donald Trump was forced to order the FBI to look into them after several moderate Republicans, whose votes could be crucial for Kavanaugh’s confirmation, called for a probe. One Kavanaugh accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, detailed her allegation in testimony before a Senate …

The White House said Sunday that it is not “micromanaging” the new FBI investigation into Supreme Court Justice nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh.. “The White House counsel has allowed the Senate to dictate terms and what the scope of the investigation is,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News Sunday, referring to the FBI’s probe of sexual assault allegations against the judge by Dr. Christine Blassey Ford. Both Kavanaugh and Ford testified separately before the Senate Judiciary Committee last Thursday. Ford told the Committee she was “100 percent” sure Kavanaugh assaulted her when they were both high school teenagers in 1982, while the Supreme Court nominee angrily denied the allegations. Trump ordered the new probe into Kavanaugh Friday at the request of the committee. The consent for a fresh probe was a concession by the Trump administration and Republicans who had strongly contended that Kavanaugh had been thoroughly vetted numerous times. Amid …

Las Vegas, Nevada, is known worldwide for its gambling, resorts, shopping and entertainment. But one year ago, it became the site of the worst mass shooting by an individual in the United States. Stephen Paddock, 64, shot more than 1,000 rifle rounds from an upper story hotel window into an outdoor concert. He killed nearly 60 people and shot himself as police closed in. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti returned to Las Vegas to see what has changed at this popular stop for tourists from around the world. …

President Donald Trump has discussed global crude oil prices with Saudi King Salman in a telephone call amid the American leader’s call for OPEC to bring down energy prices.   The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported the call late Saturday night, saying “the efforts to maintain supplies to ensure the stability of the oil market and ensure the growth of the global economy” were discussed by the two leaders. American officials acknowledged the call, but offered no details. Trump, facing political pressure at home, has been calling on OPEC and American allies like Saudi Arabia to boost their production to lower global crude oil prices. Benchmark Brent crude now trades above $80 a barrel. Analysts say prices likely will go higher as American sanctions on Iran resume in November.   …

The Catholic Church is closing parishes across the American Midwest and Northeast in response to years of flagging attendance. Changing demographics and an overall trend of secularism is partly to blame, but repeated cases of sexual abuse in the church have not helped. Reporter Teresa Krug reports from the Midwestern state of Iowa, where some church members are questioning why they should stay. …

Sedgwick Street in Chicago is a thoroughfare divided by race and socio-economics. The area was settled by German, Irish and Sicilian immigrants. But in the 1950s and ’60s, when the original settlers began moving out, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans and so-called hippies started moving in. Today, Sedgwick Street remains a social and economic demarcation line between the haves and the have-nots. But as VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports, one art studio owner hopes to use art to unite the neighborhood. …

Canada and the United States on Saturday narrowed their differences in last-ditch talks to save NAFTA but there is no guarantee an agreement will be forged, two Ottawa sources said, a notion echoed by a top adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. The two nations are trying to find a way to update the North American Free Trade Agreement and prevent it from collapsing. The 1994 pact underpins $1.2 trillion in annual trade and its demise would be enormously damaging, economists say.  Trump is threatening to impose auto tariffs on Canada unless it signs a text of an updated agreement by the end of Sunday. Washington has a deal with Mexico, the third member of NAFTA. Address to UN delayed In a sign of the mounting pressure, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland postponed her country’s annual address to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday to return to Ottawa. Freeland, who …

Iran’s state TV has broadcast footage purporting to show a close encounter between the Revolutionary Guard’s navy and the USS Theodore Roosevelt early this year. Press TV’s website says the encounter occurred March 21 in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea. The TV agency says the video was aired Saturday as part of a documentary. The footage is likely meant as a show of strength amid new U.S. sanctions on Iran and the Trump administration plans to bring Iranian oil exports down to zero. In the video, Revolutionary Guard speedboats are seen closing in on the U.S. carrier. Iranian sailors then warn the Americans over radio communication to “keep well clear” of the Guard patrol boats and say they advise the Americans to “refrain from the threat or use of force in any manner.” …

North Korea’s foreign minister said Saturday that his government would not denuclearize before it has sufficient trust in the United States. “Without any trust in the U.S., there will be no confidence in our national security, and under such circumstances there is no way we will unilaterally disarm ourselves first,” Ri Yong Ho told the U.N. General Assembly.   “The DPRK government’s commitment to the denuclearization is solid and firm, however, it is only possible if the U.S secures our sufficient trust towards the U.S.,” the foreign minister said. DPRK is the acronym for the country’s formal name. Ri said this lack of confidence in Washington is the reason denuclearization discussions have stalled since the historic Singapore summit in June between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un.   He warned that if both countries continue to harbor mistrust, the summit’s joint statement would suffer the same “fate of …

With embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hanging in the balance, the high court is scheduled to open its new term on Monday with oral arguments on a range of issues before eight ideologically divided justices. This is not the first time the high court has had a vacancy at the start of a new term. In 2016, the court faced a similar situation after Justice Antonin Scalia died earlier in the year and Republicans in the Senate refused to hold confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee, keeping the seat vacant for nearly a year.   If Kavanaugh wins confirmation, he is expected to provide a critical conservative vote that could tip the court’s balance on key issues this year and beyond.  Legal experts say the justices may reschedule for re-argument some of the cases that have been set to be heard early in the term. The high …

First ladies in several African countries hope their American counterpart will find ways to tackle problems, with a nuanced understanding of the African experience, when she visits the continent next week. The first ladies of Mozambique, Namibia and Sierra Leone spoke to VOA in New York during the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly and shared advice for U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Isaura Nyusi, the first lady of Mozambique, told VOA through her interpreter and adviser that she looked forward to seeing Trump’s initiatives in the United States applied to African challenges. Trump would be welcomed in Mozambique, Nyusi added, although that country is not currently on the American first lady’s itinerary. Trump is slated to visit Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt in what the White House is calling a trip about “maternal and newborn care in hospitals, education for children, the deep culture and history woven …

The FBI has launched a new investigation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. President Donald Trump ordered the investigation at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump posted on Twitter Friday night: Trump said in a statement the updated investigation, which follows sexual misconduct allegations, “must be limited in scope” and “completed in less than one week.” The decision is a reversal for the administration, which had argued that Kavanaugh had been vetted. WATCH: Kavanaugh Moves Step Closer to Confirmation, But With a Hitch ​Due diligence Earlier Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to send Kavanaugh’s nomination for the Supreme Court to the full Senate after securing a vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s nomination from Republican Jeff Flake, who requested a delay and investigation. The committee of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats voted along party lines to move the nomination forward. “This country is being ripped apart here, and …

The nation was riveted but divided by dramatic testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, the university professor accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were teenagers living in the DC area. The emotional debate could be a turning point in America’s cultural and political discussions, galvanizing the MeToo movement and mobilizing voters on both sides in midterm elections this November. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill. …

President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, moved a step closer to confirmation Friday when he won a party-line endorsement from the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee. But uncertainty was introduced when a Republican senator insisted on a delay in the final Senate vote on Kavanaugh until the FBI can investigate an allegation of sexual assault brought by California professor Christine Blasey Ford. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has the latest from Washington. …

A federal judge Friday struck down a Kentucky law requiring abortion providers to sign advance agreements with hospitals and ambulance services for emergency patient care, in a ruling that keeps the state from revoking the license of its only remaining abortion clinic. U.S. District Judge Greg Stivers in Louisville sided with the EMW Women’s Surgical Center and Planned Parenthood in challenging a law that threatened to make Kentucky the first U.S. state without a single legal abortion provider. “This decision keeps open the doors of the only health center in Kentucky that provides safe and legal abortion care,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement. Clinic files suit The Louisville clinic filed suit last year claiming that Governor Matt Bevin, a self-described “unapologetically pro-life” Republican, was using the law unfairly to terminate its license, following a 2016 licensing battle that forced the shutdown of a Lexington clinic. Planned Parenthood joined in …

Ashley Loring Heavyrunner disappeared from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana in June 2017, one of thousands of indigenous women recorded missing in the United States and Canada in recent decades. For professional cartographer Annita Lucchesi, a descendant of the Cheyenne Tribe, the loss was personal: Heavyrunner was her student at the Blackfeet Community College. Now Lucchesi is putting together an atlas of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, seeking to map the geographic distribution of such cases. “Mapping is an indigenous way of knowing,” Lucchesi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from California. “It can yield really powerful results, especially for social issues that are hard to discuss, like missing and murdered indigenous women.” ​National estimates A 2014 national report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police estimated 1,181 indigenous women disappeared or were murdered since 1980. In 2016, the U.S. National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 cases of …