Chinese scientist who claimed ‘gene-edited babies’ defends his work and new study shows illegal immigrant population has dropped in US.
Donald Trump may cancel meeting with Putin over Ukraine
US President Donald Trump Tuesday said he may cancel the scheduled talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires after Russia attacked three Ukranian naval vessels, reports BBC.
Trump told The Washington Post that he was waiting for a full report from his national security team about the maritime clash. He said that his meeting with Putin depends on the report he receives.
“Maybe I won’t have the meeting (with Putin). Maybe I won’t even have the meeting,” Trump told The Post Tuesday.
“I don’t like that aggression. I don’t want that aggression at all,” he added.
White House national security advisor John Bolton said Tuesday that Trump’s meeting with Putin would cover arms control and security issues. The meeting comes at a time when the relationship between the two countries has worsened, with the US widening sanctions on Russia over the past couple of months.
Mexico to bestow top honour on Donald Trump’s son-in-law
Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Peña Nieto Tuesday said he would has bestow the nation’s highest honour for foreigners on Jared Kushner, senior White House advisor and Donald Trump’s son-in-law, reports The Guardian.
Kushner will be admitted to the Order of the Aztec Eagle because of “his significant contributions” to a new North American trade pact agreed to in August, the Mexican government said in a statement, reports Reuters.
Mexicans were outraged over Kushner receiving the honour, whose past recipients include Queen Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela and Walt Disney.
“Giving Kushner the Aztec Eagle is a supreme act of humiliation and cowardice,” tweeted historian Enrique Krauze.
Chinese scientist proud of ‘world’s first gene-edited babies’
Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who claimed to have created the world’s first genetically edited babies, has said that he is proud of his work, reports BBC.
Speaking at a summit in Hong Kong, Jiankui said “another potential pregnancy” of a gene-edited embryo was in its early stages.
Jiankui said eight couples had signed up voluntarily for the experiment, and one couple later dropped out.
He added that he had initially funded the experiment by himself.
Jiankui’s claims have not been independently verified. His move has drawn widespread criticism around the world. Gene-editing at embryo stage is banned in most countries.
Illegal immigrants in US at lowest level since 2004
A study released Tuesday shows that the population of the illegal immigrants in US slipped to 10.7 million in 2016, its lowest level since 2004, due largely to a fall in the number of people coming in from Mexico, reports Reuters.
The Pew Research Center study is based on US Census data and other figures from 2016.
According to the researchers, the reason for the decline was the recession that hit US in 2007, followed by a slow recovery and less employment opportunities for migrants.
“The combination of economic forces and enforcement priorities may be working together to discourage people from arriving, or sending them home,” said D’Vera Cohn, one of the authors of the Pew Research Center report.
The report also found that Mexico’s total population in US fell by 1.5 million between 2007 and 2016. It also found that Asians accounted for 22 per cent of unauthorised immigrants who recently arrived in the United States.