This is President of the United States for you.

A political novice, businessman and former fledgling real estate figure whose presidency has been filled with controversies, policy upheavals and high profile exits.

2018 was no different.

In June this year, <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trump-concerned-about-being-impeached-report-183111">Trump</a> held a historic summit with the North Korean leader <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/pictures-with-kim-jong-un-mask-pulled-down-from-social-media-after-backlash-in-south-korea-183853">Kim Jong-un</a>.&nbsp;

The meeting aimed to lay the groundwork for ending a nuclear stand-off between the countries. The joint statement signed at the end of their meeting pledged to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees to North Korea.

But as the world applauded the US and South Korea in bringing the unpredictable Kim Jong-un to the talking table,&nbsp;disappointed allies looked on as Trump pulled out the US from a 2015 international agreement with Iran&nbsp;designed to deny Tehran the ability to build nuclear weapons.

Trump said he planned to restore the full force of US sanctions on Iran as the deal was&nbsp;flawed since then Trump has imposed sanctions on several countries trading with Iran, slapping sanctions on them as well including India despite certain waivers.

"In a few moments, I will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating US nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States. America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail," Trump said.

Kim was not the only dictator Trump cosied up to. In July, he met with <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trump-is-right-to-pull-us-troops-out-of-syria-says-putin-185511">Russian President Vladimir Putin</a> in Helsinki, talking without aides present for over two hours, then emerging to declare that Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial&nbsp;of meddling in the 2016 election.

In November, Trump took the side of the Saudi crown prince <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/mohammed-bin-salman-reformist-prince-who-has-shaken-saudi-arabia-184964">Mohammed bin Salman</a>, who allegedly directed the murder and dismemberment of journalist and dissident <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/jamal-khashoggi-other-journalists-are-named-time-magazines-person-of-the-year-183310">Jamal Khashoggi</a>, a US resident at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. And as the world leaders reacted sharply to the murder of Khashoggi, his own CIA confirmed that they had audio proof of the Saudi crown prince MBS ordering his brutal murder; a defiant Trump called the proof unconfirmed and speculative.

While most countries have believed in hyphenating&nbsp;the relationship between Israel and Palestine and promising a two-state solution, the US under Trump this year also shifted its embassy from Tel Aviv to&nbsp;Jerusalem on May 14.&nbsp;Trump's decision to break with decades of US policy and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel caused significant criticism and violence, with 40 Palestinians being killed by&nbsp;Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week-long border protest.

So, Trump made several policy shifts,&nbsp;symptomatic of his presidency. He's also had several run-ins with the press.

President Trump left the Group of Seven summit early and announced he was backing out of the joint communique issued by the other leaders aimed at maintaining a fragile consensus on the trade dispute between Washington and its top allies pushing for free, fair and mutually beneficial trade leaving the leaders in disarray and slapping tariffs on steel, aluminium imports from China, the EU and Mexico.

But the biggest blow was yet to come to the global economy. Trump hit China with sanctions on Chinese imports worth US $285 billion, promising more as stocks world over fell, oil prices spiked and currencies tumbled on a potential trade war.

Months later, in December, US and China announced a ceasefire in their tariff wars a pause on the trade wars for 90 days and holding off on raising tariffs by 25% and imposition of additional levies.

The tariffs started small, with duties on washing machines, then ramped up with steel and aluminum, then escalated into a broad range of levies affecting allies like Canada as much as economic foes like China. Agricultural exports were hit hard.

Trump touted his renegotiation of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/what-happens-if-the-us-terminates-nafta-181728">North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)</a>, in which Mexico and Canada agreed to new terms ostensibly better for us industry.

Trump also withdrew from what he described as a "hypocritical and self-serving" United Nations human rights council on June 19 over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The withdrawal, announced by US ambassador to the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-continues-to-harbour-terrorists-nikki-haley-182609">UN Nikki Haley</a>, followed the US pulling out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also came as the United States faced intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border.

Trump's choice of the Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh plagued his presidency for months with accusations of sexual harassment against the nominee, but Trump brazened it out as he did on his alleged relationship with adult star Stormy Daniels and the murder of&nbsp;dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He's changed the constitution of the Supreme Court.&nbsp;Approximately one-sixth of all federal appellate judges are now Trump appointees.

He also&nbsp;spurned fiscal conservatism in 2018, boosting spending toward a US $1 trillion annual deficit and ballooning the national debt by the US $1.9 trillion. He also abandoned his populist economic promises, which included raising taxes on hedge-fund managers, providing universal health care, spending on public works and reining in prescription&nbsp;drug prices.

Donald Trump came to the presidency by surprise and&nbsp;has been a disrupter ever since. He's stoked political divisions, breaking policy norms, weakening institutions and disavowing decades of US strategy- how different will 2019 be?

This is President of the United States for you. A political novice, businessman and former fledgling real estate figure whose presidency has been filled with controversies, policy upheavals and high profile exits.

This is President of the United States for you. A political novice, businessman and former fledgling real estate figure whose presidency has been filled with controversies, policy upheavals and high profile exits. 2018 was no different. In June this year, Trump held a historic summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The meeting aimed to lay the groundwork for ending a nuclear stand-off between the countries. The joint statement signed at the end of their meeting pledged to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees to North Korea. But as the world applauded the US and South Korea in bringing the unpredictable Kim Jong-un to the talking table, disappointed allies looked on as Trump pulled out the US from a 2015 international agreement with Iran designed to deny Tehran the ability to build nuclear weapons. Trump said he planned to restore the full force of US sanctions on Iran as the deal was flawed since then Trump has imposed sanctions on several countries trading with Iran, slapping sanctions on them as well including India despite certain waivers. "In a few moments, I will sign a presidential memorandum to begin reinstating US nuclear sanctions on the Iranian regime. We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction. Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States. America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail," Trump said. Kim was not the only dictator Trump cosied up to. In July, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, talking without aides present for over two hours, then emerging to declare that Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial of meddling in the 2016 election. In November, Trump took the side of the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who allegedly directed the murder and dismemberment of journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a US resident at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. And as the world leaders reacted sharply to the murder of Khashoggi, his own CIA confirmed that they had audio proof of the Saudi crown prince MBS ordering his brutal murder; a defiant Trump called the proof unconfirmed and speculative. While most countries have believed in hyphenating the relationship between Israel and Palestine and promising a two-state solution, the US under Trump this year also shifted its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14. Trump's decision to break with decades of US policy and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel caused significant criticism and violence, with 40 Palestinians being killed by Israeli troops in Gaza during a six-week-long border protest. So, Trump made several policy shifts, symptomatic of his presidency. He's also had several run-ins with the press. President Trump left the Group of Seven summit early and announced he was backing out of the joint communique issued by the other leaders aimed at maintaining a fragile consensus on the trade dispute between Washington and its top allies pushing for free, fair and mutually beneficial trade leaving the leaders in disarray and slapping tariffs on steel, aluminium imports from China, the EU and Mexico. But the biggest blow was yet to come to the global economy. Trump hit China with sanctions on Chinese imports worth US $285 billion, promising more as stocks world over fell, oil prices spiked and currencies tumbled on a potential trade war. Months later, in December, US and China announced a ceasefire in their tariff wars a pause on the trade wars for 90 days and holding off on raising tariffs by 25% and imposition of additional levies. The tariffs started small, with duties on washing machines, then ramped up with steel and aluminum, then escalated into a broad range of levies affecting allies like Canada as much as economic foes like China. Agricultural exports were hit hard. Trump touted his renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in which Mexico and Canada agreed to new terms ostensibly better for us industry. Trump also withdrew from what he described as a "hypocritical and self-serving" United Nations human rights council on June 19 over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform. The withdrawal, announced by US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, followed the US pulling out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It also came as the United States faced intense criticism for detaining children separated from their immigrant parents at the US-Mexico border. Trump's choice of the Supreme Court judge Brett Kavanaugh plagued his presidency for months with accusations of sexual harassment against the nominee, but Trump brazened it out as he did on his alleged relationship with adult star Stormy Daniels and the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He's changed the constitution of the Supreme Court. Approximately one-sixth of all federal appellate judges are now Trump appointees. He also spurned fiscal conservatism in 2018, boosting spending toward a US $1 trillion annual deficit and ballooning the national debt by the US $1.9 trillion. He also abandoned his populist economic promises, which included raising taxes on hedge-fund managers, providing universal health care, spending on public works and reining in prescription drug prices. Donald Trump came to the presidency by surprise and has been a disrupter ever since. He's stoked political divisions, breaking policy norms, weakening institutions and disavowing decades of US strategy- how different will 2019 be?

Donald Trump: US President marks another year of controversies

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/jamal-khashoggi-other-journalists-are-named-time-magazines-person-of-the-year-183310">Jamal Khashoggi</a> paid the price for criticising the Saudi royal family. The Saudi Arabian dissident was living in a self-imposed exile in the United States after fleeing Saudi Arabia last year. He was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, allegedly at the behest of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A complex man of contradictions, Khashoggi went from being a Saudi royal family insider to an outspoken critic of the ultra-conservative kingdom's government.

In his <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/washington-post-publishes-jamal-khashoggis-last-piece-172051">final column for The Washington Post</a>, Khashoggi presciently pleaded for greater freedom of expression in the Middle East.

"The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power," he wrote.

The Saudi journalist disappeared after entering his country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2. His disappearance was initially shrouded in mystery, and triggered an international crisis for both Riyadh and Washington as Turkish officials accused Saudi Arabia of a state-sponsored killing.

Riyadh, after insisting that Khashoggi left its consulate alive, said more than two weeks afterwards that he died in a "brawl" that arose from a dispute with people he met there.

Three weeks on, the Saudi public prosecutor said the murder was "premeditated" according to information supplied by Turkey.

Khashoggi came from a prominent Saudi family with Turkish origins.

His grandfather, Mohammed Khashoggi, was the personal doctor of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud. His uncle was the notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.

A friend of the young Osama bin Laden, a Muslim Brotherhood sympathiser, an aide to the Saudi royal family, a critic of the kingdom's regime and a liberal - such conflicting descriptions were all ascribed to Khashoggi.

After graduating from Indiana State University in 1982, he began working for Saudi newspapers, including the Saudi Gazette and Al-Sharq al-Awsat.

Sent to cover the conflict in Afghanistan, Khashoggi sympathised with the mujahedeen in the 1980s war against the Soviet occupation, which was funded by the Saudis and the CIA.

He was known to have been drawn to the Brotherhood's policies seeking to erase the remnants of Western colonialism from the Arab world.

It was this shared vision that brought him closer to Bin Laden, who went on to found Al-Qaeda, which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Born in the Saudi holy city of Medina on October 13, 1958, Khashoggi spent his youth studying Islamic ideology and embraced liberal ideas.

But Saudi authorities came to see Khashoggi as too progressive and he was forced to resign as editor-in-chief of the Saudi daily Al-Watan in 2003 after serving just 54 days.

Over the years, he maintained ambiguous ties with Saudi authorities, having held advisory positions in Riyadh and Washington, including to Prince Turki al-Faisal, who ran Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency for more than 20 years.

In 2007, Khashoggi returned to Al-Watan newspaper, lasting almost three years before being fired for "his editorial style," according to his website.

He became close to Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, and together they launched in Manama a 24-hour news station, Al-Arab.

But staunch Saudi ally Bahrain shut the station down in 2015, less than 24 hours after it broadcast an interview with an opposition official.

Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017, just months after Prince Mohammed was named heir to the throne.

He spoke out against a Saudi-led boycott of Qatar and also criticised Prince Mohammed for stifling debate about his reforms.

Khashoggi made his fateful <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/khashoggi-was-dead-in-twenty-minutes-says-tura-khislakchi-as-he-unfolds-the-incident-to-wion-173771">visit to the Istanbul consulate</a> in order to obtain the papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

(With inputs from AFP)

Jamal Khashoggi paid the price for criticising the Saudi royal family. The Saudi Arabian dissident was living in a self-imposed exile in the United States after fleeing Saudi Arabia last year.

Jamal Khashoggi paid the price for criticising the Saudi royal family. The Saudi Arabian dissident was living in a self-imposed exile in the United States after fleeing Saudi Arabia last year. He was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, allegedly at the behest of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. A complex man of contradictions, Khashoggi went from being a Saudi royal family insider to an outspoken critic of the ultra-conservative kingdom's government. In his final column for The Washington Post, Khashoggi presciently pleaded for greater freedom of expression in the Middle East. "The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power," he wrote. The Saudi journalist disappeared after entering his country's consulate in Istanbul on October 2. His disappearance was initially shrouded in mystery, and triggered an international crisis for both Riyadh and Washington as Turkish officials accused Saudi Arabia of a state-sponsored killing. Riyadh, after insisting that Khashoggi left its consulate alive, said more than two weeks afterwards that he died in a "brawl" that arose from a dispute with people he met there. Three weeks on, the Saudi public prosecutor said the murder was "premeditated" according to information supplied by Turkey. Khashoggi came from a prominent Saudi family with Turkish origins. His grandfather, Mohammed Khashoggi, was the personal doctor of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud. His uncle was the notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. A friend of the young Osama bin Laden, a Muslim Brotherhood sympathiser, an aide to the Saudi royal family, a critic of the kingdom's regime and a liberal - such conflicting descriptions were all ascribed to Khashoggi. After graduating from Indiana State University in 1982, he began working for Saudi newspapers, including the Saudi Gazette and Al-Sharq al-Awsat. Sent to cover the conflict in Afghanistan, Khashoggi sympathised with the mujahedeen in the 1980s war against the Soviet occupation, which was funded by the Saudis and the CIA. He was known to have been drawn to the Brotherhood's policies seeking to erase the remnants of Western colonialism from the Arab world. It was this shared vision that brought him closer to Bin Laden, who went on to found Al-Qaeda, which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Born in the Saudi holy city of Medina on October 13, 1958, Khashoggi spent his youth studying Islamic ideology and embraced liberal ideas. But Saudi authorities came to see Khashoggi as too progressive and he was forced to resign as editor-in-chief of the Saudi daily Al-Watan in 2003 after serving just 54 days. Over the years, he maintained ambiguous ties with Saudi authorities, having held advisory positions in Riyadh and Washington, including to Prince Turki al-Faisal, who ran Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency for more than 20 years. In 2007, Khashoggi returned to Al-Watan newspaper, lasting almost three years before being fired for "his editorial style," according to his website. He became close to Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, and together they launched in Manama a 24-hour news station, Al-Arab. But staunch Saudi ally Bahrain shut the station down in 2015, less than 24 hours after it broadcast an interview with an opposition official. Khashoggi fled Saudi Arabia in September 2017, just months after Prince Mohammed was named heir to the throne. He spoke out against a Saudi-led boycott of Qatar and also criticised Prince Mohammed for stifling debate about his reforms. Khashoggi made his fateful visit to the Istanbul consulate in order to obtain the papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz. (With inputs from AFP)

Jamal Khashoggi's killing: A murder that shook 2018

The young prince and heir to Saudi Arabia's throne, Mohammed bin Salman, made the news this year in connection with the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 59-year-old Khashoggi, a Saudi national, was seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 but never returned. Turkey and others implicate the Saudi crown prince.

Khashoggi was a critic of the Saudi royal family an his murder has generated calls for Mohammed bin Salman to be replaced as crown prince.

Born on August 31, 1985, Prince Mohammed graduated in law from Riyadh’s King Saud University. The dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls.

MBS, as he is popularly known, was appointed crown prince by his father King Salman in June last year, replacing his cousin who is 26 years his senior. This made the prince, who already oversaw defence and energy policy, the most powerful figure in the country by some stretch after the octogenarian monarch.

The decision represented a social and cultural sea change, with the ruling baton set to be passed to a much younger generation in a country where patriarchal traditions have long made power the province of the old.

In September 2017, a royal decree said women would be allowed to drive. The kingdom has also lifted a public ban on cinemas and has encouraged mixed-gender celebrations - something unseen before.

If Mohammed bin Salman becomes king in his 30s, he would be the youngest monarch of the modern state.

The royal decree was a vote of confidence in a man widely lauded by younger Saudis but regarded warily by many older conservatives. He has embraced the media in a distinct departure from the normally secretive Saudi ruling class, with his bearded features rarely off TV screens or street billboards.

His elevation signaled an affirmation of his policies as the blueprint for the future of the Saudi economy, as well as of his more hawkish and interventionist foreign policy.

The authorities also appear to have clipped the wings of the once-feared religious police - long accused of harassing the public with rigid Islamic mores - who have all but disappeared from big cities.

On the economic front, he announced sweeping changes labeled Vision 2030 aimed at ending the kingdom’s reliance on oil. As well as diversifying the economy, the plans include pushing for women to have a bigger economic role and the partial privatisation of state oil firm Saudi Aramco - reforms that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

The prince’s foreign policy is meanwhile reshaping the kingdom’s role on the regional and global stage.

He is regarded by diplomats and analysts as a prime mover behind the decision to go to war in Yemen and to lead Gulf Arab states in severing links with neighbouring Qatar.

CONFRONTATIONAL, AGGRESSIVE

Both decisions were indicative of a far more confrontational Saudi foreign policy, a break from the consensual style of Gulf Arab policymaking favoured by previous generations of dynastic rulers, as the Sunni Muslim kingdom moved to act aggressively to counter the influence of Shi’ite power Iran.

Yemen represents a proxy war between the two regional powerhouses, with Riyadh supporting the ousted government against Iranian-backed Houthi forces. Qatar has been accused by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran, all of which Qatar denies.

The marked policy shift follows what some hawkish Saudi officials regard as a decade of growing Iranian influence across the Middle East, amid concerns that Washington, under former President Barack Obama, turned a blind eye to what Riyadh sees as a pernicious expansion of Iranian activity in Arab nations.

“The rise of MbS (Mohammed bin Salman) will likely mean even more hawkish foreign policy moves from Saudi Arabia and more intensified efforts to confront Iran,” said Helima Croft, Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

RAPID RISE TO POWER

Prince Mohammed has had a rapid ascent to power: little more than three years ago he was almost unknown in the kingdom, but he quickly came to be regarded as the power behind its throne.

He was propelled into the domestic and international limelight when his father Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud became Saudi Arabia’s seventh king in 2015 and he was named deputy crown prince - behind his cousin whom he has now replaced - and defence minister.

He heads the Council for Economic and Development Affairs which oversees all elements of policy that touch on the economy or social issues like education, health and housing. He also chairs the supreme board of Aramco, making him the first member of the ruling family to directly oversee the state oil company, long regarded as the preserve of commoner technocrats.

And with his elevation as crown prince, he has the kind of wide-ranging power and influence previously unseen in a figure outside the king.

For many Saudis, the kingdom’s new economic and foreign policy directions have become inextricably associated with the prince who has built a strong public profile with media interviews, mainly about his economic ambitions.

Outside Saudi Arabia, that rapid advance and the sudden changes to long-standing policies on regional affairs, energy and its economy have prompted unease, adding an unpredictable edge to a kingdom that allies long regarded as a known quantity.

Inside the country, opinions are divided.

Among many older Saudis, there has been considerable scepticism. They have seen previous economic reform plans come and go with only limited results, and are wary of rapid changes in one of the world’s most conservative societies.

Some fear that Prince Mohammed’s changes will simply serve to cause social ruptures or that however clever his policy changes, deep seated problems in Saudi bureaucracy will prevent any meaningful implementation.

But his Vision 2030 has prompted admiration among many younger Saudis who regard his ascent as evidence that for the first time their generation is taking a central place in running a country.

Prince Mohammed’s establishment of a think-tank, the Misk Foundation, which focused on education, youth, arts and social media issues, appeared to showcase that preoccupation with compatriots of his generation.

“MBS is very popular among Saudi youth and has a window of opportunity to try and reshape the Kingdom through Vision 2030,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the US Baker Institute.

“If he succeeds, he could be on the throne for decades.”

&nbsp;

The young prince and heir to Saudi Arabia's throne, Mohammed bin Salman, made the news this year in connection with the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The young prince and heir to Saudi Arabia's throne, Mohammed bin Salman, made the news this year in connection with the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 59-year-old Khashoggi, a Saudi national, was seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 but never returned. Turkey and others implicate the Saudi crown prince. Khashoggi was a critic of the Saudi royal family an his murder has generated calls for Mohammed bin Salman to be replaced as crown prince. Born on August 31, 1985, Prince Mohammed graduated in law from Riyadh’s King Saud University. The dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls. MBS, as he is popularly known, was appointed crown prince by his father King Salman in June last year, replacing his cousin who is 26 years his senior. This made the prince, who already oversaw defence and energy policy, the most powerful figure in the country by some stretch after the octogenarian monarch. The decision represented a social and cultural sea change, with the ruling baton set to be passed to a much younger generation in a country where patriarchal traditions have long made power the province of the old. In September 2017, a royal decree said women would be allowed to drive. The kingdom has also lifted a public ban on cinemas and has encouraged mixed-gender celebrations - something unseen before. If Mohammed bin Salman becomes king in his 30s, he would be the youngest monarch of the modern state. The royal decree was a vote of confidence in a man widely lauded by younger Saudis but regarded warily by many older conservatives. He has embraced the media in a distinct departure from the normally secretive Saudi ruling class, with his bearded features rarely off TV screens or street billboards. His elevation signaled an affirmation of his policies as the blueprint for the future of the Saudi economy, as well as of his more hawkish and interventionist foreign policy. The authorities also appear to have clipped the wings of the once-feared religious police - long accused of harassing the public with rigid Islamic mores - who have all but disappeared from big cities. On the economic front, he announced sweeping changes labeled Vision 2030 aimed at ending the kingdom’s reliance on oil. As well as diversifying the economy, the plans include pushing for women to have a bigger economic role and the partial privatisation of state oil firm Saudi Aramco - reforms that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. The prince’s foreign policy is meanwhile reshaping the kingdom’s role on the regional and global stage. He is regarded by diplomats and analysts as a prime mover behind the decision to go to war in Yemen and to lead Gulf Arab states in severing links with neighbouring Qatar. CONFRONTATIONAL, AGGRESSIVE Both decisions were indicative of a far more confrontational Saudi foreign policy, a break from the consensual style of Gulf Arab policymaking favoured by previous generations of dynastic rulers, as the Sunni Muslim kingdom moved to act aggressively to counter the influence of Shi’ite power Iran. Yemen represents a proxy war between the two regional powerhouses, with Riyadh supporting the ousted government against Iranian-backed Houthi forces. Qatar has been accused by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies of supporting terrorism and cozying up to Iran, all of which Qatar denies. The marked policy shift follows what some hawkish Saudi officials regard as a decade of growing Iranian influence across the Middle East, amid concerns that Washington, under former President Barack Obama, turned a blind eye to what Riyadh sees as a pernicious expansion of Iranian activity in Arab nations. “The rise of MbS (Mohammed bin Salman) will likely mean even more hawkish foreign policy moves from Saudi Arabia and more intensified efforts to confront Iran,” said Helima Croft, Global Head of Commodity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets. RAPID RISE TO POWER Prince Mohammed has had a rapid ascent to power: little more than three years ago he was almost unknown in the kingdom, but he quickly came to be regarded as the power behind its throne. He was propelled into the domestic and international limelight when his father Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud became Saudi Arabia’s seventh king in 2015 and he was named deputy crown prince - behind his cousin whom he has now replaced - and defence minister. He heads the Council for Economic and Development Affairs which oversees all elements of policy that touch on the economy or social issues like education, health and housing. He also chairs the supreme board of Aramco, making him the first member of the ruling family to directly oversee the state oil company, long regarded as the preserve of commoner technocrats. And with his elevation as crown prince, he has the kind of wide-ranging power and influence previously unseen in a figure outside the king. For many Saudis, the kingdom’s new economic and foreign policy directions have become inextricably associated with the prince who has built a strong public profile with media interviews, mainly about his economic ambitions. Outside Saudi Arabia, that rapid advance and the sudden changes to long-standing policies on regional affairs, energy and its economy have prompted unease, adding an unpredictable edge to a kingdom that allies long regarded as a known quantity. Inside the country, opinions are divided. Among many older Saudis, there has been considerable scepticism. They have seen previous economic reform plans come and go with only limited results, and are wary of rapid changes in one of the world’s most conservative societies. Some fear that Prince Mohammed’s changes will simply serve to cause social ruptures or that however clever his policy changes, deep seated problems in Saudi bureaucracy will prevent any meaningful implementation. But his Vision 2030 has prompted admiration among many younger Saudis who regard his ascent as evidence that for the first time their generation is taking a central place in running a country. Prince Mohammed’s establishment of a think-tank, the Misk Foundation, which focused on education, youth, arts and social media issues, appeared to showcase that preoccupation with compatriots of his generation. “MBS is very popular among Saudi youth and has a window of opportunity to try and reshape the Kingdom through Vision 2030,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Gulf expert at the US Baker Institute. “If he succeeds, he could be on the throne for decades.”

Mohammed bin Salman, reformist prince who has shaken Saudi Arabia

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-chooses-new-joint-chiefs-of-staff-chairman-against-pentagon-chief-jim-mattis-wishes-182563">US President Donald Trump</a> said on Tuesday that he stood by Saudi Arabia's crown prince despite a CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/jamal-khashoggi-other-journalists-are-named-time-magazines-person-of-the-year-183310">Jamal Khashoggi</a> and pleas from US senators for Trump to condemn the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Trump refused to comment on whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the murder, but he provided perhaps his most explicit show of support for the prince since Khashoggi's death more than two months ago.

"He's the leader of Saudi Arabia. They've been a very good ally," Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office.

Asked by Reuters if standing by the kingdom meant standing by the prince, known as MbS, Trump responded: "Well, at this moment, it certainly does."

Some members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are agitating to prevent MbS from becoming king, sources close to the royal court have told Reuters, and believe that the United States and Trump could play a determining role.

"I just haven't heard that," Trump said. "Honestly, I can't comment on it because I had not heard that at all. In fact, if anything, I've heard that he's very strongly in power."

While Trump has condemned the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist who was often critical of MbS, he has given the benefit of the doubt to the prince with whom he has cultivated a deep relationship.

Trump again reiterated on Tuesday that the "crown prince vehemently denies" involvement in a killing that has sparked outrage around the world.

Trump has come under fierce criticism from fellow Republicans in the Senate over the issue, particularly after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed them. Last month, the CIA assessed that MbS ordered the killing, which Trump called "very premature."

"You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organised by people under the command of MbS," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said last week.

MEETING WITH SENATORS

Graham and other senators who have supported the US-Saudi alliance over the years have said that Trump should impose more sanctions after a first-round targeted 17 Saudis for their alleged role in the killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

As the Senate considers this week a joint resolution condemning the crown prince for the killing, something that the president would have to sign or veto if passed by Congress, Trump said he would meet with senators.

Trump said he hoped senators would not propose stopping arms sales to the Saudis, deals he has doggedly fought to save ever since the gruesome details of Khashoggi's murder were leaked by Turkey.

"And I really hope that people aren't going to suggest that we should not take hundreds of billions of dollars that they’re going to siphon off to Russia and to China," Trump said.

Trump said he could abide by legislation ending US support for the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen, a proxy war with regional rival Iran that has led to a deepening humanitarian disaster.

"Well, I'm much more open to Yemen because frankly, I hate to see what's going on in Yemen," Trump said. "But it takes two to tango. I'd want to see Iran pull out of Yemen too. Because - and I think they will."

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he stood by Saudi Arabia's crown prince despite a CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and pleas from US senators for Trump to condemn the kingdom's de facto ruler.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he stood by Saudi Arabia's crown prince despite a CIA assessment that he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and pleas from US senators for Trump to condemn the kingdom's de facto ruler. Trump refused to comment on whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was complicit in the murder, but he provided perhaps his most explicit show of support for the prince since Khashoggi's death more than two months ago. "He's the leader of Saudi Arabia. They've been a very good ally," Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office. Asked by Reuters if standing by the kingdom meant standing by the prince, known as MbS, Trump responded: "Well, at this moment, it certainly does." Some members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are agitating to prevent MbS from becoming king, sources close to the royal court have told Reuters, and believe that the United States and Trump could play a determining role. "I just haven't heard that," Trump said. "Honestly, I can't comment on it because I had not heard that at all. In fact, if anything, I've heard that he's very strongly in power." While Trump has condemned the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident and Washington Post columnist who was often critical of MbS, he has given the benefit of the doubt to the prince with whom he has cultivated a deep relationship. Trump again reiterated on Tuesday that the "crown prince vehemently denies" involvement in a killing that has sparked outrage around the world. Trump has come under fierce criticism from fellow Republicans in the Senate over the issue, particularly after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed them. Last month, the CIA assessed that MbS ordered the killing, which Trump called "very premature." "You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organised by people under the command of MbS," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said last week. MEETING WITH SENATORS Graham and other senators who have supported the US-Saudi alliance over the years have said that Trump should impose more sanctions after a first-round targeted 17 Saudis for their alleged role in the killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. As the Senate considers this week a joint resolution condemning the crown prince for the killing, something that the president would have to sign or veto if passed by Congress, Trump said he would meet with senators. Trump said he hoped senators would not propose stopping arms sales to the Saudis, deals he has doggedly fought to save ever since the gruesome details of Khashoggi's murder were leaked by Turkey. "And I really hope that people aren't going to suggest that we should not take hundreds of billions of dollars that they’re going to siphon off to Russia and to China," Trump said. Trump said he could abide by legislation ending US support for the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen, a proxy war with regional rival Iran that has led to a deepening humanitarian disaster. "Well, I'm much more open to Yemen because frankly, I hate to see what's going on in Yemen," Trump said. "But it takes two to tango. I'd want to see Iran pull out of Yemen too. Because - and I think they will."

Standing by Saudi crown prince despite pleas from Senate: Trump

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-arabia-hosts-gcc-summit-amid-qatar-tensions-khashoggi-crisis-182600">Jamal Khashoggi</a>'s final words were "I can't breathe," CNN said Sunday, citing a source who has read the transcript of an audio tape of the final moments before the journalist's murder.

The source told the US network the transcript made clear the killing was premeditated and suggests several phone calls were made to give briefings on the progress.

CNN said Turkish officials believe those calls were made to top officials in Riyadh.

Khashoggi, a Saudi contributor to The Washington Post, was killed shortly after entering the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

The transcript of the gruesome recording includes descriptions of Khashoggi struggling against his murderers, CNN said, and references sounds of the dissident journalist's body "being dismembered by a saw."

The original transcript was prepared by Turkish intelligence services, and CNN said its source read a translation version and was briefed on the probe into the journalist's death.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Sunday meanwhile rejected demands to extradite suspects connected to the murder of Khashoggi as sought by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has repeatedly called on Saudi Arabia to hand over suspects in the killing. According to Turkey, a 15-member Saudi team was sent to Istanbul to kill Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia, however, holds that it was a "rogue" operation gone wrong -- a claim undercut by the reported transcript.

For his part US President Donald Trump has refrained from blaming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, even though the CIA reportedly concluded that he ordered the assassination.

The murder has damaged Riyadh's international reputation and Western countries including the United States, France and Canada have placed sanctions on nearly 20 Saudi nationals.

Jamal Khashoggi's final words were "I can't breathe," CNN said Sunday, citing a source who has read the transcript of an audio tape of the final moments before the journalist's murder.

Jamal Khashoggi's final words were "I can't breathe," CNN said Sunday, citing a source who has read the transcript of an audio tape of the final moments before the journalist's murder. The source told the US network the transcript made clear the killing was premeditated and suggests several phone calls were made to give briefings on the progress. CNN said Turkish officials believe those calls were made to top officials in Riyadh. Khashoggi, a Saudi contributor to The Washington Post, was killed shortly after entering the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The transcript of the gruesome recording includes descriptions of Khashoggi struggling against his murderers, CNN said, and references sounds of the dissident journalist's body "being dismembered by a saw." The original transcript was prepared by Turkish intelligence services, and CNN said its source read a translation version and was briefed on the probe into the journalist's death. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Sunday meanwhile rejected demands to extradite suspects connected to the murder of Khashoggi as sought by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has repeatedly called on Saudi Arabia to hand over suspects in the killing. According to Turkey, a 15-member Saudi team was sent to Istanbul to kill Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia, however, holds that it was a "rogue" operation gone wrong -- a claim undercut by the reported transcript. For his part US President Donald Trump has refrained from blaming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, even though the CIA reportedly concluded that he ordered the assassination. The murder has damaged Riyadh's international reputation and Western countries including the United States, France and Canada have placed sanctions on nearly 20 Saudi nationals.

'I can't breathe' were Khashoggi's final words: Report

Kremlin spokesperson&nbsp;on Monday defended the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/putin-exchanges-high-five-with-saudi-crown-prince-at-g20-summit-180624">heartily high-five between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman</a>&nbsp;saying&nbsp;that "good personal relations are the basis for effective bilateral cooperation".

He also said that Russia is interested in continuing relations with the OPEC and non-OPEC group of oil producers, and that Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed this issue at their meeting.

While the world leaders at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina did not pay much heed to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday exchanged a high-five with him on the first day of the summit.

Putin who took the seat next to the Crown prince at the plenary session at the G20 Summit laughed heartily with him while exchanging the high-five.

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Putin's friendly behaviour towards the crown prince contrasted sharply with that of other leaders at the summit who sidelined the crown prince over the suspicious <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-crown-prince-was-in-constant-touch-with-khashoggi-kill-team-wsj-181054">killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate</a> in Istanbul in October.

Prince <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-crown-prince-sidelined-in-g20-family-photo-180611">Mohammed was also sidelined during the official "family photo" of world leaders</a> at Friday's gathering. He then quickly exited the stage without shaking hands or talking with the other leaders.

There has been rising furore regarding a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report that hints at Salman's hand in Khashoggi's killing. The US president has refused to confirm the findings, while continuously reiterating the importance of having Saudi Arabia as an ally.

Russia has also refrained from criticising Saudi Arabia or the crown prince over the killing. Putin said in October he lacked information about the matter and said Russia would not tear up its relations with Saudi Arabia because of it.

However, Moscow has also fostered strong ties with Saudi Arabia's regional arch-foe Iran. Russia and Iran back President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war, while Saudi Arabia along with Western countries has backed some rebel groups.

Kremlin spokesperson on Monday defended the heartily high-five between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman saying that "good personal relations are the basis for effective bilateral cooperation".

Kremlin spokesperson on Monday defended the heartily high-five between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman saying that "good personal relations are the basis for effective bilateral cooperation". He also said that Russia is interested in continuing relations with the OPEC and non-OPEC group of oil producers, and that Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed this issue at their meeting. While the world leaders at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina did not pay much heed to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday exchanged a high-five with him on the first day of the summit. Putin who took the seat next to the Crown prince at the plenary session at the G20 Summit laughed heartily with him while exchanging the high-five. × Putin's friendly behaviour towards the crown prince contrasted sharply with that of other leaders at the summit who sidelined the crown prince over the suspicious killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. Prince Mohammed was also sidelined during the official "family photo" of world leaders at Friday's gathering. He then quickly exited the stage without shaking hands or talking with the other leaders. There has been rising furore regarding a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report that hints at Salman's hand in Khashoggi's killing. The US president has refused to confirm the findings, while continuously reiterating the importance of having Saudi Arabia as an ally. Russia has also refrained from criticising Saudi Arabia or the crown prince over the killing. Putin said in October he lacked information about the matter and said Russia would not tear up its relations with Saudi Arabia because of it. However, Moscow has also fostered strong ties with Saudi Arabia's regional arch-foe Iran. Russia and Iran back President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war, while Saudi Arabia along with Western countries has backed some rebel groups.

Kremlin defends Putin 'high-five' with crown prince at G-20 summit

United States Secretary of State <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-to-keep-aiding-saudis-in-yemen-despite-furor-mike-pompeo-180786">Michael Pompeo</a> has said that there is no "direct evidence" which could link<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-crown-prince-arrives-in-argentina-for-g20-summit-180066"> Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman </a>to the murder of Washington Post columnist <a href="http://www.wionews.com/opinions/jamal-khashoggis-murder-finally-brings-media-attention-to-plight-of-arab-worlds-exiled-critics-175792">Jamal Khashoggi.</a>

While reiterating Washington`s support for Riyadh amid a global outcry over Saudi Crown Prince`s possible involvement in Khashoggi`s murder, Pompeo told CNN in an interview on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, "I have read every piece of intelligence that is in the possession of the United States government. And when it is done, when you complete that analysis, there`s no direct evidence linking him to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. That is an accurate statement, it is an important statement, and it is a statement that we are making publicly today."

Replying to a question on Saturday on whether the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a 'high confidence'&nbsp;of the Saudi crown prince`s alleged involvement, the US Secretary of State underlined, 'I&nbsp; can`t comment on intelligence matters.'

Last month, Pompeo seconded that Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the US, especially to take control of Iran, secure Iraq`s democracy and to fight the Islamic State terrorists and other armed groups. His remarks came despite the CIA`s announcement that the Saudi crown prince had ordered the murder of Khashoggi.

On October 2, Khashoggi was reported missing after he stepped into Saudi Arabia`s consulate in Istanbul to collect paperwork that would allow him to get married to his Turkish fiancee <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/khashoggi-fiancee-hits-at-trump-response-warns-of-money-influence-174297">Hatice Cengiz</a>, who later said that he never appeared from the building.

After days of denial, Saudi Arabia later confirmed its role in Khashoggi`s killing after facing massive pressure from Turkey over their investigations on the issue. But their contradictory statements have led to international uproar led by Turkey`s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has demanded Riyadh to come clean and accept their role in the scribe`s death.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had admitted that the murder of the scribe was "a mistake and a rogue operation.'Recently, the Donald Trump administration slapped sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals allegedly involved in Khashoggi`s killing. Other countries, such as Canada and France also followed the suit. Khashoggi, who relocated to the US from Saudi Arabia last year, used to write articles for The Washington Post, criticising the Saudi government.&nbsp;

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said that there is no "direct evidence" which could link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said that there is no "direct evidence" which could link Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. While reiterating Washington`s support for Riyadh amid a global outcry over Saudi Crown Prince`s possible involvement in Khashoggi`s murder, Pompeo told CNN in an interview on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, "I have read every piece of intelligence that is in the possession of the United States government. And when it is done, when you complete that analysis, there`s no direct evidence linking him to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. That is an accurate statement, it is an important statement, and it is a statement that we are making publicly today." Replying to a question on Saturday on whether the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has a 'high confidence' of the Saudi crown prince`s alleged involvement, the US Secretary of State underlined, 'I can`t comment on intelligence matters.' Last month, Pompeo seconded that Saudi Arabia is an important ally of the US, especially to take control of Iran, secure Iraq`s democracy and to fight the Islamic State terrorists and other armed groups. His remarks came despite the CIA`s announcement that the Saudi crown prince had ordered the murder of Khashoggi. On October 2, Khashoggi was reported missing after he stepped into Saudi Arabia`s consulate in Istanbul to collect paperwork that would allow him to get married to his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who later said that he never appeared from the building. After days of denial, Saudi Arabia later confirmed its role in Khashoggi`s killing after facing massive pressure from Turkey over their investigations on the issue. But their contradictory statements have led to international uproar led by Turkey`s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has demanded Riyadh to come clean and accept their role in the scribe`s death. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had admitted that the murder of the scribe was "a mistake and a rogue operation.'Recently, the Donald Trump administration slapped sanctions on 17 Saudi nationals allegedly involved in Khashoggi`s killing. Other countries, such as Canada and France also followed the suit. Khashoggi, who relocated to the US from Saudi Arabia last year, used to write articles for The Washington Post, criticising the Saudi government.

No 'direct evidence' between Saudi Crown Prince and Khashoggi killing: US's Pompeo

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Saturday that the United States would continue supporting Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen, despite rising outrage over the kingdom.

Speaking from a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Pompeo acknowledged that the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/yemen-on-brink-of-major-catastrophe-un-aid-chief-180743">humanitarian crisis in Yemen</a> -- where millions are at risk of starvation -- had reached "epic proportions" but said Washington and Riyadh were offering aid.

"The program that we're involved in today we intend to continue," Pompeo told CNN when asked about military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition.

The US Senate on Wednesday took an initial vote to cut off the war support, with 14 members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party defying appeals from Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

A final vote could come in the next week, setting the stage for a fresh battle if Trump vetoes the bill.

Pompeo, who met in Buenos Aires with his Saudi counterpart, has backed the war as a way to counter Iran, which has ties to Yemen's Huthi rebels.

Outrage over attacks

But senators have voiced outrage over attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals and a school bus, as well as a Saudi hit squad's murder in October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate.

Pompeo reiterated his insistence that there was no "direct evidence" that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post.

Prince Mohammed is taking part in the Buenos Aires summit in a bold signal that he remains in charge. The 33-year-old was seen speaking with Trump, although the White House said they only exchanged "pleasantries."

Trump has said it is vital to preserve the decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom is the top buyer of US weapons and key oil supplier.

But Bob Corker, the outgoing Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview published Friday that the United States needed to rein in Prince Mohammed, who was "out of control."

"To me, we've got a relationship with a country that's a semi-important country and a semi-important ally. I wouldn't elevate them beyond that," Corker told congressional newspaper Roll Call.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Saturday that the United States would continue supporting Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen, despite rising outrage over the kingdom.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Saturday that the United States would continue supporting Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen, despite rising outrage over the kingdom. Speaking from a Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Pompeo acknowledged that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen -- where millions are at risk of starvation -- had reached "epic proportions" but said Washington and Riyadh were offering aid. "The program that we're involved in today we intend to continue," Pompeo told CNN when asked about military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition. The US Senate on Wednesday took an initial vote to cut off the war support, with 14 members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party defying appeals from Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. A final vote could come in the next week, setting the stage for a fresh battle if Trump vetoes the bill. Pompeo, who met in Buenos Aires with his Saudi counterpart, has backed the war as a way to counter Iran, which has ties to Yemen's Huthi rebels. Outrage over attacks But senators have voiced outrage over attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals and a school bus, as well as a Saudi hit squad's murder in October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. Pompeo reiterated his insistence that there was no "direct evidence" that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post. Prince Mohammed is taking part in the Buenos Aires summit in a bold signal that he remains in charge. The 33-year-old was seen speaking with Trump, although the White House said they only exchanged "pleasantries." Trump has said it is vital to preserve the decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia, as the kingdom is the top buyer of US weapons and key oil supplier. But Bob Corker, the outgoing Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview published Friday that the United States needed to rein in Prince Mohammed, who was "out of control." "To me, we've got a relationship with a country that's a semi-important country and a semi-important ally. I wouldn't elevate them beyond that," Corker told congressional newspaper Roll Call.

US to keep aiding Saudis in Yemen despite furor: Mike Pompeo

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was sidelined during the official "family photo" of world leaders and other dignitaries at the Group of 20 Summit in Buenos Aires on Friday, standing at the far edge of the group portrait and ignored.

Prince Mohammed's presence at the international summit has been contentious following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

The crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, quickly exited the stage without shaking hands or talking with other leaders.

At centre stage was Argentine President Mauricio Macri, hosting this year's summit of G20 industrialized nations.

Macri has said accusations that Prince Mohammed was involved in Khashoggi's death could be discussed by world leaders during the two-day summit. Saudi Arabia has said the prince had no prior knowledge of the murder.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Mohammed later exchanged a high-five and a handshake and laughed heartily as they took seats next to each other in the main meeting room.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was sidelined during the official "family photo" of world leaders and other dignitaries at the Group of 20 Summit in Buenos Aires on Friday, standing at the far edge of the group portrait and ignored.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was sidelined during the official "family photo" of world leaders and other dignitaries at the Group of 20 Summit in Buenos Aires on Friday, standing at the far edge of the group portrait and ignored. Prince Mohammed's presence at the international summit has been contentious following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. The crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, quickly exited the stage without shaking hands or talking with other leaders. At centre stage was Argentine President Mauricio Macri, hosting this year's summit of G20 industrialized nations. Macri has said accusations that Prince Mohammed was involved in Khashoggi's death could be discussed by world leaders during the two-day summit. Saudi Arabia has said the prince had no prior knowledge of the murder. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Mohammed later exchanged a high-five and a handshake and laughed heartily as they took seats next to each other in the main meeting room.

Saudi Crown Prince sidelined in G20 family photo

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showed himself to be no pariah Friday at the G20 summit, with a beaming Vladimir Putin welcoming him but European leaders warning him over the killing of a dissident journalist.

Less than two months after Saudi Arabia outraged allies when a hit team murdered Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, Prince Mohammed flew into Buenos Aires to take his place among leaders of the top 20 global economies, a sign that he intends to remain firmly in charge.

In an image that quickly went viral online, Russian President Putin and the 33-year-old prince grinned broadly and gave each other an effusive handshake as if they were long-lost friends reunited at the G20.

Their embrace comes amid reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached a pact to cut oil production when the OPEC cartel meets on December 6 in Vienna, to help shore up collapsing crude prices.

Kirill Dmitriev, the chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, told reporters that Putin would meet the prince Saturday and discuss boosting Saudi Arabia's $2 billion investment in Russia.

But the prince appeared to receive a more critical reception from French President Emmanuel Macron, who was overheard on a microphone voicing concerns.

"Don't worry," Prince Mohammed is heard saying in English to the French leader, who responds, "I do worry. I am worried." The clip was partially inaudible and the context of the exchange was not entirely clear.

But it received wide traction on social media, with Macron telling the prince, "You never listen to me," to which Prince Mohammed replies, "I will listen, of course."&nbsp;

The French presidency said that Macron spoke to the prince about the killing of Khashoggi and the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Macron told the prince that Europeans wanted international investigators to take part in the probe on Khashoggi's death and stressed "the necessity of a political solution in Yemen," the Elysee Palace said.

The prince was also seen chatting with President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka, although in a nod to US domestic outrage over Saudi Arabia, the White House downplayed the encounter.

"They exchanged pleasantries at the leaders' session as he did with nearly every leader in attendance," a senior White House official said.

Trump, meanwhile, said "we had no discussion. We might, but we had none." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, separately met with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, the State Department said.

Until Khashoggi's killing, Trump had been an unabashed fan of the prince as the young leader who portrays himself as a reformist consolidated power and detained prominent Saudis, with the heir apparent forging a particularly close relationship with Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner.

Trump has since voiced sadness over the killing of Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post.

But, in an exclamation point-heavy statement before the summit, Trump said it did not matter whether Prince Mohammed knew about Khashoggi's death because Saudi Arabia was important for US business and for its hostility to Iran.

The US Senate nonetheless moved this week to end support for the Saudi-led war against rebels in Yemen amid outrage over attacks on civilian sites including a school bus and hospitals.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking to Sky News before the summit, said she would press the crown prince both on Yemen and Khashoggi at the G20.

"The Saudi Arabians need to ensure that their investigation is a full investigation, that it's credible, that it's transparent, and that people can have confidence in the outcome of it, and that those responsible are held to account," May said.

The de facto Saudi ruler got a warmer audience in Buenos Aires with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who "firmly supports" Riyadh's reform drive, the Xinhua news agency reported.

China "will continue to stick together with the Arab country on issues involving their core interests," Xinhua quoted Xi as telling the prince.&nbsp;

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showed himself to be no pariah Friday at the G20 summit, with a beaming Vladimir Putin welcoming him but European leaders warning him over the killing of a dissident journalist.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman showed himself to be no pariah Friday at the G20 summit, with a beaming Vladimir Putin welcoming him but European leaders warning him over the killing of a dissident journalist. Less than two months after Saudi Arabia outraged allies when a hit team murdered Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate, Prince Mohammed flew into Buenos Aires to take his place among leaders of the top 20 global economies, a sign that he intends to remain firmly in charge. In an image that quickly went viral online, Russian President Putin and the 33-year-old prince grinned broadly and gave each other an effusive handshake as if they were long-lost friends reunited at the G20. Their embrace comes amid reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached a pact to cut oil production when the OPEC cartel meets on December 6 in Vienna, to help shore up collapsing crude prices. Kirill Dmitriev, the chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, told reporters that Putin would meet the prince Saturday and discuss boosting Saudi Arabia's $2 billion investment in Russia. But the prince appeared to receive a more critical reception from French President Emmanuel Macron, who was overheard on a microphone voicing concerns. "Don't worry," Prince Mohammed is heard saying in English to the French leader, who responds, "I do worry. I am worried." The clip was partially inaudible and the context of the exchange was not entirely clear. But it received wide traction on social media, with Macron telling the prince, "You never listen to me," to which Prince Mohammed replies, "I will listen, of course." The French presidency said that Macron spoke to the prince about the killing of Khashoggi and the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Macron told the prince that Europeans wanted international investigators to take part in the probe on Khashoggi's death and stressed "the necessity of a political solution in Yemen," the Elysee Palace said. The prince was also seen chatting with President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka, although in a nod to US domestic outrage over Saudi Arabia, the White House downplayed the encounter. "They exchanged pleasantries at the leaders' session as he did with nearly every leader in attendance," a senior White House official said. Trump, meanwhile, said "we had no discussion. We might, but we had none." Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, separately met with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, the State Department said. Until Khashoggi's killing, Trump had been an unabashed fan of the prince as the young leader who portrays himself as a reformist consolidated power and detained prominent Saudis, with the heir apparent forging a particularly close relationship with Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner. Trump has since voiced sadness over the killing of Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post. But, in an exclamation point-heavy statement before the summit, Trump said it did not matter whether Prince Mohammed knew about Khashoggi's death because Saudi Arabia was important for US business and for its hostility to Iran. The US Senate nonetheless moved this week to end support for the Saudi-led war against rebels in Yemen amid outrage over attacks on civilian sites including a school bus and hospitals. British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking to Sky News before the summit, said she would press the crown prince both on Yemen and Khashoggi at the G20. "The Saudi Arabians need to ensure that their investigation is a full investigation, that it's credible, that it's transparent, and that people can have confidence in the outcome of it, and that those responsible are held to account," May said. The de facto Saudi ruler got a warmer audience in Buenos Aires with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who "firmly supports" Riyadh's reform drive, the Xinhua news agency reported. China "will continue to stick together with the Arab country on issues involving their core interests," Xinhua quoted Xi as telling the prince.

Saudi prince back on stage to Putin delight, Macron warning

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/g20-summit-a-day-of-trilaterals-for-india-180323">G20 summit</a> here on Friday and they discussed ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties.

The two sides also held discussions on enhancing investment in technology, renewable energy and food security.

"Had a fruitful interaction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. We discussed multiple aspects of India-Saudi Arabia relations and ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties," the prime minister wrote on Twitter.

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Had a fruitful interaction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. We discussed multiple aspects of India-Saudi Arabia relations and ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties. <a href="https://t.co/KYeIiG2FET">pic.twitter.com/KYeIiG2FET</a>
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1068274451286880256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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"Deepening strategic ties. PM @narendramodi met with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud on sidelines of #G20Argentina. Discussed enhancing Saudi investment in technology, infrastructure, petroleum, renewable energy, food security, fintech &amp; defence sectors," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Ravish Kumar tweeted.

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Foreign Secy:Crown Prince informed PM that Saudi will be finalising an initial investment into national infrastructure fund.He referred to future prospects for investment in tech,agricultural&amp;energy sectors. PM,in particular,stressed upon importance of having stable energy prices <a href="https://t.co/A1TXQp5z2Y">pic.twitter.com/A1TXQp5z2Y</a>
— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1068298727423655936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
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"In recent years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been a valuable partner. The relationship has expanded beyond the Indian community to issues related to the economy, energy and security. All issues of bilateral and regional interest will be discussed," PMO sources said.

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PM Narendra Modi held bilateral meeting with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in Buenos Aires, Argentina. PM Modi is in Argentina to attend the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G20Summit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#G20Summit</a>. <a href="https://t.co/hKV9HZQhH8">pic.twitter.com/hKV9HZQhH8</a>
— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1068279688001282048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Later, the prime minister will meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. According to the sources, the UN Secretary-General has reached out to the PM for the second time in two months.

They said the meeting signifies the importance that both leaders attach to the issue of climate change. This outreach comes just a week before the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland.

"It reflects the respect in which the prime minister and his initiatives are held globally to take the lead on issues of global importance," the sources said.

On the sidelines of the two-day 13th <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/g20-begins-today-pm-modi-says-focus-on-fugitive-economic-offenders-strengthening-global-economy-180324">G-20 summit</a>, Modi, Trump and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe will hold a trilateral meeting amidst China flexing its muscles in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.

The trilateral, which would be an expansion of the bilateral meeting between Trump and Abe, is part of the series of meetings the US president would have on the sidelines of the G-20 summit on November 30 and December 1.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday the trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi will be held towards the end of the Trump-Abe talks.

"Looking forward to a wide range of interactions at the G-20 Summit, aimed at furthering sustainable development," Prime Minister Modi tweeted soon after he landed here.

Modi will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the event, the Ministry of External Affairs had said on the eve of his departure.

He will be in Buenos Aires from November 29 to December 1.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit here on Friday and they discussed ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit here on Friday and they discussed ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties. The two sides also held discussions on enhancing investment in technology, renewable energy and food security. "Had a fruitful interaction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. We discussed multiple aspects of India-Saudi Arabia relations and ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties," the prime minister wrote on Twitter. Had a fruitful interaction with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. We discussed multiple aspects of India-Saudi Arabia relations and ways to further boost economic, cultural and energy ties. pic.twitter.com/KYeIiG2FET — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 29, 2018 × "Deepening strategic ties. PM @narendramodi met with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud on sidelines of #G20Argentina. Discussed enhancing Saudi investment in technology, infrastructure, petroleum, renewable energy, food security, fintech & defence sectors," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Ravish Kumar tweeted. Foreign Secy:Crown Prince informed PM that Saudi will be finalising an initial investment into national infrastructure fund.He referred to future prospects for investment in tech,agricultural&energy sectors. PM,in particular,stressed upon importance of having stable energy prices pic.twitter.com/A1TXQp5z2Y — ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2018 × "In recent years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been a valuable partner. The relationship has expanded beyond the Indian community to issues related to the economy, energy and security. All issues of bilateral and regional interest will be discussed," PMO sources said. PM Narendra Modi held bilateral meeting with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in Buenos Aires, Argentina. PM Modi is in Argentina to attend the #G20Summit. pic.twitter.com/hKV9HZQhH8 — ANI (@ANI) November 29, 2018 × Later, the prime minister will meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. According to the sources, the UN Secretary-General has reached out to the PM for the second time in two months. They said the meeting signifies the importance that both leaders attach to the issue of climate change. This outreach comes just a week before the COP24 meeting in Katowice, Poland. "It reflects the respect in which the prime minister and his initiatives are held globally to take the lead on issues of global importance," the sources said. On the sidelines of the two-day 13th G-20 summit, Modi, Trump and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe will hold a trilateral meeting amidst China flexing its muscles in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. The trilateral, which would be an expansion of the bilateral meeting between Trump and Abe, is part of the series of meetings the US president would have on the sidelines of the G-20 summit on November 30 and December 1. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday the trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Modi will be held towards the end of the Trump-Abe talks. "Looking forward to a wide range of interactions at the G-20 Summit, aimed at furthering sustainable development," Prime Minister Modi tweeted soon after he landed here. Modi will also meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the event, the Ministry of External Affairs had said on the eve of his departure. He will be in Buenos Aires from November 29 to December 1.

Discussed ways to further boost ties: PM Modi after meeting Saudi Crown Prince on G20 sidelines

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he would raise the killing of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/canada-imposes-sanctions-against-saudi-nationals-allegedly-linked-to-khashoggis-murder-180300">journalist Jamal Khashoggi </a>with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

"I will no doubt have the opportunity to mention it with the crown prince on the margins of the summit," Macron told journalists in Buenos Aires.

Macron also said he had called a meeting to coordinate the views of European G20 leaders on policy challenges ahead of the summit, which begins Friday.&nbsp;

In a tweet later, he said they would also discuss the fallout from Khashoggi's murder.&nbsp;

"I have always been clear with Saudi Arabia. It will be one of the subjects we will talk about among Europeans. I wanted us to have a coordination meeting before the opening of the G20 on this subject and all the challenges at the summit."

The de facto Saudi ruler arrived in Argentina on Wednesday, bidding to shrug off international outrage over the October 2 murder in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he would raise the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he would raise the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit. "I will no doubt have the opportunity to mention it with the crown prince on the margins of the summit," Macron told journalists in Buenos Aires. Macron also said he had called a meeting to coordinate the views of European G20 leaders on policy challenges ahead of the summit, which begins Friday. In a tweet later, he said they would also discuss the fallout from Khashoggi's murder. "I have always been clear with Saudi Arabia. It will be one of the subjects we will talk about among Europeans. I wanted us to have a coordination meeting before the opening of the G20 on this subject and all the challenges at the summit." The de facto Saudi ruler arrived in Argentina on Wednesday, bidding to shrug off international outrage over the October 2 murder in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.

Will meet Saudi crown prince Salman at G20 summit: Macron

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-arabia-pledges-50-million-to-un-palestinian-refugee-agency-179969">Saudi Arabia</a>'s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman landed in Buenos Aires on Wednesday for the G20 summit of industrialized nations, Argentine state television reported, a visit fraught with controversy over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Human Rights Watch asked Argentina on Monday to use a war crimes clause in its constitution to investigate any involvement by the crown prince in possible crimes against humanity in Yemen and Khashoggi's murder.

Prince Mohammed arrived in Buenos Aires from Tunisia, where he was met by protesters who denounced him as a murderer for the killing of Khashoggi. He was greeted by Argentine foreign minister Jorge Faurie.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he hoped to meet US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina later this week and to talk about trade barriers. It remains unclear whether the meeting will take place.

The G20 leaders summit begins on Friday.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman landed in Buenos Aires on Wednesday for the G20 summit of industrialized nations, Argentine state television reported, a visit fraught with controversy over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman landed in Buenos Aires on Wednesday for the G20 summit of industrialized nations, Argentine state television reported, a visit fraught with controversy over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Human Rights Watch asked Argentina on Monday to use a war crimes clause in its constitution to investigate any involvement by the crown prince in possible crimes against humanity in Yemen and Khashoggi's murder. Prince Mohammed arrived in Buenos Aires from Tunisia, where he was met by protesters who denounced him as a murderer for the killing of Khashoggi. He was greeted by Argentine foreign minister Jorge Faurie. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he hoped to meet US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina later this week and to talk about trade barriers. It remains unclear whether the meeting will take place. The G20 leaders summit begins on Friday.

Saudi crown prince Salman arrives in Argentina for G20 summit

Tunisian activists protest against Saudi Crown prince visit

Several US Republican senators on Sunday rejected President Donald Trump's embrace of Saudi Arabia after the murder of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/khashoggis-daughters-promise-to-keep-his-legacy-alive-179214">Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi</a>, with some lawmakers from his party saying Congress must take additional action.

Trump vowed last week to remain a "steadfast partner" of Saudi Arabia and said it was not clear whether <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/senior-saudi-prince-says-cia-cannot-be-trusted-on-khashoggi-conclusion-179185">Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman</a> knew about the plan to kill Khashoggi last month at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The president cast doubt on the CIA assessment that Crown Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi's killing, telling reporters that the agency had not formed a definitive conclusion.

"I disagree with the president's assessment. It's inconsistent with the intelligence I've seen," which implicates the crown prince, Republican Senator Mike Lee said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

He cited the Khashoggi killing as another reason why he has pushed against helping Saudi Arabia's war effort in Yemen.

The United States on Nov. 15 imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials for their role in the killing of Khashoggi and senators from both major US parties introduced legislation that would suspend weapon sales to Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi and for its role in Yemen's civil war.

Democratic US Representative Adam Schiff, who is in line to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when Democrats regain control of the chamber in January, has promised investigations on the Khashoggi case as well as whether Trump's personal financial interests are dictating his Saudi policy.

"Look, the president is not being honest with the country about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Schiff said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "What's driving this?"

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the crown prince, was killed October 2. Riyadh initially denied knowledge of Khashoggi's disappearance, then offered contradictory explanations.

"I do think we need to look into this further," Republican Senator Joni Ernst said on CNN.

Ernst acknowledged Saudi Arabia's importance as a strategic partner.

"However, we also are a very strong nation when it comes to human rights, when it comes to the rule of law," Ernst said.

"And if there are indicators that the prince was involved in this murder then we need to absolutely consider further action."

Senator Ben Sasse, a frequent Trump critic, criticized Trump's stance on Khashoggi's killing as weak.

"Making the realist case is a different thing than being so weak that we failed to tell the truth, Sasse said on "Fox News Sunday." Crown Prince Mohammed "contributed to murdering somebody abroad and it is not strength to sort of mumble past that. Strength is telling the truth even when it's hard."

Other Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Bob Corker, have been unsparing in their assessments of Saudi Arabia's involvement in Khashoggi's killing.

"I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia," Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on Twitter after Trump's comments on Tuesday.

Several US Republican senators on Sunday rejected President Donald Trump's embrace of Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with some lawmakers from his party saying Congress must take additional action.

Several US Republican senators on Sunday rejected President Donald Trump's embrace of Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with some lawmakers from his party saying Congress must take additional action. Trump vowed last week to remain a "steadfast partner" of Saudi Arabia and said it was not clear whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman knew about the plan to kill Khashoggi last month at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The president cast doubt on the CIA assessment that Crown Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi's killing, telling reporters that the agency had not formed a definitive conclusion. "I disagree with the president's assessment. It's inconsistent with the intelligence I've seen," which implicates the crown prince, Republican Senator Mike Lee said on NBC's "Meet the Press." He cited the Khashoggi killing as another reason why he has pushed against helping Saudi Arabia's war effort in Yemen. The United States on Nov. 15 imposed economic sanctions on 17 Saudi officials for their role in the killing of Khashoggi and senators from both major US parties introduced legislation that would suspend weapon sales to Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi and for its role in Yemen's civil war. Democratic US Representative Adam Schiff, who is in line to become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee when Democrats regain control of the chamber in January, has promised investigations on the Khashoggi case as well as whether Trump's personal financial interests are dictating his Saudi policy. "Look, the president is not being honest with the country about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi," Schiff said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "What's driving this?" Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the crown prince, was killed October 2. Riyadh initially denied knowledge of Khashoggi's disappearance, then offered contradictory explanations. "I do think we need to look into this further," Republican Senator Joni Ernst said on CNN. Ernst acknowledged Saudi Arabia's importance as a strategic partner. "However, we also are a very strong nation when it comes to human rights, when it comes to the rule of law," Ernst said. "And if there are indicators that the prince was involved in this murder then we need to absolutely consider further action." Senator Ben Sasse, a frequent Trump critic, criticized Trump's stance on Khashoggi's killing as weak. "Making the realist case is a different thing than being so weak that we failed to tell the truth, Sasse said on "Fox News Sunday." Crown Prince Mohammed "contributed to murdering somebody abroad and it is not strength to sort of mumble past that. Strength is telling the truth even when it's hard." Other Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Bob Corker, have been unsparing in their assessments of Saudi Arabia's involvement in Khashoggi's killing. "I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia," Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on Twitter after Trump's comments on Tuesday.

US Republican senators reject Trump's embrace of Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi killing

Calls for Saudi Crown Prince <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/after-khashoggi-murder-some-saudi-royals-turn-against-kings-favourite-son-178419">Mohammed bin Salman</a> to be held accountable for the murder of journalist <a href="http://www.wionews.com/opinions/khashoggi-crisis-reshaping-us-politics-and-relations-with-saudi-arabia-178498">Jamal Khashoggi</a> are a "red line", Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday.

In a BBC television interview, Jubeir said any disparaging discussion about Prince Mohammed or his father, the Saudi monarch, would not be tolerated.

"In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir said.

"They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince."

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered.

After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince.

Jubeir insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing.

"We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this," he said.

He called on <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-accuses-us-of-turning-blind-eye-to-saudi-killing-of-khashoggi-178591">Turkey</a> to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information.

The foreign minister said the murder was a "rogue operation" by intelligence officers.

Jubeir also said any possible US sanctions on Saudi Arabia would be short-sighted.

US President <a href="http://www.wionews.com/americas/donald-trump-stands-by-saudi-prince-despite-journalist-khashoggis-murder-178466">Donald Trump on Wednesday ignored criticism</a> that he gave Saudi Arabia a free pass on Khashoggi's murder, instead praising the Islamic kingdom for keeping oil prices low.

Calls for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be held accountable for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi are a "red line", Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday.

Calls for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be held accountable for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi are a "red line", Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday. In a BBC television interview, Jubeir said any disparaging discussion about Prince Mohammed or his father, the Saudi monarch, would not be tolerated. "In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King Salman) and the crown prince are a red line," Jubeir said. "They represent every Saudi citizen and every Saudi citizen represents them. And we will not tolerate any discussion of anything that is disparaging towards our monarch or our crown prince." Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote for The Washington Post and had been critical of Prince Mohammed, was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, killed and reportedly dismembered. After lengthy denials, Saudi authorities admitted responsibility and said 21 people had been taken into custody. However, a CIA analysis leaked to the US media went further, reportedly pointing the finger at the crown prince. Jubeir insisted that Prince Mohammed had not been involved in the killing. "We have made that very clear. We have investigations ongoing and we will punish the individuals who are responsible for this," he said. He called on Turkey to come forward with all its evidence about the slaying and stop leaking out information. The foreign minister said the murder was a "rogue operation" by intelligence officers. Jubeir also said any possible US sanctions on Saudi Arabia would be short-sighted. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ignored criticism that he gave Saudi Arabia a free pass on Khashoggi's murder, instead praising the Islamic kingdom for keeping oil prices low.

Crown prince a 'red line' in Khashoggi murder probe: Saudi foreign minister

US President <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-says-us-to-report-who-killed-jamal-khashoggi-in-next-two-days-177935">Donald Trump</a> says he has been fully briefed on an audio recording of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder but does not want to listen to it himself.

"Because it's a suffering tape. It's a terrible tape," he said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday."

"It was very violent, very vicious and terrible."

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-says-khashoggi-killers-may-have-taken-body-parts-out-of-country-reports-178051">Turkey says Khashoggi killers may have taken body parts out of </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-says-khashoggi-killers-may-have-taken-body-parts-out-of-country-reports-178051">country</a>

Trump refrained from blaming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, even though the CIA reportedly concluded that he ordered the October 2 assassination in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Trump on Saturday told reporters that the US would release "a very full report" on the matter as early as Monday. He was interviewed by Fox on Friday.

Asked whether the crown prince had lied to him in denying any role in the killing, Trump said: "I don't know. Who can really know? But I can say this, he's got many people... that say he had no knowledge."

"He told me that he had nothing to do with it. He told me that, I would say, maybe five times at different points, as recently as a few days ago," Trump added.

The president acknowledged that people close to the prince "were probably involved" but added, "<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trump-wants-saudi-arabia-as-an-ally-despite-vicious-khashoggi-murder-178075">I want to stick with an ally</a> that in many ways has been very good."

Asked whether he would go along with moves in the US Congress to cut off US involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen or halt arms sales to the kingdom, Trump equivocated.

"I want to see Yemen end. It takes two to tango and Iran has to end also," he said. "I want Saudi to stop but I want Iran to stop also."

The United States has called for a ceasefire and peace talks to end the three-year-old conflict amid a mounting international outcry over the massive civilian toll of air strikes.

US air refuelling flights in support of Saudi-led air operations in Yemen ended last week. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis portrayed that as a Saudi decision.

Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates intervened in the conflict against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in 2015 in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

Shifting accounts

Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was critical of the crown prince, was killed after going to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve documents necessary to marry his Turkish fiancee.

According to Turkish officials, the audio shows that Khashoggi was strangled to death and dismembered soon after entering the consulate.

Saudi Arabia has offered shifting accounts of what happened, initially saying Khashoggi left the embassy after receiving his documents and later that he was killed when an argument degenerated into a fistfight.

In the latest version, the Saudi prosecutor said a 15-member team went to Istanbul to bring Khashoggi back to the kingdom but killed him instead in a rogue operation.

The prosecutor exonerated the crown prince, after indicting 11 Saudis and sacking five officials, including two members of Prince Mohammed's inner circle.

The <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-imposes-sanctions-against-saudi-officials-implicated-in-khashoggis-murder-177611">United States has sanctioned 17 Saudis</a> for the crime.

US President Donald Trump says he has been fully briefed on an audio recording of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder but does not want to listen to it himself. "Because it's a suffering tape.

US President Donald Trump says he has been fully briefed on an audio recording of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder but does not want to listen to it himself. "Because it's a suffering tape. It's a terrible tape," he said in an interview with "Fox News Sunday." "It was very violent, very vicious and terrible." Also read: Turkey says Khashoggi killers may have taken body parts out of country Trump refrained from blaming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, even though the CIA reportedly concluded that he ordered the October 2 assassination in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Trump on Saturday told reporters that the US would release "a very full report" on the matter as early as Monday. He was interviewed by Fox on Friday. Asked whether the crown prince had lied to him in denying any role in the killing, Trump said: "I don't know. Who can really know? But I can say this, he's got many people... that say he had no knowledge." "He told me that he had nothing to do with it. He told me that, I would say, maybe five times at different points, as recently as a few days ago," Trump added. The president acknowledged that people close to the prince "were probably involved" but added, "I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good." Asked whether he would go along with moves in the US Congress to cut off US involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen or halt arms sales to the kingdom, Trump equivocated. "I want to see Yemen end. It takes two to tango and Iran has to end also," he said. "I want Saudi to stop but I want Iran to stop also." The United States has called for a ceasefire and peace talks to end the three-year-old conflict amid a mounting international outcry over the massive civilian toll of air strikes. US air refuelling flights in support of Saudi-led air operations in Yemen ended last week. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis portrayed that as a Saudi decision. Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates intervened in the conflict against Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in 2015 in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Shifting accounts Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post who was critical of the crown prince, was killed after going to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to retrieve documents necessary to marry his Turkish fiancee. According to Turkish officials, the audio shows that Khashoggi was strangled to death and dismembered soon after entering the consulate. Saudi Arabia has offered shifting accounts of what happened, initially saying Khashoggi left the embassy after receiving his documents and later that he was killed when an argument degenerated into a fistfight. In the latest version, the Saudi prosecutor said a 15-member team went to Istanbul to bring Khashoggi back to the kingdom but killed him instead in a rogue operation. The prosecutor exonerated the crown prince, after indicting 11 Saudis and sacking five officials, including two members of Prince Mohammed's inner circle. The United States has sanctioned 17 Saudis for the crime.

Don't want to hear 'suffering' Khashoggi tape: Trump

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/cia-has-concluded-saudi-crown-prince-ordered-journalists-killing-report-177782">CIA has concluded Saudi crown prince ordered journalist's killing: Report</a>

The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, the Washington Post reported on Friday, a finding that contradicts Saudi government assertions that he was not involved.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/over-1000-missing-71-dead-in-california-wildfire-177802">Over 1000 missing, 71 dead in California wildfire</a>

The number of people missing in a devastating wildfire in northern California jumped to more than 1,000 on Friday, authorities said, as the remains of eight other victims were found by rescuers.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-explosion-in-karachi-kills-two-injures-eight-177790">Pakistan: Explosion in Karachi kills 2, injures 8</a>

A bomb killed at least two people and wounded eight others in Pakistan's port city of Karachi Friday, police and hospital officials said.

The blast reportedly damaged buildings and triggered panic in the densely populated Malir district.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/pm-modi-embraces-maldives-as-new-leader-mohamed-solih-takes-office-china-out-of-favour-177785">PM Modi embraces </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/pm-modi-embraces-maldives-as-new-leader-mohamed-solih-takes-office-china-out-of-favour-177785">Maldives</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/pm-modi-embraces-maldives-as-new-leader-mohamed-solih-takes-office-china-out-of-favour-177785"> as new leader Mohamed Solih takes office, China out of favour</a>

Maldives' President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih takes office on Saturday, seeking help from India and the United States to climb out from under a mountain of Chinese debt that his predecessor racked up in a breakneck development of the coral islands.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-judge-orders-white-house-to-restore-press-pass-to-cnns-acosta-177783">US judge orders White House to restore press pass to CNN's Acosta</a>

A US judge on Friday ordered the White House to temporarily restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass, which was revoked after a contentious news conference last week with President Donald Trump.

The White House withdrew Acosta's credentials on November 7 in an escalation of the Republican president's attacks on news organizations, who he has called enemies of the people.

CIA has concluded Saudi crown prince ordered journalist's killing: Report The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, the Washington Post reported on Friday, a finding that contradicts Saudi government assertions that he was not involved.

CIA has concluded Saudi crown prince ordered journalist's killing: Report The CIA has concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, the Washington Post reported on Friday, a finding that contradicts Saudi government assertions that he was not involved. Over 1000 missing, 71 dead in California wildfire The number of people missing in a devastating wildfire in northern California jumped to more than 1,000 on Friday, authorities said, as the remains of eight other victims were found by rescuers. Pakistan: Explosion in Karachi kills 2, injures 8 A bomb killed at least two people and wounded eight others in Pakistan's port city of Karachi Friday, police and hospital officials said. The blast reportedly damaged buildings and triggered panic in the densely populated Malir district. PM Modi embraces Maldives as new leader Mohamed Solih takes office, China out of favour Maldives' President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih takes office on Saturday, seeking help from India and the United States to climb out from under a mountain of Chinese debt that his predecessor racked up in a breakneck development of the coral islands. US judge orders White House to restore press pass to CNN's Acosta A US judge on Friday ordered the White House to temporarily restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass, which was revoked after a contentious news conference last week with President Donald Trump. The White House withdrew Acosta's credentials on November 7 in an escalation of the Republican president's attacks on news organizations, who he has called enemies of the people.

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Saudi sports diplomacy is proving to be a mirror image of the kingdom’s challenged domestic, regional and foreign policies.

Overloaded by sports czar Turki al-Sheikh, Saudi sports diplomacy, like the kingdom’s broader policies, has produced at best mixed results, suggesting that financial muscle coupled with varying degrees of coercion does not guarantee success.

Al-Sheikh, a 37-year old brash and often blunt former honorary president of Saudi soccer club Al Taawoun based in Buraidah, a stronghold of religious ultra-conservatism, and a former bodyguard of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, is together with Saud al-Qahtani among the king-in-waiting’s closest associates.

Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the kingdom’s wealthiest investors, acknowledged Al-Sheikh’s ranking in the Saudi hierarchy when he made a donation of more than a half-million dollars to Saudi soccer club Al Hilal FC weeks after having been released from detention.

Prince al-Waleed was one of the more recalcitrant detainees among the scores of members of the ruling family, prominent businessmen and senior officials who were detained a year ago in Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton Hotel as part of Prince Mohammed’s power and asset grab.

Prince Al-Waleed said on Twitter at the time that he was “responding to the invitation of my brother Turki al-Sheikh.”

Al-Qahtani, who was recently fired as Prince Mohammed’s menacing information czar in connection with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, was banned this week from travelling outside the kingdom. Al-Sheikh has not been linked to the Khashoggi murder.

Nevertheless, his sports diplomacy, exhibiting some of the brashness that has characterised Prince Mohammed as well as Al-Qahtani’s approach, has largely failed to achieve its goals. If anything, it appears to have contributed to the kingdom’s growing list of setbacks.

Those goals included establishing Saudi Arabia as a powerhouse in regional and global soccer governance; countering Qatari sports diplomacy crowned by its hosting of the 2022 World Cup; projecting the kingdom in a more favourable light by hosting international sporting events; becoming a powerhouse in soccer-crazy Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation; and using the competition for the 2026 World Cup hosting rights to bully Morocco into supporting the Saudi-United Arab Emirates-led boycott of Qatar.

To be sure, with the exception of a cancelled tennis exhibition match in Jeddah between stars Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, most scheduled sporting events, including this season’s opening Formula E race in December and the Italian Supercoppa between Juventus and AC Milan in January, are going ahead as planned despite a six-week-old crisis sparked by the killing of Khashoggi.

Yet, if last month’s friendly soccer match in Jeddah between Brazil and Argentina and this month’s World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Crown Jewel showpiece are anything to go by, major sporting events are doing little to polish the kingdom’s image tarnished not only by the Khashoggi killing but also the war in Yemen that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two.&nbsp;

The sports events have so far failed to push Khashoggi and Yemen out of the headlines of major independent media.

Mainstream media coverage of Saudi sports has, moreover, focussed primarily on Saudi sports diplomacy’s struggle to make its mark internationally.&nbsp;

One focus been the fact that Gianni Infantino, president of world soccer body FIFA, has run into opposition from the group’s European affiliate, UEFA, to his plan to endorse a US$25 billion plan for a new club tournament funded by the Saudi and UAE-backed Japanese conglomerate SoftBank.

If adopted, the plan would enhance Saudi and Emirati influence in global soccer governance to the potential detriment of Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup. Saudi Arabia and the UAE spearhead a 17-month old economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar designed to force it to surrender its right to chart an independent course rather than align its policies with those of its Gulf brothers.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sought to engineer a situation in which Qatar is either deprived of its hosting rights or forced to share them with other states in the region, a possibility Infantino has said he was exploring.

Infantino has also said he was looking into implementing an expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams already in 2022 rather than only in 2026. An expansion of the Qatari World Cup would probably involve including others in the Gulf as hosts of the tournament. Qatari officials have all but ruled out sharing their hosting rights.

Another media focus has been alleged Saudi piracy aimed at undermining Qatar-owned BeIN Corp, the world’s biggest sports rights holder, including the rights to broadcast last summer’s Russia World Cup in the Arab world.

Al-Qahtani reportedly played a key role in the sudden emergence of BeoutQ, a bootleg operation beamed from Riyadh-based Arabsat that ripped live events from BeIN’s feed and broadcast the games without paying for rights. The Saudi government has denied any relationship to the pirate network.

The piracy has sparked international lawsuits, including international arbitration in which BeIN is seeking US1 billion in damages from Saudi Arabia. The company has also filed a case with the World Trade Organisation.

FIFA has said it has taken steps to prepare for legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have been affected to protect their interests.

Al-Sheikh’s effort to create with funds widely believed to have been provided by Prince Mohammed an international Saudi sports portfolio that would project the kingdom as a regional power broker collapsed with fans, players and club executives in Egypt furious at the Saudi officials buying influence and using it to benefit Saudi rather than Egyptian clubs.

“No one, no one at all — with all due respect to Turki or no Turki … will be allowed to interfere in the club’s affairs,” said Mahmoud el-Khatib, chairman of Egyptian club Al Ahli SC, one of the Middle East’s most popular clubs with an estimated 50 million fans. Al-Sheikh had unsuccessfully tried to use his recently acquired honorary chairmanship of Al Ahli to take control of the club.

Al Ahli’s rejection of his power grab persuaded&nbsp;Al-Sheikh to resign in May and instead bankroll Al Ahli rival Pyramid FC. He invested US$33 million to acquire three top Brazilian players and launch a sports channel dedicated to the team.

The club’s fans, like their Al Ahli counterparts, nonetheless, denounced Al-Sheikh and the kingdom and insulted the Saudi official’s mother in crass terms during a match in September. Al-Sheikh decided to abandon his Egyptian adventure after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ignored his request to intervene. “Strange attacks from everywhere, and a new story every day. Why the headache?” Al-Sheikh said on Facebook.

Al-Sheikh’s attempt to form a regional powerbase by creating a breakaway group of South Asian and Middle Eastern soccer federations beyond the confines of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) collapsed five months after the formation of the South-West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) when seven South Asian nations pulled out with immediate effect.

The collapse of SWAFF and Al-Sheikh’s withdrawal from Egypt were preceded by his backing of the US-Canadian-Mexican bid for the 2026 World Cup against Morocco after he failed to bully the North Africans into supporting the boycott of Qatar.

Adopting a Saudi Arabia First approach, Al-Sheikh noted that the United States “is our biggest and strongest ally.” He recalled that when the World Cup was played in 1994 in nine American cities, the US “was one of our favourites. The fans were numerous, and the Saudi team achieved good results.”

That was Al-Sheikh’s position six months ago. Today, men like Prince Mohammed and Messrs. Al-Sheikh and Al-Qahtani are seething. US President Donald J. Trump is proving to be an unreliable ally. Not only is he pressuring the kingdom to come up with a credible explanation for&nbsp;Khashoggis’ killing,&nbsp;Trump is also seemingly backtracking on his promise to bring Iran to its knees by imposing crippling economic sanctions.

Saudi distrust is fuelled by the fact that&nbsp;Trump first asked the kingdom to raise oil production to compensate for lower crude exports from Iran and then without informing it made a 180-degree turn by offering buyers generous waivers that keep Iranian crude in the market instead of drive exports from Riyadh's arch-rival down to zero.

Seemingly cut from the same cloth as Prince Mohammed, Al-Sheikh, drew his pro-American definition of Saudi Arabia First from the crown prince’s focus on the United States. Prince Mohammed, Al-Sheikh and other senior Saudi officials may be considering whether putting the kingdom’s eggs primarily in one basket remains the best strategy.

Whatever the case, Al-Sheikh’s sweep through regional and global sports has left Saudi leaders with little to leverage in the kingdom’s bid to pick up the pieces and improve its image tarnished first and foremost by Khashoggi’s killing but also by the trail the sports czar has left behind.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Saudi sports diplomacy is proving to be a mirror image of the kingdom’s challenged domestic, regional and foreign policies. Overloaded by sports czar Turki al-Sheikh, Saudi sports diplomacy, like the kingdom’s broader policies, has produced at best mixed results, suggesting that financial muscle coupled with varying degrees of coercion does not guarantee success.

Saudi sports diplomacy is proving to be a mirror image of the kingdom’s challenged domestic, regional and foreign policies. Overloaded by sports czar Turki al-Sheikh, Saudi sports diplomacy, like the kingdom’s broader policies, has produced at best mixed results, suggesting that financial muscle coupled with varying degrees of coercion does not guarantee success. Al-Sheikh, a 37-year old brash and often blunt former honorary president of Saudi soccer club Al Taawoun based in Buraidah, a stronghold of religious ultra-conservatism, and a former bodyguard of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, is together with Saud al-Qahtani among the king-in-waiting’s closest associates. Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the kingdom’s wealthiest investors, acknowledged Al-Sheikh’s ranking in the Saudi hierarchy when he made a donation of more than a half-million dollars to Saudi soccer club Al Hilal FC weeks after having been released from detention. Prince al-Waleed was one of the more recalcitrant detainees among the scores of members of the ruling family, prominent businessmen and senior officials who were detained a year ago in Riyadh’s Ritz Carlton Hotel as part of Prince Mohammed’s power and asset grab. Prince Al-Waleed said on Twitter at the time that he was “responding to the invitation of my brother Turki al-Sheikh.” Al-Qahtani, who was recently fired as Prince Mohammed’s menacing information czar in connection with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, was banned this week from travelling outside the kingdom. Al-Sheikh has not been linked to the Khashoggi murder. Nevertheless, his sports diplomacy, exhibiting some of the brashness that has characterised Prince Mohammed as well as Al-Qahtani’s approach, has largely failed to achieve its goals. If anything, it appears to have contributed to the kingdom’s growing list of setbacks. Those goals included establishing Saudi Arabia as a powerhouse in regional and global soccer governance; countering Qatari sports diplomacy crowned by its hosting of the 2022 World Cup; projecting the kingdom in a more favourable light by hosting international sporting events; becoming a powerhouse in soccer-crazy Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation; and using the competition for the 2026 World Cup hosting rights to bully Morocco into supporting the Saudi-United Arab Emirates-led boycott of Qatar. To be sure, with the exception of a cancelled tennis exhibition match in Jeddah between stars Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, most scheduled sporting events, including this season’s opening Formula E race in December and the Italian Supercoppa between Juventus and AC Milan in January, are going ahead as planned despite a six-week-old crisis sparked by the killing of Khashoggi. Yet, if last month’s friendly soccer match in Jeddah between Brazil and Argentina and this month’s World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Crown Jewel showpiece are anything to go by, major sporting events are doing little to polish the kingdom’s image tarnished not only by the Khashoggi killing but also the war in Yemen that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two. The sports events have so far failed to push Khashoggi and Yemen out of the headlines of major independent media. Mainstream media coverage of Saudi sports has, moreover, focussed primarily on Saudi sports diplomacy’s struggle to make its mark internationally. One focus been the fact that Gianni Infantino, president of world soccer body FIFA, has run into opposition from the group’s European affiliate, UEFA, to his plan to endorse a US$25 billion plan for a new club tournament funded by the Saudi and UAE-backed Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. If adopted, the plan would enhance Saudi and Emirati influence in global soccer governance to the potential detriment of Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup. Saudi Arabia and the UAE spearhead a 17-month old economic and diplomatic boycott of Qatar designed to force it to surrender its right to chart an independent course rather than align its policies with those of its Gulf brothers. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sought to engineer a situation in which Qatar is either deprived of its hosting rights or forced to share them with other states in the region, a possibility Infantino has said he was exploring. Infantino has also said he was looking into implementing an expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams already in 2022 rather than only in 2026. An expansion of the Qatari World Cup would probably involve including others in the Gulf as hosts of the tournament. Qatari officials have all but ruled out sharing their hosting rights. Another media focus has been alleged Saudi piracy aimed at undermining Qatar-owned BeIN Corp, the world’s biggest sports rights holder, including the rights to broadcast last summer’s Russia World Cup in the Arab world. Al-Qahtani reportedly played a key role in the sudden emergence of BeoutQ, a bootleg operation beamed from Riyadh-based Arabsat that ripped live events from BeIN’s feed and broadcast the games without paying for rights. The Saudi government has denied any relationship to the pirate network. The piracy has sparked international lawsuits, including international arbitration in which BeIN is seeking US1 billion in damages from Saudi Arabia. The company has also filed a case with the World Trade Organisation. FIFA has said it has taken steps to prepare for legal action in Saudi Arabia and is working alongside other sports rights owners that have been affected to protect their interests. Al-Sheikh’s effort to create with funds widely believed to have been provided by Prince Mohammed an international Saudi sports portfolio that would project the kingdom as a regional power broker collapsed with fans, players and club executives in Egypt furious at the Saudi officials buying influence and using it to benefit Saudi rather than Egyptian clubs. “No one, no one at all — with all due respect to Turki or no Turki … will be allowed to interfere in the club’s affairs,” said Mahmoud el-Khatib, chairman of Egyptian club Al Ahli SC, one of the Middle East’s most popular clubs with an estimated 50 million fans. Al-Sheikh had unsuccessfully tried to use his recently acquired honorary chairmanship of Al Ahli to take control of the club. Al Ahli’s rejection of his power grab persuaded Al-Sheikh to resign in May and instead bankroll Al Ahli rival Pyramid FC. He invested US$33 million to acquire three top Brazilian players and launch a sports channel dedicated to the team. The club’s fans, like their Al Ahli counterparts, nonetheless, denounced Al-Sheikh and the kingdom and insulted the Saudi official’s mother in crass terms during a match in September. Al-Sheikh decided to abandon his Egyptian adventure after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ignored his request to intervene. “Strange attacks from everywhere, and a new story every day. Why the headache?” Al-Sheikh said on Facebook. Al-Sheikh’s attempt to form a regional powerbase by creating a breakaway group of South Asian and Middle Eastern soccer federations beyond the confines of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) collapsed five months after the formation of the South-West Asian Football Federation (SWAFF) when seven South Asian nations pulled out with immediate effect. The collapse of SWAFF and Al-Sheikh’s withdrawal from Egypt were preceded by his backing of the US-Canadian-Mexican bid for the 2026 World Cup against Morocco after he failed to bully the North Africans into supporting the boycott of Qatar. Adopting a Saudi Arabia First approach, Al-Sheikh noted that the United States “is our biggest and strongest ally.” He recalled that when the World Cup was played in 1994 in nine American cities, the US “was one of our favourites. The fans were numerous, and the Saudi team achieved good results.” That was Al-Sheikh’s position six months ago. Today, men like Prince Mohammed and Messrs. Al-Sheikh and Al-Qahtani are seething. US President Donald J. Trump is proving to be an unreliable ally. Not only is he pressuring the kingdom to come up with a credible explanation for Khashoggis’ killing, Trump is also seemingly backtracking on his promise to bring Iran to its knees by imposing crippling economic sanctions. Saudi distrust is fuelled by the fact that Trump first asked the kingdom to raise oil production to compensate for lower crude exports from Iran and then without informing it made a 180-degree turn by offering buyers generous waivers that keep Iranian crude in the market instead of drive exports from Riyadh's arch-rival down to zero. Seemingly cut from the same cloth as Prince Mohammed, Al-Sheikh, drew his pro-American definition of Saudi Arabia First from the crown prince’s focus on the United States. Prince Mohammed, Al-Sheikh and other senior Saudi officials may be considering whether putting the kingdom’s eggs primarily in one basket remains the best strategy. Whatever the case, Al-Sheikh’s sweep through regional and global sports has left Saudi leaders with little to leverage in the kingdom’s bid to pick up the pieces and improve its image tarnished first and foremost by Khashoggi’s killing but also by the trail the sports czar has left behind. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Saudi sports diplomacy: A mirror image of the kingdom's already challenged policies

Audio linked to <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/jamal-khashoggi-murder-saudi-kill-teams-luggage-contained-syringes-scissors-says-report-177063">Jamal Khashoggi's murder</a> inside Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate does not implicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday, citing others who have heard the tapes.

Turkey has previously said it shared <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/im-suffocating-take-this-bag-off-my-head-jamal-khashoggis-last-words-176839">recordings linked to the murder</a> of Khashoggi - a Saudi dissident and fierce critic of the crown prince - with officials in Riyadh, Washington and other capitals.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/khashoggi-was-dead-in-twenty-minutes-says-tura-khislakchi-as-he-unfolds-the-incident-to-wion-173771">Khashoggi</a> was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage.

After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a "rogue" operation.

Bolton, speaking to reporters in Singapore ahead of a regional summit, was asked whether it was right to say the audio contained nothing that implicated the crown prince. &nbsp;

"I haven't listened to the tape myself but in the assessment of those who have listened to it that’s right," he said.

Khashoggi's brazen murder has caused intense speculation over what, if anything, Crown Prince Salman might have known about the operation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government and pointedly failed to absolve Crown Prince Salman of responsibility.

The New York Times reported that a member of the team at the consulate had told a superior by phone to "tell your boss", suspected to be the crown prince, that the operation had been accomplished.

The Trump administration embraced the young prince as a reform-minded ally, but the murder of Khashoggi - a US resident - has soured that narrative.

Bolton emphasised that Trump has demanded a full investigation from the Saudis and for those responsible to be held accountable. &nbsp;

"The president has made it very clear that he expects we’re going to get the truth from the Saudis - and the king and the crown prince, in the conversations they’ve had with the president, have committed to that," he said.

But Trump has also emphasised America's important commercial, strategic and national security relationships with the petro-state as well as lucrative arms contracts.

Audio linked to Jamal Khashoggi's murder inside Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate does not implicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday, citing others who have heard the tapes.

Audio linked to Jamal Khashoggi's murder inside Saudi Arabia's Istanbul consulate does not implicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday, citing others who have heard the tapes. Turkey has previously said it shared recordings linked to the murder of Khashoggi - a Saudi dissident and fierce critic of the crown prince - with officials in Riyadh, Washington and other capitals. Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a "rogue" operation. Bolton, speaking to reporters in Singapore ahead of a regional summit, was asked whether it was right to say the audio contained nothing that implicated the crown prince. "I haven't listened to the tape myself but in the assessment of those who have listened to it that’s right," he said. Khashoggi's brazen murder has caused intense speculation over what, if anything, Crown Prince Salman might have known about the operation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government and pointedly failed to absolve Crown Prince Salman of responsibility. The New York Times reported that a member of the team at the consulate had told a superior by phone to "tell your boss", suspected to be the crown prince, that the operation had been accomplished. The Trump administration embraced the young prince as a reform-minded ally, but the murder of Khashoggi - a US resident - has soured that narrative. Bolton emphasised that Trump has demanded a full investigation from the Saudis and for those responsible to be held accountable. "The president has made it very clear that he expects we’re going to get the truth from the Saudis - and the king and the crown prince, in the conversations they’ve had with the president, have committed to that," he said. But Trump has also emphasised America's important commercial, strategic and national security relationships with the petro-state as well as lucrative arms contracts.

Khashoggi murder tapes do not implicate Mohammed bin Salman: US's Bolton

Turkey has given recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

Turkish sources have said previously that authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder.

"We gave the tapes. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to the United States, Germans, French and British, all of them. They have listened to all the conversations in them. They know," Erdogan said.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Saudi officials said initially that Khashoggi had left the consulate, later saying he died in an unplanned "rogue operation". The kingdom's public prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, has since said he was killed in a premeditated attack.

Speaking ahead of his departure for France to attend commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to identify the killer from among a 15-man team that arrived in Turkey some days before Khashoggi's killing.

"There's no need to distort this issue, they know for certain that the killer, or the killers, is among these 15 people. Saudi Arabia's government can disclose this by making these 15 people talk," Erdogan said.

Erdogan also accused Mojeb -- who visited Istanbul to discuss the investigation with his Turkish counterpart and make inspections in the Istanbul consulate-- of refusing to cooperate, in turn delaying the inquiry.

Following a meeting on Saturday in Paris, US President Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron agreed that the Saudi authorities needed to shed full light on Khashoggi's murder, a French presidency source said.

They also agreed that the matter should not be allowed to cause further destabilisation in the Middle East and that it could create an opportunity to find a political resolution to the war in Yemen, according to the official.

Turkey has given recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

Turkey has given recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Turkish sources have said previously that authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting the murder. "We gave the tapes. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to the United States, Germans, French and British, all of them. They have listened to all the conversations in them. They know," Erdogan said. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the Saudi government and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Saudi officials said initially that Khashoggi had left the consulate, later saying he died in an unplanned "rogue operation". The kingdom's public prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb, has since said he was killed in a premeditated attack. Speaking ahead of his departure for France to attend commemorations to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to identify the killer from among a 15-man team that arrived in Turkey some days before Khashoggi's killing. "There's no need to distort this issue, they know for certain that the killer, or the killers, is among these 15 people. Saudi Arabia's government can disclose this by making these 15 people talk," Erdogan said. Erdogan also accused Mojeb -- who visited Istanbul to discuss the investigation with his Turkish counterpart and make inspections in the Istanbul consulate-- of refusing to cooperate, in turn delaying the inquiry. Following a meeting on Saturday in Paris, US President Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron agreed that the Saudi authorities needed to shed full light on Khashoggi's murder, a French presidency source said. They also agreed that the matter should not be allowed to cause further destabilisation in the Middle East and that it could create an opportunity to find a political resolution to the war in Yemen, according to the official.

Khashoggi tapes given to key foreign nations: Turkey's Erdogan

The killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi poured his remains down the drain after dissolving him in acid, a Turkish newspaper reported Saturday.

Samples taken from the drains at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul showed traces of acid, pro-government daily Sabah said, without quoting sources.

This led investigators to believe the dead body of the insider-turned-critic of the Riyadh regime was disposed of through the drains as liquid, the paper said.

Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. His body has never been found.

After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a "rogue" operation.

However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the "highest levels" of the Saudi government of ordering the hit, while some officials have pointed the finger at the all-powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Yasin Aktay, an advisor to Erdogan, suggested last week the body may have been dissolved in acid.

And on Monday, a Turkish official said Saudi Arabia sent two experts to Istanbul with the specific aim of covering up evidence after the murder.

Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz took to Twitter on Thursday writing, "I'm unable to express my sorrow to hear about dissolving your body, Jamal!"

"They killed you and chopped up your body, depriving me and your family of conducting your funeral prayer and burying you in Madinah as wished."

A Turkish official this week confirmed a Sabah report that chemicals expert Ahmad Abdulaziz al-Janobi and toxicology expert Khaled Yahya al-Zahrani were among a team sent from Saudi amid investigations into the murder.

The paper said they visited the consulate every day from their arrival on October 11 until October 17. Saudi Arabia only allowed Turkish police to search the building on October 15.

The killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi poured his remains down the drain after dissolving him in acid, a Turkish newspaper reported Saturday. Samples taken from the drains at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul showed traces of acid, pro-government daily Sabah said, without quoting sources.

The killers of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi poured his remains down the drain after dissolving him in acid, a Turkish newspaper reported Saturday. Samples taken from the drains at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul showed traces of acid, pro-government daily Sabah said, without quoting sources. This led investigators to believe the dead body of the insider-turned-critic of the Riyadh regime was disposed of through the drains as liquid, the paper said. Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage. His body has never been found. After repeated denials, Saudi Arabia finally admitted the 59-year-old had been murdered at the mission in a "rogue" operation. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the "highest levels" of the Saudi government of ordering the hit, while some officials have pointed the finger at the all-powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Yasin Aktay, an advisor to Erdogan, suggested last week the body may have been dissolved in acid. And on Monday, a Turkish official said Saudi Arabia sent two experts to Istanbul with the specific aim of covering up evidence after the murder. Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz took to Twitter on Thursday writing, "I'm unable to express my sorrow to hear about dissolving your body, Jamal!" "They killed you and chopped up your body, depriving me and your family of conducting your funeral prayer and burying you in Madinah as wished." A Turkish official this week confirmed a Sabah report that chemicals expert Ahmad Abdulaziz al-Janobi and toxicology expert Khaled Yahya al-Zahrani were among a team sent from Saudi amid investigations into the murder. The paper said they visited the consulate every day from their arrival on October 11 until October 17. Saudi Arabia only allowed Turkish police to search the building on October 15.

Saudi journalist Khashoggi's corpse went down the drains: Report

The Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly told the US he considered murdered writer Jamal Khashoggi to be a dangerous Islamist, media reports say.

Prince Mohammed reportedly said this during a phone call with Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton days after the journalist disappeared last month at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, according to a report.&nbsp;

Saudi Arabia has denied the reports in the Washington Post and New York Times.

The phone call is reported to have taken place on 9 October, a week after Khashoggi disappeared.

Prince Mohammed also reportedly urged &nbsp;Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, and Bolton to maintain the alliance between the US and Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported.

The prince said Khashoggi, 59, was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Middle East group Bolton and members of the Trump administration consider terrorists.

The crown prince’s description of Khashoggi, whose articles for the Washington Post were often critical of the ruling royal family, is at odds with public statements he made about Khashoggi.

“The incident that happened is very painful, for all Saudis,” the crown prince said during an economic conference in Riyadh. “The incident is not justifiable.”

The Saudi government gave a number of conflicting explanations for Khashoggi’s death before finally saying he died after getting into a fistfight with Saudi agents after entering the consulate on Oct. 2.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, Turkey's chief prosecutor on Wednesday said &nbsp;Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and his body dismembered as part of a premeditated plan.&nbsp;

The Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly told the US he considered murdered writer Jamal Khashoggi to be a dangerous Islamist, media reports say. Prince Mohammed reportedly said this during a phone call with Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton days after the journalist disappeared last month at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, according to a report.

The Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly told the US he considered murdered writer Jamal Khashoggi to be a dangerous Islamist, media reports say. Prince Mohammed reportedly said this during a phone call with Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton days after the journalist disappeared last month at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, according to a report. Saudi Arabia has denied the reports in the Washington Post and New York Times. The phone call is reported to have taken place on 9 October, a week after Khashoggi disappeared. Prince Mohammed also reportedly urged Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a White House adviser, and Bolton to maintain the alliance between the US and Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported. The prince said Khashoggi, 59, was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Middle East group Bolton and members of the Trump administration consider terrorists. The crown prince’s description of Khashoggi, whose articles for the Washington Post were often critical of the ruling royal family, is at odds with public statements he made about Khashoggi. “The incident that happened is very painful, for all Saudis,” the crown prince said during an economic conference in Riyadh. “The incident is not justifiable.” The Saudi government gave a number of conflicting explanations for Khashoggi’s death before finally saying he died after getting into a fistfight with Saudi agents after entering the consulate on Oct. 2. Meanwhile, Turkey's chief prosecutor on Wednesday said Khashoggi was strangled as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and his body dismembered as part of a premeditated plan.

Jamal Khashoggi murder: Saudi crown prince reportedly told US he was a dangerous Islamist

Saudi Arabia has promised a "full" investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday following talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Bahrain.&nbsp;

"We discussed it... the need of transparency, full and complete investigation. Full agreement from FM Jubeir, no reservations at all," Mattis told reporters following the talks, during which he warned the Saudi kingdom that the murder attributed to the Saudi authorities risked destabilising the region.

"No reservations at all. He (Jubeir) said we need to know what happened and it was very collaborative, in agreement," the Pentagon chief told reporters on a flight from Manama to Prague where he will mark the centenary of Czechoslovakia.

Saudi journalist Khashoggi, 59, who had criticised the kingdom's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017.

He was murdered after entering his country's Istanbul consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee. Gruesome reports have alleged that the Washington Post columnist was killed and dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence him.

After weeks of denials, Riyadh has sought to draw a line under the crisis with an investigation.

Prince Mohammed, heir to the oil-rich nation's throne, publicly denounced the murder as "repulsive", while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been "premeditated".

But Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankara's calls to extradite 18 Saudis being held over Khashoggi's murder, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East.

Addressing a forum in Manama on Saturday, Mattis warned that "the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly".

"Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he stressed.&nbsp;

The murder, which has tarnished the image of Crown Prince Mohammed, has sparked a wave of international criticism and affected Washington's relations with the kingdom.

The United States relies heavily on Saudi Arabia to counter Iran's influence in the region and to defend the security of Israel.

Mattis did not have a formal bilateral meeting with Jubeir on the sidelines of the Manama forum, where he met with several Arab and European leaders.&nbsp;

The two men spoke at a dinner gathering all the ministers.

Saudi Arabia has promised a "full" investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday following talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia has promised a "full" investigation into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday following talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Bahrain. "We discussed it... the need of transparency, full and complete investigation. Full agreement from FM Jubeir, no reservations at all," Mattis told reporters following the talks, during which he warned the Saudi kingdom that the murder attributed to the Saudi authorities risked destabilising the region. "No reservations at all. He (Jubeir) said we need to know what happened and it was very collaborative, in agreement," the Pentagon chief told reporters on a flight from Manama to Prague where he will mark the centenary of Czechoslovakia. Saudi journalist Khashoggi, 59, who had criticised the kingdom's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017. He was murdered after entering his country's Istanbul consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee. Gruesome reports have alleged that the Washington Post columnist was killed and dismembered by a team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence him. After weeks of denials, Riyadh has sought to draw a line under the crisis with an investigation. Prince Mohammed, heir to the oil-rich nation's throne, publicly denounced the murder as "repulsive", while the Saudi prosecutor acknowledged for the first time this week that based on the evidence of a Turkish investigation the killing had been "premeditated". But Riyadh on Saturday dismissed Ankara's calls to extradite 18 Saudis being held over Khashoggi's murder, as Washington warned the crisis risked destabilising the Middle East. Addressing a forum in Manama on Saturday, Mattis warned that "the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly". "Failure of any nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," he stressed. The murder, which has tarnished the image of Crown Prince Mohammed, has sparked a wave of international criticism and affected Washington's relations with the kingdom. The United States relies heavily on Saudi Arabia to counter Iran's influence in the region and to defend the security of Israel. Mattis did not have a formal bilateral meeting with Jubeir on the sidelines of the Manama forum, where he met with several Arab and European leaders. The two men spoke at a dinner gathering all the ministers.

Saudis vow 'complete' probe of Khashoggi murder: Mattis

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible.

Washington Post columnist Khashoggi's murder has escalated into a crisis for the world’s top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia's allies have reacted with outrage towards a country that is the lynchpin of a US-backed regional bloc against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East.

But Mattis also said US respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said those behind the killing would be prosecuted in the kingdom and that the investigation would take time.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the case, while also highlighting Riyadh's role as an ally against Tehran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of US arms.

"With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly," Mattis told a conference in Bahrain.

"Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis said. He did not mention de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by name at any point.

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said Khashoggi's killing was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi officials have also said he was accidentally killed in a botched security operation to return him to the kingdom.

In his remarks at the Manama Dialogue security conference, Mattis went through a list of what he described as disruptive Iranian behaviour - a message most Gulf allies will view positively since they share similar concerns about Iran's increasing influence in Syria and Iraq.

While these were some of the sharpest comments Mattis has made on the Khashoggi killing, he also said the two countries still needed to collaborate on stability in the region.

"It's hard to imagine that this administration, in particular, is going to change fundamentally how it views the role of the Saudis in terms of counterterrorism, in terms of counter-Iran," said Dennis Ross, who served as top Middle East adviser to President Barack Obama in his first term.

Foreign Minister Jubeir, speaking at the same conference, said Riyadh's relations with Washington were "ironclad" amid what he called "hysteria in the media" over Khashoggi's killing.

In response to the killing, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced moves against 21 Saudis to either revoke their visas or make them ineligible for US visas after the Khashoggi killing.

"Our Secretary of State ...will be taking additional measures as the situation is clarified," Mattis said.

ALLIANCES

Mattis said the presence in the Middle East of Russia - a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - could not be a replacement for the United States, whose "long-standing, enduring, and transparent" commitment to the region he reiterated.

He said that it was important to end a 16-month-old dispute between Qatar and four Arab states that analysts say has weakened regional coordination against Iran.

Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing their archrival, Iran, and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges.

"The solving of internal debates among our GCC partners is vital for realizing this vision. Without it, we weaken our security," he said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council nations.

Mattis said he continued to support partners in the region who were defending themselves against Houthi attacks in Yemen but also called for an end to fighting there.

A Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 has conducted frequent air strikes targeting the Iran-aligned Houthi group and has often hit civilians, although it denies doing so intentionally.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi undermined Middle Eastern stability and that Washington would take additional measures against those responsible. Washington Post columnist Khashoggi's murder has escalated into a crisis for the world’s top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia's allies have reacted with outrage towards a country that is the lynchpin of a US-backed regional bloc against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East. But Mattis also said US respect for the Saudi people was undiminished, while Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said those behind the killing would be prosecuted in the kingdom and that the investigation would take time. US President Donald Trump has said he wants to get to the bottom of the case, while also highlighting Riyadh's role as an ally against Tehran and Islamist militants, as well as a major purchaser of US arms. "With our collective interests in peace and unwavering respect for human rights in mind, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly," Mattis told a conference in Bahrain. "Failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines regional stability at a time when it is needed most," Mattis said. He did not mention de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by name at any point. Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor said Khashoggi's killing was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally during a tussle in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi officials have also said he was accidentally killed in a botched security operation to return him to the kingdom. In his remarks at the Manama Dialogue security conference, Mattis went through a list of what he described as disruptive Iranian behaviour - a message most Gulf allies will view positively since they share similar concerns about Iran's increasing influence in Syria and Iraq. While these were some of the sharpest comments Mattis has made on the Khashoggi killing, he also said the two countries still needed to collaborate on stability in the region. "It's hard to imagine that this administration, in particular, is going to change fundamentally how it views the role of the Saudis in terms of counterterrorism, in terms of counter-Iran," said Dennis Ross, who served as top Middle East adviser to President Barack Obama in his first term. Foreign Minister Jubeir, speaking at the same conference, said Riyadh's relations with Washington were "ironclad" amid what he called "hysteria in the media" over Khashoggi's killing. In response to the killing, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week announced moves against 21 Saudis to either revoke their visas or make them ineligible for US visas after the Khashoggi killing. "Our Secretary of State ...will be taking additional measures as the situation is clarified," Mattis said. ALLIANCES Mattis said the presence in the Middle East of Russia - a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - could not be a replacement for the United States, whose "long-standing, enduring, and transparent" commitment to the region he reiterated. He said that it was important to end a 16-month-old dispute between Qatar and four Arab states that analysts say has weakened regional coordination against Iran. Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut off travel and trade ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of backing their archrival, Iran, and supporting terrorism. Qatar denies the charges. "The solving of internal debates among our GCC partners is vital for realizing this vision. Without it, we weaken our security," he said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council nations. Mattis said he continued to support partners in the region who were defending themselves against Houthi attacks in Yemen but also called for an end to fighting there. A Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015 has conducted frequent air strikes targeting the Iran-aligned Houthi group and has often hit civilians, although it denies doing so intentionally.

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis says Khashoggi killing undermines regional stability

The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Friday said she did not accept an invitation from US President Donald Trump to visit the White House because she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his own favour.

In her first television interview since the killing, Hatice Cengiz recounted the events leading up to their visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 where Khashoggi handed her his two mobile phones and went inside while she waited outside for him to emerge.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared after entering the consulate to obtain paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Cengiz, a Turkish national. After weeks of denying knowledge of whereabouts, and changing its story a number of times, Riyadh has said his killing was premeditated.

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/khashoggis-fiancee-says-he-treated-well-during-first-consulate-visit-173677">Khashoggi's fiancee says he was treated well during first consulate visit</a>

"Trump invited me to the United States but I perceived it as a statement to win public favour," Cengiz told broadcaster Haberturk, pausing at times during an interview and more than once breaking down in tears.

Trump and Prince Mohammed have cultivated warm ties though the US&nbsp;president said earlier this week that the crown prince, as the kingdom's de facto ruler, bore ultimate responsibility for the operation against Khashoggi. Trump also said Riyadh had staged the "worst cover-up ever" over the killing.

Cengiz said Khashoggi was concerned tensions would arise when he visited the consulate for the first time on Sept. 28, but he was treated well at that visit, which appeared to reassure him, she said.

"I know he had questions in mind about whether something untoward could actually happen at the consulate," she told Haberturk.

He later assumed he would not ultimately be arrested or harmed in Turkey, she said.

"His local network in Turkey was very good as you know, his political network as well," Cengiz said. "He thought Turkey is a safe country and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved."

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to disclose who ordered Khashoggi's murder, as well as the location of his body, heightening international pressure on the kingdom to come clean on the case.

The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Friday said she did not accept an invitation from US President Donald Trump to visit the White House because she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his own favour.

The fiancee of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Friday said she did not accept an invitation from US President Donald Trump to visit the White House because she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his own favour. In her first television interview since the killing, Hatice Cengiz recounted the events leading up to their visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 where Khashoggi handed her his two mobile phones and went inside while she waited outside for him to emerge. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, disappeared after entering the consulate to obtain paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Cengiz, a Turkish national. After weeks of denying knowledge of whereabouts, and changing its story a number of times, Riyadh has said his killing was premeditated. Also read: Khashoggi's fiancee says he was treated well during first consulate visit "Trump invited me to the United States but I perceived it as a statement to win public favour," Cengiz told broadcaster Haberturk, pausing at times during an interview and more than once breaking down in tears. Trump and Prince Mohammed have cultivated warm ties though the US president said earlier this week that the crown prince, as the kingdom's de facto ruler, bore ultimate responsibility for the operation against Khashoggi. Trump also said Riyadh had staged the "worst cover-up ever" over the killing. Cengiz said Khashoggi was concerned tensions would arise when he visited the consulate for the first time on Sept. 28, but he was treated well at that visit, which appeared to reassure him, she said. "I know he had questions in mind about whether something untoward could actually happen at the consulate," she told Haberturk. He later assumed he would not ultimately be arrested or harmed in Turkey, she said. "His local network in Turkey was very good as you know, his political network as well," Cengiz said. "He thought Turkey is a safe country and if he would be held or interrogated, this issue would be swiftly solved." Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged Saudi Arabia on Friday to disclose who ordered Khashoggi's murder, as well as the location of his body, heightening international pressure on the kingdom to come clean on the case.

Khashoggi fiancee declined Trump invite fearing public opinion ploy

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/pulling-out-of-atomic-treaty-with-russia-also-aimed-at-china-says-trump-172898">Pulling out of </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/pulling-out-of-atomic-treaty-with-russia-also-aimed-at-china-says-trump-172898">atomic</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/pulling-out-of-atomic-treaty-with-russia-also-aimed-at-china-says-trump-172898"> treaty with Russia also aimed at </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/pulling-out-of-atomic-treaty-with-russia-also-aimed-at-china-says-trump-172898">China,</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/pulling-out-of-atomic-treaty-with-russia-also-aimed-at-china-says-trump-172898"> says Trump</a>

President Donald Trump said Monday that his decision to withdraw from a decades-old atomic accord with Russia was also driven by a need to respond to China's nuclear build-up.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/west-asia/journalist-khashoggis-murder-us-official-meets-saudi-crown-prince-despite-global-backlash-172896">Journalist Khashoggi's murder: US official meets Saudi crown prince despite </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/west-asia/journalist-khashoggis-murder-us-official-meets-saudi-crown-prince-despite-global-backlash-172896">global</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/west-asia/journalist-khashoggis-murder-us-official-meets-saudi-crown-prince-despite-global-backlash-172896"> backlash</a>

The official Saudi Press Agency said they stressed "the importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership" in a meeting on the eve of a key investment conference in Riyadh.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/photos/in-pix-president-xi-inaugurates-worlds-longest-sea-bridge-connecting-hong-kong-macau-zhuhai-172915">In Pics: President Xi inaugurates world's longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau &amp; Zhuhai</a>

China's President Xi Jinping launched the world's longest sea bridge, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. 
&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/business-economy/petrol-diesel-prices-cut-for-sixth-consecutive-day-172897">Petrol, diesel prices cut for </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/business-economy/petrol-diesel-prices-cut-for-sixth-consecutive-day-172897">sixth</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/business-economy/petrol-diesel-prices-cut-for-sixth-consecutive-day-172897"> consecutive day</a>

For the sixth consecutive day in a row, petrol and diesel prices were cut in the range of 07-10 paise across metro cities on Tuesday (October 23, 2018).

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/sports/after-scoring-stunning-goal-mesut-ozil-praises-arsenals-sexy-football-172906">Watch: After </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/sports/after-scoring-stunning-goal-mesut-ozil-praises-arsenals-sexy-football-172906">stunning</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/sports/after-scoring-stunning-goal-mesut-ozil-praises-arsenals-sexy-football-172906"> goal, Mesut Ozil praises Arsenal's 'sexy' football</a>

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came off the bench to score twice and Mesut Ozil scored the other to stretch Arsenal's winning streak in all competitions to 10 games of this season.

Pulling out of atomic treaty with Russia also aimed at China, says Trump President Donald Trump said Monday that his decision to withdraw from a decades-old atomic accord with Russia was also driven by a need to respond to China's nuclear build-up.

Pulling out of atomic treaty with Russia also aimed at China, says Trump President Donald Trump said Monday that his decision to withdraw from a decades-old atomic accord with Russia was also driven by a need to respond to China's nuclear build-up. Journalist Khashoggi's murder: US official meets Saudi crown prince despite global backlash The official Saudi Press Agency said they stressed "the importance of the Saudi-US strategic partnership" in a meeting on the eve of a key investment conference in Riyadh. In Pics: President Xi inaugurates world's longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau & Zhuhai China's President Xi Jinping launched the world's longest sea bridge, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. Petrol, diesel prices cut for sixth consecutive day For the sixth consecutive day in a row, petrol and diesel prices were cut in the range of 07-10 paise across metro cities on Tuesday (October 23, 2018). Watch: After stunning goal, Mesut Ozil praises Arsenal's 'sexy' football Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came off the bench to score twice and Mesut Ozil scored the other to stretch Arsenal's winning streak in all competitions to 10 games of this season.

He ran social media for Saudi Arabia's crown prince. He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country's elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudis-king-salman-prince-mohammed-makes-condolence-call-to-jamal-khashoggis-son-172794">Jamal Khashoggi's brutal killing</a> at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype.

Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-says-khashoggi-murder-savagely-planned-172861">Khashoggi’s death</a>. On Saturday, Saudi state media said King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team.

But Qahtani's influence in the crown prince's entourage has been so vast over the past three years - his own rise tracking that of his boss - that it will be hard for Saudi officials to paint Qahtani as the mastermind of the murder without also raising questions about the involvement of Prince Mohammed, according to several sources with links to the royal court.

"This episode won't topple MbS, but it has hit his image which will take a long time to be repaired if it ever does. The king is protecting him," one of the sources with ties to the royal court said.

Qahtani himself once said he would never do anything without his boss' approval.

"Do you think I make decisions without guidance? I am an employee and a faithful executor of the orders of my lord the king and my lord the faithful crown prince," Qahtani tweeted last summer.

Qahtani did not respond to questions from Reuters. His biography on Twitter changed in recent days from royal adviser to chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, a role he had held before.

Prince Mohammed had no knowledge of the operation that led to Khashoggi's death and "certainly did not order a kidnapping or murder of anybody", a Saudi official said on Saturday. Officials in Riyadh could not be reached for further comment.

As the crisis has grown over the past three weeks, Saudi Arabia has changed its tune on Khashoggi's fate, first denying his death, then saying he died during a brawl at the consulate, and now attributing the death to a chokehold.

A senior Saudi official told Reuters that the killers had tried to cover up what happened, contending that the truth was only now emerging. The Turks reject that version of the story, saying they have audio recordings of what happened.

The kingdom has survived other crises in the past year, including the fallout of the crown prince's short-lived kidnapping of Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri in 2017. Hariri, too, was verbally humiliated and beaten, according to eight Saudi, Arab and Western diplomatic sources. The man leading that interrogation: Saud al-Qahtani.

France intervened to free Hariri, but Western capitals did not take Riyadh to task for detaining a head of government - and Prince Mohammed emerged emboldened, according to these Saudi sources.

This time is different, with some Western capitals increasingly critical of the murder and the Saudi explanation.

Germany has announced it will stop arms sales, while Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement asking for an "urgent … clarification of exactly what happened Oct 2."

President Donald Trump has swung between saying he is unhappy with the Saudi investigation but also that he does not want to jeopardise US arms sales to the country.

SKYPE CALL

To stem the fallout of the Khashoggi killing, the crown prince, commonly known by his initials MbS, allowed Qahtani to take the fall, according to one source close to the Saudi royal court.

A second senior Saudi official said Qahtani had been detained following his sacking by royal decree, but he continued to tweet afterwards. The sources with links to the royal court said he was not believed to be under arrest.

In the Khashoggi killing, Qahtani was present as he has been in other key moments of MbS's administration. This time, though, his presence was virtual.

Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi journalist often critical of Saudi Arabia and its leadership, walked into the Istanbul consulate at around 1pm on October 2, to pick up some documents that would allow him to marry.

Turkish security sources say he was immediately seized inside the consulate by 15 Saudi intelligence operatives who had flown in on two jets just hours before.

According to one high-ranking Arab source with access to intelligence and links to members of Saudi Arabia’s royal court, Qahtani was beamed into a room of the Saudi consulate via Skype.

He began to hurl insults at Khashoggi over the phone. According to the Arab and Turkish sources, Khashoggi answered Qahtani’s insults with his own. But he was no match for the squad, which included top security and intelligence operatives, some with direct links to the royal court.

A Turkish intelligence source relayed that at one point Qahtani told his men to dispose of Khashoggi. "Bring me the head of the dog", the Turkish intelligence source says Qahtani instructed.

It is not clear if Qahtani watched the entire proceedings, which the high-ranking Arab source described as a "bungled and botched operation".

The Arab source and the Turkish intelligence source said the audio of the Skype call is now in the possession of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The sources say he is refusing to release it to the Americans.

Erdogan said on Sunday <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/turkey-vows-to-reveal-naked-truth-over-khashoggi-death-172685">he would release information</a> about the Turkish investigation during a weekly speech on Tuesday. Three Turkish officials reached by Reuters declined to comment ahead of that speech.

The senior Saudi official who laid out the official version of events - that Khashoggi had got into a fight - said he had not heard about Qahtani appearing via Skype, but that the Saudi investigation was ongoing.

QAHTANI’S RISE

Qahtani, 40, has earned a reputation at home as both a violent enforcer of princely whims and as a strident nationalist. In blogs and on social media, some liberal Saudi journalists and activists dubbed him the Saudi Steve Bannon for his aggressive manipulation of the news media and behind-the-scenes strategizing.

Qahtani wrote odes on Twitter to the royal family under the pen name Dari, which means predator in Arabic. Some of his opponents on social media call him Dalim, a figure in Arabic folklore who rose from being a lowly servant to much greater heights.

According to his biography on his Twitter account, Qahtani studied law and made the rank of captain in the Saudi air force. After launching a blog, he caught the eye of Khaled al-Tuwaijri, the former head of the royal court, who hired him in the early 2000s to run an electronic media army tasked with protecting Saudi Arabia’s image , according to a source with ties to the royal court.

Tuwaijri is under house arrest and could not be reached for comment.

Qahtani rose to further prominence after latching onto Prince Mohammed, who was part of his father Salman's court as Riyadh governor, then crown prince and finally king in 2015

Tasked with countering alleged Qatari influence on social media, Qahtani used Twitter to attack criticism of the kingdom in general and Prince Mohammed in particular. He also ran a WhatsApp group with local newspaper editors and prominent journalists, dictating the royal court’s line.

When Riyadh led an economic boycott against Qatar in June 2017, Qahtani ramped up his attacks on the small Gulf state. Online, he urged Saudis to tweet the names of anyone showing sympathy with Qatar under the Arabic hashtag "The Black List".

The high-ranking Arab official and Saudi sources with ties to the royal court said Qahtani was MbS's "bad cop" late last year when 200 people, including Saudi princes, ministers and business tycoons, were detained and put under house arrest at the Ritz Carlton in an anti-corruption sweep. Qahtani oversaw some of the interrogations, the Arab official said.

A KIDNAPPING

The extent of Qahtani’s power is perhaps best illustrated by the kidnapping of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri last year, several of the Saudi and Arab diplomatic sources said.

The Saudis were incensed at the inability of Hariri, a Sunni Muslim and a Saudi client, to stand up to their regional rival Iran and Hezbollah, the Shi'ite paramilitary movement that acts as Tehran’s spearhead in the region. Hariri belonged to the same multi-party coalition government as Hezbollah.

The Saudis were particularly dismayed that Hariri had failed to deliver a message to a top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to stop interfering in Lebanon and Yemen. Hariri claimed he had delivered the Saudi message, but an informer, planted by Qahtani in Hariri's circle, gave the Saudis the minutes of the meeting which showed that he had not done so.

The Saudis lured Hariri to Riyadh for a meeting with MbS. Upon his arrival on November 3, 2017, there was no line-up of Saudi princes or officials, as would typically greet a prime minister on an official visit. Hariri later received a call that the meeting with the crown prince would take place the next day at a royal compound.

When Hariri arrived, he was ushered into a room where Qahtani was waiting for him with a security team, according to three Arab sources familiar with the incident. The security team beat Hariri; Qahtani cursed at him and then forced him to resign as prime minister in a statement that was broadcast by a Saudi-owned TV channel.

"He (Qahtani) told him you have no choice but to resign and read this statement," said one of the sources. "Qahtani oversaw the interrogation and ill-treatment of Hariri."

Another source said it was the intervention of French President Emmanuel Macron that secured his release following an international outcry.

Macron claimed credit in May for ending the crisis, saying an unscheduled stopover in Riyadh to convince MbS, followed by an invitation to Hariri to come to France, had been the catalyst to resolving it. Lebanese officials confirmed to Reuters that Macron's quick intervention secured Hariri's return.

Saudi officials could not be reached for comment about the sequence of events or Qahtani's involvement. French officials declined to comment when asked about Qahtani's role.

AN OFFER TO RETURN HOME

At least three friends of Khashoggi told Reuters that in the months after the journalist moved to Washington a year ago he received multiple phone calls from MbS’s right-hand man urging him to return to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi had balked, they said, fearing reprisals for his Washington Post columns and outspoken views.

Qahtani had tried to reassure the former newspaper editor that he was still well respected and had offered the journalist a job as a consultant at the royal court, the friends said.

Khashoggi said that while he found Qahtani gentle and polite during those conversations, he did not trust him, one close friend told Reuters. "Jamal told me afterwards, 'he thinks that I will go back so that he can throw me in jail?"

The second senior Saudi official confirmed that Qahtani had spoken to Khashoggi about returning home. The ambush in Istanbul seems to have been another way to get him home.

How much did the crown prince know about his trusted aide’s plan to abduct Khashoggi?

Most of the 15 hit-man team identified by Turkish and Saudi authorities worked for the kingdom's security and intelligence services, military, government ministries, royal court security and air force. One of them, General Maher Mutreb, a senior intelligence officer, who is part of the security team of Prince Mohammed, appeared in photographs with him on official visits earlier this year to the United States and Europe.

The high-ranking Arab official and the Turkish intelligence source said it was Mutreb's phone that was used to dial in Qahtani while Khashoggi was being interrogated.

Reuters tried to contact members of 15-man team but their phones were either switched off, on voicemail or no longer in service.

The Saudi official said Deputy Intelligence Chief General Ahmed al-Asiri put together the 15-man squad from the intelligence and security forces. Asiri was one of the five officials dismissed on Saturday.

Another key figure was Dr. Salah al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert specialised in autopsies attached to the Saudi Ministry of Interior. His presence - equipped with a bone-saw Turkish sources say was used to dismember the journalist - is hard to explain in an operation Saudi officials now say was aimed at persuading Khashoggi to return home.

It is hard to imagine that the crown prince could have not known about such a delicate operation, the Saudi sources with ties to the royal court say.

The Saudi official who spoke on Saturday said an existing standing order provided authorisation to "negotiate" with dissidents to return home without requiring approval, but that the team involved with Khashoggi exceeded that authorisation.

Another Saudi official close to the investigation said that Qahtani decided on his own to organise Khashoggi’s kidnapping and that he asked Asiri to get a team together, but that their plans had gone wrong.

Qahtani's final act may be to serve his boss by assuming the responsibility for the crisis that has hit Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi's murder. The Saudi king has sacked Qahtani and ordered a restructuring of the general intelligence agency.

To head it, he named MbS.

He ran social media for Saudi Arabia's crown prince. He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country's elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi's brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype.

He ran social media for Saudi Arabia's crown prince. He masterminded the arrest of hundreds of his country's elite. He detained a Lebanese prime minister. And, according to two intelligence sources, he ran journalist Jamal Khashoggi's brutal killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by giving orders over Skype. Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the fall guys as Riyadh tries to stem international outrage at Khashoggi’s death. On Saturday, Saudi state media said King Salman had sacked Qahtani and four other officials over the killing carried out by a 15-man hit team. But Qahtani's influence in the crown prince's entourage has been so vast over the past three years - his own rise tracking that of his boss - that it will be hard for Saudi officials to paint Qahtani as the mastermind of the murder without also raising questions about the involvement of Prince Mohammed, according to several sources with links to the royal court. "This episode won't topple MbS, but it has hit his image which will take a long time to be repaired if it ever does. The king is protecting him," one of the sources with ties to the royal court said. Qahtani himself once said he would never do anything without his boss' approval. "Do you think I make decisions without guidance? I am an employee and a faithful executor of the orders of my lord the king and my lord the faithful crown prince," Qahtani tweeted last summer. Qahtani did not respond to questions from Reuters. His biography on Twitter changed in recent days from royal adviser to chairman of the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, a role he had held before. Prince Mohammed had no knowledge of the operation that led to Khashoggi's death and "certainly did not order a kidnapping or murder of anybody", a Saudi official said on Saturday. Officials in Riyadh could not be reached for further comment. As the crisis has grown over the past three weeks, Saudi Arabia has changed its tune on Khashoggi's fate, first denying his death, then saying he died during a brawl at the consulate, and now attributing the death to a chokehold. A senior Saudi official told Reuters that the killers had tried to cover up what happened, contending that the truth was only now emerging. The Turks reject that version of the story, saying they have audio recordings of what happened. The kingdom has survived other crises in the past year, including the fallout of the crown prince's short-lived kidnapping of Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri in 2017. Hariri, too, was verbally humiliated and beaten, according to eight Saudi, Arab and Western diplomatic sources. The man leading that interrogation: Saud al-Qahtani. France intervened to free Hariri, but Western capitals did not take Riyadh to task for detaining a head of government - and Prince Mohammed emerged emboldened, according to these Saudi sources. This time is different, with some Western capitals increasingly critical of the murder and the Saudi explanation. Germany has announced it will stop arms sales, while Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement asking for an "urgent … clarification of exactly what happened Oct 2." President Donald Trump has swung between saying he is unhappy with the Saudi investigation but also that he does not want to jeopardise US arms sales to the country. SKYPE CALL To stem the fallout of the Khashoggi killing, the crown prince, commonly known by his initials MbS, allowed Qahtani to take the fall, according to one source close to the Saudi royal court. A second senior Saudi official said Qahtani had been detained following his sacking by royal decree, but he continued to tweet afterwards. The sources with links to the royal court said he was not believed to be under arrest. In the Khashoggi killing, Qahtani was present as he has been in other key moments of MbS's administration. This time, though, his presence was virtual. Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi journalist often critical of Saudi Arabia and its leadership, walked into the Istanbul consulate at around 1pm on October 2, to pick up some documents that would allow him to marry. Turkish security sources say he was immediately seized inside the consulate by 15 Saudi intelligence operatives who had flown in on two jets just hours before. According to one high-ranking Arab source with access to intelligence and links to members of Saudi Arabia’s royal court, Qahtani was beamed into a room of the Saudi consulate via Skype. He began to hurl insults at Khashoggi over the phone. According to the Arab and Turkish sources, Khashoggi answered Qahtani’s insults with his own. But he was no match for the squad, which included top security and intelligence operatives, some with direct links to the royal court. A Turkish intelligence source relayed that at one point Qahtani told his men to dispose of Khashoggi. "Bring me the head of the dog", the Turkish intelligence source says Qahtani instructed. It is not clear if Qahtani watched the entire proceedings, which the high-ranking Arab source described as a "bungled and botched operation". The Arab source and the Turkish intelligence source said the audio of the Skype call is now in the possession of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. The sources say he is refusing to release it to the Americans. Erdogan said on Sunday he would release information about the Turkish investigation during a weekly speech on Tuesday. Three Turkish officials reached by Reuters declined to comment ahead of that speech. The senior Saudi official who laid out the official version of events - that Khashoggi had got into a fight - said he had not heard about Qahtani appearing via Skype, but that the Saudi investigation was ongoing. QAHTANI’S RISE Qahtani, 40, has earned a reputation at home as both a violent enforcer of princely whims and as a strident nationalist. In blogs and on social media, some liberal Saudi journalists and activists dubbed him the Saudi Steve Bannon for his aggressive manipulation of the news media and behind-the-scenes strategizing. Qahtani wrote odes on Twitter to the royal family under the pen name Dari, which means predator in Arabic. Some of his opponents on social media call him Dalim, a figure in Arabic folklore who rose from being a lowly servant to much greater heights. According to his biography on his Twitter account, Qahtani studied law and made the rank of captain in the Saudi air force. After launching a blog, he caught the eye of Khaled al-Tuwaijri, the former head of the royal court, who hired him in the early 2000s to run an electronic media army tasked with protecting Saudi Arabia’s image , according to a source with ties to the royal court. Tuwaijri is under house arrest and could not be reached for comment. Qahtani rose to further prominence after latching onto Prince Mohammed, who was part of his father Salman's court as Riyadh governor, then crown prince and finally king in 2015 Tasked with countering alleged Qatari influence on social media, Qahtani used Twitter to attack criticism of the kingdom in general and Prince Mohammed in particular. He also ran a WhatsApp group with local newspaper editors and prominent journalists, dictating the royal court’s line. When Riyadh led an economic boycott against Qatar in June 2017, Qahtani ramped up his attacks on the small Gulf state. Online, he urged Saudis to tweet the names of anyone showing sympathy with Qatar under the Arabic hashtag "The Black List". The high-ranking Arab official and Saudi sources with ties to the royal court said Qahtani was MbS's "bad cop" late last year when 200 people, including Saudi princes, ministers and business tycoons, were detained and put under house arrest at the Ritz Carlton in an anti-corruption sweep. Qahtani oversaw some of the interrogations, the Arab official said. A KIDNAPPING The extent of Qahtani’s power is perhaps best illustrated by the kidnapping of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri last year, several of the Saudi and Arab diplomatic sources said. The Saudis were incensed at the inability of Hariri, a Sunni Muslim and a Saudi client, to stand up to their regional rival Iran and Hezbollah, the Shi'ite paramilitary movement that acts as Tehran’s spearhead in the region. Hariri belonged to the same multi-party coalition government as Hezbollah. The Saudis were particularly dismayed that Hariri had failed to deliver a message to a top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to stop interfering in Lebanon and Yemen. Hariri claimed he had delivered the Saudi message, but an informer, planted by Qahtani in Hariri's circle, gave the Saudis the minutes of the meeting which showed that he had not done so. The Saudis lured Hariri to Riyadh for a meeting with MbS. Upon his arrival on November 3, 2017, there was no line-up of Saudi princes or officials, as would typically greet a prime minister on an official visit. Hariri later received a call that the meeting with the crown prince would take place the next day at a royal compound. When Hariri arrived, he was ushered into a room where Qahtani was waiting for him with a security team, according to three Arab sources familiar with the incident. The security team beat Hariri; Qahtani cursed at him and then forced him to resign as prime minister in a statement that was broadcast by a Saudi-owned TV channel. "He (Qahtani) told him you have no choice but to resign and read this statement," said one of the sources. "Qahtani oversaw the interrogation and ill-treatment of Hariri." Another source said it was the intervention of French President Emmanuel Macron that secured his release following an international outcry. Macron claimed credit in May for ending the crisis, saying an unscheduled stopover in Riyadh to convince MbS, followed by an invitation to Hariri to come to France, had been the catalyst to resolving it. Lebanese officials confirmed to Reuters that Macron's quick intervention secured Hariri's return. Saudi officials could not be reached for comment about the sequence of events or Qahtani's involvement. French officials declined to comment when asked about Qahtani's role. AN OFFER TO RETURN HOME At least three friends of Khashoggi told Reuters that in the months after the journalist moved to Washington a year ago he received multiple phone calls from MbS’s right-hand man urging him to return to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi had balked, they said, fearing reprisals for his Washington Post columns and outspoken views. Qahtani had tried to reassure the former newspaper editor that he was still well respected and had offered the journalist a job as a consultant at the royal court, the friends said. Khashoggi said that while he found Qahtani gentle and polite during those conversations, he did not trust him, one close friend told Reuters. "Jamal told me afterwards, 'he thinks that I will go back so that he can throw me in jail?" The second senior Saudi official confirmed that Qahtani had spoken to Khashoggi about returning home. The ambush in Istanbul seems to have been another way to get him home. How much did the crown prince know about his trusted aide’s plan to abduct Khashoggi? Most of the 15 hit-man team identified by Turkish and Saudi authorities worked for the kingdom's security and intelligence services, military, government ministries, royal court security and air force. One of them, General Maher Mutreb, a senior intelligence officer, who is part of the security team of Prince Mohammed, appeared in photographs with him on official visits earlier this year to the United States and Europe. The high-ranking Arab official and the Turkish intelligence source said it was Mutreb's phone that was used to dial in Qahtani while Khashoggi was being interrogated. Reuters tried to contact members of 15-man team but their phones were either switched off, on voicemail or no longer in service. The Saudi official said Deputy Intelligence Chief General Ahmed al-Asiri put together the 15-man squad from the intelligence and security forces. Asiri was one of the five officials dismissed on Saturday. Another key figure was Dr. Salah al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert specialised in autopsies attached to the Saudi Ministry of Interior. His presence - equipped with a bone-saw Turkish sources say was used to dismember the journalist - is hard to explain in an operation Saudi officials now say was aimed at persuading Khashoggi to return home. It is hard to imagine that the crown prince could have not known about such a delicate operation, the Saudi sources with ties to the royal court say. The Saudi official who spoke on Saturday said an existing standing order provided authorisation to "negotiate" with dissidents to return home without requiring approval, but that the team involved with Khashoggi exceeded that authorisation. Another Saudi official close to the investigation said that Qahtani decided on his own to organise Khashoggi’s kidnapping and that he asked Asiri to get a team together, but that their plans had gone wrong. Qahtani's final act may be to serve his boss by assuming the responsibility for the crisis that has hit Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi's murder. The Saudi king has sacked Qahtani and ordered a restructuring of the general intelligence agency. To head it, he named MbS.

How the man behind Khashoggi murder ran the killing via Skype

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside Riyadh's Istanbul consulate was "savagely planned", Turkey's ruling party spokesman said on Monday, the first official indication from Ankara it believes a plot was hatched in advance.

"This was extremely savagely planned, and we are faced with a situation where there has been a lot of effort to whitewash this," Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Omer Celik told reporters in Ankara.

"This is a very complicated murder," Celik said, warning that the Turkish government would not be drawn into speculation. "Everyone (else) can speculate but we cannot speculate," Celik added.

He also dismissed claims of "bargaining" between Saudi Arabia and Turkey as "immoral".

Riyadh said on Saturday that Khashoggi, a former regime insider turned dissident, died during a "brawl" inside the consulate after a visit on October 2 to get documents.

It added 18 Saudis were arrested in connection with his death and two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as three other intelligence agents, were fired.

Before Riyadh's admission, Turkish sources said a team of 15 Saudis were sent to Istanbul and killed Khashoggi, a critic of the crown prince who moved to the United States last year and wrote for the Washington Post.&nbsp;

Turkish pro-government media has said the team interrogated, tortured and decapitated Khashoggi but a pro-government columnist Abdulkadir Selvi on Monday wrote in Hurriyet daily that Khashoggi was strangled to death before he was cut up into 15 pieces.

Celik pointed to CCTV footage published by CNN on Monday, which the American broadcaster claimed showed one of the Saudi officials acting as a body double for Khashoggi and leaving the consulate.

A senior Turkish official quoted by CNN said that the Saudi was "brought to Istanbul to act as a body double" for Khashoggi, adding: "This was a premeditated murder and the body was moved out of the consulate."

In the video a man, named by CNN as Mustafa al-Madani, left the consulate by the back exit wearing what appeared to be Khashoggi's clothes -- although the shoes do not match those the journalist appeared to be wearing in CCTV footage of him entering the consulate. 
&nbsp;

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside Riyadh's Istanbul consulate was "savagely planned", Turkey's ruling party spokesman said on Monday, the first official indication from Ankara it believes a plot was hatched in advance.

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside Riyadh's Istanbul consulate was "savagely planned", Turkey's ruling party spokesman said on Monday, the first official indication from Ankara it believes a plot was hatched in advance. "This was extremely savagely planned, and we are faced with a situation where there has been a lot of effort to whitewash this," Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesman Omer Celik told reporters in Ankara. "This is a very complicated murder," Celik said, warning that the Turkish government would not be drawn into speculation. "Everyone (else) can speculate but we cannot speculate," Celik added. He also dismissed claims of "bargaining" between Saudi Arabia and Turkey as "immoral". Riyadh said on Saturday that Khashoggi, a former regime insider turned dissident, died during a "brawl" inside the consulate after a visit on October 2 to get documents. It added 18 Saudis were arrested in connection with his death and two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as three other intelligence agents, were fired. Before Riyadh's admission, Turkish sources said a team of 15 Saudis were sent to Istanbul and killed Khashoggi, a critic of the crown prince who moved to the United States last year and wrote for the Washington Post. Turkish pro-government media has said the team interrogated, tortured and decapitated Khashoggi but a pro-government columnist Abdulkadir Selvi on Monday wrote in Hurriyet daily that Khashoggi was strangled to death before he was cut up into 15 pieces. Celik pointed to CCTV footage published by CNN on Monday, which the American broadcaster claimed showed one of the Saudi officials acting as a body double for Khashoggi and leaving the consulate. A senior Turkish official quoted by CNN said that the Saudi was "brought to Istanbul to act as a body double" for Khashoggi, adding: "This was a premeditated murder and the body was moved out of the consulate." In the video a man, named by CNN as Mustafa al-Madani, left the consulate by the back exit wearing what appeared to be Khashoggi's clothes -- although the shoes do not match those the journalist appeared to be wearing in CCTV footage of him entering the consulate.

Turkey says Khashoggi murder 'savagely planned'

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pak-pm-imran-khan-calls-for-dialogue-to-resolve-kashmir-issue-172803">Pakistan PM Imran Khan again calls for dialogue with India to resolve Kashmir issue</a>

India should move to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Monday.&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudis-king-salman-prince-mohammed-makes-condolence-call-to-jamal-khashoggis-son-172794">Saudi King, Crown Prince Salman make </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudis-king-salman-prince-mohammed-makes-condolence-call-to-jamal-khashoggis-son-172794">condolence</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudis-king-salman-prince-mohammed-makes-condolence-call-to-jamal-khashoggis-son-172794"> call to Jamal Khashoggi's son</a>

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made a condolence call Monday to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's son.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/well-respond-in-kind-if-us-develops-intermediate-missiles-russia-172795">We'll respond in kind if </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/well-respond-in-kind-if-us-develops-intermediate-missiles-russia-172795">US</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/well-respond-in-kind-if-us-develops-intermediate-missiles-russia-172795"> develops intermediate missiles: Russia</a>

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia would be forced to respond in kind if the United States began developing new missiles after quitting a landmark Cold War-era treaty.

http://www.wionews.com/world/well-respond-in-kind-if-us-develops-intermediate-missiles-russia-172795

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/amritsar-train-tragedy-had-taken-all-permissions-says-dussehra-event-organiser-172807">Amritsar train tragedy: 'Had taken all permissions,' says Dussehra event organiser</a>

Two days after the report of Sourabh Madan Mithu, one of the key organisers of the Dussera event in Amritsar went untraceable; a video message has now been released in which he is claimed that he had taken "all permission". He also said that he and his family are extremely pained by the accident.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/nuclear-pact-is-key-to-europes-security-macron-to-trump-172810">Nuclear</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/nuclear-pact-is-key-to-europes-security-macron-to-trump-172810"> pact is key to Europe's security: Macron to Trump</a>

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to US President Donald Trump on Sunday to stress the importance of a Cold War-era nuclear treaty Trump said Washington would withdraw from, Macron's office said in a statement on Monday.

&nbsp;

Pakistan PM Imran Khan again calls for dialogue with India to resolve Kashmir issue India should move to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Monday.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan again calls for dialogue with India to resolve Kashmir issue India should move to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said Monday. Saudi King, Crown Prince Salman make condolence call to Jamal Khashoggi's son Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made a condolence call Monday to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's son. We'll respond in kind if US develops intermediate missiles: Russia The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia would be forced to respond in kind if the United States began developing new missiles after quitting a landmark Cold War-era treaty. http://www.wionews.com/world/well-respond-in-kind-if-us-develops-intermediate-missiles-russia-172795 Amritsar train tragedy: 'Had taken all permissions,' says Dussehra event organiser Two days after the report of Sourabh Madan Mithu, one of the key organisers of the Dussera event in Amritsar went untraceable; a video message has now been released in which he is claimed that he had taken "all permission". He also said that he and his family are extremely pained by the accident. Nuclear pact is key to Europe's security: Macron to Trump French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to US President Donald Trump on Sunday to stress the importance of a Cold War-era nuclear treaty Trump said Washington would withdraw from, Macron's office said in a statement on Monday.

Saudi King&nbsp;Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince&nbsp;Mohammad bin Salman made a condolence call Monday to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's son.

Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2. A finger of accusation has been <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/leading-us-senator-blames-saudi-prince-salman-for-khashoggi-death-172688">pointed at Prince Salman for the murder</a> and the hit squad that executed Khashoggi allegedly included a member of the royal&nbsp;entourage.

Saudi Arabia's official news agency said both King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Salman phoned Khashoggi's son Salah to express their condolences.

Khashoggi went to the consulate on October 2 to get documents ahead of his upcoming wedding to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who has now been given 24-hour protection according to Turkish state media.

Riyadh on Saturday finally admitted that Khashoggi had died in the consulate -- blaming a brawl -- and announced the firing of five top officials and the arrest of 18 others in a probe.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, the smooth former envoy to Washington and fluent English speaker, on Sunday appeared on Fox News to blame a "rogue operation" by individuals who "exceeded their responsibilities" and then "tried to cover up for it".

"We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder," he said, denying any link to the crown prince.

Turkey's pro-government media published new claims on Monday linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to reveal the "naked truth" about the case.

(With inputs from AFP)

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made a condolence call Monday to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's son. Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman made a condolence call Monday to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi's son. Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2. A finger of accusation has been pointed at Prince Salman for the murder and the hit squad that executed Khashoggi allegedly included a member of the royal entourage. Saudi Arabia's official news agency said both King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Salman phoned Khashoggi's son Salah to express their condolences. Khashoggi went to the consulate on October 2 to get documents ahead of his upcoming wedding to his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who has now been given 24-hour protection according to Turkish state media. Riyadh on Saturday finally admitted that Khashoggi had died in the consulate -- blaming a brawl -- and announced the firing of five top officials and the arrest of 18 others in a probe. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, the smooth former envoy to Washington and fluent English speaker, on Sunday appeared on Fox News to blame a "rogue operation" by individuals who "exceeded their responsibilities" and then "tried to cover up for it". "We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder," he said, denying any link to the crown prince. Turkey's pro-government media published new claims on Monday linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to reveal the "naked truth" about the case. (With inputs from AFP)

Saudi King, Crown Prince Salman make condolence call to Jamal Khashoggi's son

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