Germany secures more gas shipments as Scholz visits Gulf
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz planted a tree at a mangrove park in the United Arab Emirates in a token nod to environmentalism during a two-day visit to the Gulf region focused mainly on securing new fossil fuel supplies and forging fresh alliances against Russia.
France skirts over Khashoggi killing amid Saudi prince visit
France’s presidency has focused on global warming, the war in Ukraine and the Iran nuclear deal in relaying details about the controversial dinner in Paris between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Biden lands in Saudi Arabia, crown prince greets him with fist bump
President Joe Biden has exchanged a cordial fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but says he then raised the issue of the murder of writer Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence has said the crown prince approved.
DC trolls Saudi embassy by naming street Jamal Khashoggi Way
One month ahead of President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the District of Columbia is renaming the street in front of the Saudi embassy Jamal Khashoggi Way, trolling Riyadh for its role in the killing of the dissident Saudi activist and journalist in 2018.
Turkey to move trial of Khashoggi suspects to Saudi Arabia
A Turkish court has decided to transfer the trial of 26 Saudis accused in the gruesome killing of Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia, raising fears that those responsible for the death of the Washington Post columnist won’t be brought to justice for a crime that drew international outrage.
Turkey to OK Khashoggi murder trial's move to Saudi Arabia
Turkey’s justice minister says the government will recommend that an Istanbul court close its trial in absentia against 26 Saudi nationals charged in the slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and transfer the case to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi crown prince's investment forum draws back Westerners
Saudi Arabia’s annual investment forum has drawn over a thousand participants, with big-name U.S. financiers and business leaders back on the stage three years after many stayed away following international outcry over the killing of a government critic in a Saudi consulate.
FBI releases newly declassified record on Sept. 11 attacks
A declassified FBI document related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the run-up to the Sept. 11 attacks details contacts the men had with Saudi associates in the United States but doesn't provide proof that senior kingdom officials were complicit in the plot.
Pentagon chief: al-Qaida may seek comeback in Afghanistan
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the al-Qaida extremist group that used Afghanistan as a staging base to attack United States 20 years ago may attempt to regenerate there following an American withdrawal that has left the Taliban in power.
UN rights investigator Agnes Callamard named Amnesty chief
Callamard, who led a United Nations investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been appointed the new leader of Amnesty International. The international human rights group said Callamards four-year term as secretary general begins Monday, March 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)LONDON – Agnes Callamard, who led a United Nations’ investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has been appointed the new leader of Amnesty International. The international human rights group said Callamard’s four-year term as secretary general begins Monday. Callamard, a French human rights expert, has previously led free-speech organization Article 19 and directs the Global Freedom of Expression Project at Columbia University.
'Borat,' 'Promising Young Woman' win at Writers Guild Awards
This image released by Amazon Studios shows Sacha Baron Cohen in a scene from "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm." (Amazon Studios via AP)NEW YORK – Sacha Baron Cohen's “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” was partly improvised and scripted by nine writers, but it still walked away Sunday night with one of the Writers Guild Awards' top honors, best adapted screenplay. Best original screenplay went to the script for the feminist revenge thriller “Promising Young Woman,” by writer-director Emerald Fennell. “Thank you for this incredible award, though I can’t help thinking we won it because 60% of the Writers Guild worked on this movie,” said Baron Cohen. The guild's awards came after the conclusion of a two-year battle with talent agencies over potential conflicts of interest as representatives of film and TV writers.
Biden defends inaction against Saudi crown prince in killing
As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised to make a pariah out of Saudi Arabia over the 2018 murder of dissident Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi. But when it came time to actually penalize Saudi Arabias crown prince, Americas strategic interests prevailed. Biden, in an ABC News interview that aired Wednesday, discussed his administration's decision to exempt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from any penalties for the Oct. 2, 2018, killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. intelligence, in a report released Feb. 26, concluded that the crown prince authorized the team of Saudi security and intelligence officials that killed Khashoggi. Rights groups and some journalists organizations criticized the decision not to punish the crown prince, saying it signaled impunity for the royal and other authoritarian leaders in the future.
In early foreign policy tests, Biden takes on world as it is
Biden in his early days in office has vowed a dramatic reordering of U.S. foreign policy from his predecessor. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden in his early days in office has vowed a dramatic reordering of U.S. foreign policy from his predecessor. The early preference for caution and incrementalism comes as Biden has repeatedly declared that “America is back.” But in early foreign policy tests, Biden has demonstrated, as many of his predecessors have experienced, that a push away from the previous commander-in-chief's policies is easier said than done. AdSullivan pushes back against the notion that Biden's foreign policy approach has been modulated from his candidacy. On China, Biden has been clear-eyed in seeing Beijing as the United States' most significant competitor.
US implicates Saudi crown prince in Khashoggi's killing
FILE - In this Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, file photo, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a virtual G-20 summit held over video conferencing, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's royal court says Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman underwent a successful surgery for appendicitis on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, and left the hospital soon after the operation. The 35-year-old Prince Mohammed had laparoscopic surgery at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in the morning. But the public rebuke of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is still a touchstone in U.S-Saudi relations. Saudi officials have said Khashoggi’s killing was the work of rogue Saudi security and intelligence officials.
Ties with Saudis at stake as US releases findings on killing
President Joe Biden is expected to speak to Saudi King Salman for the first time in Bidens just over a month-old administration. The language came in contrast to Biden's pledge as a candidate to make Saudi Arabia “a pariah” over the killing. The Saudi Arabia Embassy spokesman in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. U.S. intelligence findings are coming out more than two years after Khashoggi walked hand-in-hand with his fiancee to the Saudi consulate in Turkey. Once in office, Biden said he would maintain whatever scale of relations with Saudi Arabia that U.S. interests required.
Oscars shortlist includes ‘Collective' and ‘MLK/FBI'
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday unveiled its shortlists for several categories, including documentary feature, international feature, original song, original score, visual effects and makeup and hairstyling. Titles as diverse as “Tenet” (for score and visual effects), “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (for the original song “Wuhan Flu”), “Eurovision Song Contest” (for song) and “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Story” (for score, song and makeup) are in the initial mix. The Korean American film “Minari," which was controversially nominated for a foreign language Golden Globe, was not eligible in the same category for the Oscars. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross could find themselves double nominees, as both “Soul” and “Mank” were shortlisted for original score. Winners will be announced at the 93rd Oscars on Sunday, April 25, which will be telecast live on ABC.
Pariah with benefits: US aiding Saudi defense despite chill
(AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden laid out a tougher line on Saudi Arabia than any U.S. president in decades. He said he would make the kingdom “pay the price” for human rights abuses and “make them in fact the pariah that they are.”But if Biden is making Saudi Arabia a pariah now, it's a pariah with benefits. U.S. leaders also see Saudi Arabia as a regional counterweight to Iran. The administration already had said it was pausing the Trump administration's sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia. AdInternational criticism of Saudi Arabia has mounted since 2015, under King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.