The Khashoggi ordeal
Saudi Arabia has finally recognized the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The authorities of Saudi Arabia denied their participation in Khashoggi’s disappearance for more than two weeks. He disappeared on October 2 after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
“A discussion with other persons during his presence in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul led to a dispute and a fight, which resulted in his death” — Saudi State television reported.
This week it was reported that the Saudi citizen was tortured, beheaded and dismembered in his own country’s consulate.
Many of the leading western powers don’t believe the Saudi authorities claims that Khashoggi was killed “accidentally” during a fight in the consulate.
Saudi Arabia has to provide the facts regarding this explanation for what happened, Western leaders say. This was repeated in a joint statement by Great Britain, France and Germany, published on Sunday, October 21.
In response, German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that Germany will stop the export of weapon to Saudi Arabia.
A Bloody battle for the deputy’s seat in the Afghan parliamentary
On Saturday, October 20, long-awaited parliamentary elections started in Afghanistan. More than 2,500 candidates, including many women, from various political circles started a struggle for 249 seats in the House of the People or Wolesi Jirga (the Afghan parliament).
According to polls published by the Afghan media during the pre-election campaign, many people across the country said they were through with puppet politicians controlled by the American establishment. That’s why they hope to see young, strong and independent candidates in the Afghan parliament who would work for the people and for the good of the country, not for policy dictated by the foreign interventionists.
According to the Independent Elections Commission, more than 3 million people out of the 8.8 million registered voters cast their ballots on the first day of elections. But unfortunately, when the hundreds of Afghan polling centers started their work on Saturday, chaos, fear, deadly violence and tears replaced exhilaration and the hope for a brighter future in the war-torn country. Several terrorist attacks targeted polling centers across the country. 200 security incidents have been reported countrywide during the two days of elections. During the terrorist attacks, at least 25 policemen and the dozens of civilians, including children, were killed and over 100 people were injured across the country. According to Deputy Interior Minister Akhtar Mohammed Ibrahimi, security forces killed 31 insurgents in gun battles.
Many polling stations could not continue their work on the second voting day due to security concerns. According to the Afghan authorities, the Taliban and the Islamic State group (ISIS) are the main culprit of a deadly violence at the polling stations because these groups previously had opposed the holding of the parliamentary elections and had vowed to disrupt them.
Discussion of the Brexit
During the EU summit in Brussels, British Prime Minister Theresa May said that she is ready to prolong the transition period after “Brexit” for several months if needed in order to find a solution to the question of a border verification regime between the part of Ireland remaining in the EU and Northern Ireland.
Theresa May said that discussions are continuing with the European Union on the possibility of extending the a transition period before the new system of the relations starts to work. London thinks that there will be no need to resort to this option, but if it occurs, the government wants to guarantee that, between Ireland and Northern Ireland, there will be no rigid border.
Leaders of the EU have cancelled the emergency summit meeting that was scheduled to take place on November 17-18.
European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said that there are three important questions to be addressed – the rights of the citizens of the EU living in Great Britain and the rights of the British citizens in the EU. He said that it has been impossible to reach an agreement on these two questions as of yet. The third question is that of borders, a question which the two sides are continuing to work together on. Tajani added that he wants to remain an optimist regarding the outcome of the discussions.