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President Donald Trump said Thursday he now believes journalist Jamal Khashoggi is dead and warned of “very severe” consequences should Saudi Arabia be proven responsible. France 24
Mashal Saad al-Bostani of the Saudi Royal Air Forces, who was named by pro-government Turkish media as one of 15 suspects in the alleged murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi, has reportedly died in a car accident on return to the kingdom. BI
Saudi Arabia’s plans for its “Davos in the Desert” summit were in tatters on Thursday after Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, and Steve Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, both pulled out amid allegations the kingdom murdered Jamal Khashoggi, the missing journalist. The Telegraph
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday appeared to hold the United States partially accountable for the case of Washington Post journalist and Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi, who vanished after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and is believed to have been killed.
Moscow, like Washington, has been reserved in its response to the gruesome Khashoggi case, with Putin saying he would rather wait for the evidence before taking any action on the matter. That’s a position that Trump has also appeared to take, as homegrown pressure mounts on the administration to find answers and punish Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi’s rumored death. Politico
