Riyadh admits Khashoggi died in Istanbul mission as world powers demand answers
Riyadh, Oct 21: Saudi Arabia has admitted that critic Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside its Istanbul consulate, as world powers demanded answers and mystery surrounded the whereabouts of his body.
Ankara vowed to reveal all the details of a two-week inquiry as US President Donald Trump said he was unsatisfied with Saudi Arabia's response to the Washington Post columnist's death and the EU, Germany, France, Britain and the UN also demanded clarity.
Before dawn on Saturday, Riyadh backtracked on a fortnight of denials by announcing that Khashoggi died during a "brawl" inside the consulate on October 2.
It said 18 Saudis have been arrested in connection with his death and two top aides of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as three other intelligence agents, have been sacked.
Saudi Arabia has plunged into an international crisis over the fate of Khashoggi, who was critical of the crown prince.
Turkish officials have accused Riyadh of carrying out a state-sponsored killing and dismembering the body, which police have begun hunting for in an Istanbul forest.
In the latest version of events from Riyadh, Saudi Attorney General Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb said Khashoggi died after talks at the consulate degenerated into a physical altercation.
"Discussions that took place between him and the persons who met him... at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul led to a brawl and a fistfight with the citizen, Jamal Khashoggi, which led to his death, may his soul rest in peace," the attorney general said in a statement.
Trump said he found the explanation credible. The US president later said he was unsatisfied with the response, although he warned against scrapping a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the conservative kingdom.
"It was a big first step. It was a good first step," Trump said of the sackings.
"But I want to get to the answer."
The Saudi king also ordered the establishment of a ministerial body under the chairmanship of the crown prince to restructure the kingdom's intelligence agency and "define its powers precisely," Saudi state media said.
Key members of the crown prince's inner circle were sacked, including deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al-Assiri and royal court media adviser Saud al-Qahtani.
Saudi Arabia's Gulf ally, the United Arab Emirates, welcomed the moves by the king, as did Egypt.
But Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz tweeted that her heart was "full of sorrow" over the confirmation of his death.
The controversy has put the kingdom -- for decades a key ally in Western efforts to contain Iran -- under unprecedented pressure.
It has evolved into a major crisis for Prince Mohammed, a Trump administration favourite widely known as MBS, whose image as a modernising Arab reformer has been gravely undermined.
Ankara said it had a "debt of honour" to reveal what happened.
"We are not accusing anyone in advance but we don't accept anything to remain covered (up)," said ruling Justice and Development Party spokesman Omer Celik.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged "transparency from Saudi Arabia" and said that "available reports on what happened in the Istanbul consulate are insufficient." French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said many questions remained "unanswered" and insisted "they require exhaustive and diligent investigation."
The EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini called for a "continued thorough, credible and transparent investigation, shedding proper clarity on the circumstances of the killing and ensuring full accountability of all those responsible for it." UN chief Antonio Guterres stressed "the need for a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation," and "full accountability for those responsible."
Britain's Foreign Office, which also has close ties to Riyadh, said it "was a terrible act and those responsible must be held to account."
Saudi officials have roundly denied that King Salman's son, Prince Mohammed, had any involvement.
But one suspect identified by Turkey was said to be a frequent companion of the young heir to the throne, three others were linked to his security detail and a fifth is a high-level forensic specialist, according to The New York Times.
The decision to overhaul the intelligence apparatus and sack members of the crown prince's inner circle is designed to "distance the crown prince from the murder," said analysis firm Eurasia Group.
In a recent off-the-record interview published posthumously by US magazine Newsweek, Khashoggi described the 33-year-old crown prince as "an old-fashioned tribal leader," but said he would have accepted an offer to work as his adviser.
"I'm not calling for the overthrow of the regime," the one-time royal insider said. "I'm just calling for reform of the regime." Pro-government Turkish media have claimed that Khashoggi was tortured and dismembered by a Saudi hit squad, although Turkey has yet to release any official findings.
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NYC sightseeing helicopter plunges into river, killing six, including family of Spanish tourists
New York (AP): A New York City sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair Thursday and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River, killing the pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists in the latest US aviation disaster, officials said.
The victims included Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, a global manager at an energy technology company, and three children, in addition to the pilot, a person briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press. The person could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Photos posted on the helicopter company's website showed the couple and their children smiling as they boarded just before the flight took off.
The flight departed a downtown heliport around 3 p.m. and lasted less than 18 minutes. Radar data showed it flew north along the Manhattan skyline and then back south toward the Statue of Liberty.
Video of the crash showed parts of the aircraft tumbling through the air into the water near the shoreline of Jersey City, New Jersey.
A witness there, Bruce Wall, said he saw it “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the helicopter as it fell.
Dani Horbiak was at her Jersey City home when she heard what sounded like “several gunshots in a row, almost, in the air.” She looked out her window and saw the chopper "splash in several pieces into the river.”
The helicopter was spinning uncontrollably with “a bunch of smoke coming out” before it slammed into the water, said Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Rescue boats circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of impact near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel. Recovery crews hoisted the mangled helicopter out of the water just after 8 p.m. using a floating crane.
The bodies were also recovered from the river, Mayor Eric Adams said.
The flight was operated by New York Helicopters, officials said. No one answered the phones at the company's offices in New York and New Jersey.
A person who answered the phone at the home of the company's owner, Michael Roth, said he declined to comment. Roth told the New York Post he was devastated and had “no clue” why the crash happened.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren't on the helicopter,” the Post quoted him as saying. He added that he had not seen such a thing happen during his 30 years in the helicopter business, but noted: “These are machines, and they break.”
Emails seeking comment were sent to attorneys who have represented Roth in the past.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government aviation, including by sightseeing companies, TV news stations and police. It was initially developed for the U.S. Army before being adapted for other uses. Thousands have been manufactured over the years.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate.
Video of the crash suggested that a “catastrophic mechanical failure” left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter, said Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps.
It is possible the helicopter's main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free fall, Green said.
“They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened,” Green said. “There's no indication they had any control over the craft. No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts. It's like a rock falling to the ground. It's heartbreaking.”
The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads from which business executives and others are whisked to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.
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