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Mail bombs: Robert De Niro and Joe Biden latest targets

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Mail bombs: Robert De Niro and Joe Biden latest targets

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A suspect package similar to those sent to senior public figures has been sent to a New York restaurant owned by the actor Robert De Niro, the FBI has said.

The device was found at the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan early on Thursday local time, said the city's mayor.

Former Vice-President Joe Biden has also received two suspect packages.

The latest incident marks the eighth critic of President Donald Trump to receive such a package this week.

De Niro - the star of films Raging Bull and Meet the Parents - is a vocal Trump opponent.

What we know about US mail bomb threats

In the past he has called him "a national disaster", "a mutt who doesn't know what he's talking about" and said that he wanted to "punch him in the face".

When the Oscar-winner attacked him at the Tony Awards in June, the president responded by calling De Niro a "very low IQ individual".

The New York Police Department said the restaurant building - which also houses his production company TriBeCa Films - was empty at the time the suspicious device arrived, NBC reports.

Trump attacks 'media hostility' after mail bombs

De Niro offered Italy escape from Trump

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the "really quick-witted work of a security guard" who alerted authorities.

According to the Associated Press, the security guard was off work on Thursday and had seen an image in a news report of the packages others had received.

That individual then recalled spotting something similar in the building's mailroom and immediately called authorities who removed the device around 06:30 local time (11:30GMT), AP reports.

"We have to be ready for any eventuality," Mr de Blasio said. "It might be hours, it might be days, it might be weeks."

Shortly after the news about De Niro's restaurant broke, President Trump appeared to pin the blame on the media, tweeting: "A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News."

He made no direct reference to the device found at the restaurant, or any of the earlier incidents.

The series of bomb alerts began on Monday, when explosive devices were sent to locations in New York, the Washington DC area and Florida.

The first was found in the post box of billionaire businessman George Soros, a major Democratic Party donor.

Other devices were sent to the following individuals, according to the FBI:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Former President Barack Obama

Former Vice-President Joe Biden

Former CIA Director John Brennan, care of CNN

Former Attorney General Eric Holder

California Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters

CNN's New York office was evacuated on Wednesday morning, after the package addressed to Mr Brennan was found in its mailroom.

Two devices were sent to separate offices for Congresswoman Waters.

Two devices addressed to former Vice-president Joe Biden were discovered in his home state of Delaware on Thursday, investigators said.

None of the devices went off. The FBI has launched a manhunt for their sender.

The attempted bombings come just under two weeks before the mid-term elections, with US politics highly polarised.

President Trump first responded on Wednesday by calling for more civility in public life, saying: "Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.

"No-one should carelessly compare political opponents to historic villains, which is done often."

The president made no specific reference to the intended recipients of the packages.

He later told the media to end the "constant negative and oftentimes false attacks".

Former CIA Director John Brennan, who was targeted at the CNN office on Wednesday, tweeted to Mr Trump on Thursday: "Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful."

Why is this so political?

The president's critics have called his remarks hypocritical, as he often uses vicious language against his opponents and the press.

Last week, he said Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Hillary Clinton and former Attorney General Eric Holder - who were all targeted with suspicious packages - "are losing it", and that "they've gone so far left that they can't even believe that they're over there".

During his campaign Mr Trump promised to pay the legal bills of anyone who assaults a protester and vowed to jail his opponent Hillary Clinton after the election.

CNN's President Jeff Zucker on Wednesday condemned the "total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks". He added that Mr Trump "should understand their words matter".

But conservatives say Democrats are to blame for the state of political discourse in the US.

They say Democrats, including those who were targeted in the bomb scare, have encouraged "angry mob" behaviour.

Republican Congressman Steve Scalise, who nearly died after he was shot in 2017 by a deranged supporter of progressive Senator Bernie Sanders during a morning softball practice, wrote in Fox News on Thursday of the "growing list of violent or threatening actions taken against conservatives by Democrats".

"The threats and the violence have not let up and instead of seeing my Democrat colleagues calling for an end, there have been calls for their supporters to keep going, to do even more to threaten Republicans," he wrote.

He cited multiple examples of Republicans being "chased out of restaurants" and of Republican lawmakers who have received death threats against themselves and their families.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders praised Mr Trump's reaction to the bomb scares on Fox News, saying: "The President, I think could not have been more presidential."

She added that "certainly the media has a role to play in this process" adding that "90% of the coverage of this president is negative despite the historic successes".

"That is not helpful to the American discourse," she added.

Some of Mr Trump's supporters have said they believe the packages are part of a Democratic plot to win votes in the mid-terms, but there is no evidence for this.

Why Trump attacks the media

An FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force "will continue to work to identify and arrest whosoever is responsible for sending these packages," the agency's director Christopher Wray said in a statement.

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De Niro and Biden targeted by 'mail bombs'

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A suspect package similar to those sent to senior public figures has been sent to a New York restaurant owned by the actor Robert De Niro, the FBI has said. The device was found at the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan early on Thursday local time, said the city's mayor.

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Colombia’s congress needed only 29 seconds to sink anti-corruption bill

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Colombia’s congress needed only 29 seconds to sink anti-corruption bill

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It took Colombia's Congress less than 30 seconds on Tuesday to sink the first of seven anti-corruption proposals President Ivan Duque promised to support, but didn't.

The country's opposition, and in particular the Green Alliance party that had promoted the anti-corruption measures, is furious and accused the government of betrayal.

Following a referendum in August, Duque promised to work together with all political parties to guarantee the approval of the measures to curb corruption in Congress, widely perceived as Colombia's most corrupt institution.

But twenty-nine seconds after the chairman of the House, Alejandro Chacon ( Liberal Party), called to vote on a three-term limit for lawmakers, he ended the vote already.

The move surprised many lawmakers who didn't even have the time to walk to their seat and press the voting button, according to Representative Juanita Goebertus of the centrist Green Alliance Party.

Former Senator Claudia Lopez, who organized the anti-corruption referendum, accused Duque of deceiving the opposition when he promised to guarantee the approval of the anti-corruption measures.

The president failed to fulfill his promise to send a message of urgency regarding the proposals of the referendum. This is why, as expected, the proposals were betrayed.

Former Senator Claudia Lopez

According to the popular anti-corruption advocate, Duque and Congress have no intention to approve the anti-corruption measures and instead are preparing a counter-reform that could result in even more nepotism and corruption.

"It's called a 'political reform' and will be presented in the senate. It's a mockery of citizenship frankly," Lopez was quoted as saying by newspaper El Espectador.

Ruling party Representative Gabriel Santos ( Democratic Center), the son of Colombia's ambassador to Washington DC Francisco Santos and a nephew of former President Juan Manuel Santos, hit back and said Lopez should blame herself for accusing Congress of corruption.

The guilty one is she who devoted herself in the media to labeling many congressmen, including myself, as corrupt. That's not the way to do politics.

Gabriel Santos

Without a whiff of irony, the youngest heir of the Santos dynasty claimed that "there exist no clientelism anymore."

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Colombia's congress needed only 29 seconds to sink anti-corruption bill

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It took Colombia's Congress less than 30 seconds on Tuesday to sink the first of seven anti-corruption proposals President Ivan Duque promised to support, but didn't. The country's opposition, and in particular the Green Alliance party that had promoted the anti-corruption measures, is furious and accused the government of betrayal.

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Lewis Hamilton handed F1 crown by Sebastian Vettel, says former champ

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Lewis Hamilton handed F1 crown by Sebastian Vettel, says former champ

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Sebastian Vettel has gifted Lewis Hamilton his latest world championship, according to their old rival Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes driver Hamilton needs just five points from the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday to retain his Formula One title and match Juan Manuel Fangio's total of five wins.

Vettel won the first two races of the season to leave Ferrari dreaming of having their first champion since Kimi Raikonen in 2007.

Instead, Hamilton has lived up to his reputation of ruthlessly exposing weaknesses shown by his rivals to leave Vettel trailing in his wake by 70 points with three races remaining.

Rosberg, who held off Mercedes teammate Hamilton to win the title in 2016 and retired a day later, was critical of how Vettel has handled the pressure of the title race.

He said: "It's all about consistency - and he's done the opposite. He's been all over the place really in the last few months, he and the team both together.

"It's been so one-sided since the summer, it's unbelievable. It was seemingly Vettel who was going to take the championship and it's just gone completely the other direction with total dominance since.

"And it's just the result of mistakes, and you're never going to beat Lewis like that, because Lewis doesn't make mistakes."

Rosberg told Beyond The Grid podcast: "For me sometimes, he (Vettel) wants too much in the moment and doesn't think about the long game. And he's also a little too self-confident sometimes and doesn't accept in the moment when someone else has done a better job.

"Sometimes you need to step back and say 'The other guy's better at this moment but I'll get him back down the road somehow.'

"I'm sure he can do a lot better than he's shown in the last couple of months, because he's one of the best drivers in the world."

Vettel spun trying to overtake Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap of the United States Grand Prix last weekend, a repeat of what he did trying to pass Max Verstappen in Japan two weeks earlier.

He also drove into Hamilton at Monza in ferrari's home grand prix, crashed out while leading in Germany and drove into Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas at the start of the French Grand Prix.

Former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, now managing director of Formula One, said: "I certainly don't want to put Vettel in the dock, but these incidents can no longer be seen as coincidence. Rather they would seem to indicate that Sebastian is a bit out of sorts at the moment."

And he believes Ferrari now have a big task to rebuild Vettel to challenge Hamilton next season: "Their most important task is to work out how to help Vettel make the most of his massive talent.

"You don't become a four-time world champion for no reason and Sebastian has definitely not forgotten how to win.

"In a sport as complicated as Formula 1, you only reach your goals if all the pieces of the jigsaw fall into place. If just one piece is missing everything is compromised."

* NIKI LAUDA has been released from hospital following a lung transplant in August.

The 69-year-old F1 legend, three times world champion and now non-executive director of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes team, underwent six hours of surgery at the Vienna General Hospital and will now undergo intensive rehabilitation for several weeks.

Lauda cut short a holiday in Ibiza at the end of July and returned to his native Austria for treatment after developing an infection, and needed to be put on an artificial lung.

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Former champ says Sebastian Vettel has handed Lewis Hamilton 2018 F1 crown

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Sebastian Vettel has gifted Lewis Hamilton his latest world championship, according to their old rival Nico Rosberg. Mercedes driver Hamilton needs just five points from the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday to retain his Formula One title and match Juan Manuel Fangio's total of five wins.

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Michelle Obama Is Challenging People To Start Voting Squads As Midterms Near

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Michelle Obama is continuing her efforts to increase voter turnout in the midterm elections, this time by encouraging people to secure a squad.

The former first lady is the co-chair of When We All Vote, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on getting people to the polls. The #VotingSquad challenge encourages people to hold their friends and loved ones accountable by ensuring they vote in the midterm elections. Election Day is Nov. 6 and early voting is underway in many states.

"For over a decade, I've been traveling the country trying to get more people to vote," Obama said in the campaign video. "And during that time, I learned a little secret: You are the best messengers to get out the vote."

The #VotingSquad initiative encourages people to put together a five-person "squad" that will encourage everyone in the group to vote by Nov. 6.

"As the leader of the squad, it's up to you to make sure these people are ready to vote," the website says.

Obama has since called on her celebrity friends to help spread the initiative. On Friday, she tweeted to Janelle Monáe, Tom Hanks, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Chris Paul and Lin-Manuel Miranda ― all co-chairs of When We All Vote.

And the responses have been pouring in.

"Dirty Computer" artist Monáe responded to Obama's call on Twitter, writing "I'm on it."

Hanks has also since responded, adding, "Let's go!"

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

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Michelle Obama Is Challenging People To Start Voting Squads As Midterms Near

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Michelle Obama is continuing her efforts to increase voter turnout in the midterm elections, this time by encouraging people to secure a squad. The former first lady is the co-chair of When We All Vote, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on getting people to the polls.

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Colombia’s congress needed only 29 seconds to sink anti-corruption bill

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It took Colombia's Congress less than 30 seconds on Tuesday to sink the first of seven anti-corruption proposals President Ivan Duque promised to support, but didn't.

The country's opposition, and in particular the Green Alliance party that had promoted the anti-corruption measures, is furious and accused the government of betrayal.

Following a referendum in August, Duque promised to work together with all political parties to guarantee the approval of the measures to curb corruption in Congress, widely perceived as Colombia's most corrupt institution.

But twenty-nine seconds after the chairman of the House, Alejandro Chacon ( Liberal Party), called to vote on a three-term limit for lawmakers, he ended the vote already.

The move surprised many lawmakers who didn't even have the time to walk to their seat and press the voting button, according to Representative Juanita Goebertus of the centrist Green Alliance Party.

Former Senator Claudia Lopez, who organized the anti-corruption referendum, accused Duque of deceiving the opposition when he promised to guarantee the approval of the anti-corruption measures.

The president failed to fulfill his promise to send a message of urgency regarding the proposals of the referendum. This is why, as expected, the proposals were betrayed.

Former Senator Claudia Lopez

According to the popular anti-corruption advocate, Duque and Congress have no intention to approve the anti-corruption measures and instead are preparing a counter-reform that could result in even more nepotism and corruption.

"It's called a 'political reform' and will be presented in the senate. It's a mockery of citizenship frankly," Lopez was quoted as saying by newspaper El Espectador.

Ruling party Representative Gabriel Santos ( Democratic Center), the son of Colombia's ambassador to Washington DC Francisco Santos and a nephew of former President Juan Manuel Santos, hit back and said Lopez should blame herself for accusing Congress of corruption.

The guilty one is she who devoted herself in the media to labeling many congressmen, including myself, as corrupt. That's not the way to do politics.

Gabriel Santos

Without a whiff of irony, the youngest heir of the Santos dynasty claimed that "there exist no clientelism anymore."

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Colombia's congress needed only 29 seconds to sink anti-corruption bill

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It took Colombia's Congress less than 30 seconds on Tuesday to sink the first of seven anti-corruption proposals President Ivan Duque promised to support, but didn't. The country's opposition, and in particular the Green Alliance party that had promoted the anti-corruption measures, is furious and accused the government of betrayal.

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Manchester United stars 'to be fined' for refusing to attend sponsors' event

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(Image: X03807)

The Manchester United players who refused to attend a sponsorship engagement are to be fined, it has been reported.

A number of the club's stars refused to show for a recent event leaving Old Trafford directors fuming.

The MailOnline say that incredibly the snub was due to the recent transport issues ahead of Champions League home games.

The apparent boycott has reportedly thrown the club's relationship with its commercial partners into chaos.

Now the Mail say the players in question will be hit in the wallet.

A source said: "These sponsors pay a lot of money and this is an event which is taken seriously.

"United have a fantastic relationship with their commercial partners and this did not go down well at all"

The row is the last thing United or the under-pressure manager Jose Mourinho need right now.

Legend Eric Cantona has waded into the debate about the boss' future saying he is just not the right fit for the club.

"It's not the right man for the right woman," said the Frenchman to fans' site Republik of Mancunia.

"It's the way you play. You can lose games but you take risks. You lose against Juventus and they have 70 per cent possession of the ball at Old Trafford. Could you imagine that with Ferguson on the bench?

"I suffer and I suffer even more when I see Manchester City play so wonderfully."

United look to get their league season back on track with a home win over Everton on Sunday.

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Manchester United stars 'to be fined by club'

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The Manchester United players who refused to attend a sponsorship engagement are to be fined, it has been reported. A number of the club's stars refused to show for a recent event leaving Old Trafford directors fuming. The MailOnline say that incredibly the snub was due to the recent transport issues ahead of Champions League home games.

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Roger Federer and Rafael nadal will retire together

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When will Roger Federer retire? The former doubles no. 1 Paul McNamee answered this question. He said, ' Too easy. When Rafa (Nadal) calls it a day.' In his career, McNamee won two Australian Opens (1979 and 1983) and two French Opens (1980 and 1982).

Many people have shared this idea that Nadal and Federer may end their careers together, maybe in a doubles match at the Laver Cup. But Federer has insisted that Nadal is not his main motivation. 'I heard comments as well that people didn't think that maybe I would not be but look, if it wouldn't have been Rafa, it would have been somebody else who would have pushed me, and if I would not have been around, somebody else would push,' shared Federer on the subject.

Meanwhile, Marian Vajda praised Novak Djokovic's success in a short interview with Carole Bouchard after the Serbian player's win at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Following the final between the Serbian player and the Croatian Borna Coric, Vajda said: 'It's a miracle! I always had that belief in him.' Djokovic, who won the Rolex Shanghai Masters beating Borna Coric in the final on Sunday, said he felt grateful for the huge Chinese fanbase built over the years.

'Maybe I was Chinese in the past life,' the Serb said. 'I wouldn't be surprised, to be honest, with the way I feel here and the way I communicate and have a relationship with the people.

It's all very, very positive, for more than ten years that I have been coming to China. There is something special about this place that makes me feel like at home. ALSO READ: Paris Masters' tournament director on status of Rafa Nadal's knee injury .

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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will retire together: Former world no. 1

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When will Roger Federer retire? The former doubles no. 1 Paul McNamee answered this question. He said, ' Too easy. When Rafa (Nadal) calls it a day.' In his career, McNamee won two Australian Opens (1979 and 1983) and two French Opens (1980 and 1982).

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Tatacoa Desert

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The Tatacoa desert in central Colombia was virtually off-limits for tourists for decades because of the armed conflict. It is safe to visit now, and well worth the trip, especially for stargazers.

Tatacoa, also called "The Valley of Sorrows," is the country's second-largest arid region after La Guajira, Colombia's most northern province.

The desert lies in the southwestern Huila province, some 20 miles north of the provincial capital Neiva. From Bogota, it takes between six or seven hours by car or bus.

Tatacoa got its name in 1538 when Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez discovered the area and named it after the speckled worm lizards he found there.

The desert, or tropical dry forest really, is a paleontologist's wet dream because of its abundance of fossils, some dating back hundreds of millions of years.

Many of the desert's unique rocks were shaped in the middle Miocene age, some 12 million years ago, when the now-arid region was rich in water.

Geologists estimate that the oldest rocks in the desert are more than 250 million years old and are ancient calcium deposits from the Palaeozoic Age.

Tatacoa is approximately 125 square miles in size, making it virtually impossible for a visitor to explore the entire desert in a day. But staying just one day would make you miss one of its most spectacular features: the sky.

Once the blistering sun has gone down and the sky opens up, stargazers can enjoy one of the most clear views of the universe in Colombia.

Desert campsites cost only a few dollars a night and the nearby village of Villavieja has hotels for those who want more luxury.

The drought makes the Tatacoa desert hostile to most plant and animal life, but not all.

Some of the cacti and trees that can be found in the deserts have roots that find water up to 100 feet below the surface.

Snakes, spiders and scorpions thrive in the dry area, and even some mammals like wildcats and rodents have made Tatacoa their home.

The desert's distance from the country's major cities make it hard to reach, but that's exactly one of the reasons to make the effort, especially for those who enjoy silence, paleontology or starry nights.

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Tatacoa desert: One of Colombia's most magical places, especially at night

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The Tatacoa desert in central Colombia was virtually off-limits for tourists for decades because of the armed conflict. It is safe to visit now, and well worth the trip, especially for stargazers. Tatacoa, also called "The Valley of Sorrows," is the country's second-largest arid region after La Guajira, Colombia's most northern province.

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China opens mega bridge

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ZHUHAI, China (AP) - China on Tuesday opened the world's longest sea-crossing bridge linking Hong Kong to the mainland, a feat of engineering carrying immense economic and political significance.

Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a ceremony in the city of Zhuhai to open the 55-kilometer (34-mile)-long bridge linking it to the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Digital fireworks exploded on a screen behind him as leaders of the three cities watched.

The $20 billion bridge took almost a decade to build while incurring major delays and cost overruns. It includes an undersea tunnel allowing ships to pass through the Pearl River delta, the heart of China's crucial manufacturing sector.

Its opening will cut travel time across the delta from several hours to just 30 minutes, something China hopes will bind the region together as a major driver of future economic growth. Heavily regulated traffic using permits issued under a quota system will begin flowing on Wednesday.

The bridge forms a physical link between the mainland and Hong Kong, an Asian financial hub that was handed over from British to Chinese control in 1997 with the assurance it would maintain its own legal and economic system for 50 years.

That carries major political significance for Xi's administration, which has rejected calls for political liberalization in Hong Kong, sparking fears Beijing will clamp down further on civil liberties before the end of the "one country, two systems" arrangement in 2047.

The bridge's opening also comes a month after the inauguration of a new high-speed rail link from Hong Kong to mainland China that runs along a different, shorter route. That line has vastly decreased travel times but also raised concerns about Beijing's growing influence because mainland Chinese law applies within part of the line's Hong Kong terminus.

To Claudia Mo, a Hong Kong democratic politician, the bridge's political significance outweighs its practical usefulness.

"It's not exactly necessary, because Hong Kong is connected to mainland China in every way already, by land, by air, by sea," Mo told The Associated Press.

"But they still need it as a political symbol or icon to remind Hong Kong people ... that you are connected to the motherland, with this very grand bridge. It's almost like an umbilical cord."

In Zhuhai, however, sentiments revolved around economic growth and national pride.

Airline pilot Liu Gang said he'd been eagerly anticipating the opening of the bridge, calling it a symbol of the mainland's increasingly close ties with Hong Kong and Macau.

"It'll bring us even closer together, make us more flexible, economically and in many other ways. We're now one family," Liu said Monday afternoon while strolling along a walkway and shooting photos of the structure.

Luo Fengzhi, who works in real estate, cited the bridge as evidence of China's growing economic and engineering prowess.

"For Chinese people, this makes them feel proud," she said. "I hope that every patriotic Chinese person can come and see this great feat of engineering, and I welcome foreigners to come and see for themselves as well."

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China opens mega-bridge linking Hong Kong to mainland

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ZHUHAI, China (AP) - China on Tuesday opened the world's longest sea-crossing bridge linking Hong Kong to the mainland, a feat of engineering carrying immense economic and political significance. Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a ceremony in the city of Zhuhai to open the 55-kilometer (34-mile)-long bridge linking it to the semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

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The news anchor Stefany González has information on the world panorama

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Colombia nominates ‘Birds of Passage’ for Oscar

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"Birds of Passage" has been selected as Colombia's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2019 Oscars.

The Colombian Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that Birds of Passage will be the official submission into the 91st Academy Awards.

The film which opened Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 2018 tells the tale of the early days of the marijuana trade in Colombia through the eyes of an indigenous Wayuu family.

The film proven a hit with Colombian audiences having been watched by more than 200,000 people and is now in its fifth week in cinemas nationwide, according to the newspaper El Pais.

Director Cira Guerra and Cristina Gallego previously picked up Colombia's only Oscar nomination in 2015 for their film Embrace of the Serpent.

"We are very happy and thank you for the vote of confidence from the Colombian Film Academy to send Summer Birds to this contest," Gallego told local media.

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Colombia nominates 'Birds of Passage' for Oscar

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"Birds of Passage" has been selected as Colombia's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2019 Oscars. The Colombian Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that Birds of Passage will be the official submission into the 91st Academy Awards.

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Saudi Arabia calls Khashoggi killing 'grave mistake,' says prince not aware

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WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its Istanbul consulate a "huge and grave mistake", but sought to shield its powerful crown prince from the widening crisis, saying Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware.

The comments from Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir were some of the most direct yet from Riyadh which has given multiple and conflicting accounts about Khashoggi's killing on Oct.2, first denying his death before admitting it on Saturday amid an international outcry.

The kingdom's weeks of denial and lack of credible evidence in the face of allegations by Turkey from the start that Khashoggi had been killed have shaken global confidence in ties with the world's top oil exporter, Western governments say.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia's admission that the dissident journalist had been killed in a fistfight was a "good first step but not enough", though he added it was premature to discuss any sanctions against Riyadh.

Three major European powers - Germany, Britain and France - pressed Saudi Arabia to provide facts to back up its earlier explanation of a fight.

Speaking to U.S. broadcaster Fox, Foreign Minister Jubeir on Sunday extended condolences to members of the journalist's family.

"This is a terrible mistake. This is a terrible tragedy. Our condolences go out to them. We feel their pain," he said. "Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made and I assure them that those responsible will be held accountable for this."

He said the Saudis did not know how Khashoggi, a Saudi national and U.S. resident, had been killed or where his body was.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan - who has remained largely silent, even as Turkey's pro-government media has reported gruesome allegations that Khashoggi was tortured in the consulate and his body cut up - said he would reveal "necessary details" about the case on Tuesday.

Khashoggi went missing after entering the consulate to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage.

After denying any involvement in the 59-year-old's disappearance for two weeks, Saudi Arabia on Saturday said Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had died during a fight in the building. An hour later, another Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold.

"Nothing can justify this killing and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Germany, Britain and France said in their joint statement on Sunday.

"There remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened ... beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible."

Reflecting international scepticism over its account, a senior Saudi government official has laid out a new version that in key respects contradicts previous explanations.

The latest account includes details on how the team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and killed him in a chokehold when he resisted. A member of the team dressed in Khashoggi's clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate.

ERDOGAN TO SPEAK

Turkish officials suspect Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed inside the consulate by the team of Saudi agents and his body cut up. Turkish sources say the authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting Khashoggi's murder inside the consulate.

In a speech on Sunday, Erdogan appeared to suggest that he was getting ready to release some information about the Turkish investigation, and would do so at his weekly speech to members of his ruling AK Party in parliament.

He has remained largely silent on the case, although Turkey's pro-government newspapers have released information detailing a 15-member team that purportedly arrived in Istanbul to confront Khashoggi at the consulate.

"I will make my statements about this issue on Tuesday at the party group meeting," Erdogan said.

"Why 15 people came... why 18 people were detained... These things have to be told in detail," he said, referring to Riyadh's announcement on Saturday that 18 people had been arrested in connection with the incident.

Pro-government Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, citing the purported audio recording of the killing, said his torturers cut off his fingers during an interrogation and later beheaded him.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin hailing the Saudi explanation as a good first step told reporters in Jerusalem:

"It would be premature to comment on sanctions and premature to comment on really any issues until we get further down the investigation and get to the bottom of what occurred."

While Mnuchin said he would not attend a Saudi investment conference on Tuesday, he would still visit Riyadh as planned for talks with his counterpart there on joint efforts to counter terrorist financing and plans by Washington to reimpose sanctions against Iran in November.

"I am not satisfied until we find the answer. But it was a big first step, it was a good first step. But I want to get to the answer," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters this weekend, when asked about the Saudi investigation and Riyadh's subsequent firing of Saudi officials over the incident.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Trump said that "obviously there's been deception, and there's been lies".

For Saudi Arabia's allies - particularly in the West - the question will be whether they believe that the prince, who has painted himself as a reformer, has any culpability. King Salman, 82, had handed the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia to him.

A leading Republican U.S. senator said he believed the crown prince was behind the killing, adding that the Saudis had lost all credibility in their explanations of his death.

"Yes, I think he did it," Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview with CNN.

SHIFTING NARRATIVE

Saudi Arabia's account of the incident has changed multiple times. The authorities initially dismissed reports that Khashoggi had gone missing inside the consulate as false and said he had left the building soon after entering. When the media reported a few days later that he had been killed there, they called the accusations "baseless".

King Salman ordered the dismissal of five officials, including Saud al-Qahtani, a royal court adviser seen as the right-hand man to Prince Mohammed, and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Asiri, Saudi state media reported on Saturday.

The king also ordered a restructuring of the intelligence service, to be led by Prince Mohammed, suggesting the prince still retained wide-ranging authority.

Some governments and prominent executives have said they would pull out of a forthcoming investment conference in Saudi Arabia. Among the latest, the government of New Zealand said it would not attend, as did the head of the main banking unit of Japanese financial group MUFG.

According to the senior Saudi official, the Saudi team rolled up Khashoggi's body in a rug, took it out in a consular vehicle and handed it to a "local cooperator" for disposal.

Turkish investigators are likely to find out what happened to the corpse "before long", a senior Turkish official said on Saturday.

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organization of the petroleum exporting countries

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Saudi Arabia calls Khashoggi killing 'grave mistake', says prince...

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Saudi Arabia on Sunday called the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at its Istanbul consulate a "huge and grave mistake", but sought to shield its powerful crown prince from the widening crisis, saying Mohammed bin Salman had not been aware.

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Marc Marquez dislocates shoulder in bizarre celebration injury after securing third straight MotoGP crown

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(Image: KIMIMASA MAYAMA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Marc Marquez suffered a bizarre shoulder injury whilst celebrating his third straight MotoGP crown - and fifth of his career - after victory in Japan.

Marquez had his shoulder dislocated after being congratulated following the win at Motegi - his eighth of the season.

It drew Marquez level on five titles with Mick Doohan and only Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini have won more.

Marquez started from sixth but it did not take him long to find his way to the front of race.

Pole-sitter Andrea Dovizioso took advantage of a Marquez error to move into the lead but with just three laps remaining the Spaniard claimed the lead once again.

Dovizioso lost control and slid onto the grass as he tried to pass Marquez handing the Honda rider victory and the title.

And the Repsol Honda rider revealed the manner of the victory to secure the title was especially satisfying, with his studious approach helping him to defy the odds.

"I feel really happy and the race was exactly what I had in my mind. Yesterday, after the qualifying, I tried to analyse and understand," said Marquez, who qualified sixth fastest.

"I knew that the pace of FP4 was really good and in warm-up I reconfirmed with the used tyres. Before the race, we planned the race like always and we tried to understand which was the real possibility, and we saw that we had exactly the same pace as Dovi.

"But I was starting in sixth place and I told myself I have to be in a perfect way in the first lap, riding in a perfect shape and a perfect rhythm," he added. "Already at the end of the first lap I was second behind Dovi and that was the main target. Then I tried to study, tried to analyse, and I saw that I was strong enough to fight with him until the end."

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Marc Marquez dislocates shoulder in bizarre celebration injury

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Marc Marquez suffered a bizarre shoulder injury whilst celebrating his third straight MotoGP crown - and fifth of his career - after victory in Japan. Marquez had his shoulder dislocated after being congratulated following the win at Motegi - his eighth of the season.