The World Blog by humble servant.

The sale of arms to Saudi Arabia by Germany cannot take place under the current circumstances, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced, referencing the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Merkel's statement comes just hours after Germany, the UK, and France issued a joint statement in which they said there is an "urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened" to the Washington Post journalist, adding that "hypotheses" proposed in the Saudi investigation must be backed up with facts. "First, we condemn this act in the strongest terms," Merkel said. Second, there is an urgent need to clarify what happened - we are far from this having been cleared up and those responsible held to account...as far as arms exports are concerned, those can't take place in the current circumstances. Germany has approved arms exports worth €416.4 million this year, the country's Economy Ministry confirmed on Friday. That number makes Saudi Arabi...

US senators are speaking out against Saudi Arabia's account of what happened to journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying they believe the crown prince is responsible and calling Riyadh's version of events "insulting." Speaking to CNN's "State of the Union" program on Sunday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) didn't hold back in saying who he believes is behind the Washington Post journalist's death – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. “Do I think he did it? Yes, I think he did it,”  Corker said. READ MORE: Europe finds Riyadh’s Khashoggi death story ‘inadequate’, Berlin talks arms sale freeze "If he's gone forth and murdered his journalist, he's now crossed the line and there has to be a punishment and a price paid for that,”  he continued, adding that he would like to see a  "collective"  response from Western countries if his hunch turns out to be true. Read more 'Premature' to talk Saudi sanctions, says US amid...

In a phone call with President Donald Trump, the Turkish leader emphasized the need to disclose all circumstances of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death. Earlier Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to make an “important statement” soon. “We seek justice and this will be revealed in all its naked truth, not through some ordinary steps but in all its naked truth. This is not an ordinary case. I will make statements on Tuesday at the AK Party parliamentary group meeting,” Erdogan said on Sunday afternoon, as cited by the Sabah newspaper. “The incident will be revealed entirely,” he emphasized. In a phone call with Trump later in the day, he once again spoke about the need to uncover and disclose “all circumstances” of Khashoggi’s fate, according to Anadolu.

MICHAEL GOODWIN OPINION Count on Hillary Clinton running again in 2020 This is beyond odd, but here goes. I rise to defend Hillary Clinton. She is under attack and this time, the long knives are wielded by members of her own clan. Suddenly, after two years of indulging Clinton’s blame games and pity parties, lefty pundits say she’s talking too much, she’s stuck in the past, she had her chance and she blew it. Vanity Fair, declaring that she “still hasn’t learned the lessons of #MeToo,” is furious that Clinton said her husband’s Oval Office dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was not an abuse of power ­because the 22-year-old intern “was an adult.” Politico flatly declared Clinton a “problem” who won’t go away and fretted that Democrats “don’t know what to do” about her. A New York Times columnist, noting that Clinton is a font of gaffes and a focus for Republicans, accused her of “moral arrogance” and wrote that “someone needs to perform an intervention.” The pas...