British PM sticking with Brexit deal
LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May defied mounting calls to quit or change course Thursday over Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, warning that abandoning her Brexit plan would plunge the country into “deep and grave uncertainty.”
Britain’s long-simmering divisions over its future in the EU erupted into turmoil just a day after the government agreed to a divorce deal with the bloc. Two cabinet ministers resigned and some lawmakers from May’s own party called for her to be replaced. The crisis threatened to destroy the Brexit agreement, unseat the prime minister and send the U.K. hurtling toward the EU exit without a plan.
In an evening news conference aimed at regaining some control, May said she believed “with every fibre of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people.”
“Am I going to see this through? Yes,” she said.
The hard-won agreement with the EU has infuriated pro-Brexit members of May’s divided Conservative party. They say the agreement, which calls for close trade ties between the U.K. and the bloc, would leave Britain a vassal state, bound to EU rules it has no say in making.
Saudi Arabia to seek death penalty
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia will seek the death penalty against five men suspected of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi, its top prosecutor said Thursday, while the U.S. slapped sanctions on 17 Saudi officials in the toughest action it has taken against the kingdom since the slaying.
The Saudi moves failed to appease Turkey, which has put increasing pressure on its regional rival since Khashoggi was killed in Istanbul last month, but they could be enough for some of Saudi Arabia’s western allies to move on and press for key demands, such as an end to the war in Yemen.
The prosecutor’s announcement sought to quiet the global outcry over Khashoggi’s death and distance the killers and their operation from the kingdom’s leadership, primarily Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Officials and analysts say an operation of this kind could not have happened without the prince’s knowledge.
More migrants arrive in Tijuana
TIJUANA, Mexico — More buses of exhausted people in a caravan of Central American asylum seekers reached the U.S. border Thursday as the city of Tijuana converted a municipal gymnasium into a temporary shelter and the migrants came to grips with the reality that they will be on the Mexican side of the frontier for an extended stay.
With U.S. border inspectors at the main crossing into San Diego processing only about 100 asylum claims a day, it could take weeks if not months to process the thousands in the caravan that departed from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, more than a month ago.