Trudeau: Canada has Turkish tape
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that agents in his country have listened to audio recordings related to Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month.
Turkey has claimed for weeks to have audio evidence that exposes how the Saudi journalist was killed on Oct. 2 as he visited the consulate to obtain papers for his upcoming marriage.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that his country had shared the recordings with Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
While in Paris for World War I commemorations, Mr. Trudeau confirmed to reporters that Canadian agents had heard the recordings but that he himself had not.
“We continue to be engaged with our allies on the investigation into accountability for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and we are in discussions with our like-minded allies as to next steps towards Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Iran abides by pact
Iran continued abiding by nuclear limits in its landmark accord with world powers even after President Donald Trump abandoned the agreement, according to international monitors.
In its first report since the U.S. re-imposed oil and banking sanctions on Nov. 5, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran is still allowing intrusive inspections while keeping its nuclear capacity and material below thresholds allowed under the July 2015 deal, according to a 5-page restricted report published Monday and seen by Bloomberg News.
The IAEA conducted snap inspections “to all sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit,” according to the quarterly report. “The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material. Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities for Iran remained ongoing.”
While the U.S. decision to drop out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Tehran and world powers has started to bite Iran’s economy, the other nations that joined the accord — France, Germany, the U.K., Russia and China — all have vowed to stand by it.
Honor rescinded
SINGAPORE — Amnesty International said Monday that it had withdrawn its highest human rights honor from Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Myanmar, citing her defense of the military’s deadly crackdown against Rohingya Muslims and growing restrictions on free speech.
The human rights advocacy group, which presented Ms. Suu Kyi with its Ambassador of Conscience award in 2009 to mark her long struggle against Myanmar’s military dictatorship, told he it was “deeply alarmed and disappointed by your clear and consistent betrayal of the very values you promoted for decades.”
“Today, we are profoundly dismayed that you no longer represent a symbol of hope, courage and the undying defense of human rights,” the organization’s secretary general, Kumi Naidoo, wrote in a sharply worded letter.