As pressure mounts to punish Saudi Arabia for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump said he does not want to listen to the ‘suffering tape’ of Khashoggi’s murder provided by Turkey. Trump was fully briefed on the tape’s content. The CIA concluded Khashoggi’s murder was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Clashes between the US and China caused the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to end in failure for the first time in history. The two regional powers were unable to agree on the trade language used in the final document. Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the ‘entire world is worried’ about the tensions.
One woman died and over 400 people were injured during protests in France against rising fuel taxes imposed by President Emmanuel Macron. Nearly 283,000 demonstrators gathered at over 2,000 locations to express their discontent. Ordinary French citizens feel they are being forced to make the biggest efforts in Macron’s reform attempt.
The Sri Lanka opposition accused the ruling party of using the Facebook data to crackdown on citizens, bringing the company into political tensions. The ousted Prime Minister and United National Party sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking the company to safeguard users from data being used ‘in ways which are legally prohibited.’
Following a long recount process and nearly two weeks after election day, Republican Governor Rick Scott declared victory in Florida’s Senate race. Results showed that Scott beat Democrat Senator Bill Nelson by just over 10,000 votes. Republicans accused Democrats of voter fraud and Democrats accused Republicans of voter suppression during the swing state race.
A leader of the Houthi movement Mohammed Ali al-Houthi announced on Sunday that he is willing to institute a ceasefire if the Saudi-led coalition is willing to do the same. The UN is attempting to facilitate talks to end the war which has caused the worst humanitarian crisis in world history.
Scientists decided to overhaul the way the kilogram is defined at the General Conference on Weights and Measures on Friday. The kilogram is currently defined by the weight of a platinum-based inglot called ‘Le Grand K.’ It will now be defined in terms of an electric current starting in May of 2019.