Thursday morning news: October 18, 2018

Turkish investigators search home of Saudi consul general » Turkish crime-scene investigators searched the home of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul on Wednesday, looking for more clues in the suspected murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Forensics teams entered the residence, just a mile away from the consulate where Khashoggi vanished more than two weeks ago.

Turkish officials claim a Saudi intelligence team killed the journalist, and that they have audio and video evidence of the crime. President Trump Wednesday said he’s asked Turkey to hand it over.

TRUMP: We’ve asked for it, if it exists. 

The president has maintained that the Saudi king or crown prince shouldn’t be presumed guilty of orchestrating the suspected murder.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that doesn’t mean the administration is defending the royal family, but rather waiting to see what the investigation turns up.

POMPEO: It’s not about benefit of the doubt. It’s reasonable to give them a handful of days more to complete it so they get it right. 

Pompeo met with Turkish President Recep Erdogan on Wednesday in Ankara, Turkey, and said Erdogan assured him the Saudis had “cooperated with the investigation.”

The top U.S. diplomat also met Tuesday with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, and said the royal family promised “to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing” accountable.

Saudi Arabia previously called the allegations “baseless.”

Brexit deal still weeks away » Leaders from the European Union and Britain on Wednesday shrugged off a weekend negotiating debacle and previous deadlines, giving themselves several more weeks to clinch a friendly deal ahead of their separation.

British Prime Minister Theresa May traveled to Brussels Wednesday for a long anticipated Brexit summit. But after the EU insisted for months that the Wednesday summit could be a critical turning point, both sides said they’ll need more time.

Before departing for Brussels, May told Parliament that her opponents in the Labour Party are trying to walk back the 2016 Brexit referendum.

MAY: They now want a second referendum to go back to the British people and say we’re terribly sorry. We think you got it wrong. There will be no second referendum. The people voted, and this government will deliver on it. 

But Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Prime Minister May’s Conservative Party is rushing forward without a clear plan.

CORBYN: The prime minister has a choice. She can continue to put the Tory party’s interest first, or she could listen to unions, businesses and put the interests of the people of Britain first. Which is to be?! 

Britain leaves the EU on March 29th, but the deal must be finished soon so Parliament has time to vote. There’s still multiple issues to work out, but one of the thorniest problems is how to handle the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

At least 17 dead in Crimea after mass shooting on college campus » A mass shooting attack in Crimea Wednesday left 19 college students dead and 53 others wounded. WORLD Radio’s Leigh Jones has more.

LEIGH JONES, NEWS EDITOR: Security footage showed 18-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov entering his vocational school in the Black Sea city of Kerch with a shotgun. Witnesses said he fired on students for at least 15 minutes before he eventually shot himself.

Russian officials also reported that an explosive device rigged with shrapnel detonated in the lunchroom. But they say all the victims died of gunshot wounds.

After the attack, military units deployed around the college and local officials declared a state of emergency on the Black Sea peninsula. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Leigh Jones.

Canada now world’s largest pot marketplace » Canada is now the largest legal marijuana marketplace in the world. And officials on Wednesday announced the government plans to pardon those with previous convictions for possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana, the now-legal threshold.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proclaimed Wednesday…

TRUDEAU: By controlling and regulating the production and sale of marijuana, we will better be able to protect our communities, protect our kids and ensure that public safety and public health are properly protected by our country. 

But critics claim legal marijuana will increase use and cause negative health effects among young people.

Nationwide legalization means marijuana producers will have unfettered access to the banking industry and can legally ship cannabis between provinces, unlike in the United States.

But provinces still have a patchwork of regulations, with some requiring the government to run stores and others allowing private retailers.

I’m Kent Covington. Up next—a report on recovery efforts after Hurricane Michael. And Cal Thomas on the Jamal Khashoggi scandal. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Turkish police prepare to enter the residence of the Saudi consul General Mohammed al-Otaibi to conduct a search after the disappearance and alleged slaying of writer Jamal Khashoggi, in Istanbul, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. 

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