From Ceuta’s highest peak, Europe seems within touching distance.

In the foreground, the city itself: The gateway between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, between Africa and Europe. A mixture of cultures, architecture and people cultivated through centuries of trade and conflict. Beyond lies the 13-kilometer Strait of Gibraltar dividing the two continents, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. 

And on the horizon, the Spanish mainland.

WATCH: Spain’s Enclaves Feel the Pressure on Europe’s Frontiers

Frontline in EU migrant battles

The tiny Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the northern tip of Morocco have attracted migrants for centuries. They remain at the frontline of the pressures on the European Union’s external frontiers.

This year, there has been a sharp uptick in the numbers trying to breach the border fences. Several thousand migrants sleep in the forests on the Moroccan side of the border waiting for their chance to cross.

On the morning of July 26 of this year, more than 600 migrants stormed the fence, cutting through the wire and breaking through into Ceuta, one of several mass breaches of the border in recent months.

The Spanish Civil Guard is tasked with securing the frontier. Spokesperson Alfonso Cruzado said the July assault was the latest example of increasing violence.

“They used tools like angle grinders, shears, mallets. They burst through, and then they threw caustic soda, acid and homemade flamethrowers to prevent us from getting near,” Cruzado said as he took VOA on a recent tour of the border fence.

Despite the pressures on the frontier, Spain’s government wants to remove the razor wire, as it often causes horrific injuries to migrants. It will be replaced with “smart” sensors that alert border guards to any breaches of the fence.

Sen. Fatima Mohamed Dos Santos represents Ceuta for the opposition People’s Party in Madrid. She wants to keep the razor wire in place.

“It’s like making an advertisement that the fence will be permeable. Most of the immigrants come here for economic reasons. The (people-smuggling) criminal gangs exploit the message that they can find a better life,” Santos told VOA.

Long journey to Ceuta

It’s a message that has driven Mamadou Camara thousands of miles from his home in the Guinean capital of Conakry to reach Ceuta. It has taken him two years, including a year living in the forest in Morocco. He was among the 600 migrants who broke through in July.

“To make it into Ceuta, it’s only God who can decide that. Because with the rush (at the fence), it is only God’s spirit that can control what happens, you understand? That was how it happened. I made it over and arrived here,” Camara said.

Camara spends much of the day at the San Antonio day center for migrants, run by the Catholic charity, Cardijn. It offers Spanish lessons, games and computers, a chance to chat online with family back home. Many of the migrants here are teenagers who traveled alone.

Stress of waiting

Coordinator Maite Perez said she hopes the center offers a chance for the young migrants to decompress after the journey to Ceuta, which often involves sleeping rough and trying to evade brutal treatment at the hands of smugglers and police.

“In the moment that they stay here, they come to sleep in a normal bed. It’s a different situation. For them, it’s like this is not a moment for relaxing, (but instead) for waiting for the moment they pass to the mainland. Usually, they have a problem for this reason, for stress, for depression.”

Spain has built separate accommodation blocks to house adults and minors. It is undoubtedly a big improvement on the makeshift migrant camps that used to scar the hillsides in Ceuta. But the shelters are often at double capacity, with 10 people to a room.

The migrants must wait in turn to be taken to the Spanish mainland, and this can take a year or more. Many migrants voice frustration at the delay, as they are unable to work or to move on deeper into Europe.

So for thousands of Africans, Ceuta has become a temporary home, the final stepping stone on the long journey to a new, unknown future.
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Spain has overtaken Italy as the No. 1 destination for migrants heading to Europe. The Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla sit on the northern tip of Morocco and have attracted migrants for centuries. There has been a sharp uptick in those trying to breach the border fences, while several thousand migrants sleep on the Moroccan side of the border waiting to cross. Henry Ridgwell reports from Ceuta on the dilemma facing Spanish authorities as pressure builds on the furthest frontiers of Europe.
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Google is abandoning plans to establish a campus for tech startups in Berlin after protests from residents worried about gentrification.

The internet giant confirmed reports Thursday it will sublet the former electrical substation in the capital’s Kreuzberg district to two charitable organizations, Betterplace.org and Karuna.

Google has more than a dozen so-called campuses around the world. They are intended as hubs to bring together potential employees, startups and investors.

Protesters had recently picketed the Umspannwerk site with placards such as “Google go home.”

Karuna, which helps disadvantaged children, said Google will pay 14 million euros ($16 million) toward renovation and maintenance for the coming five years.

Google said it will continue to work with startups in Berlin, which has become a magnet for tech companies in Germany in recent years.
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As migration patterns from Africa into Europe shift westward, European leaders are turning their attention, and their money, toward efforts to stem the fast-growing human traffic between Morocco and Spain.

EU and Moroccan officials agreed last week on a $160 million emergency funding package, making the North African country the third largest recipient of EU funds earmarked for that purpose.

Much of that money will go to stepped up border security, according to Morocco’s chief government spokesman, Mustapha El Khalifi.  About $50,000 will be spent to secure the sea routes to Spain and the extensive desert borders with Algeria and Mauritania

Morocco says it already has 13,000 security personnel deployed to deal with the growing flow of migrants seeking to reach Spain.

Units of riot police are permanently encamped along the borders with Ceuta and Melilla – two Spanish enclaves on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast – while the navy operates guard posts along the beaches and patrols the coast to intercept immigrant-laden boats making the dash to Spain.

The pressure on Spanish borders results from the relative success of efforts to slow the flow of migrants from Libya and other countries further to the east.  That has diverted the flow of migrants toward northwestern Africa, where the number of migrants crossing the Strait of Gibraltar has tripled in the past year.

About 55,000 Africans, mainly from sub-Saharan countries but increasingly including Moroccans, have tried to cross to Spain during the past year, according to the Moroccan government.  Most originated from Syria, Yemen, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Central African Republic and Congo.

The Spanish government says 43,000 immigrants have crossed from Morocco this year, twice as many as in all of 2017.  Several thousand more have broken through the border fences around Ceuta and Melilla to reach Spanish soil.

“It’s necessary to be closely vigilant with the evolving situation in the western Mediterranean and in that context reinforce cooperation with Morocco,” said the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk.

The president of European Commission, Jean Claude Junker, said he will visit Morocco in February.  His approval of the new aid package followed a meeting of EU heads of state last week in which Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described the need as “urgent,” according to Spanish foreign ministry officials.

A summit between EU and North African security ministers is also planned for Rabat at the end of this year.  

The aid package represents a major increase in EU funding to the North African kingdom, according to EU officials.

Moroccan government officials have expressed “satisfaction” with the offer, although some analysts in Rabat say that the amount is below what is needed in view of the country’s growing role as a migrant springboard to Europe.

A Moroccan foreign ministry official who spoke on condition he not be identified said his government agreed to the amount on condition the funds be released immediately.  Morocco says it has legalized the status of 50,000 migrants transiting the country during the past five years.

Mohammed Ali, a town councilor who deals with immigration issues in the city of Kasser-al-Khabir, says the EU has long been promising increased aid to Morocco and has used funds earmarked for educational and development programs as well as other subsidies to pressure the authorities to cooperate on migration.

Half of the EU funds going to Morocco will be channeled through the Vienna-based International Center for the Development of Migration Policies and other public foundations administering a variety of humanitarian projects.

They include efforts to assimilate sub-Saharan migrants into the societies of transit countries, according to Rashid Jellouli, who administers one such program called Return to Better Opportunities.

The remaining $80 million is being injected directly into the Moroccan government’s budget for 2019, according to Spanish diplomatic officials who have played in key role in negotiating the aid package.

It’s still much below the annual $304 million which the EU has given Libya, launching point for tens of thousands of migrants bound for Italy every year.  But it’s a considerable increase from the estimated $17 million to $22 million Morocco received from the EU last year when migration routes began shifting toward northwestern Africa.

Some Moroccans view the aid with skepticism. “It’s supposed to create jobs and opportunities in Morocco to discourage migration, but much of it goes into the pockets of bureaucrats,” said one lawyer in Tangier, who spoke on condition he not be identified.
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Juventus president Andrea Agnelli is standing by Cristiano Ronaldo as the soccer superstar faces an accusation of rape in the United States.

Agnelli, the son of former Fiat CEO Umberto Agnelli and a member of the Italian car maker’s board, spoke Thursday at a club shareholders meeting in Turin.

“When there are problems I tend to look people in the eyes, ask them the questions directly and them judge them myself,” Agnelli said. “I’m very calm, having spoken to him directly as soon as the case emerged, on his position. And his behavior in the days and weeks that followed only confirm my initial feeling.”

Kathryn Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit last month in Nevada claiming Ronaldo raped her in his Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. Police also reopened an investigation into the allegation at her request.

Ronaldo defended himself against the accusation at a news conference ahead of a Champions League match this week. His attorney, Peter S. Christiansen, issued a statement on October 10 denying wrongdoing by his client.

Some of Ronaldo’s corporate sponsors, including Nike and video game maker EA Sports, have expressed concern about the rape allegation.

“It’s a personal case and the choices are up to him but I reminded him my door and Juve’s door are always open to him and we’re here to help and support him in any way,” said Agnelli, who is also president of the European Club Association.

In July, Ronaldo left Real Madrid after nine years for Juventus, a move that cost the Italian club 112 million euros (then $132 million).

“He allows us to reach a wider audience and allows us to consolidate our position within the sports and entertainment industry,” Juventus chief revenue officer Giorgio Ricci said.

On the field, Ronaldo continues to help Juventus win games. The Portuguese player has scored five goals in 11 matches this season, and two in four matches since being accused of rape.

 
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Russian State Duma lawmakers on Tuesday passed new legislation that would expand the federal government’s ability to ban foreign nongovernmental organizations accused of meddling in Russian elections. 

The legislation builds on a series of Russian laws that in 2012 began targeting “undesirable” activities, mainly by foreign advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations and news media outlets. The “undesirable” designation bans them from operating inside Russia, with any violation punishable by fines and jail time. 

In 2017, Russia warned nine U.S. government-funded news operations — including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and seven separate regional outlets — that they would probably be designated “foreign agents” under legislation drafted in retaliation against a U.S. demand that Kremlin-supported television station RT register as such in the United States.  

Under Russian law, being declared a foreign agent requires designees to regularly disclose their objectives, full details of finances, funding sources and staffing. 

According to Riga-based online news portal Meduza, Tuesday’s expanded legislation, authored by deputies of all legislative parties, defines election meddling as any activities that “create obstacles to nominating or electing candidates or voting in referenda.” 

“Russian citizens who continue working for these banned groups risk criminal penalties,” Meduza reported. “Currently, Russia has designated 15 undesirable organizations, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation, the Open Russia Civic Movement and the German Marshall Fund.” 

Stephen Nix, Eurasia director for the Washington-headquartered International Republican Institute, said the latest legislation further restricted civil society space and open dialogue in Russia. 

“IRI closed our office in Moscow a few years prior to receiving the ‘undesirable’ designation in 2016, so it did not directly affect our work, since we had already left the country,” Nix told VOA’s Russian service in a prepared statement Wednesday.  

“In recent years, the Kremlin’s practice of issuing these designations has severely undermined the already limited civil society space in Russia,” he added. “This most recent bill is a clear attempt to deflect attention away from the Kremlin’s brazen and malignant interference in elections abroad as part of its campaign to undermine democracies around the world. Now more than ever, it is crucial that democracies speak out against these practices, the chief victims of which are the Russian people.” 

This story originated in VOA’s Russian service.  
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The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to ban single-use plastic products such as straws, eating utensils and coffee sticks across the European Union.

The measure passed 571 to 53, with 34 abstentions.

If approved by the European Commission — the EU executive — and individual states, the ban would become law in 2021.

Supporters say plastics are a major source of pollution that chokes oceans, litters cities, and can take decades to disintegrate.

Some U.S. cities have moved to ban plastic straws in restaurants after a heartbreaking video of a wildlife rescuer pulling a straw out of a turtle’s bloody nose was posted on the internet earlier this year.

A consortium of European plastics manufacturers called the EU bill “disproportionate” and said banning single-use plastics discourages investment into new ways to recycle.

The EU plastics bill also includes deadlines for reducing or recycling other plastics such as bottles, fishing lines, food wrappers, and cigarette filters.

 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning of a new arms race if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with his threat to pull out of a key arms control agreement. 

After talks in Moscow with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Putin said Russia would respond “in kind” if the U.S. deployed intermediate-range missiles in Europe. 

“If they will deliver them to Europe, naturally our response will have to mirror this,” Putin said, adding that the Russian response would be “very quick and effective.” 

He also cautioned that European countries agreeing to host U.S. missiles would put themselves at risk of a Russian attack. 

Meeting in November?

But Putin said he wanted to discuss the issue with Trump if the two meet in Paris next month. Both will be attending ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. 

“I don’t understand why we should put Europe in such a grave danger. I see no reason for that. … We are ready to work with our American partners without any hysterics,” Putin said. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday blamed Russia for violating the arms control treaty Trump wants to abandon. But he said he did not foresee a nuclear arms buildup in Europe. 

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987. It bans the United States and Russia from building, testing and stockpiling ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range of 500 to 5,000 kilometers (310 to 3,100 miles). 

Trump has accused Russia of violating the treaty by deploying land-based cruise missiles that pose a threat to NATO. 

Russia denies violating the INF pact and says it is U.S. missile defense systems in Europe and other unprovoked steps that are in violation. 

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who met with Putin on Tuesday in Moscow, called Russian violations of the treaty “long and deep.” 

“The threat is not America’s INF withdrawal. … The threat is Russian missiles already deployed,” Bolton said.  “The American position is that Russia is in violation. Russia’s position is that they are not in violation. So, one has to ask how to ask the Russians to come back into compliance with something that they don’t think they are violating.” 

But Bolton has implied that the INF deal with Russia might have run its course. He believes bilateral Cold War treaties may not apply to the current global security environment when other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, have also developed missiles.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a senior White House envoy on Tuesday as the U.S. and Russia sought to minimize the fallout over Donald Trump’s intention to exit a landmark nuclear treaty amid charges of violating the agreement. 

US National Security Advisor John Bolton’s meeting with the Russian leader capped two days of talks with senior Kremlin officials aimed at paving the way for the United States’ withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. 

The deal, brokered between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, required the elimination of all short- and intermediate-range land-based nuclear and conventional missiles in Europe — then divided by the world’s two great superpowers. 

For now, the U.S. has yet to formally exit the agreement. Yet Bolton left no illusions that the move was imminent. 

“The INF is ignored and outmoded,” said Bolton. “It’s a Cold War treaty for a multipolar world.” 

President Trump has justified the withdrawal by pointing to a recent history of Russian transgressions — a charge Moscow has repeatedly levied against Washington. 

“Russia has not, unfortunately, honored the agreement,” said Mr. Trump, in comments at a political rally over the weekend. “So we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out.”

“Until people come to their senses – we have more money than anybody else, by far,” added the American leader. 

Bolton echoed that rationale before reporters again in Moscow. 

“This question of Russian violations is long and deep,” said Bolton, noting that Russian violations had dated back to the Obama administration. 

“The threat is not America’s INF withdrawal from the treaty. The threat is Russian missiles already deployed.”

Arms race 2.0?

From President Putin on down, Kremlin officials have repeatedly warned any new US arms deployments in lieu of the treaty’s collapse will be met in kind.

Such exchanges have unnerved key European allies — including Germany and France — who fear a return to the days of the Cold War when Europe served as a nuclear sparring ground between the world’s two superpowers.

Other American allies, such as Poland and England, have voiced support for the move. 

Yet behind the US decision: the growing military capabilities of nations not included in the INF — such as China and Iran. 

“One-third to one-half of Chinese missiles today would violate the INF,” argued Bolton. 

“Exactly one country is constrained by the INF treaty: the United States.”

Thou doth protest too much?

In Moscow, debate has centered on whether the Kremlin tacitly achieved its aim — or doom — by prompting the U.S. withdrawal of a treaty in lieu of NATO’s subsequent expansion into Eastern Europe.

“For Russia, it’s beneficial to have in its arsenal a class of nuclear and strategic weapons to combat regional threats without the distraction of the limitations of the strategic arsenal aimed at the USA,” argues independent analyst Vladimir Frolov in the online publication Republic. 

“It’s a big diplomatic accomplishment for Vladimir Putin,” he added. 

“It’s sad to watch,” countered opposition activist Vladimir Milov in a Facebook post. “Trillions and trillions will be thrown to the wind.”

“The decades-old system of global security is being destroyed before our eyes, and will not be easy to resuscitate.” 

Either way, the Kremlin seemed eager to embrace Bolton’s visit — the second in the past 4 months — as a willingness to engage despite ongoing allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections. 

“We barely respond to any of your steps but they keep on coming,” said President Putin, joking to Bolton before cameras at the Kremlin in a reference to U.S.-Russian tit-for-tat sanctions over ongoing allegations of election meddling.

In turn, Bolton argued Russia’s actions had not changed the outcome of the 2016 race. Rather they’d made it all but impossible for progress in U.S.-Russian relations. 

The two sides, noted Bolton, did make progress on reinstating cooperative efforts relative to terrorism, Syria, and North Korea. And, President Trump had accepted Putin’s offer to meet on the sidelines of the upcoming celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the armistice marking the end of World War I in Paris in November. 

But much hinges on how the U.S. views Russian cyber activities ahead of an already charged political season when Americans head to the polls November 6th for midterm elections. 

Depending on how things go, warned Bolton, the U.S. position could change “with a keystroke.” 
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Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi policies, disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to obtain documents for his marriage.

Saudi Arabia initially denied knowledge of his fate. Then, on Saturday, its public prosecutor said he had been killed in a fight in the consulate, an explanation that has drawn international scepticism.

Turkish security sources say that when Khashoggi entered the consulate, he was seized by 15 Saudi intelligence operatives who had flown in on two jets just hours before.

A senior Saudi official confirmed to Reuters they were among the 18 Saudis detained, along with three local suspects.

Most of the 15 worked in the Saudi military or security and intelligence services, including at the royal court, according to Saudi and Turkish officials and several sources with ties to the royal court.

Turkey’s pro-government Sabah newspaper published what it said were photographs of the men taken from surveillance footage at the airport, two hotels they briefly checked into, the consulate and the consul’s residence.

The following profiles of some of those detained or dismissed are based on those photographs, Saudi media reports and information from Saudi officials and sources.

Saud al-Qahtani

Saud al-Qahtani, 40, seen as the right-hand man to Prince Mohammed, was removed as a royal court adviser and is the highest-profile figure implicated in the incident.

Qahtani entered the royal court under the late King Abdullah. He rose to prominence as a confidante in Prince Mohammed’s secretive inner circle. He regularly spoke on behalf of the crown prince, known as MbS, and has given direct orders to senior officials including in the security apparatus, the sources with ties to the royal court said.

Tasked with countering alleged Qatari influence on social media, Qahtani used Twitter to attack criticism of the kingdom in general and Prince Mohammed in particular. He also used Twitter to attack critics and ran a WhatsApp group with local newspaper editors, dictating the royal court line.

Qahtani had tried to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia after he moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, according to people close to the journalist and the government.

In an August 2017 Twitter thread asking his 1.35 million followers to flag accounts for a black list for monitoring, Qahtani wrote: “Do you think I make decisions without guidance? I am an employee and a faithful executor of the orders of my lord the king and my lord the faithful crown prince.”

The senior Saudi official said Qahtani had authorized one of his subordinates, Maher Mutreb, to conduct what he said was meant to be a negotiation for Khashoggi’s return to the kingdom.

Qahtani also supplied Mutreb with unspecified information based on his earlier conversations with Khashoggi, the official said. Qahtani did not respond to questions from Reuters. Reuters was not able to reach Mutreb for comment.

Maher Mutreb

General Maher Mutreb, an aide to Qahtani for information security, was the lead negotiator inside the consulate, according to the senior Saudi official. He is a senior intelligence officer and part of Prince Mohammed’s security team. He appeared in photographs with the crown prince on official visits this year to the United States and Europe.

According to the Saudi official, Mutreb was selected for the Istanbul operation because he already knew Khashoggi from their time working together at the Saudi embassy in London.

“He knew Jamal very well and he was the best one to convince him to return,” the official said.

Mutreb received Khashoggi at the Saudi consul’s office around 1:25 pm. He began urging him to come home and claimed he was wanted by Interpol, the official said.

The official said Khashoggi told Mutreb he was violating diplomatic norms and asked whether Mutreb planned to kidnap him. Mutreb said yes, the official said, in an apparent attempt to intimidate Khashoggi.

Sabah newspaper published stills from surveillance cameras that appear to show Mutreb entering the consulate three hours before Khashoggi, and later outside the consul’s residence.

Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that Mutreb served as a first secretary for a period including 2007.

Salah Tubaigy

Salah Tubaigy is a forensic expert at the Saudi Ministry of Interior’s criminal evidence department, according to a biography posted online by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.

In the Istanbul operation, he was supposed to remove evidence such as fingerprints or proof of the use of force, according to the Saudi official.

Tubaigy spent three months in 2015 at Australia’s Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine to observe death investigation procedures and learn about the use of CT scanning for mass fatality incidents, director Noel Woodford told Reuters.

Photographs from the institute’s 2015 annual report, which resemble the suspect named by Turkish media, show Tubaigy wearing medical scrubs, a smock and rubber gloves in a laboratory setting, and separately chatting with colleagues.

Tubaigy did not respond to an email sent by Reuters.

The Saudi Society of Forensic Medicine lists him as a board member. He earned a master’s degree in forensic medicine from the University of Glasgow in 2004, the biography shows. A university spokeswoman declined to comment.

Tubaigy is 47 years old, according to a passport copy provided to U.S. media by Turkish officials.

Ahmed al-Asiri

Ahmed al-Asiri, former deputy head of General Intelligence, was among those sacked by King Salman. He joined the military in 2002, according to Saudi media reports, and was spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition which intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015.

Asiri was named deputy chief of foreign intelligence by royal decree in April 2017.

Reuters was unable to reach Asiri for comment.

Moustafa al-Madani 

Moustafa al-Madani led the intelligence efforts for the 15-man team in Istanbul, the senior Saudi official said.

According to that official, Madani donned Khashoggi’s clothes, eyeglasses and Apple watch and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to make it look like the journalist had walked out of the building.

Madani is a government employee who studied at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, according to a Facebook profile with photographs resembling the suspect identified by Turkish media.

Reuters was unable to reach Madani for comment. University officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Meshal Saad Albostani 

Meshal Saad Albostani is lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force from the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, according to a Facebook profile with multiple photographs resembling the suspect identified by Turkish media.

The senior Saudi official said he was responsible for the Istanbul team’s logistics.

Albostani studied at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, according to Facebook. University officials contacted by Reuters said they could not confirm a graduate of that name.

A LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo says he has served in the air force since 2006.

He is 31 years old, according to a passport copy provided to U.S. media by Turkish officials.

Albostani could not immediately be reached for comment.

Other members of the team

Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Hawsawi is a member of the security team that travels with the Saudi crown prince, according to a New York Times report that cited a French professional who has worked with the royal family. He is 31, according to a passport copy provided to U.S. media by Turkish officials. Reuters could not reach Hawsawi for comment.

General Rashad bin Hamed al-Hamadi was removed as director of the general directorate of security and protection in the General Intelligence Presidency.

General Abdullah bin Khaleef al-Shaya was removed as assistant head of General Intelligence for human resources. General Mohammed Saleh al-Ramih was removed as assistant head of General Intelligence for intelligence affairs.

The three generals could not be reached for comment. 
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