A small group of persons managed to network with Darjeeling people facing hardships in UAE, organise their tickets — even paid for nine tickets from their own pockets, liaison with the Indian government and charter a flight to Bagdogra when cries for help to leaders cutting across political lines fell on deaf ears.

The flight landed smoothly near Siliguri at 1.10pm, but the journey till the boarding was full of turbulence.

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Zeki Demir, a local technician who worked for the consulate, was giving evidence on the first day of the trial in absentia of 20 Saudi officials over Khashoggi’s killing, which sparked global outrage and tarnished the image of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.

Demir said he had been called to the consul’s residence after Khashoggi entered the nearby consulate to seek his papers.

“There were five to six people there… They asked me to light up the tandoor (oven). There was an air of panic,” he said.

Khashoggi disappeared after going to the consulate to get papers for his marriage in October 2018. Some Western governments, as well as the CIA, said they believed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the hit – an accusation Saudi officials denied.

Turkish officials have said one theory police pursued was that Khashoggi’s killers may have tried to dispose of his body by burning it after suffocating him and cutting up his corpse.

The indictment accuses two top Saudi officials, former deputy head of Saudi Arabia’s general intelligence Ahmed al-Asiri and former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, of instigating “premeditated murder with monstrous intent”.

It says 18 other defendants were flown to Turkey to kill Khashoggi, a prominent and well-connected journalist who had grown increasingly critical of the crown prince.

The defendants are being tried in absentia and are unlikely ever to be handed over by Saudi Arabia, which has accused Turkey of failing to cooperate with a separate, largely secretive, trial in Riyadh last year.

In December a Saudi court sentenced five people to death and three to jail for the killing, but Khashoggi’s family later said they forgave his murderers, effectively granting them a formal reprieve under Saudi law.

A Saudi prosecutor said at the time there was no evidence connecting Qahtani to the killing and dismissed charges against Asiri.

BASIS FOR FURTHER TRIALS?

According to his testimony in the indictment, Demir reported seeing many skewers of meat and a small barbecue in addition to the oven in the consul’s garden. Marble slabs around the oven appeared to have changed colour as if they had been cleaned with a chemical, the indictment reported him as saying.

Separate witness testimony in the indictment, from the consul’s driver, said the consul had ordered raw kebabs to be bought from a local restaurant.

Demir offered to help with the garage door when a car with darkened windows arrived, but he was told to leave the garden quickly, the indictment said.

Rights campaigners hope that the Istanbul trial will throw a fresh spotlight on the case and reinforce the argument for sanctions against Riyadh or for legal action against the suspects when they travel abroad.

“If the process works, what this trial …will strengthen is the possibility of universal jurisdiction,” Agnes Callamard, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, told Reuters on the eve of the trial.

That could give European countries, for example, the basis to launch a trial if any Saudis linked to the case travelled into their territories, she said.

“Justice in these complex environments is not delivered overnight…but a good process here can build up (evidence for) what can happen in five years, in 10 years, whenever the circumstances are stronger,” Callamard said.

Khashoggi’s fiancee Hatice Cengiz, who had waited unknowing outside the consulate while he was killed, said she would continue to seek justice “not only in Turkey but everywhere possible”.

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India leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav finds most challenging to contain.

Yadav, who went through a prolonged lean patch in 2019, said both batsmen have unique abilities.

“Smith plays me mostly off the back foot. He plays the ball very late as well, so it becomes challenging to bowl to him,” Yadav said during a chat show.

“In ODIs, AB de Villiers is a good player. He has a unique style. Now that he’s retired, it’s a good thing! But other than him, I haven’t found any other batsman who I am scared will hit me for a lot of runs,” he said.

Talking about his poor run last year, Kuldeep admitted that he lacked a few skills and was also affected by not getting a consistent run in the team.

“I prepared really well before leaving for the World Cup 2019 because I wanted to overcome my failure in IPL that year. Even though I didn’t pick up many wickets, I think I bowled well at the World Cup,” he said.

“After that I have been in and out of the team. If you are playing regularly, your confidence is high. If not, you are always under pressure to perform in the chances you get and your mind stays cluttered. I probably was at fault with my skills as well.”

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The British driver twice finished ahead of his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas on the 4.3-kilometre Red Bull Ring circuit. Bottas was .356 seconds behind Hamilton in the damp and overcast morning run and improved to .197 back as the track dried and became warmer in the afternoon.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who has won the past two races here, was third quickest in the first practice but slipped to eighth in the second.

Later, Red Bull lodged an official protest against Mercedes after the champions used a controversial new Dual Axis Steering (DAS) system in practice. The action concerned the cars of Hamilton and Bottas, with team representatives summoned to stewards at the Red Bull Ring.

Mercedes were running the system for the first time at a race weekend after it raised questions in pre-season testing.

Ferrari struggled for speed in the morning with Charles Leclerc 10th quickest and Sebastian Vettel only 12th, but improved in the afternoon with Vettel pushing up to fourth behind Sergio Perez in third. Perez’s Racing Point team uses Mercedes engines.

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The report said Messi and his father Jorge had begun discussing renewing his last deal with the club, signed in 2017, but that he no longer wishes to stay at the Camp Nou.

The report added that Messi is angry about leaked media reports that appeared to make him seem responsible for events at the club, such as the January sacking of coach Ernesto Valverde, and that he is frustrated about the squad’s lack of quality.

The Argentine’s representatives and Barcelona did not immediately respond to requests for a comment.

Messi, who turned 33 last month, scored his 700th career goal on Tuesday against Atletico Madrid, but the milestone strike ended in disappointment as Barca drew the game 2-2 in the latest blow to their bid to retain the Spanish title.

Barca trail Real Madrid by four points with five games remaining after Madrid beat Getafe 1-0 on Thursday.

Previously known for his shy personality off the pitch, Messi has become more vocal in his criticism of the club in the last year. In January, he hit out at sporting director Eric Abidal, who, he said, had implied players had led to Valverde being sacked.

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said his side used their team spirit to finally break down and beat a resolute Getafe side.

The league leaders created scant chances against their gritty neighbours but finally got the goal they craved when Sergio Ramos converted a late penalty, sending Real four points clear with five games left.

“We can be very happy, we did an incredible job against a side who caused us loads of problems, but we got the victory because of our team spirit,” Zidane said after his side won their sixth game in a row.

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As they stepped onto the pitch, Liverpool’s players were given a guard of honour from Manchester City. It was the only time they looked like Premier League champions on Thursday as they were thrashed 4-0 by the dethroned champions.

“I think they drank a lot of beer in the last week,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

Last year’s champions made sure there was an abrupt comedown from the partying. A merciless attacking display sparked by City scorers Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden consigned Liverpool to a 4-0 loss exactly a week after their 30-year title drought ended.

“They were quicker than us in mind — we lacked fluidity,” Liverpool manager

Juergen Klopp said. “Isn’t it nice another team can be champions when Man City play so well?”

The slack defending and lack of sharpness from Liverpool was perhaps forgivable from players who had spent the previous 31 rounds establishing an unprecedented 23-point lead to become England’s earliest champions.

Such an emphatic loss is not how Liverpool wanted to close out such a memorable season. Especially when there are still enough games to overhaul City’s record 100-point haul from 2017-18.

Klopp though wasn’t downbeat. “I saw a brilliant attitude, I saw boys who were fighting with all their effort,” he said. “We didn’t behave like somebody who became champions a week ago.”

It was a night to forget for many Liverpool players — particularly Joe Gomez, who dragged Sterling down to concede a penalty converted by De Bruyne in the 25th minute.

“We tried to play football, taking risks,” Guardiola said, “because they are the best team I ever faced in my life.”

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Zheng Yanxiong, 56, most recently served as the secretary general of the Communist Party committee of Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse bordering Hong Kong. He is among a host of officials appointed by Beijing in recent months as it tightens control over the former British colony.

The new security agency was established under national security legislation imposed by China this week on Hong Kong that will punish crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, heralding a more authoritarian era for China’s freest city.

During Zheng’s tenure as party chief of the Guangdong city of Shanwei, authorities clamped down on protesters in 2011 in a village under its jurisdiction, named Wukan.

Thousands of residents had sought compensation for land requisitioned by the government and elected a committee to represent their rights. They also aired their grievances to foreign media.  Video clips that were leaked from an internal government meeting at the time showed Zheng harshly criticising the villagers and calling foreign media“rotten”.

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