Biden calls on security agencies to address ties between Russia, Iran, North Korea and China
Ap, Afp and Reuters
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, December 12, 2024, p. 20
Washington. Outgoing US President Joe Biden is pressing national security agencies ahead of next President Donald Trump’s inauguration to devise new strategies to address “dangerous and deep ties between Russia, Iran, Korea from the North and China,” US sources reported.
The White House concluded in a memo that in exchange for Iran’s help in the Russian war effort in Ukraine, Moscow provides it with fighter jets, missile defense and space technology, as well as conducting joint patrols with Beijing in the Arctic.
He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of giving fuel, money and technology to North Korea and recognizing it as a nuclear state. de facto.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives approved an $895 billion bill that authorizes a 1 percent increase in defense spending this fiscal year and will give a double-digit pay raise to nearly half of enlisted service members. in the armed forces.
The bill was approved in the lower house by 281 votes in favor and 140 against, and will go to the Senate, where legislators want a greater increase in defense spending.
The bill is typically bipartisan, but some Democrats opposed including a ban on transgender medical treatment for military children if the procedure results in sterilization.
For his part, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray, reported yesterday that he will resign when Biden’s term ends, an announcement that comes a week and a half after Trump expressed his intention to nominate his ally. loyal Kash Patel for that position.
In a public hearing with FBI employees, Wray said he made the decision after weeks of careful reflectionthree years before completing his 10-year term, which was marked by high-profile investigations, including one that culminated in two indictments against Trump last year.
In an interview over the weekend, the magnate said very unhappy with the things Wray has doneand reported that he suffered a invasionin reference to the raid that the FBI carried out in 2022 at his Florida residence to recover secret documents taken from the White House.
Wray was appointed by Trump to a 10-year term – time intended to insulate the FBI from the political influence of administration changes – in 2017, after the magnate fired then-director James Comey.
Kash Patel, a former Trump adviser and Pentagon official, has been critical of the FBI and supports the hard-line Republican notion that there is a deep state anti-Trump in the shadows, and even wrote a book on the subject.
Meanwhile, the incoming Trump administration, which takes office on January 20, intends to rescind a long-standing policy that has prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting undocumented immigrants in or near sensitive placesincluding religious temples, schools and hospitals or events such as funerals, weddings and public demonstrations, without the approval of supervisors, NBC News reported.
In another order, Trump will be on Wall Street today to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, which marks the ceremonial start of the trading day, according to four people with knowledge of his plans who spoke with the news agency. Ap on condition of anonymity. It will also be announced that he was named Person of the Year 2024 by the magazine time.
Last night it emerged that Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration in January, CBS News reported, citing multiple sources, although it did not specify whether there was an acceptance.
The Chinese embassy in Washington has not commented.
