U.S. intel heads list North Korea, not border, as threat
WASHINGTON — Directly contradicting President Donald Trump, U.S. intelligence agencies told Congress on Tuesday that North Korea is unlikely to dismantle its nuclear arsenal, that the Islamic State group remains a threat and that the Iran nuclear deal is working. The chiefs made no mention of a crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border for which Trump has considered declaring a national emergency.
Their analysis stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s almost singular focus on security gaps at the border as the biggest threat facing the United States.
Top security officials including FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats presented an update to the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday on their annual assessment of global threats. They warned of an increasingly diverse range of security dangers around the globe, from North Korean nuclear weapons to Chinese cyberespionage to Russian campaigns to undermine Western democracies.
Coats said intelligence information does not support the idea that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will eliminate his nuclear weapons and the capacity for building more — a notion that is the basis of the U.S. negotiating strategy.
UK leader seeks Brexit deal changes, but EU stands firm
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday won a few weeks to salvage a Brexit deal but headed toward a clash with the European Union by promising to overhaul the divorce agreement she spent a year and a half negotiating with the bloc.
Trying to break the U.K.’s Brexit deadlock, May got Parliament’s backing for a bid to rework an Irish border guarantee in the withdrawal deal — a provision May and the EU both approved, and which the bloc insists cannot be changed.
“It is now clear that there is a route that can secure a substantial and sustainable majority in this House for leaving the EU with a deal,” she said, promising to “obtain legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement” from the EU.
Venezuela prosecutor moves on popular opposition leader
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s chief prosecutor on Tuesday asked the country’s top court to ban opposition leader Juan Guaido from leaving the country, launching a criminal probe into his anti-government activities while international pressure builds against President Nicolas Maduro.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab made his request to the government-stacked Supreme Court, and also asked it to block Guaido’s financial accounts.
Saab didn’t specify what crimes Guaido is being investigated for, but said the probe is tied to unrest sparked by his decision to declare himself interim president last week in a direct challenge to Maduro’s authority.
Guaido said outside the National Assembly building that he’s aware of personal risks, but added, “Venezuela is set on change, and the world is clearly conscious of what’s happening.”
“I don’t underestimate the threat of persecution at the moment,” he added, “but here we are.”
By wire sources