CIA creates spy unit; Argentine justice exempts Cristina Fernández; Governments of Mexico and the United States open a “new stage” of relations; Explosion in Kunduz

CIA CREATES ESPIONAGE UNIT AIMED AT CHINA

The director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, said that the new unit, dubbed the China Mission Center, will encompass all corners of the spy agency and “will further strengthen plus our collective work ”on what they consider to be their most important geopolitical danger. The news from the Mission Center comes in a at which point it was reported in the media that Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will hold a virtual summit before the end of the year. Defending his decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan over the summer, Biden spoke of the need to redirect resources to deal with “threats from China and Russia.” (PL)

ARGENTINE JUSTICE EXEMPTS CRISTINA FERNÁNDEZ

Federal Oral Court # 8 of Buenos Aires unanimously decided to dismiss the vice president of the nation, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and other defendants in the case investigating the signing of the Memorandum with Iran as a possible act of cover-up for the attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (amia), perpetrated in 1994. The Court concluded that the agreement signed by Argentina and Iran in 2013 to clarify the incidents of the terrorist attack against the amia headquarters, « it was not a crime ”. Despite the fact that the pact never entered into force, Fernández de Kirchner was prosecuted for the crime of concealment and treason in 2017 (during the Macri government) with preventive detention. (Telesur)

THE GOVERNMENTS OF MEXICO AND THE US OPEN A “NEW STAGE” OF RELATIONSHIPS

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, opened this Friday the first High Level Security Dialogue with the United States, with the hope of embarking on “a new stage” in the relationship with Washington, especially on security matters. «We are in that disposition that there is cooperation for development. We want us to work together and be respectful of our sovereignties, “said the president at the National Palace, minutes before the meeting led by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard. The Mexican President also extended an invitation to his American counterpart, Joe Biden, to visit his country soon. (RT)

EXPLOSION IN KUNDUZ LEAVES AT LEAST 50 DEAD

The city of Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan, was this Friday the scene of an attack by a suicide bomber that caused at least 50 deaths and more than a hundred injured. in a Shiite mosque during the celebration of prayer. The attack was attributed, through its channel of the social network Telegram, to the terrorist group Islamic State, an enemy of both Shiites and the Taliban. The attack is the deadliest since US forces left the country. Shiites make up 20% of Afghanistan’s population. Many of them are from the Hazara ethnic group, persecuted in the country for decades. (DW and RT)