FBI director’s resignation, Trump’s crypto venture and Syrians in Europe
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— Today, Donald Trump's crypto venture raises concerns for ethics and financial crimes experts. — FBI Director Chris Wray resigns. What's next for the agency? — And Europe grapples with the future of its Syrian migrant population.

It's Thursday, December 12th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Christopher Walgesper in Chicago. And I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. When you hear LSEC Data & Analytics, what do you think of? Comprehensive data you can trust. Exclusive access to Reuters news. Industry-leading analytics and unique insights. Discover new possibilities with LSEC Data & Analytics.

FBI Director Christopher Wray will resign at the end of President Biden's term. I've decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down. Wray's announcement comes after President-elect Donald Trump signaled plans to replace him with ally Kash Patel.

At a town hall, Wray told FBI staff that his decision was not easy, but he wanted to avoid, quote, dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray.

Sarah Lynch covers the Justice Department. President-elect Donald Trump has long actually wanted to get rid of him. So I think Chris Wray realized that he could either step aside and perhaps reduce some of the drama that would come with him being fired once Trump takes office because it was quite inevitable that Trump had no plans to keep him around and wants to get Kash Patel in the job as soon as he can.

So Trump's found more of a loyalist in Patel. Well, sure. So Kash Patel has written a book where he's been very critical of the FBI and the Justice Department. He has said that the intelligence gathering role that it plays is too unwieldy and problematic. He points to mistakes that the FBI made when they were investigating Donald Trump's campaign back in 2016. So it'll be interesting to see how it will play out.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol vowing to fight to the end, speaking as his own political party shifted closer to voting with the opposition to impeach him over a short-lived martial law order.

Israelis and Palestinians are signaling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal. If agreed, it would be the first time in a year for an agreement to pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave. Saudi Arabia will host the Men's Soccer World Cup in 2034, while the 2030 edition will be held in six countries across the world.

The choice of Saudi Arabia has been criticized because of a country's human rights record and desert climate. The country denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws. Donations have been pouring in for the legal defense of suspected UnitedHealth CEO shooter Luigi Mangione. More than $40,000 have been raised as of Thursday on GiveSendGo alone.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that Americans are growing less welcoming towards immigrants in the U.S. illegally since Donald Trump's first presidency. Around 33% of respondents said that most or all immigrants without legal status should be allowed to stay in the United States. That's down from 39% back in 2017. Donald Trump's pick for Federal Trade Commissioner is sending positive signals to the tech industry.

Trump has tapped Andrew Ferguson this week to replace Lena Kahn, whose term expired in September. Ferguson is expected to have a softer regulatory approach.

Inflation data out of the US is boosting expectations of a Fed rate cut next week. And that's good news for tech stocks. Carmel Grimmins in New York has more. So the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed above the 20,000 mark for the first time, with the so-called Magnificent Seven once again leading the charge. Shares of Tesla and Google parent Alphabet both hitting fresh record highs.

Now, US consumer prices did increase by the most in seven months in November. That means inflation is still stubbornly above the Fed's 2% target. But the figures were in line with expectations, and there was progress in some areas. Rents, which has been one of the stickier components of inflation, rising at the slowest pace in nearly three and a half years. And for all you econ buffs out there, this week's episode of Econ World Podcast is now out, focusing on cocoa.

Take a listen wherever you get your podcasts. A crypto venture launched by President-elect Donald Trump and his new Middle East envoy, billionaire Steve Witkoff, has partnered with the crypto platform known as Tron. That platform, according to financial experts, is used by criminals and militant groups.

That includes Hamas and Hezbollah, according to Israeli authorities and financial crime experts. Reuters could not independently verify that Hamas and Hezbollah have used Tron. — Government ethics experts say that World Liberty Financial Inc., which was set up by the Trump and Witkoff families two months before the election, presents multiple concerns over ethics and conflicts of interest.

Reporter Alexandra Alma has the story. So Tron is a crypto platform that is associated with groups designated as terror organizations by Israel, the United States and other countries. It has become a vehicle of choice because it is quicker and cheaper than Bitcoin, according to the experts we spoke to.

And seven financial crime experts in cryptocurrency flagged this worry to Reuters over the last few years. And in fact, Israel's National Bureau for Counterterror Financing froze 186 Tron wallets between July 2021 and this month because they believe they were connected to, quote, designated terrorist organizations or used for severe terror crime. And you've spoken with government ethics experts. What are their concerns? So

So one ethics expert I spoke to put it very succinctly. She said there are red flags all over this. She said there were concerns in particular from a national security standpoint and also from an ethical standpoint because both president-elect Garland

Donald Trump and his new Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff benefit financially from World Liberty Financial. Can you give me an example of how this platform might be used for ill purposes? So the ethics experts we spoke to highlighted two main areas of concern. The first one is that Witkoff's policy recommendations for the Middle East could be affected or swayed by what he sees as beneficial to World Liberty Financial, given he still has a financial stake in that company. And secondly,

These ethics experts also voiced concern that this crypto company could be used as a way for actors to try to ingratiate themselves with Trump because he too benefits financially from moral liberty financial. And so what is Tron saying about these findings? Tron says it's

trying to address the risk of illicit activities on its networks. It launched an effort in September in collaboration with law enforcement that has frozen approximately $70 million in illicit funds, according to what the company told us.

Now, a spokesperson for Trump and his transition team did not directly respond to questions about Trump's financial ties to world liberty, the Tron investment, and potential conflicts of interest. His son Eric told Reuters that the use of crypto by criminal groups was "everybody's foremost concern." But he said that the crypto industry will do a great job of policing itself when it comes to illicit flows. "It's really his fault.

Ahmed Abbas has been living in Germany for 12 years since fleeing Syria after being injured in Homs. And he feels torn. He's considering whether to return to his homeland following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. But with the country's future still uncertain, he's conflicted. It's a dilemma facing the more than one million Syrians living in Europe, most of whom are in Germany. And it's a problem for those with outstanding asylum seeker applications.

Here to unpack it for us is Reham Al-Khousa in Berlin. Within 24 hours from Assad's fall, several European countries including Germany, Greece and France announced suspending the processing of Syrian asylum seekers. We're talking about tens of thousands of cases.

because the situation in Syria remains unclear. How is this playing into Germany's upcoming election for those Syrians who are in the country with a secure status? Many Germans see that it's time to take care of the Ghanian refugees and those whose country is now deemed safe. I should go back to their country. Far-right parties and conservative parties are trying to use this rhetoric within 24 hours of Assad fall.

We saw conservative lawmakers proposing charter flights and a thousand euros startup payment from the German government to encourage Syrians to go back to their countries. At the same time, Syrians have been integrated in the job market. Almost 60% of those who came in 2015 and 2016 are now part of the job market and

Syrians, for instance, they make the biggest foreign group in the health sector as doctors. So we're talking about over 5,000 Syrian doctors that fill a huge labor shortage in the health sector for doctors.

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To Australia now for today's recommended read, which is all about how an AI-powered robot cattle herder is preventing soil degradation. You can read more about the Swagbot in the link in today's description. For more on any of the stories from today's show, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.