Friday morning news: April 12, 2024

Wray, Sen. Jordan on Section 702 » House Republicans will try again today to advance a bill to reauthorize government surveillance powers set to expire next week.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Thursday:

WRAY: An absolutely indispensable tool that Congress can give us in our fight against foreign adversaries is the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Intelligence and law enforcement agencies say the authority is a critical tool for detecting dire threats from terrorists or foreign adversaries like China and Russia.

The second attempt comes just days after a group of Republicans revolted, blocking the bill.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan says GOP holdouts are not trying to kill Section 702, but …

JORDAN: The way our system works is, you’ve got to go to a separate but equal branch of government and get a probable cause warrant if you’re going to go look through people’s stuff. We think it should apply to this program as well. That’s the hangup on the legislation.

Wray argues such a provision would—his words—“gut” the program.

Former President Donald Trump has called for an end to the program, saying it was used illegally to spy on his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trilateral White House meeting » At the White House on Thursday President Biden met with the leaders of two critical Asian allies united by a common threat.

BIDEN: Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, today we mark a historic moment, the first ever leader summit between the United States, Japan, and the Philippines.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined Biden in the East Room. They sat at tables arranged in horseshoe fashion in front of a row of cameras.

Marcos said the three nations share common purposes.

MARCOS: We seek to identify ways of growing our economies and making them more resilient, sustaining our development progress, and forging a more peaceful world for the next generation.

But the common purpose that chiefly brought them together on Thursday is China.

BIDEN: The United States Defense commitments to Japan and to the Philippines are ironclad. Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty.

Tensions are high in the region with repeated skirmishes between the Philippine and Chinese coast guards in the South China Sea with Beijing making more and more territorial claims.

And China’s furious push to build up its military has Japan doing the same thing for the first time since World War II.

Kashida addresses Congress » Hours earlier on Capitol Hill …

AUDIO: Mr. Speaker, the prime minister of Japan [Applause]

Prime Minister Kishida addressed a joint session of Congress.

He told lawmakers that American leadership on the global stage still matters.

KISHIDA: I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be.

He said the United States, “When necessary,” has made “noble sacrifices to fulfill its commitment to a better world.” he said American leadership is as vital as ever.

Biden gun show rule » The Biden administration has announced a new rule that the White House says will close the so-called ‘gun show loophole.’

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says it will save lives …

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: By requiring background checks for all gun dealers engaged in the business of firearms dealing.

The policy requires anyone selling a firearm at a gun show to become a licensed gun dealer and run the same background checks on potential buyers that brick-and-mortar stores have to perform.

But the rule is expected to face legal challenges with some gun rights advocacy groups saying it runs afoul of the Second Amendment.

Harvard reinstates mandatory standardized testing » Harvard University is bringing back standardized testing requirements for all applicants. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: In 2020, the Ivy League school made tests like the SAT and ACT optional in the admissions process.

The school said the testing requirements were unfair to minorities and low-income students. But the school now cites research indicating that standardized testing makes the process less biased and is predictive of a student’s success.

And Harvard is reinstalling the testing requirement … beginning with the class of 20-29.

Other schools reinstating standardized testing after ditching it include Yale, Dartmouth, MIT, and Georgetown.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

OJ Simpson » O.J. Simpson has died of cancer at the age of 76. The football star was a Heisman Trophy winner and six-time Pro-Bowler who went on to a successful acting career.

AUDIO: This list isn’t for replacements. It’s to build new jobs if the plant expands.

Simpson heard there in an episode of In the Heat of the Night.

But in 1994, he became more famous than ever for all the wrong reasons. He was accused of a brutal double murder in what many called the ‘trial of the century.’

AUDIO: We, the jury, in the above-entitled action, find the Defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder.

After his controversial acquittal, Simpson was found civilly liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. He later served 9 years in prison on unrelated charges.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Culture Friday with Katie McCoy. Plus, this month’s Word Play.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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