Africa's week in pictures: 29 January - 4 February 2020
A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond:
All pictures subject to copyright.
New appointment is a four-star general and commanded US forces in Iraq
The Monday night White House statement that appeared to take some air out of bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill negotiations didn't sound like President Biden, an anonymous longtime adviser to the commander-in-chief told Politico. "I think it sounded like more like [White House Chief of Staff] Ron Klain," the adviser said. "The GOP plan wasn't a joke. I looked at it and said, 'OK the midpoint between $600 billion and $1.9 trillion is about 1.2 or 1.3.' I was a little surprised we hit back that hard. It's not like our plan is perfect and there's nothing we can approve. Vintage Biden would not have been that harsh." The adviser suggested that while Biden has a penchant for bipartisan deal-making, Klain, an Obama-era holdover, doesn't have fond memories of working with Republicans after unsuccessful talks with GOP lawmakers about the stimulus in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the Affordable Care Act. "Ron has this whole thing: 'Remember how they rat-f---ed us on the ACA!," the adviser told Politico. It's worth noting, however, the White House statement did say Biden wants to keep talking with the group of senators going forward, so the idea of a bipartisan resolution hasn't been completely shot down, even if the possibility is shrinking. Read more at Politico. More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemHouse votes to eject Marjorie Taylor Greene from committeesProsecutors don't know where Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse is, want him arrested again
Outraged members of a Hindu nationalist group have burnt photographs of Greta Thunberg in New Delhi after the Swedish environmentalist tweeted in support of India’s protesting farmers. Amid rising tensions between protesting farmers and the authorities, members of the United Hindu Front also held signs saying India will "not tolerate interference in internal affairs." Hundreds of thousands of farmers are occupying the streets outside of New Delhi ahead of a planned nationwide strike on Saturday, their numbers swelling after a farmer died after violent clashes with police on January 26. Tweets by Ms Thunberg and the singer Rihanna have catapulted the farmers' protests into headline news worldwide; farmers believe proposed new agricultural laws will decimate their profits by privatising the farming industry. In addition to tweeting her support of the protests, Ms Thunberg also shared a "toolkit" advising how people could peacefully demonstrate against the laws. The “toolkit” advocated for Indians joining a farmers’ march into New Delhi, showing their solidarity on social media using specific hashtags and tweeting messages to Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister.
Police said Beaux Cormier hired two of his friends to kill his niece to stop her from testifying in a rape trial against him.
Senate Republicans will make Democrats vote on a number of controversial topics in the coming days as part of the budget reconciliation process that Democrats are using to pass President Biden’s COVID relief plan against GOP lawmakers’ wishes. Debate on the budget resolution began Wednesday and will continue in the Senate on Thursday. After that time expires, a “vote-a-rama” begins, allowing any senator to file an amendment to the resolution. As retribution for using budget reconciliation — which will allow Democrats to avoid the 60-vote threshold required to pass most legislation and instead only require just a simple majority vote to pass Biden’s plan — Republicans plan to force Democrats to vote on a number of hot button issues. “The new President talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and congressional leadership are working from the opposite playbook,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), said of the budget reconciliation process. “We’ll be discussing the facts… Senate Republicans will be ready and waiting with a host of amendments to improve the rushed procedural step that’s being jammed through.” He continued: “We’ll be getting senators on the record about whether taxpayers should fund checks for illegal immigrants… whether Democrats should raise taxes on small businesses in the midst of this historic crisis… and whether generous federal funding should pour into school districts where the unions refuse to let schools open. And this is just a small taste.” While not all of the amendments that are introduced will receive a full floor vote and some may be dropped for violating the Byrd rule, which says anything passed during budget reconciliation must have to do with the federal budget, senators plan to bring up a wide array of issues. Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) introduced an amendment that would keep federal funding from going to schools that don’t reopen for in-person learning as battles over whether it is safe to return to the classroom rage across the country between teachers unions and school districts. Senator Steve Daines (R., Mont.,) said that he is spearheading seven amendments for the reconciliation process and co-sponsoring three others, including amendments that reverse Biden’s decision to scrap the Keystone XL oil pipeline project; resume oil and gas leasing on federal lands; stop tax increases while the pandemic is ongoing; prevent the federal government from using taxpayer money to implement the Paris Climate agreement; and more. Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.,) said that he plans to introduce amendments to support funding for the U.S. nuclear weapons program; oppose taxpayer funding from being used for abortion internationally and at domestic nonprofits; oppose illegal immigrants from using U.S.-government supported health care options; and support keeping the number of Supreme Court justices at nine. “Republicans are happy to work with Democrats to bring COVID-19 relief to the American people, but we cannot and will not support a bill that redirects funds to long-standing Democratic priorities,” Cotton said. “My amendments are designed to ensure the American people – not the Senate Democrats’ far-left policies – are protected.”
Controversial lawmaker Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) acknowledged Thursday afternoon the 9/11 terrorist attacks really happened while insisting inflammatory remarks she's made "do not represent me." Greene, who has been under fire for past racist and anti-Semitic remarks and support of conspiracy theories including QAnon and the false assertion that school shootings are hoaxes, spoke on the House floor ahead of a vote to remove her from committee assignments, saying she regrets being "allowed to believe things that weren't true." The Georgia representative described at the end of 2017 becoming "very interested" in QAnon, which involves the false belief in a satanic cabal made up of prominent Democrats, but said that she later "started finding misinformation" in these online posts and then "stopped believing it." "You see, school shootings are absolutely real," Greene said, adding that "9/11 absolutely happened" and "I do not believe that it's fake." She previously questioned in 2018 if the Pentagon was actually hit by a plane on Sept. 11. Greene went on to assert that her "words of the past" don't "represent me" or "my values," even though she's under fire for comments made just within the past few years, while at the same time drawing an equivalence between QAnon and the news media. "Will we allow the media, that is just as guilty as QAnon of presenting truth and lies, to divide us?" she asked. Greene did not offer a direct apology during her remarks. A floor vote to remove her from her committee assignments is set to take place later on Thursday. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: "A lot of Americans don't trust our government...I was allowed to believe things that weren't true...and that is absolutely what I regret because if it weren't for the Facebook posts & comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldn't be standing here today." pic.twitter.com/TLfVmvbvqn — CSPAN (@cspan) February 4, 2021 More stories from theweek.com5 scathing cartoons about the GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problemHouse votes to eject Marjorie Taylor Greene from committeesProsecutors don't know where Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse is, want him arrested again
Iran on Thursday received its first batch of foreign-made coronavirus vaccines as the country struggles to stem the worst outbreak of the pandemic in the Middle East. The shipment consists of 500,000 doses of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines which arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeieni International Airport from Moscow, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Also Iranian state TV quoted Tehran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, as saying that Iran has ordered 5 million doses from Russia.
Eleven semi-automatic rifles and 12 magazines of ammunition seized in two Colombian police raids last month were destined for leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas in Venezuela, a high-ranking police source said on Wednesday. Colombia's tax and customs police (POLFA) had on Tuesday heralded the late-January seizure of five Anderson AM-15 rifles of U.S. origin and five magazines of 5.56 caliber ammunition and the capture of two suspects, saying it was investigating whether the final destination was Venezuela.
"There are so many appropriate ways to take care of the circumstances in the Rittenhouse case that don't involve telling the judge lies," one expert said.
A US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Thursday, the American navy said, in the first such voyage since the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer conducted a routine transit through the waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement. US warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the strait, often triggering angry responses from China which claims self-ruled, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory. Beijing views any ships passing through the strait as essentially a breach of its sovereignty - while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all. The voyage by the USS John S. McCain “demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific”, the Seventh Fleet statement said. “The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.” Taiwan's defence ministry confirmed the journey without identifying the vessel. Beijing on Thursday said it was “closely monitoring” the situation. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China would “continue to be on high alert at all times, respond to all threats and provocations at any moment, and will resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity”. The transit comes after two US reconnaissance planes and one jet tanker flew near Taiwan's airspace on Monday, according to the island's defence ministry, which did not disclose their routes. Beijing has stepped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, as she refuses to acknowledge Beijing's stance that the island is part of “one China”. Last year Chinese military jets made a record 380 incursions into Taiwan's defence zone, with some analysts warning that tensions between the two sides were at their highest since the mid-1990s.
House Republicans this week are looking to remove Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) from her committee assignments amid a similar fight from Democrats to oust Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) from her assignments. Earlier this week House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer reportedly gave GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy an ultimatum: remove Greene from her committee assignments in 72 hours or Democrats will bring the issue to the House floor. Greene’s appointment to the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee sparked outcry last week from Democrats who say that she should be disqualified from serving on the committee over a recently unearthed video of a 2019 incident in which she harassed a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, saying the survivor was paid by George Soros, as well as a 2018 Facebook post in which she agreed that the Sandy Hook and Stoneman Douglas shootings were “staged.” McCarthy met with Greene Tuesday night and told her that she would either have to apologize or be ousted from at least one of her two committee assignments by GOP leadership to avoid a politically-fraught vote on the House floor, Politico reported. The House is set to consider a measure this week that calls for Greene’s removal from her assignments. Meanwhile, according to Fox News, a proposed GOP-backed amendment the measure calls for Omar to be ousted from her assignments “in light of conduct she has exhibited.” The amendment — sponsored by Representatives Brian Babin (R., Texas), Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.), Jody Hice (R., Ga.), Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.), and Ronny Jackson (R., Texas) — claims that Omar has made anti-Semitic comments that are grounds for dismissal. Omar drew criticism from colleagues on both sides of the aisle in February 2019 when she wrote, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” in response to a tweet about McCarthy’s promise to take “action” against her over her criticism of Israel. The “Squad” member later suggested that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was paying politicians to take a positive stance on Israel. She ultimately apologized and thanked colleagues for “educating [her] on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.” The move against Omar comes as Hoyer has said Greene “must be held accountable for her reprehensible statements.” Greene, a freshman congresswoman, has taken on a controversial reputation over her belief in the QAnon movement, which claims, among other things, that former President Donald Trump and his allies are secretly working to expose a deep-state ring of child sex traffickers. Last week she also came under fire after Media Matters unearthed a 2018 Facebook post in which Greene made unfounded claims about the cause of California’s wildfires. She alleged that the Rothschilds, a wealthy Jewish banking family that is frequently the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, may have used a laser beam from space to spark a forest fire in order to profit from it. A number of House Democrats have expressed support for both a formal censure against Greene and for her expulsion from the House.
The European Union is considering demands by Britain and some Northern Irish politicians to extend grace periods for goods checks, but post-Brexit trade arrangements for the province will not change much, Ireland's foreign minister said. A dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol, which stems from Britain's Jan. 1 exit from the EU's orbit, threatens to reopen a rift that bedevilled years of Brexit talks. Many pro-British Northern Irish unionists fiercely oppose the new trade barriers and some of the checks were suspended at two ports this week after reports of staff intimidation in a region beset by violence until a peace deal 23 years ago.
Little Ferry, New Jersey, police officers told the driver to let off the gas. When they tried to call for a tow truck, they noticed the SUV was on fire.
A 19-year-old man facing murder and elder abuse charges over the death of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee has pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance at the Hall of Justice on Wednesday. Details -> https://t.co/6Z5rqIQpcZ pic.twitter.com/PJnuuWgE3Y — Evan Sernoffsky (@EvanSernoffsky) February 1, 2021 Ratanapakdee, who was originally from Thailand, died from injuries on Saturday after being slammed into the ground by Antoine Watson, NextShark previously reported. Watson was arrested on Saturday for the seemingly unprovoked attack on Ratanapakdee, reports SF Examiner.
Let there be lightOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest
President Joe Biden encouraged Democratic lawmakers to “act fast” on his $1.9 trillion COVID rescue plan but also signaled he's open to changes, including limiting the proposed $1,400 direct payments to Americans with lower income levels, which could draw Republican support. Biden told lawmakers in private comments Wednesday that he's "not married" to an absolute number for the overall package but wants them to “go big" on pandemic relief and “restore the soul of the country.” “Look, we got a lot of people hurting in our country today,” Biden said on a private call with House Democrats.
A white Columbus, Ohio, police officer was charged with murder Wednesday in the latest fallout following the December shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill, a Black man, the state's attorney general said.
In order to justify a reimbursement of such a big amount, Boebert’s distance driven during the campaign has to be 38,712 miles
The Biden administration views the New Start Treaty clinched with Russia this week as the beginning of engagement on strategic issues and urges China to join the effort to reduce nuclear arms stockpiles, a U.S. envoy said on Thursday. The United States and Russia announced on Wednesday they had extended the New START arms control treaty for five years, preserving the last treaty limiting deployments of the world's two largest strategic nuclear arsenals. Robert Wood, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, called in a speech to the U.N.-sponsored Conference on Disarmament for a new arms control drive that "covers more weapons, and eventually more countries".
A federal jury needed just four hours Thursday to convict Yassein Said of helping to hide his brother, Yaser Said, who is accused of killing his two teenage daughters in 2008.