Amna Nawaz:
Santos insisted again today that he is not considering resigning from Congress.
There’s word that the FBI searched President Biden’s former Washington office for classified material last November. The Associated Press and CBS News report that was after the president’s lawyers had found classified records at the site. It’s not clear if the FBI found anything else.
A crippling winter ice storm advanced eastward across the South and Central U.S. today. Airlines canceled more than 1,700 flights and thousands of people lost power. Texas was especially hard-hit, as freezing rain and sleet covered roads and caused numerous wrecks. At least one person was killed.
Meanwhile, another major storm is pounding New Zealand with heavy rain. The Northland region declared a state of emergency today as roads and fields took on water. Auckland braced for more flooding after getting inundated last Friday. An entire summer’s worth of rain fell in a single day.
Pope Francis kicked off a six-day visit to Congo and South Sudan today, insisting that wealthy nations stop plundering Africa’s resources. The pope arrived in Kinshasa as tens of thousands of well-wishers lined his route. In his first speech, he urged an end to carving up Congo’s huge mineral wealth.
Pope Francis, Leader of Catholic Church (through translator): It is tragic that places like this and, more generally, the African continent, are still being exploited. Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hands off Africa. Stop choking Africa. It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.
