US President Biden on speech to Congress: 'America is rising anew'

Restoring the millions of jobs lost to the virus and universal preschool are some of the points Biden argued for passing through Congress. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In the news today US President Biden on speech to Congress: 'America is rising anew' [Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stand and applaud as President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress, April 28, 2021.] Credit: Melina Mara/The Washington Post via AP Pool In his speech to the joint session of Congress last night, US President [Joe Biden said that “America is rising anew,](” while calling for an expansion of federal programs to push the country’s economy beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Restoring the millions of jobs lost to the virus, universal preschool and two years of free community college are a few of the points Biden argued for passing through Congress. “I have never been more confident or more optimistic about America. We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy — of pandemic and pain — and ‘We the People’ did not flinch,” said Biden, in an emotive speech focused mostly on domestic concerns. In terms of foreign policy, Biden stressed the US’s renewed global leadership on the climate crisis. Biden also mentioned his discussions with China’s President Xi Jingping on “standing up to unfair practices that undercut America’s workers and industries.” Biden reinforced the idea that in order to [compete with autocracies]( like China, the US must prove that “democracy still works.” What The World is following As Turkey enters its [strictest lockdown]( yet to curb the spread of the coronavirus, people today are stocking up on groceries and leaving cities in preparation. The full lockdown will last through May 17. On Wednesday, Turkey reported 40,444 new confirmed cases and 341 deaths. In the first full, nationwide lockdown [lasting three weeks](, residents must stay home except for essential needs and intercity travel is only allowed with permission. Some essential workers are exempted. The stay-at-home order spans the holy month of Ramadan, as well as Eid. On Thursday, Russian dissident Alexei Navalny [appeared in court via video]( from prison to appeal his conviction for defaming a World War II veteran. Despite his gaunt appearance after a three-week hunger strike, Navalny actively took part in the hearing, his first public appearance since his transfer to a prison hospital last month. The Kremlin critic was convicted in February and ordered to pay a fine of about $11,500. Navalny told his wife during the hearing that he’s now eating porridge several times a day. Despite Navalny’s impassioned appeal, the judge rejected it. But Navlany’s team says they are not giving up. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Norway's minister calls on others to follow his country's lead in sharing COVID-19 vaccines]( [Boxes of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the global COVAX initiative, arrive at the airport in Mogadishu, Somalia, March 15, 2021.]( Credit: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Just a few months into its rollout, COVAX is now short tens of millions of doses. It has shipped some 50 million vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. It’s a fraction of what it had hoped to get out by now, and an even tinier fraction of what’s actually needed. Dag-Inge Ulstein, Norway’s minister of international development, [has a simple request: that countries begin to share](. As in, donate some of their vaccines. In fact, by following Norway’s lead. [A French court won’t try the killer of a Jewish doctor. Thousands are protesting.]( [Protesters march with a banner of killed Jewish woman Sarah Halimi, during a demonstration in Marseille, in southern France, April 25, 2021.]( Credit: Daniel Cole/AP France’s top court recently decided not to try Kobili Traoré, the man who killed his Jewish neighbor, Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old retired doctor, in 2017. In response, [thousands took to the streets in Paris]( and several other cities over the weekend to protest the decision. The court’s reasoning: Traoré, 27 at the time, was in a “delirious state” during the attack, aggravated by his consumption of cannabis. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright Spot One beaver — or two, we don't really know how many — chewed through a crucial fiber cable, and shut down the internet in the town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. A spokesperson for internet service provider Telus wrote that in a "very bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events," crews found that a beaver chewed through the cable at multiple points, causing the internet to go down. The internet is back, and while business owners were affected with transactions going offline, [🎧 some saw a great benefit from resorting back to the basics.]( Photo below is that of a beaver, not the culprit. Credit: Wikimedia Commons --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it from The World --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.