₦airaland Forum

White House correspondent Simon Ateba has accused Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre of "discriminating" against him after she left a briefing room without answering his question.

Ateba, a Cameroonian journalist who runs the online news outlet Today News Africa, has repeatedly clashed with former White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Jean-Pierre in the past two years, accusing them of ignoring reporters in the back of the briefing room.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily meeting in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 9, 2022. Today News Africa's reporter Simon Ateba accused Jean-Pierre of discrimination for not taking his question on Thursday. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
While journalists from major news outlets sit in the front of the room, those from less well-known and smaller organizations are usually seated in the aisle or the back of the room, as arranged by the White House Correspondents' Association's board.

The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room has only 49 seats, and the press secretary is free to choose which reporters to call on, although TV networks and other large news outlets who sit at the front typically get called on more regularly. The first question traditionally goes to the Associated Press.

Ateba, who has long complained about the press secretary ignoring reporters at the back, is known to be one of the loudest journalists in the briefing room. In May, Psaki asked him to stop interrupting after he shouted questions at her during her final briefing.

"Why don't you take questions from across the room? Because that's not what you've done for the past 15 months," Ateba asked, talking over another reporter, before Psaki told him: "Simon, if you can respect your colleagues and other media and reporters in here, that would be greatly appreciated."

Simon really wants to get his question in pic.twitter.com/4e5hYbmf11

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 13, 2022
In November, Ateba criticized Jean-Pierre for brushing off another reporter's question about the origins of COVID-19 during Dr. Anthony Fauci's final briefing, shouting that she had "valid question about the origin of COVID."

The increasingly tense situation between the journalist and Biden's press secretary escalated on Thursday. Jean-Pierre walked out of the White House briefing room in visible frustration as Ateba continued talking over her, asking questions about next week's U.S.-Africa summit, as she was attempting to reply to him.

"I literally just tried to answer your question, and you shut me down," Jean-Pierre said, before deciding to end the press briefing prematurely and leave the room.

Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly ends the White House Press Conference after getting into a shouting match with an African reporter: pic.twitter.com/BFFJmlMSh3

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 8, 2022
On Friday, Ateba made an appearance on Fox News's show Tucker Carlson Tonight, telling the TV host that it has been a "nightmare" to cover the White House while Jean-Pierre is press secretary.

"It's been a disaster, a total catastrophe, a real nightmare covering the Biden White House. Right now, I'm the voice of Africa in the U.S.—but I can confirm that the level of discrimination against me and against African journalists in the White House is astounding, it's disgraceful," Ateba told Carlson, adding that he didn't "have questions at the White House" for three months now.

"Even as President Biden is about to receive 50 African heads of state in D.C. for the U.S.-African summit, she didn't give us even a single question. I've been trying for the past three months."

The journalist went on to accuse Jean-Pierre of discriminating against him for his accent. "I sound different. I wasn't born here. I was born in Cameroon. I speak French. I speak different languages. I don't have the American accent. I've tried. I've failed and I've decided I'll stick with my accent," Ateba told Carlson.

"I'm an immigrant, and she doesn't like that," he added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek.

Newsweek has reached out to Ateba for comment.
https://www.newsweek.com/african-journalist-accuses-press-secretary-jean-pierre-discrimination-1766119?fbclid=IwAR3wYmoX_37nbuxHTAQfIFp8MyGanf2qEI0Lx8yajiR6GsVCzCAtu2PuYTA

gambojimeta:
Na there wahala be that. Maybe they can grant Brobisky and James Brown visa as those too are being idol worshiped in Nigeria. They can both marry themselves in the countries their acts has been made legal. The US is even late to the game. Same sex marriage was made:
Legal in the UK in 2013,
Legal in the Republican of Ireland in 2015,
Legal in South Africa in 2006,
Legal in Canada in 2005,
Legal in Brazil in 2013
e.t.c.

Obc1234:
Don't like gay marriage? Don't get one
Don't like abortion? Don't have one
Don't birth control? Use it
Don't like sex? Don't have it
Don't like porn? Don't watch
If you don't like something that doesn't affect then don't do it it's very simple
Stop trying to control other people lives just because it conflicts with your religion or belief

People lives matter not belief

abuja007:
No be naija where if few years pass it is statute barred or e don tey..case closed.

Annie Karni
By Annie Karni
Published Dec. 8, 2022
Updated Dec. 9, 2022
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday gave final approval to legislation to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voting in favor of the measure in the waning days of the Democratic-led Congress.

With a vote of 258-169, with one member voting “present,” the landmark legislation cleared Congress, sending it to President Biden to be signed into law and capping an improbable path for a measure that only months ago appeared to have little chance at enactment.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the tally triumphantly, banging the gavel repeatedly as if to applaud as members of the House cheered.

“Today, we stand up for the values the vast majority of Americans hold dear: A belief in the dignity, beauty and divinity — spark of divinity — in every person, and abiding respect for love so powerful that it binds two people together,” Ms. Pelosi said in a speech from the House floor before the vote.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/08/us/politics/same-sex-marriage-congress.html

London
CNN
—
A Libyan man accused of being involved in making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988 is now in US custody, authorities in the United States and Scotland said Sunday.

The US charged Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi for his alleged involvement in the bombing two years ago, a spokesman for the UK Crown Office and Prosecutor Fiscal Service told CNN.

The attack killed 270 people as the bomb detonated over the Scottish town as it flew from London to New York.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/11/uk/lockerbie-bombing-suspect-custody-intl/index.html

By Emery Makumeno
BBC News, Kinshasa
Tshala Muana: Congolese singer dies aged 64

The famous Congolese singer and dancer Tshala Muana has died at the age of 64, according to her producer and companion, Claude Mashala.

"In the early hours of this morning the good Lord has made the decision to call back Tshala Muana," he posted on Facebook.

Tshala Muana is considered the "Queen of Mutuashi", a traditional music and dance from her native Kasai region.

She was famous for several songs such as Karibu Yangu, Malu and Tshianza.

She had toured widely overseas, won several awards on the national, continental and global scene and had recorded over 20 albums.

Her music also appeared in the soundtrack of the popular 1987 Congolese musical film La Vie est Belle and Aya of Yop City.

Muana, whose real name was Élisabeth Tshala Muana Muidikay, was also often affectionately called "Mamu National", which means the nation's mother, for her vocal defence of the rights of women and children in the Congolese parliament.

Congolese people online have been mourning her death, including former presidential candidate, Seth Kikuni, who thanked her for her work and "great contribution to the Congolese culture".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63927667

Biography
Tshala Muana was born on 13 May 1958, in Lubumbashi, then part of the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was the second of ten children of Amadeus Muidikayi, a soldier, and Alphonsine Bambiwa Tumba, a housewife.

In 1964, when Muana Muidikay was 6 years old, her father was murdered in Watsha by the Ulelist maquis during the Congo crisis. She was raised by her mother, who died in 2005.

Having never married, her companion was her producer, Claude Mashala.[4]

In June 2020 she was rumored to have died, but was instead hospitalized after having suffered a stroke.[5]

In November 2020, Muana was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), reportedly for her song "Ingratitude", which was widely circulated over social media. The lyrics center around a student who doesn't pass his exams, and whose teacher nonetheless allows him to pass onto the next grade.

Once passed, the student turns against his teacher. The song was interpreted by many to be a veiled criticism of President Felix Tshisekedi, toward his former mentor and predecessor, President Joseph Kabila.
On 10 December 2022, Tshala Muana died in Kinshasa, at the age of 64.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tshala_Muana

CNN —

The congressman-elect set to become the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress said Thursday his rental application for an apartment in Washington, DC, was denied because of his “really bad” credit.

“Just applied to an apartment in DC where I told the guy that my credit was really bad. He said I’d be fine. Got denied, lost the apartment, and the application fee. This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money,” Maxwell Frost said in a tweet.


https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/maxwell-frost-dc-apartment-denied/index.html

oz4real83:
This kind of news is alien to Nigeria, the current setting will not allow the prosecution of the president, vice-president or any first-class traditional ruler in Nigeria. This is why the foundation of Nigeria needs to be relaid, we don't need an election for now because the system will always produce the same group of bad leaders irrespective of political parties.

BBC NEWS
December 6th, 2022
By Vanessa Buschschlüter
BBC News

A court in Argentina has sentenced Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in jail for corruption in a case that has shaken the country.

Fernández, 69, was found guilty of "fraudulent administration" over the awarding of public works contracts to a friend.

But she is unlikely to serve jail time.

Fernández has some immunity via her government roles and is expected to launch a lengthy appeals process.

She has also been banned from public office for life, but will continue in her role as vice-president while the case goes through higher courts.

Prosecutors had sought a 12-year jail sentence.

Fernández said the charges against her were politically motivated. Speaking after the verdict, she described herself as the victim of a "judicial mafia", the Associated Press news agency reports.

Prior to the ruling, she had also accused the prosecutors of lying and slandering her.

It is the first time ever that a vice-president has been convicted of a crime while in office in Argentina.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63872953

Hopebringer:
Stay off drugs bro

West African leaders agreed on Sunday to create a regional force to intervene against jihadism and in the event of coups, a senior official said.

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States had decided to act to "take care of our own security in the region", Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission, told journalists at a summit in Nigeria.

They are "determined to establish a regional force that will intervene in the event of need, whether this is in the area of security, terrorism and restore constitutional order in member countries," he added.

Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso have all been hit by military coups in the last two years.

Several countries in the region are also suffering from the spread of jihadism, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and southwards to the Gulf of Guinea.

National armies, largely powerless against the jihadist forces operating across borders, have been cooperating with external actors such as the UN, France and Russia.

But Touray said this decision would "restructure our security architecture".

The modalities of the planned regional force will be considered by defence chiefs in the second half of 2023, Touray said.

The funding of the force must also be decided, but the ECOWAS official stressed that such an operation could not be solely dependent on voluntary contributions.

- Pressure on Mali -

Addressing another regional problem, the West African leaders told Mali's ruling junta to release 46 Ivorian troops it has held since July.

"We ask the Malian authorities to release the Ivorian soldiers by January 1, 2023 at the latest," said Touray, at the Abuja summit.

The Gambian diplomat said the West African bloc reserved the right to act if the soldiers were not released by January 1.
https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/world/w-african-bloc-tells-mali-to-free-46-ivorian-troops/ar-AA14TEAJ