Republicans in the US House of Representatives are warning that “the world is on fire” after Iran's strike against Israel and amid dwindling hope for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
But amid political infighting, they are choosing a long and complicated path to extinguish those flames, as pressure to remove their own House Speaker, Mike Johnson, increases.
Instead of bringing a long-waiting bipartisan foreign aid bill to the House for a final vote after it passed the Senate earlier this year, Mr Johnson is in the process of drafting four bills to break the larger package down.
Far-right factions in Mr Johnson's own Republican Party are opposed to Washington increasing funding to Ukraine, and seem prepared to remove the Speaker over it.
The Republican momentum to remove Mr Johnson from his post over the debacle gained new steam on Tuesday.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie said he would join his far-right colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene in co-sponsoring a “motion to vacate”, which begins the process of removing Mr Johnson from the speakership.
But Mr Johnson was resolute. “I am not resigning,” he told reporters at a Tuesday media briefing.
“It is, in my view, an absurd notion that someone would bring a vacate motion. We're simply here trying to do our job.”
The four funding bills in Mr Johnson's plan include one for Israel, for which funding has widespread bipartisan support, and one for Ukraine.
The other two bills brought to the House floor for a vote will include funding for Taiwan, and another with Republican foreign policy plans including a bill that could ban TikTok, according to reports.
Mr Johnson told reporters on Tuesday that all of these are still being drafted and there are not final versions of text available.
“The world is on fire and history will judge us by our actions,” House foreign affairs committee chairman Mike McCaul said alongside Mr Johnson.
The Republican chairman, who thanked Mr Johnson for his leadership during this “very difficult time and very dangerous time”, has previously supported bringing the Senate supplemental bill to the House floor for a vote, but on Tuesday said this package “would be far better than the Senate's”.
The process for getting either of these bills over the threshold seems daunting, as Democrats appear united in support of the already-passed Senate bill that Mr Johnson has so far refused to bring to for a vote.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that President Joe Biden “wouldn't support” a stand-alone Israel bill.
And a Democratic congressional aide told The National on Monday that the splintering process is “way too challenging and complicated”.
“There doesn't need to be an issue. There doesn't have to be any major revisions on our end,” the aide said.
House armed services committee ranking member Adam Smith issued a harsh warning on Tuesday, calling Mr Johnson's package “deeply convoluted” and a “twisted process”.
“Best-case scenario, if they pull this together, maybe two months from now we'll be able to figure this out once it goes back to the Senate,” Mr Smith told a committee hearing.
"That is basically boiling Ukraine to death slowly."
Mr Johnson, meanwhile, cast the infighting in the US as an existential moment for the country.
“I regard myself as a as a wartime speaker … I didn't anticipate that this would be easy,” he said.
“A single-vote margin and a difficult time when the nation is terribly divided. The way [Republicans] get through that is we show unity.”
The%20specs
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The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg result:
Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Tottenham advance on away goals rule after tie ends 3-3 on aggregate
Final: June 1, Madrid
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
More on animal trafficking
World Cricket League Division 2
In Windhoek, Namibia - Top two teams qualify for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, which starts on March 4.
UAE fixtures
Thursday February 8, v Kenya; Friday February 9, v Canada; Sunday February 11, v Nepal; Monday February 12, v Oman; Wednesday February 14, v Namibia; Thursday February 15, final
The biog
Marital status: Separated with two young daughters
Education: Master's degree from American Univeristy of Cairo
Favourite book: That Is How They Defeat Despair by Salwa Aladian
Favourite Motto: Their happiness is your happiness
Goal: For Nefsy to become his legacy long after he is gon
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)
Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.
Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.
Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.
Get your priorities right.
And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
