Inside the Americas

Solidarity for Ukraine was front and centre during US President Joe Biden's State of the Union address this week. Biden reiterated that American troops will not fight in Ukraine, but warned that NATO territory would be defended. He also announced that US airspace would be closed to Russian planes and warned oligarchs that their assets would be seized. To find out more about the effectiveness of such sanctions, we speak to Daniel Tannebaum, who's Global Head of Sanctions at Oliver Wyman and a former compliance officer with the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the US Treasury Department.

It's being hailed a “historic victory” by campaigners, as Colombia becomes the latest Latin American nation to decriminalise early abortions for all women. Terminations will now be permitted in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, having previously only been possible in limited circumstances, such as in cases of rape, or if there was a risk to the mother's health. President van Duque, whose term in office ends later this year, has slammed the constitutional court's ruling as “heinous”.

The trucker-led protesters occupying the Canadian capital Ottawa show no sign of backing down, despite a newly invoked state of emergency that grants sweeping police powers to try to end the protest over Covid-19 rules. FRANCE 24's Peter O'Brien tells us more about the standoff.

"Freedom Convoy" protests are still paralysing the Canadian capital Ottawa. The truckers are also blocking the busiest international crossing in North America. The Ambassador Bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario carries a fourth of all trade between Canada and the US. Canadian lawmakers are becoming increasingly worried about the economic effects of the protests against vaccine mandates and other Covid-19 restrictions. Our correspondents François Rihouay, Joanne Profeta and Gloria Henriquez report.

Bomb threats have been disrupting classes at close to 20 predominantly Black universities in the United States. After a handful of threats on Monday, the first day of Black History Month in the US, more than a dozen campuses went into lockdown over new threats the next day. Tensions are also high over an ongoing battle on the public school teaching of critical race theory. It says racism is not just the product of individual bias, but embedded in America's legal systems and policies.

Joe Biden says he isn't ruling out personal sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin if he invades Ukraine. The threat from the US president comes as tensions between Moscow and the West continue to heat up. On Tuesday, the third instalment of US military equipment landed in Ukraine and more than 8,000 American troops stationed in Europe have been placed on standby.

The rollout of 5G service may seem like a great thing to device lovers, but for some international airlines it's a major worry. This week, American phone carriers AT&T and Verizon agreed to a partial delay in activating their 5G networks in the US over safety concerns. For more, we speak to technology policy expert Roslyn Layton.

This week, Joe Biden made a passionate speech on voting rights, comparing that fight to the battle to end racial segregation in the 1960s. For the first time ever, the US president is directly pushing to get rid of a vote-blocking device in the Senate known as the filibuster. That requires close to two thirds of senators to pass a bill, as opposed to a simple majority. Biden, a former senator himself, says the voting rights issue is a "battle for America's soul".

On January 6 of last year, thousands of supporters of Donald Trump poured into Washington. They were convinced he had won the 2020 presidential election instead of Joe Biden and were determined to stop Congress from confirming his loss. The rioters stormed the US Capitol building in shocking images seen live around the world. Some 140 police officers were injured, one dying the day after the attack. Four others who guarded the Capitol that day went on to take their own lives. In this special edition, we look back at the events of that fateful day.

Last weekend, the US was hit by a cluster of perhaps the most devastating tornadoes in its history. In Kentucky alone, more than 70 people are known to have been killed by the severe weather system, and deaths were also reported in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. US President Joe Biden, who has signed a disaster declaration for Kentucky, paid a visit to the region and called the situation there "an unimaginable tragedy". We take a closer look at the scale of the damage.