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Trump invited to give State of the Union address on Feb. 24

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson has invited President Donald Trump to give the first State of the Union address of his second term on Feb. 24.

The invitation sent on Wednesday notes that the nation is marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. The invitation touted the work of Trump and a Republican-led Congress in 2025 and pointed to the year ahead.

“We look forward to advancing the important work ahead of us in 2026, serving the American people, defending liberty, and preserving this grand experiment in self-governance,” Johnson wrote.

The address will give Trump the chance to shape the GOP’s message to voters going into a midterm election that will determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress, or if Democrats can win one or both chambers and gain the ability to better confront Trump’s legislative agenda during his final two years in office.

Trump has addressed Congress once before in his second term, delivering a speech to a joint session in March.

How Voodoo overcame suppression and became a democratic force in the West African nation of Benin

OUIDAH, Benin (AP) — Democracy came to the cradle of Voodoo religion in 1991, when Benin’s military dictator of many years surprisingly lost an election that he had organized. Mathieu Kérékou had amassed power partly by banning the practice of so-called sorcerers, whose authority he deemed subversive to his own. Voodooists would have the last laugh. The opposition figure who defeated Kérékou, Nicéphore Soglo, rehabilitated Voodoo, or Vodún as it is known in Benin, as part of national heritage and emphasized the kind of tolerance that Kérékou would try to emulate when he successfully sought reelection in 1996. Two decades and three presidents later, this West African nation is a bastion of democracy in a region dubbed “the coup belt” for the trend since 2020 of military takeovers. President Romuald Wadagni was inaugurated on May 24 to replace Patrice Talon, who stepped down after serving two terms.
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