NETHERLANDS

UNITED STATES

President Joe Biden marked his first year in office as another of his key policy initiatives stalled in Congress. Democrats pushed ahead with an attempt to pass voting rights legislation but were blocked by Republicans and could not unite their party to change Senate rules to bypass the filibuster. Though Biden managed to pass a $1-trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, his efforts to pass crucial social and environmental spending reforms have been thwarted by dissenting Democrat senators. He suggested he would split up his $2.2-trillion social spending bill in an effort to pass them through the Senate.

Researchers believe they have identified the person who exposed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis.

A team, put together by Dutch media producer Pieter van Twisk, claim Arnold van den Bergh, a Jewish notary from Amsterdam, likely informed the Nazis of the family’s whereabouts to save his own family.

Van den Bergh was a member of the city’s Jewish Council, which was forced to enact Nazi policies. Scholars have cast doubt on the claims, published in a new book, of how Frank was captured and said they lacked conclusive evidence.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visit the Anne Frank Centre in Berlin, Germany, in July 2021. Photo: Sem van der Wal/EPA-EFE

US President Joe Biden marked his first year in office this week looking for a reset after his first 12 months, which were largely upended by dissenting Democratic senators. Photo: Leigh Vogel/EPA-EFE