World Tour - A new terrorist leader, and presidents in Peru

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour with Africa reporter Onize Ohikere.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Al Qaeda names new North Africa leader—We start today here in Africa.

Al-Qaeda has chosen a new leader for its North Africa branch. Abu Obaida Yusuf al-Annabi is an Algerian terrorist on the U.S. blacklist since 2015. He frequently appears in al-Qaeda’s propaganda videos, and reportedly helped plan the Algiers bombings in 2007. Those attacks killed almost 800 people.

Al-Annabi replaces the North Africa group’s former leader, Abdelmalek Droukdel. French forces killed him in June.

The North Africa al-Qaeda branch terrorizes large swaths of Algeria, Mali, Libya, and Niger. The group has also made millions of dollars abducting foreigners for ransom.

Guatemala budget protests—Next, we go to Central America.

AUDIO: [GUATEMALA PROTESTERS CHANTING (SPANISH)]

Protesters set fire to Guatemala’s congressional building on Saturday. Hundreds of people threw rocks and charged at riot police, who responded with tear gas. Fourteen people were injured.

The crowds want President Alejandro Giammettei to resign, after the government passed a new budget plan last week. It was the largest proposed budget in the nation’s history, almost $13 billion. Protesters said it prioritized big infrastructure projects over public health and education services.

The protests went on for two days. And on Monday…

AUDIO: [Guatemalan Congress  (SPANISH)]

…the speaker of congress announced the government will scrap the controversial budget plan.

He did not say what a new budget might look like, or how it might be different. Lawmakers have until December to make a new plan.

Peru gets its third president in a week—Next, we head to South America.

AUDIO: [PERU’S NATIONAL ANTHEM]

Peru has swore in its third president in just over a week.

AUDIO: [FRANCISCO SAGASTI OATH OF OFFICE (SPANISH)]

Francisco Sagasti took the oath of office during a special session of the legislature.

Earlier this month, Peru’s congress voted to impeach former President Martin Vizcarra following allegations of corruption. The legislature replaced him with Manuel Merino. But that decision sparked mass protests across the country and Merino resigned after just five days. Now, Sagasti will have five months to straighten things out before the next round of elections. Those are scheduled for April 2021.

France delays Black Friday sales—And finally, we end today in Europe.

AUDIO: [BRUNO LEMAIRE (FRENCH)]

France is putting Black Friday on hold. Last week, the government got local stores as well as online giants like Amazon to agree to postpone plans for the holiday sale.

France is in the middle of yet another coronavirus lockdown, and stores deemed non-essential are shuttered. The government hopes to give those shops a chance to take advantage of the consumer splurge once restrictions are lifted. France’s economy minister negotiated the deal with supermarkets and online retailers. They agreed to push Black Friday back a week to December 4th with the understanding that non-essential businesses will have been allowed to reopen by then.

That’s this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

(AP Photo/Moises Castillo) Protesters gather outside Congress in Guatemala City, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020. 

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