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A look at the White House state dinner for Kenya’s president in photos
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hosting Kenyan President President William Ruto and his wife, first lady Rachel Ruto, for an elaborate state dinner Thursday night.
It’s the first state visit a U.S. president has held for a president of an African nation since 2008, even as Mr. Biden has yet to fulfill his promise to visit Africa as president. Mr. Biden told reporters Wednesday that he plans to go in February, “after I’m reelected.”
The two leaders are holding a joint news conference Thursday, after their meetings and ahead of the state dinner.
“The world is safer when Kenya and the United States work together,” Mr. Biden said as Ruto arrived.
“Today, I am as optimistic and hopeful as I was those years ago, when Kenyan patriots raised that new flag high in that midnight sky,” Mr. Biden said. “Because Kenya and the United States stand together, committed to each other, committed to our people, and committed to building a better world.”
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
The night’s musical guest will be country music star Brad Paisley.
The food
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Thursday’s menu and decor are built around a seasonal theme, according to the White House executive chef.
The first course consists of chilled green tomato soup, with marinated onions and cucumber marinated in white balsamic vinegar.
“We are welcoming the beginning of summer,” White House executive chef Cris Comerford told reporters Wednesday.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
The entree is lobster poached in butter, along with marinated and lightly smoked short ribs.
Those dishes will be served on kale, roasted corn, a corn puree, roasted turnips, sweet potatoes and squash.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
And for dessert, the White House is serving a homemade white chocolate basket, with a nectarine paste inside. It will also have a banana ganache, fresh raspberries, and peaches. Surrounding the basket is fresh strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. The U.S. and Kenyan flags are stamped on the basket’s cover at the front of the dessert dish.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
The scene
White House social secretary Carlos Elizondo said a cocktail reception on the terrace will come before the dinner. As the sun sets, guests will enter the transparent pavilion, where more than 1,000 candles on the walls will frame the Washington Monument. The first lady loves candlelight, and the gesture is intended to make guests from abroad feel at home.
The gifts
The Bidens are also gifting the Kenyan couple a set of North Carolina-made rocking chairs with personalized inscriptions. They’re also giving the Rutos a first edition of “The Trumpet of Conscience” by Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Biden will give her Kenyan counterpart a custom pearl and peridot gemstone necklace made in Philadelphia.
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NASA researchers combined years of data and new imaging techniques to learn more about a “tipped over” black hole that is moving in an unexpected way.
The black hole is located in a galaxy called NGC 5084. Researchers have been aware of the galaxy for years, NASA said in a news release.
New analysis techniques developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California helped researchers see four long plumes of plasma emanating from the galaxy. Most galaxies don’t have plumes, and when they do, only one or two are present. The plumes suggested the galaxy might house a supermassive black hole, NASA said. Spotting both pairs, which formed an “X” shape, led researchers to focus more on the area.
Using archived data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Telescope based in Chile, researchers found that the galaxy also had a “small, dusty inner disk” rotating at the center of the galaxy, again suggesting a black hole there. Even more surprisingly, both the disk and black hole were rotating at a 90-degree angle relative to the rest of the galaxy, meaning both features are essentially “lying on their sides,” NASA said.
NASA/STScI, M. A. Malkan, B. Boizelle, A.S. Borlaff. HST WFPC2, WFC3/IR/UVIS.
“It was like seeing a crime scene with multiple types of light,” said research scientist Alejandro Serrano Borlaff, who will also publish a paper about the discovery, in the news release. “Putting all the pictures together revealed that NGC 5084 has changed a lot in its recent past.”
It’s not clear what caused the change in the galaxy. It may have collided with another galaxy and formed a chimney of superheated gas, creating the X-shaped plasma plumes. Further research will have to be conducted to learn more about the circumstances.
“Detecting two pairs of X-ray plumes in one galaxy is exceptional,” said Pamela Marcum, an astrophysicist at Ames and co-author on the discovery, in the news release. “The combination of their unusual, cross-shaped structure and the ‘tipped-over,’ dusty disk gives us unique insights into this galaxy’s history.”
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