US government shuts down as Trump feuds with Democrats

Americans awoke to learn that bickering politicians in Washington had failed to keep their government in business, halting all but the most essential operations and marring the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. (AP)
Updated 20 January 2018
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US government shuts down as Trump feuds with Democrats

WASHINGTON: The world’s most powerful government shut down on Saturday after President Donald Trump and the US Congress failed to reach a deal on funding for federal agencies, highlighting America’s deep political divisions.
For the first time since October 2013 — when a similar standoff that lasted 16 days kept only essential agency operations running — federal workers were being told to stay at home or in some cases to work without pay until new funding is approved.
Republican and Democratic leaders were expected to renew negotiations on Saturday in the hope of restoring government financing before Monday.
The shutdown began a year to the day after Trump was sworn in as president.
His inability to cut a deal despite having a Republican majority in both houses of Congress marks arguably the most debilitating setback for his administration.
In Twitter posts early on Saturday, Trump blamed Democrat lawmakers.
“This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present,” he said.
“Democrats are far more concerned with illegal immigrants than they are with our great military or safety at our dangerous southern border,” he said. “They could have easily made a deal but decided to play shutdown politics instead.”
Trump said the shutdown showed the need to win more Republican seats in 2018 mid-term elections.
“We can then be even tougher on Crime (and Border), and even better to our Military & Veterans!” he said.
There had been modest hope on Friday when Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer went to the White House to talk with Trump. One person familiar with the events said the two men agreed to seek a grand deal in which Democrats would win protections from deportation for some 700,000 young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” and Trump would get more money for a border wall and tighter security to stem illegal immigration from Mexico.
By early evening, however, that plan was dead. The source said Trump had spoken with conservative Republicans and been hit with their objections to the deal with Schumer.
As he meets with US Air Force servicemen and women headed to a six month deployment in Kuwait, Vice President Mike Pence says the shutdown is "disappointing to every American" and blamed the situation on the Democrats.

Last week, Trump rejected a bipartisan Senate deal that would have protected the Dreamers as well as hand the White House $2.7 billion in new money for immigration enforcement at America’s borders.
In a statement issued minutes before Friday’s midnight deadline for a funding deal, Trump’s White House said: “We will not negotiate the status of unlawful immigrants while Democrats hold our lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands.”
The shutdown was cemented when the Senate, meeting late into Friday night, blocked a bill to maintain the federal government’s funding through Feb. 16.
The vote was 50-49, well short of the 60 needed in the 100-member chamber to vault the bill over a procedural hurdle.
Four Republicans joined most Democrats in killing the measure. A fifth Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted “no” too, but only as part of a parliamentary maneuver to make it easier to bring another bill to the floor.
The breakdown ended a long day of closed-door meetings in Congress and at the White House.
Even as they promised to work on getting the government back up again as soon as possible, Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the predicament.
“What we’ve just witnessed on the floor was a cynical decision by Senate Democrats to shove aside millions of Americans for the sake of irresponsible political games,” McConnell said.
Schumer said his party took significant steps to reach a deal, including raising the possibility of funding for Trump’s proposed wall along the US border with Mexico, which they have ardently opposed.
“It’s almost as if you were rooting for a shutdown,” Schumer said in comments aimed directly at Trump.
The immediate impact of the government shutdown was eased somewhat by its timing, starting on a weekend when most government employees normally do not work anyway.
The Defense Department said its combat operations in Afghanistan and other military activities would continue, while federal law enforcement officers also would remain on duty.
Trump’s administration also said it planned to keep national parks open with rangers and security guards on duty. The parks were closed during the last shutdown in 2013, which upset many tourists and resulted in the loss of $500 million in visitor spending in areas around the parks and at the Smithsonian museums.
But without a quick deal, most day-to-day operations in the federal government will be disrupted. Hundreds of thousands of government employees will be put on temporary unpaid leave, including many of the White House’s 1,700 workers.
On Monday, government employees ranging from financial regulators and tax collectors to scientists and civilian staff at the Pentagon will have to stay away from work.
Early on Saturday, McConnell offered up a new plan. Instead of the Feb. 16 end date for the temporary spending bill, he proposed Feb. 8.
Senate Democrats had argued this week for an extension of just four or five days to force both sides into serious negotiations on the immigration issue.
Open-air parks and monuments remained open in the US capital and on the National Mall preparations were under way for a second multi-city women’s rights march. Some tourists appeared unaware of the shutdown while others expressed frustration at lawmakers’ failure to reach a deal.
“It’s ironic that they get paid — meaning Congress — and the rest of the government doesn’t,” said Dawn Gaither, 57, a Washington teacher. “That’s what we need to do, kick these guys in the tail and get them to work.”
Elke Schmacker, 65, a retired government worker, said she was worried her pension payments and health insurance would be cut off.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen if I have to pay out of pocket,” she said, adding that she had continued to work during the last shutdown under the Obama administration.


Trump says he would love to make a deal with Iran

Updated 5 sec ago
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Trump says he would love to make a deal with Iran

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would love to make a deal with Iran to improve bilateral relations, but added that Tehran should not develop a nuclear weapon.

“I say this to Iran, who's listening very intently, 'I would love to be able to make a great deal. A deal where you can get on with your lives,”” Trump told reporters in Washington.

“They cannot have one thing. They cannot have a nuclear weapon and if I think that they will have a nuclear weapon ... I think that's going to be very unfortunate for them,” He said.


Drone attack sparks blaze at oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar, governor says

Updated 18 min 14 sec ago
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Drone attack sparks blaze at oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar, governor says

A Ukrainian drone attack overnight sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar that has since been extinguished, regional officials said on Wednesday.
A series of drone attacks by Ukraine on Russia’s energy facilities have sparked fires in recent days at a major oil refinery in the Volgograd region, as well as at the Astrakhan gas processing plant.
“The fire in a tank with oil product residues in the village of Novominskaya in the Kanevsky District was fully extinguished,” the region’s operational authorities said on the Telegram messaging app.
Earlier, Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the Krasnodar region, said that there were no injuries in the fire that was caused by a falling drone debris. A team of 19 people wielding 19 items of equipment were fighting the flames, he said.
Kondratyev did not say which depot was on fire or detail the extent of damage.
The Russian defense ministry said that four Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Russian territory overnight, but did not mention the Krasnodar region in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
The ministry only reports drones that its air defense systems destroy, not how many were launched.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv says that its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow’s war in Ukraine and are in response to Russian continued bombing of Ukraine.


5 people wounded in shooting at Ohio cosmetics warehouse

Updated 33 min ago
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5 people wounded in shooting at Ohio cosmetics warehouse

  • Police say five people have been wounded in a shooting at a cosmetics warehouse in New Albany, Ohio
  • A spokesperson for New Albany says victims of Tuesday night’s shooting have been transported to the hospital

NEW ALBANY: Five people were wounded in a shooting Tuesday night at a cosmetics warehouse in Ohio, officials said.
The victims have been transported to the hospital and the suspect is no longer believed to be at the building, said Josh Poland, a spokesperson for the city of New Albany.
The shooting happened at the warehouse for a company that makes products including cosmetics and toiletries. Police did not immediately provide details of the circumstances surrounding the shooting or the conditions of those wounded.
Police were working to evacuate all the employees following the shooting, which happened just before 11 p.m., police said in a statement.


India PM Modi’s party seeks to oust anti-corruption crusader in New Delhi state elections

Updated 05 February 2025
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India PM Modi’s party seeks to oust anti-corruption crusader in New Delhi state elections

  • Thousands are voting in the Indian capital’s state legislature election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party trying to unseat a powerful regional group that has ruled New Delhi
  • Kejriwal’s party won 62 out of 70 seats in the last election in 2020

NEW DELHI: Thousands begin voting in the Indian capital’s state legislature election on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party trying to unseat a powerful regional group that has ruled New Delhi for over a decade.
Voters walked to polling booths on a cold, wintry morning to cast their ballots across the sprawling capital. Manish Sisodia, a key Aam Aadmi Party leader, and others offered prayers in a temple before voting.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is up against the AAP, led by Arvind Kejriwal, which runs New Delhi and has built a vast support base on its welfare policies and an anti-corruption movement. Kejriwal, a popular crusader against corruption, suffered a setback as he himself faced graft allegations.
The AAP won 62 out of 70 seats in a landslide victory in the last election, held in 2020. leaving BJP with only eight and the Congress party with none. The AAP had also swept the 2015 state elections, winning 67 seats, with the BJP taking three.
Modi and Kejriwal have both campaigned vigorously in roadshows with thousands of supporters tailing them. They have offered to revamp government schools and provide free health services and electricity, and a monthly stipend of over 2,000 rupees ($25) to poor women.
Voting ends later Wednesday, with results due on Saturday. More than 15 million people are eligible to vote in New Delhi’s election.
Arati Jerath, a political commentator, predicted a tight contest between the two parties, saying, “Even since the AAP rose to prominence, it has been a one-sided contest.”
Delhi, a city of more than 20 million people, is a federal territory that Modi’s party has not won for over 27 years despite having a sizable support base there.
Kejriwal and other AAP leaders recently faced graft allegations in a liquor license case.
Neerja Chowdhury, a political analyst, said the liquor policy case — in which several AAP leaders, including Kejriwal, went to jail — had dented Kejriwal’s clean image.
Kejriwal was arrested last year along with two key leaders of his party ahead of national elections on charges of receiving bribes from a liquor distributor. They have consistently denied the accusations, saying they are part of a political conspiracy. The Supreme Court allowed the release of Kejriwal and other ministers on bail.
Kejriwal later relinquished the chief minister’s post to his most senior party leader.
The BJP, which failed to secure a majority on its own in last year’s national election but formed the government with coalition partners, has gained some lost ground by winning two state elections in northern Haryana and western Maharashtra states.
Modi’s party hopes to benefit after last week’s federal budget slashed income taxes on the salaried middle class, one of its key voting blocks.
Opposition parties widely condemned Kejriwal’s arrest, accusing Modi’s government of misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken political opponents, and pointed to several raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures in the months before the national election.
Kejriwal vowed to be an anti-corruption crusader and formed the AAP in 2012 after tapping into public anger against the then-Congress party government over a series of corruption scandals. His pro-poor policies have focused on fixing state-run schools and providing cheap electricity, free health care and bus transport for women.
The BJP was voted out of power in Delhi in 1998 by the Congress party, which ran the government for 15 years. In the 2015 and 2020 elections in Delhi, the AAP won landslide victories.


Vietnamese man sentenced to 44 years for plotting suicide attack at London’s Heathrow

Metropolitan Police officers stand guard in central London, on January 21, 2023. (AFP)
Updated 05 February 2025
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Vietnamese man sentenced to 44 years for plotting suicide attack at London’s Heathrow

  • He spent a year in Yemen, where he received “military-type” training and helped prepare the group’s magazine, Inspire, working directly with Samir Khan, a US citizen who served as its editor and died in a US drone strike in 2011, according to the departme

LONDON: A Vietnamese man was sentenced to 44 years in prison for attempting to carry out a suicide attack at Heathrow International Airport in London, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
Minh Quang Pham, 41, who was alleged to have traveled to Yemen to receive military training from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, had previously pleaded guilty charges that included providing material support to the group.
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Danielle R. Sassoon described his actions not only as an affront to the safety of the US “but to the principles of peace and security that we hold dear.”
“Today’s sentencing underscores our collective resolve to stop terrorism before it occurs, and place would-be terrorists in prison,” Sassoon said in a statement.
The Justice Department said Pham traveled from the United Kingdom to Yemen in December 2010 and took an oath of allegiance to the militant group, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization.
He spent a year in Yemen, where he received “military-type” training and helped prepare the group’s magazine, Inspire, working directly with Samir Khan, a US citizen who served as its editor and died in a US drone strike in 2011, according to the department.
Pham was arrested by British authorities in 2011 and extradited to the United States four years later to face terrorism charges, it added.