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A federal shutdown threatens America…and lawmakers face deadlock

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A federal shutdown threatens America…and lawmakers face deadlock

The U.S. moves closer to shutting down federal agencies at midnight today as lawmakers reach an impasse over agreeing a short-term spending bill and the chances of averting it dwindle.

The U.S. fiscal year begins tomorrow, Oct. 1, but bitter disagreements among Republicans over the size of the federal debt have prevented passage of bills needed to keep the government funded and open.

A hard-line Republican House of Representatives rejected any temporary measures to save the country from closing federal agencies. Yesterday, Republicans rejected a plan proposed by their leader, Kevin McCarthy, to temporarily fund the government through a draft law that voted 198 to 232.

Moody’s, the credit rating agency, warned that the shutdown would be “negative” for U.S. sovereign debt, threatening its top rating and driving higher borrowing costs.

Here’s what happens in the event of a federal shutdown in the US:

1. No pay for federal employees: Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be on unpaid leave, while members of the military and other employees deemed “essential” will continue to work without pay. The American Federation of Government Employees estimates that a full shutdown would result in about 1.8 million federal employees receiving their full-time salaries, and about 850,000 non-essential employees would be placed on unpaid leave, according to the Committee for a Responsible Public Budget, an independent organization. If achieved, these restrictions will be lifted and all employees will be paid in advance, the union said.

2. Only essential services: Only essential services will continue to operate, Social Assistance checks continued to be paid during previous shutdowns, and air traffic controllers, border guards and hospital staff remained on duty, but many services are likely to remain. Surveys of food and environmental sites other than national parks, including new applications for social security and medical care, will also have a greater impact on the closure period.

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3. Economic impact: Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate the shutdown will hurt economic growth by 0.2 percentage points each week in the fourth quarter, and Goldman’s note suggests it could take two to three weeks to lift the shutdown. Sachs economists dismissed it as saying “no immediate concessions have been made by either party”. According to the memo, “Even if the funding cuts were quickly lifted, the political environment before the (current) deadline is reminiscent of the situation a long time ago. The shutdowns.”

Oxford Economics estimates that the loss of productivity of government workers irreparably costs annual economic growth 0.1 percent a week, and a shutdown could indirectly hurt the economy because unpaid federal workers would cut back on their spending.

The potential shutdown is starting to weigh on Wall Street, with major stock indexes falling as the deadline nears.

4. No information for the Federal Reserve: Economists fear that the shutdown will also stop the release of federal government data, and that raises concerns about the Federal Reserve, which will be guided by this data to approve possible changes in interest rates. . The Federal Reserve has recently slowed the pace of raising interest rates as it tackles inflation.

In the absence of new data, the US Federal Reserve will be forced to make decisions with ramifications for the economy, without a clear picture of the situation, and the impact of a shutdown in the short term will be limited in the long term. , it could become a big problem if delegates fail to reach an agreement.

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Israeli bombing of Gaza after cease-fire ends

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Israeli bombing of Gaza after cease-fire ends

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On Friday, the Gaza Strip was subjected to a violent Israeli bombardment that claimed dozens of lives in a single day, ending a week-long ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which had once again vowed to eliminate the Palestinian movement.

International calls to resume the ceasefire continue, warning of the consequences of resuming fighting on civilians in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian crisis is worsening.

Shells and missiles lit up the Gaza sky after evening rain, while thick clouds of black smoke rose throughout the day from several targeted areas in the besieged region.

For their part, Palestinian factions fired missiles at Israel and sounded sirens in several areas around the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas Health Ministry announced that “the death toll from the Israeli occupation from this morning to today is 178 martyrs and 589 wounded, most of them children and women.”

The Israeli military reported bombing more than 200 targets in the Strip.

A cease-fire between Hamas and Israel came into effect on November 24 at 5:00 PM GMT.

As the strikes began, thousands of residents of the Gaza Strip began returning to hospitals and schools, as Agence France-Presse reporters in the besieged area witnessed.

Israeli government spokesman Elon Levy said “Hamas will now receive a fatal blow”, accusing the movement of not handing over a new list of hostages for release. He added, “Unfortunately, Hamas decided to end the ceasefire by not releasing all the kidnapped women.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his “deep regret” over the resumption of fighting, “expressing his hope that the ceasefire will be renewed. The resumption of military operations shows the importance of achieving an effective humanitarian ceasefire.”

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Despite the resumption of fighting, Qatar’s foreign ministry confirmed in a statement on Friday that “negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides continue with the aim of returning to a ceasefire” and called on the international community to “move quickly”. The fighting must stop.”

The White House also confirmed on Friday that the United States was continuing to work to extend the humanitarian ceasefire.

A National Security Council spokesman said, “We continue to work with Israel, Egypt and Qatar on efforts to extend the humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.”

The seven-day ceasefire was observed after Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in response to an unprecedented and bloody attack on Israeli territory by the Hamas movement on October 7.

The Israeli military estimates the number of people detained and held hostage in the Gaza Strip in the October 7 attack was around 240.

The ceasefire allowed the release of 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners. Most Thai expatriates working in Israel were released outside the framework of the cease-fire agreement.

The Israeli military announced on Friday that it had confirmed the deaths of five hostages held in the Gaza Strip, notified their families, and recovered the body of one of them in a security operation.

Hamas had earlier announced that an Israeli bombardment of Gaza had killed nearly sixty hostages.

– “Exclusion” Zones –

On Friday, the Israeli military released a map of the so-called “exit zones” in the Gaza Strip, after an international call for Gaza residents to leave, the establishment of safe zones and a US plea to refrain from killing civilians. .

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The map, written in Arabic, divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered sections and is available on the Israeli military’s website.

The military said the goal of the map was to enable residents to “evacuate specific locations for their safety if necessary.”

Warnings were sent through short text messages to residents of several parts of the Gaza Strip on Friday, warning that the army would launch a crushing military offensive on your residential area on Friday.

The message urged people to take immediate action.

The Palestinian Authority, through presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudayna, condemned what it described as “the continuation of the crime of ethnic cleansing and genocide, and attempts to displace and dissolve the Palestinian cause.”

The Hamas government media office announced on Friday that three Palestinian journalists had been killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.

read more:

Israeli bombing of Gaza after cease-fire ends

White House: Israel to allow aid trucks into Gaza

The Israeli army has confirmed the killing of 5 hostages in the Gaza Strip and informed their families

Egypt condemns the collapse of the ceasefire and Israel’s renewed violent bombing of the Gaza Strip

The Israeli army has confirmed the killing of 5 hostages in the Gaza Strip and informed their families

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that 178 Palestinians have been killed and 500 injured in Israeli bombardment since the end of the ceasefire.

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The Gaza war will last more than a few weeks

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The Gaza war will last more than a few weeks

Jerusalem / Abdel Raoub Arnaud / Anatolia

Hebrew newspaper Maariv said on Friday that Israeli army chief Herzey Halevy informed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Thursday that the war in Gaza would take more than a few weeks.

Halevy’s words came in response to Blinken’s question on the matter, the newspaper quoted two Israeli sources familiar with Thursday’s meeting with the Israeli military cabinet in West Jerusalem.

He said: “Blinken raised the issue on his own initiative, and how long the Israeli army’s operation in Gaza is expected to continue in its current scope, which includes very large ground forces.”

According to the newspaper: “Blinken explained that (US President Joe) Biden’s administration is concerned that continued Israeli military action in Gaza, especially with the scale and intensity it is currently taking, will significantly increase international pressure. On Israel and America.”

He continued: “According to the sources, Blinken asked Israel to take additional measures to ensure that the operation in the southern Gaza Strip does not cause serious harm to civilians.”

It reported that Halevy responded that “the IDF’s operation in Gaza, including in the southern region, is expected to continue for more than a few weeks.”

Maariv pointed out that the Biden administration “has yet to call for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, or demand that Israel cease military action.”

He added: “But there is deep concern in Washington about the resumption of military action in the Gaza Strip after the (temporary) ceasefire that ended on Friday morning, especially about the (anticipated) Israeli military action in the south of the Gaza Strip, home to two million Palestinians.

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He added: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Levy told Blinken that ground operations in southern Gaza would be less harmful to civilians than airstrikes.”

On Friday morning, a temporary cease-fire in the Gaza Strip ended on November 24 with Qatari-Egyptian mediation and lasted for 7 days, during which prisoners were exchanged and humanitarian aid brought into the enclave of about 2.3 million people. Palestinians.

During the pre-ceasefire round, the Israeli military repeated its messages, which asked residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move to the southern Gaza Strip, but targeted the displaced in areas and roads it said were “safe”. It committed documented massacres, which met with international and international condemnation.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war in the Gaza Strip that has caused massive infrastructural destruction and tens of thousands of civilian casualties, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, according to an official Palestinian official. and UN

The message published on the official page of Anadolu Agency is a summary of a part of the message shown to subscribers via the News Streaming System (HAS). To register with the agency, please contact the following link.

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Martyrs and Injured in Israeli Attacks on Gaza After the End of the Ceasefire | news

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Martyrs and Injured in Israeli Attacks on Gaza After the End of the Ceasefire |  news

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4 Palestinians were killed and several others injured in attacks by the Israeli occupation army in different areas of Gaza.Clashes erupted on multiple axes in the area minutes after the end of a week-long humanitarian ceasefire. And its extension has not been announced.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza reported martyrs and wounded as a result of an Israeli attack targeting a house in central Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

The 4-day ceasefire that started last Friday was extended twice and ended today at 7 am local time.

The Israeli military said it had resumed operations against the Palestinian Islamist movement (Hamas) in Gaza, accusing the movement of violating ceasefire terms and firing into Israel. Gaza

The Israeli military confirmed that its warplanes were bombing all areas of the Gaza Strip, and military radio quoted a senior political source as saying, “We are back to fighting with full force and no negotiations have been held to release the abductees.”

Al Jazeera’s correspondent monitored the Israeli offensive in the northwest of the Gaza Strip and artillery attacks targeting various parts of Gaza City. He confirmed that clashes broke out between the opposition and occupation forces in more than one area in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip. He said the Israeli strike targeted a site near Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The reporter confirmed that casualties were reported as a result of Israeli strikes and artillery fire in various parts of Gaza.

The government media office in Gaza announced a series of raids targeting the south of the Strip, while Gaza’s Interior Ministry confirmed that Israeli aircraft had targeted the town of Abasan east of Khan Yunis and a house in the Abu Iskandar area in the northwest. of Gaza City.

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The seven-day ceasefire allowed for the exchange of prisoners from occupied prisons to Palestinian prisoners in Gaza, and facilitated the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

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