01/10/2025

WEDNESDAY | OCT 1, 2025

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US heading towards govt shutdown

WASHINGTON: The United States government was heading towards a shutdown yesterday, with funding expiring at midnight and Democrats and Republicans digging in on their respective demands. A last-gasp meeting at the White House on Monday yielded no breakthrough on the issue, with top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer later saying “large differences” remained between both sides. His party, in the minority in both chambers of Congress, is seeking to flex its rare leverage over the federal government, eight months into Donald Trump’s barnstorming second presidency that has seen entire government agencies dismantled. Rules in the 100-member Senate require government funding Bills to receive 60 votes, seven more than the Republicans control. o Senate Republican leader accuses Democrats of ‘hostage-taking’ NEW YORK: The Trump administration deported a planeload of around 100 Iranians back to Iran from the United States, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing two senior Iranian officials involved in the negotiations and a US official with knowledge of the plans. Iranian officials said a US-chartered flight took off from Louisiana on Monday night and was scheduled to arrive in Iran by way of Qatar sometime yesterday, the report added. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. – Reuters SOLDIERS MISSING, QUITO: Ecuador’s government on Monday condemned the weekend’s violent incidents in Imbabura province, which left one civilian dead, 12 soldiers injured and 17 others missing during massive protests, reported Xinhua. The protests were triggered after the government announced on Sept 12 that it would end diesel subsidies, sparking fierce opposition from transport unions, indigenous communities and workers. On Sept 16, a 60-day state of emergency was declared in seven provinces. – Bernama-Xinhua Nicolas Maduro said on Monday he is ready to declare a state of emergency over the threat of US “aggression”, following a spate of deadly US strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats. “Today, the consultation process began to declare a state of emergency in accordance with the Constitution and to protect our people, our peace and our stability if Venezuela were attacked by the American empire, attacked militarily.“ Earlier in the day, Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez told foreign diplomats that Maduro had signed a decree giving himself “special powers” as head of state to act in matters of defence and security in the event the United States “dares to attack our homeland”. However, a government source told AFP that Maduro had not yet signed the document. “The vice-president presented the document to show that everything was ready WASHINGTON DEPORTS IRANIANS AFTER MAKING DEAL WITH TEHRAN INJURED FOLLOWING PROTESTS IN ECUADOR

Colombian minister renounces American visa in solidarity BOGOTA: Colombia’s Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio has announced that she would voluntarily renounce her US visa in a show of solidarity with President Gustavo Petro, whose visa was revoked, Anadolu Ajansi reported. “This is an act of dignity in the face of the unacceptable decision to revoke the visa of the president of Colombia. Our sovereignty does not bow down. Colombia must be respected.” Villavicencio acknowledged that relations with the United States are “tense” after the US State Department announced on Friday that it would revoke Petro’s visa due to his “incendiary actions” during a pro-Palestinian street protest in New York. “Earlier today, Colombian president @petrogustavo stood on a street and urged US soldiers to disobey orders and incite violence,” the department wrote on X. While in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, Petro had addressed a group of protesters. “I ask all soldiers in the US army not to point their rifles at humanity. Disobey Trump’s order! Obey the order of humanity!” he said. Petro, upon his return to Bogota, confirmed his visa revocation but dismissed the action. “I no longer have a visa to travel to the United States. I do not care,” he said, citing his status as a European citizen as a reason he does not need a visa to enter the United States. The visa revocation is the latest development in escalating tensions between the two nations. Colombia’s Interior Minister Armando Benedetti publicly sided with Petro, suggesting on X that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visa should have been revoked instead. “But since the empire protects him, it is taking it out on the only president who was capable enough to tell him the truth to his face.“ This diplomatic friction follows a series of recent conflicts, including Colombia’s move at the beginning of the year to block two US military planes carrying deported migrants from landing on its territory. The Trump administration then revoked visas for Colombian officials and threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Colombian goods. Last week, the United States decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs. – Bernama-Anadolu That time, 10 Senate Democrats, including Schumer, reluctantly voted for that Republican stopgap measure to avoid a shutdown. However, their decision angered the party base, which is calling on Democratic leaders to stand up to Trump. – AFP The House has already passed a short-term funding extension and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has sought to force Senate Democrats’ hands by not bringing his chamber back to Washington this week. Johnson, speaking alongside Vance and Thune, accused Democrats on Monday of “trying to bring in extraneous issues” instead of accepting his chamber’s “clean” proposal to extend funding. “If the Democrats make the decision to shut the government down, the consequences are on them and I think it is absolutely tragic,” he said. The gridlocked Congress regularly runs into deadlines to agree on spending plans. In March, with the threat of a shutdown already looming, Republicans refused to engage in dialogue with Democrats over massive budget cuts and the layoffs of thousands of federal employees.

Republicans have proposed to extend current funding until late November, pending negotiations on a longer-term spending plan. Democrats want to see hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare spending restored, particularly in the Obamacare health insurance programme for low-income households, which the Trump administration plans to eliminate through its so-called “big, beautiful” domestic policy Bill passed in July. They also want to block Trump and Republicans from cutting approved funds later through the so-called “rescissions” process, as they did this summer. The process requires only a simple majority to pass. Schumer said: “Ultimately, Trump is the decision-maker. And if he would accept some of the things we asked, which we think the American people are for, on healthcare and on rescissions, he could avoid a shutdown, but there are still large differences between us.” Vice-President J.D. Vance accused the Democrats of putting “a gun to the American people’s head” with their funding demands. “I think we are headed to a shutdown because the Democrats will not do the right thing,” he said on Monday.

Unless Congress passes a Bill before midnight to fund federal operations, the government would partially close up shop, plunging Washington into a new round of political crisis. A shutdown would see non-essential operations grind to a halt, leaving hundreds of thousands of civil servants temporarily without pay and disrupting payment of many social safety-net benefits. The White House upped the ante last week by ordering government agencies to prepare for layoffs that would go beyond the usual practice of temporary furloughs during a shutdown. The move would add to the pain of government workers after large-scale firings orchestrated by tycoon Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year. Government shutdowns are deeply unpopular in the United States, and Democrats and Republicans try to avoid the scenario while blaming the other camp should a closure arise. “This is purely and simply hostage-taking on behalf of the Democrats,” Senate Republican leader John Thune said on Monday of Schumer’s demands.

BR I E F S

APPRAISING WRECKAGE ... A man standing next to a damaged car after a flood that was caused by a storm in Zapopan, Jalisco state in Mexico on Monday. – AFPPIC

Venezuela ready to declare state of emergency CARACAS: Venezuelan President

Declaring a state of emergency would allow Maduro, whose disputed re-election last year was not recognised by much of the international community, to temporarily suspend Venezuelans’ basic rights. Rodriguez was confident that Venezuelans would unite behind Maduro in the event of a US attack. “Venezuela is united in the defence of our country. We would never surrender our homeland.” In his address, Maduro said he had “good feedback” from a private conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He said Guterres had expressed “astonishment at an unprecedented escalation, an extravagant escalation, which, for almost seven weeks, was announced and launched against a peaceful country, Venezuela.” These assertions have not been confirmed by the UN. – AFP

and that the president could decree it at any time,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Maduro, a left-wing authoritarian, placed Venezuela on high alert over a major US military deployment near his country’s coast. US President Donald Trump has deployed eight warships and a nuclear-powered submarine to the southern Caribbean as part of a stated plan to address drug trafficking, but which appears aimed at pressuring Maduro. US forces have destroyed at least three suspected drug boats in the Caribbean in recent weeks, killing 14 people in a move decried as “extrajudicial execution” by United Nations (UN) experts. US military officials are drawing up options to target drug traffickers inside Venezuela’s borders, according to a report by US news outlet NBC, citing four sources familiar with the discussions.