Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown

Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown
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Updated 15 March 2025
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Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown

Trump signs a bill funding the government for 6 months, avoiding a shutdown
  • The bill largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden’s presidency, though with changes
  • Senate Democrats argued for days over whether to force a shutdown, livid that Republicans in the House had drafted and passed the spending measure without their input

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and capping off a struggle in Congress that deeply divided Democrats.
Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, said in a post on X that Trump signed the continuing resolution Saturday.
The bill largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden’s presidency, though with changes. It trims non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increases defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.
The Senate cleared the legislation on Friday in a 54-46 party line vote, with 10 members of the Senate Democratic caucus helping the bill advance to passage despite opposition from within their party — most vocally from colleagues in the House, who exhorted them to reject the bill out of hand.
Senate Democrats argued for days over whether to force a shutdown, livid that Republicans in the House had drafted and passed the spending measure without their input. Democrats said the legislation shortchanges health care, housing and other priorities and gives Trump wide leeway to redirect federal spending even as his administration and the Department of Government Efficiency rapidly dismantle congressionally approved agencies and programs.
In the end, enough of the Democratic senators decided a government shutdown would be even worse than letting the funding bill pass.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said a shutdown would have given the Trump administration the ability to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired.
“A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”
Passage of the funding bill through the House earlier in the week was a victory for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to hold Republicans together and muscle the bill to passage without support from Democrats — something they’ve rarely been able to achieve in the past.


Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’

Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’
Updated 6 sec ago
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Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’

Irish band Kneecap say Palestine statements ‘aren’t aggressive, murdering children is’
  • Kneecap concluded performance at Coachella music festival by projecting 3 screens of pro-Palestinian messages
  • Sharon Osbourne, a TV presenter, said group’s performance included ‘projections of anti-Israel messages’

LONDON: Northern Irish rap group Kneecap responded to calls for their US visas to be revoked after they displayed messages during their performance at the Coachella festival in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Kneecap, consisting of Moglai Bap and Mo Chara from Belfast, along with DJ Provai from Derry, told BBC Northern Ireland on Wednesday that their “statements aren’t aggressive, murdering 20,000 children is though,” in reference to Israeli actions in Gaza since late 2023.

The band concluded their performance at Coachella’s California desert music festival last weekend by projecting three screens of pro-Palestinian messages.

The first text said: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” followed by: “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes,” while the final message said: “F*** Israel. Free Palestine.”

Since October 2023, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while more than 100,000 others have been injured. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza.

The Irish band’s performance was not streamed on the festival’s official YouTube page, the BBC reported. During the performance, Mo Chara said: “The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the... skies with nowhere to go. The Palestinians have nowhere to go.”

During the second weekend of the Coachella festival, from April 17-19, the trio led the audience in chants of “free, free Palestine.”

The band is scheduled to perform at several shows in the US and Canada in the coming months. It said that almost all the concerts planned for their US tour in October have sold out.

Sharon Osbourne, a former judge on TV talent shows “The X Factor” and “America’s Got Talent,” urged US authorities to revoke Kneecap’s work visas following their performance at Coachella.

She said the band’s performance included “projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech.

“As someone of both Irish Catholic on my mother’s side and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage on her father’s side, and extensive experience in the music industry, I understand the complexities involved,” she said.

“I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecap’s work visa,” Osbourne added.

Commentators on Fox News condemned and accused the group of bringing “Nazi” sentiments to America.

Kneecap criticized Fox News comments, sharing fans’ supportive messages and noting that they received thousands of endorsements compared to “hundreds of violent Zionist threats.”

US authorities have not commented on the case, and no actions have been taken regarding the band’s visas.


Following Kashmir attack, Modi cuts short Saudi trip after talks on energy, defense

Following Kashmir attack, Modi cuts short Saudi trip after talks on energy, defense
Updated 40 min 45 sec ago
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Following Kashmir attack, Modi cuts short Saudi trip after talks on energy, defense

Following Kashmir attack, Modi cuts short Saudi trip after talks on energy, defense
  • Saudi Arabia is one of the top exporters of petroleum to India
  • Modi met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before cutting short his visit 

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia and India agreed to boost cooperation in supplies of crude and liquefied petroleum gas, according to a joint statement reported by the Saudi state news agency on Wednesday following a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was cut short by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. 

Saudi Arabia is one of the top exporters of petroleum to India. 

Modi met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before cutting short his visit and returning to New Delhi after an attack on India's Jammu and Kashmir territory which killed 26 people, the worst attack in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings. 

The two countries also agreed to deepen their defense ties and improve their cooperation in defence manufacturing, along with agreements in agriculture and food security.

"The two countries welcomed the excellent cooperation between the two sides in counter-terrorism and terror financing," the joint statement said.


Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports

Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports
Updated 23 April 2025
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Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports

Denmark’s King Frederik to visit Greenland, daily Sermitsiaq reports
  • The visit to Greenland by Denmark’s head of state comes as US President Donald Trump seeks a takeover

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s King Frederik will travel to Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, on April 28, Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq reported on Wednesday, citing the island’s own government.
The visit to Greenland by Denmark’s head of state comes as US President Donald Trump seeks a takeover by the United States of the minerals-rich and strategically important island.
Denmark has rejected Trump’s ambition and says only Greenlanders themselves can decide the territory’s future.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik-Nielsen will travel to Denmark on April 26, where he will meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, according to Sermitsiaq.
The king will travel to Greenland together with Nielsen when the prime minister returns to the island, according to the report.


Chechnya leader’s son, 17, becomes head of Chechen security council

Chechnya leader’s son, 17, becomes head of Chechen security council
Updated 23 April 2025
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Chechnya leader’s son, 17, becomes head of Chechen security council

Chechnya leader’s son, 17, becomes head of Chechen security council
  • It is the fourth time Adam Kadyrov has been appointed to an official position since 2023, when he was 15
  • He already serves as his father’s top bodyguard

The teenage son of Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has been appointed secretary of the region’s security council, according to the council’s Telegram channel.
Adam Kadyrov turned 17 in November 2024. It is the fourth time he has been appointed to an official position since 2023, when he was 15.
He already serves as his father’s top bodyguard, a trustee of Chechnya’s Special Forces University, and an observer in a new army battalion.
Ramzan Kadyrov has led Chechnya, a mountainous Muslim region in southern Russia that tried to break away from Moscow in wars that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, since 2007.
He enjoys wide leeway from Putin to run Chechnya as his personal fiefdom in return for ensuring the stability of the region, where an Islamist, anti-Russian insurgency continued for around a decade after the end of full-scale conflict there in the early 2000s.
His rise to power came after his own father, Akhmat, was killed in a 2004 bombing by insurgents who saw him as a turncoat.
In September 2023, Adam Kadyrov was shown, in a video posted by his father on social media, beating a detainee accused of burning the Qur'an. Ramzan Kadyrov said he was proud of his son for defending his Muslim religion.
The detainee, Nikita Zhuravel, has since been sentenced to three and a half years in prison.


Russian drone strike on bus kills 9 in Ukrainian city of Marhanets, Kyiv says

Russian drone strike on bus kills 9 in Ukrainian city of Marhanets, Kyiv says
Updated 23 April 2025
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Russian drone strike on bus kills 9 in Ukrainian city of Marhanets, Kyiv says

Russian drone strike on bus kills 9 in Ukrainian city of Marhanets, Kyiv says
  • Zelensky said the Russian strike hit a bus that was transporting workers of a mining and processing plant
  • “An ordinary bus. Clearly a civilian object, a civilian target,” Zelensky said

KYIV: A Russian drone hit a bus carrying workers in the Ukrainian city of Marhanets on Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring close to 50, Kyiv officials said, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a “deliberate war crime.”
Zelensky said the Russian strike hit a bus that was transporting workers of a mining and processing plant.
“An ordinary bus. Clearly a civilian object, a civilian target,” Zelensky said on X.
“It was an egregiously brutal attack – and an absolutely deliberate war crime,” he added, calling for “an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire.”
Russia fired a total of 134 attack drones at targets in Ukraine overnight, Kyiv’s air force said. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Ukrainian officials arrived in London on Wednesday, even as most other big power foreign ministers pulled out, to hold talks about ways to achieve a ceasefire as a first step toward peace.
Marhanets, in south-central Ukraine, lies on the Ukrainian-controlled north bank of the Dnipro river’s dried-up reservoir that separates the warring sides.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said nine people were killed in the attack and 49 were injured.
Zelensky shared photographs of the aftermath of the attack on X, showing bodies lying in and next to the bus and being carried away by emergency workers.
Zelensky added most of the injured were women.
Elsewhere, an energy plant that provides electricity to the city of Kherson near southern front lines was destroyed in an artillery and drone attack, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Ukraine’s emergency service also reported a drone strike on the Synelnykivskyi district in the Dnipropetrovsk region that injured two people and sparked a fire at an agricultural enterprise.
Russia further fired drones into the central region of Poltava, injuring at least six people, its governor said.
A drone attack on civilian infrastructure in the suburbs of the Black Sea port city of Odesa injured two people and sparked several fires, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
Russian drone salvoes also set off large-scale fires in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, in the northeast, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.
Seven private houses, a storage building and an outbuilding were also damaged by drones hitting the Kyiv capital region, where a fire also broke out in a restaurant complex, its regional governor said.
Both Russia and Ukraine are under pressure from the United States to demonstrate progress toward ending the war that began with Russia’s 2022 full-blown invasion amid warnings that US President Donald Trump could walk away from peacemaking.