Blog

The US government remained shut down for a third straight day on Friday, with no signs that congressional lawmakers had made progress on reaching an agreement to restart operations.

The Senate will convene in the afternoon to vote on dueling Republican and Democratic proposals for continuing funding over the coming weeks, but neither bill appears to have the support to clear the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for advancement. The shutdown is the first since 2019, and if the votes fail, it will ensure that federal departments remained closed and workers furloughed into next week.

Funding lapsed after midnight Wednesday when Senate Democrats refused to provide the votes necessary to pass a Republican funding bill, and demanded concessions on healthcare and other spending priorities.

Donald Trump and the Republican leaders of Congress have balked, and on Friday, the labor department did not release its monthly data on job creation and unemployment, citing the shutdown. The White House continued its streak of cancelling funding for projects in Democratic-led areas, with office of management and budget director Russell Vought announcing $2.1bn for two transit infrastructure projects in Chicago had been put on hold “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting”.

Democrats want any spending bill to include a reversal of cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income and disabled Americans, which Republicans approved earlier this year, as well as an extension of premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act plans. Healthcare costs are expected to rise for about 20 million people if the credits are not extended, while about 10 million people may lose health insurance due to the cuts to Medicaid and similar programs.

Democrats also want money cut from public media restored, and Trump’s “pocket rescission” of foreign aid funds stopped, arguing that it undermines Congress’s power of the purse.

John Thune, the Senate majority leader, has ruled out bargaining over those terms until government funding is restored, and in an interview with NBC News Thursday, indicated he was not negotiating with his Democratic counterpart, Chuck Schumer. “Our offices are not far apart, so if he wants to chat, he knows where to find me. But I think at this point right now, the issue set is pretty straightforward. I don’t know that … negotiation is going to accomplish a lot.”

His comments echoed those of Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, who said “I quite literally have nothing to negotiate” with the Democrats.

The minority party has shown no sign of changing its position. “Democrats are very clear. We want to reopen it. We stand by hardworking federal civil servants. We want to find a bipartisan path forward. But it’s got to be an agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people,” House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC.

It remains to be seen if enough Democratic senators will continue supporting the party’s position. Three Democrats have voted to advance the Republican funding bill, a division in the party that GOP leaders have said they will try to exploit.

Trump has sought to make the stakes of this shutdown unusually high. In addition to slashing funding in a way he has described as intended to punish Democrats, he has threatened to conduct mass layoffs of federal workers.

Several government departments have posted partisan and potentially illegal messages saying their operations are curtailed due to “the Radical Left Democrat shutdown”. Sources at the education department say their out-of-office email messages were changed without their permission to use rhetoric blaming Democrats.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday morning by a federal judge in New York, following his conviction earlier this year on federal prostitution-related charges.

Here’s a recap of his criminal case: what he was indicted for, what happened at trial, and what might happen next.

What was he found guilty of?

In July, after an eight-week trial, a jury found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of the most serious charges against him, racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, which carried the possibility of a life sentence.

The charges on which he was found guilty each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. Combs pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Judge Arun Subramanian, who oversaw the trial, will hand down the sentence on Friday, with the hearing due to begin at 10am ET in federal district court in lower Manhattan.

Combs, 55, has been held without bail at the Brooklyn metropolitan detention center since his arrest in September last year. Since the verdict, the judge has denied two bail requests from Combs’s lawyers, and earlier this week Subramanian also rejected a motion to overturn the convictions.

What was Combs accused of?

Federal prosecutors accused the Bad Boy Records founder of using his power, fame, wealth and influence, and using violence, threats and blackmail, to coerce two of his former girlfriends into participating in drug-fueled sexual marathons with male escorts. Such sessions were often referred to by the defendant as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights”, which they said Combs orchestrated, watched, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.

The government alleged that for more than two decades, Combs operated a criminal enterprise – aided by employees and associates – to carry out and conceal crimes including sex-trafficking, drug distribution, bribery and kidnapping.

Despite being convicted on two counts, Combs has denied wrongdoing. His lawyers have insisted that all sexual activity was consensual and that no criminal enterprise existed.

What happened at trial?

The prosecution called more than 30 witnesses, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends – singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and another woman who testified under the pseudonym of “Jane” – who described the so-called “freak-offs” in graphic detail, and alleged that Combs coerced and threatened them into participating.

Ventura was the star prosecution witness. She testified that during her 11-year, on-off relationship with Combs, he subjected her to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and to blackmail. The jury was shown the 2016 hotel surveillance footage of Combs attacking Ventura in a hallway. Jane also told the court of a violent altercation with Combs.

Other witnesses included former employees, male escorts, law enforcement agents, hotel staff and public figures including rapper Kid Cudi and singer Dawn Richard. Combs did not testify.

Combs’s legal team acknowledged past instances of domestic violence, but denied that any coercion or sex trafficking took place. They maintained that all sexual activity was consensual and part of a “swingers’ lifestyle”, and argued that Ventura and Jane were willing participants in the sex acts.

How much time could he serve?

Combs’s attorneys have asked the judge for a sentence of no more than 14 months in prison, which, given time already served, would allow for his release before the end of the year. They argue that Combs has already been “adequately punished by serving 13 months in the terrible conditions” at the detention center.

Federal prosecutors, however, have requested at least 135 months (11 years and three months) and a $500,000 fine. In court filings, they described Combs as “unrepentant” and said that “his history and characteristics demonstrate years of abuse and violence.”

In a letter to the judge, on the eve of his sentencing, asking for a second chance, Combs combined some apologies with vivid descriptions of his own physical and emotional suffering while in jail.

What was said in victim impact statements?

The prosecution submitted several victim impact statements to the court ahead of sentencing, including one from Ventura.

“While the jury did not seem to understand or believe that I engaged in freak-offs because of the force and coercion the defendant used against me, I know that is the truth, and his sentence should reflect the reality of the evidence and my lived experience as a victim,” Ventura wrote.

“I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse, at trial,” she wrote.

“If there is one thing I have learned from this experience, it is that victims and survivors will never be safe,” she added. “I hope that your decision considers the truths at hand that the jury failed to see.”

What happens next?

After sentencing, Combs’s legal team could appeal against the decision. Combs’s team is also expected to appeal his conviction.

Separately, Combs faces dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault and other misconduct. He has denied all allegations in those suits.

Dame Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female leader in the history of the Church of England as Downing Street announced the 106th archbishop of Canterbury nearly a year on from Justin Welby’s resignation over the handling of a safeguarding scandal.

A former chief nursing officer for England, Mullally, 63, a mother of two and the Bishop of London, is now archbishop of Canterbury-designate. She will legally become the archbishop at a ceremony in Canterbury Cathedral in January, followed by a formal enthronement service at a later date where members of the royal family are likely to be present.

The appointment of a woman as the archbishop of Canterbury had been widely anticipated as this was the first time the role has been chosen since the Church of England allowed women to become bishops in 2014.

In her first address at Canterbury Cathedral, Mullally acknowledged her new role would be “complex and challenging”. There would be “much talk” about this as “a historic moment – a joyous one for many”, she said. She shared in that joy “not for myself, but for a Church that listens to the calling of God and says: ‘Yes, we will follow you.’”

Some would ask what it means for a woman to lead the Church of England, she added, saying: “I intend to be a shepherd, who enables everyone’s ministry and vocation to flourish – whatever the tradition.” She thanked “all the men and women, lay and ordained deacons, priests and bishops who have paved the way for this moment, and to all the women that have gone before me.”

She pledged to confront the safeguarding failures that led her predecessor to step down. The church had “too often failed to take seriously the misuse of power in all its forms”. She would to “listen to survivors and the vulnerable”.

“Our history of safeguarding failures have left a legacy of deep harm and mistrust, and we must all be willing to have light shone on our actions, regardless of our role in the Church,” she said.

Of the “horrific violence” of Thursday’s attack on a synagogue in Manchester, she said: “We are witnessing hatred that rises up through fractures across our communities.” The church had “a responsibility to be a people who stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism in all its forms. Hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart.”

Britain was “wrestling with complex moral and political questions”, she added. “The legal right of terminally ill people to end their own lives, our response to people fleeing war and persecution to seek safety and refuge, the pressures on communities who have been overlooked and undervalued, the deep-rooted question of who we are as a nation, in a world that so often seems on the brink.”

Mullally’s name was passed to Downing Street by the Crown Nominations Commission, chaired by Lord Evans of Weardale, a former director general of MI5, after months of deliberation by the 20-member panel, of which 17 are voting members and 12 must agree. After agreement, a name by tradition is given to the prime minister – in this case Keir Starmer – and then passed to the monarch.

Welcoming her appointment, Starmer said the Church of England was of “profound importance to this country”. The archbishop would “ play a key role in our national life”.

Buckingham Palace said: “His Majesty congratulates Bishop Sarah on her appointment as archbishop-designate, a role which is of such importance in the UK and across the global Anglican Communion.”

The appointment of a woman will be seen as a defining moment. For many liberal members of the church it will serve as an important acknowledgment of just how far women have come within the institution. The first female bishop was consecrated in 2015. But it will probably anger more conservative wings of the institution, which also represents Anglican churches outside the UK.

Before being ordained Mullally, who is from Woking, worked as a cancer nurse in the NHS, and became the government’s chief nursing officer for England, aged 37. She was made a dame in recognition of her outstanding contribution to nursing. She is married to Eamonn Mullally and they have two grown-up children, Liam and Grace.

She takes on the role as the Church of England tries to tackle key issues, including that of same-sex marriage, declining church attendance, restoring trust after abuse scandals as well has how to respond to Christian nationalism on the far right.

The global role the archbishop as head of 85 million Anglicans world wide means previous holders of the position have walked a tightrope between conservative churches in African nations, where homosexuality is outlawed in some places, and more liberal voices in the west.

The campaign group for equality for women in the Church of England, Watch, has said it would welcome the announcement of the first female archbishop of Canterbury, and hoped it would lead to further equality for women in the church. It claimed there were still eight bishops who would not receive communion from the new archbishop as it published a list of 587 churches on its website which it claims limit women in the church.

One of the victims killed at the Manchester synagogue attack appears to have been shot dead by the armed police officers who rushed to the scene.

In a statement, chief constable Sir Stephen Watson, said the home office pathologist had provisionally determined that the man had died of a gun-shot wound.

The suspect, Jihad al-Shamie, had not had a firearm and the only shots fired were by the police officers at the scene.

It is believed that the victim was among those behind the synagogue door seeking to prevent the attacker from gaining entry.

Watson said: “Overnight, we have taken advice from the Home Office pathologist ahead of full postmortem examinations scheduled for later today.

“The Home Office pathologist has advised that he has provisionally determined that one of the deceased victims would appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury.

“It is currently believed that the suspect, Jihad al-Shamie, was not in possession of a firearm and the only shots fired were from GMP’s Authorised Firearms Officers as they worked to prevent the offender from entering the synagogue and causing further harm to our Jewish community.

“It follows therefore that subject to further forensic examination, this injury may sadly have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers to bring this vicious attack to an end.”

The two victims killed in Thursday’s attack at Heaton Park synagogue in north Manchester had been named by police on Friday as 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz.

The men were killed when a car was used to ram into the grounds of the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, then stabbed worshippers in a six-minute rampage that ended only when armed officers shot at him twice, killing him at the door of the temple.

Three others were seriously injured in the attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

Watson said: “We have also been advised by medical professionals that one of the three victims currently receiving treatment in hospital has also suffered a gunshot wound, which is mercifully not life threatening. It is believed that both victims were close together behind the synagogue door, as worshippers acted bravely to prevent the attacker from gaining entry.

“Our thoughts and prayers remain with all of the families, and the wider community, impacted by this incident across Greater Manchester and beyond. Specialist officers are providing support and care for all of those directly affected, including our brave first responders.”

Police named the attacker on Thursday night as Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent. Greater Manchester police said that three other people – two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s – had been arrested “on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism”.

More details to follow …

Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of the UK Space Command.

Speaking to the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman said Russian forces were actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities “weekly” and were closely monitoring the country’s space assets.

“We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,” he said.

The UK operates about six dedicated military satellites for communications and surveillance, which Tedman said were equipped with counter-jamming technology.

He added: “They’ve got payloads onboard that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them.”

The threat of space-based interference is not limited to the UK. In September, Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, revealed that Russia had been tracking two Intelsat satellites used by the German military.

“They can jam, blind, manipulate or kinetically disrupt satellites,” he said at a space conference in Berlin.

In response to growing international tensions, the UK and the US last month conducted their first coordinated satellite manoeuvre in space, in what defence officials hailed as a major step forward in allied cooperation.

Between 4 and 12 September, a US satellite was repositioned in orbit to inspect a UK satellite and confirm it was functioning properly. The test was part of Operation Olympic Defender, a joint military framework aimed at improving satellite defence and resilience.

“Expertly executed with US Space Command, I could not be more pleased or proud of the rapid progress we are making with our allies,” Tedman said.

The escalation in space comes as tensions with Russia continue to rise.

The UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, warned last week that Britain was “ready to act” after the US president, Donald Trump, publicly urged Nato allies to shoot down intruding Russian aircraft.

In a speech to the UN in September, Cooper condemned Moscow’s “provocative and reckless” violations of Nato airspace in recent weeks, including incidents over Estonia, Poland and Romania.

A large fire has broken out at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery in Los Angeles county in California, according to US media reports.

The blaze began on Thursday night, after emergency services received reports of an explosion at the site, according to CBS news. The cause is unclear.

Footage soon emerged showing a bright ball of orange flame against the night sky, followed by plumes of smoke.

There have been no reports of injuries or evacuations.

Mark Rogers told the LA Times he was playing in his weekly adult soccer league at Aviation Park, a few miles from the Chevron plant, when the apparent explosion took place. “I thought we got nuked or something,” Rogers, 34, told the paper. The referee cancelled their game due to the heavy smoke, it reports.

This is a breaking new story, please check back for updates