☕ No end in sight for shutdown

Good morning.

It’s day two of the federal government shutdown, and no clear path has emerged in early discussions between Republican and Democratic leadership. According to a tally kept by the New York Times, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Education and Department of Commerce are the most impacted agencies of government. We’ll be here to update you throughout the shutdown.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• Two people have died and another three are in a serious condition after a car ramming and stabbing attack at a synagogue in Manchester, UK. The suspect was killed by police at the scene, with video footage on social media appearing to depict the suspect with items around his waist. Worshippers were attending the morning service for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, known as the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has cut short a trip to Denmark in order to attend emergency meetings, and has already announced increased security at Jewish sites across the UK for the coming days.

• Israel has intercepted several boats trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Climate activist Greta Thunberg and Australian filmmaker Juliet Lamont are on board. The organisers, the Global Sumud Flotilla, called the interception an “illegal attack on unarmed humanitarians”. Israel claimed the boats were “safely stopped” and that the people on board were “safe and healthy”. The UN has declared parts of Gaza are experiencing famine, following Israel’s aid blockade earlier this year.

• Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X, briefly became the first person to have a net worth of over $500 billion on Wednesday afternoon (NY time). The world’s richest man’s fortune settled at $499 billion soon after an initial jump provided by the rising value of Tesla and his other businesses, like xAI and SpaceX. The jump comes after Musk was recently dethroned as the world’s richest person by Oracle founder Larry Ellison; however, the recent increase in wealth sees him far above his competitors. The increased value in companies is thought to be spurred by investors responding to Musk’s commitment to running them after assuming a public role in Donald Trump’s White House earlier this year.

• Dozens of children remain trapped beneath the rubble of an Indonesian school, which collapsed on Monday. At least six people died when part of the multi-storey building caved in without warning. According to local authorities, extra floors were being added to the boarding school in East Java when its unstable foundations gave way. Hundreds of students, mostly teen boys, were gathered inside for afternoon prayers at the time. Search efforts were hampered by an earthquake early on Wednesday, but rescuers have since pulled five survivors from the rubble, who were “immediately rushed to hospital,” including one in a critical condition. Around 60 people remain trapped, according to the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency.

I’ve got 1 minute

Internet has been restored to millions of people in Afghanistan, two days after the Taliban suspended service.

It comes weeks after local authorities in one province banned fibre-optic internet as a way to crack down on what they described as immoral behaviour.

The United Nations’ office in the country condemned the move, warning it risked worsening “one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”

The Taliban

The Taliban is an extremist Islamist group that held power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

In 2021, it seized power again after the U.S. (and allies, including Australia) withdrew troops from Afghanistan.

The Taliban has since imposed several restrictions on women, including banning them from high schools, universities, and most forms of employment.

It has said its laws “are derived from Islamic sources”.

Internet shutdown

On 29 September, international internet watchdog NetBlocks reported a “collapse in internet access” across Afghanistan.

Its live network data showed connectivity had fallen to 30% of normal levels. Kabul, the capital, was among the hardest-hit areas.

Later that day, NetBlocks said connectivity had halved again, dropping to 14%.

The group said the outage would “severely limit the public’s ability to contact the outside world”.

The following day, NetBlocks confirmed Afghanistan was “in the midst of a total internet blackout”. The UN estimates that more than 43 million people were affected.

NetBlocks reported that multiple networks had been disconnected, with telephone services also impacted.

Overnight, the group reported there had been a “partial restoration”.

NetBlocks has accused the Taliban of experimenting with “censorship mechanisms,” and misleading the public with claims of a fibre-optic cable “replacement” program.

Human rights

The UN issued an urgent warning to the Taliban earlier this week, warning of the blackout’s “immediate and far-reaching consequences”.

The organisation said the outage affected “critical banking and financial systems,” limited residents’ access to emergency services and aid, and disrupted flights.

The UN said the move further breached the “access to information and freedom of expression” in Afghanistan.

Last month, a 6.0-magnitude quake hit eastern Afghanistan. It killed around 2,000 people, injured 3,600, and damaged 8,500 homes.

UN humanitarian coordinator Indrika Ratwatte, who is based in Kabul, said the blackout hindered aid efforts in remote communities that are “still struggling to recover”.

“This is another crisis on top of the existing crisis… the impact is going to be on the lives of people,” Ratwatte said.

The shutdown comes shortly after authorities in the province of Balkh began disconnecting high-speed internet access and banning fibre-optic cables.

The authorities cited an order from the group’s supreme leader, describing the move as a measure to “prevent evil”.

The Taliban has yet to publicly comment on the reason for the national blackout.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Republicans have frozen funding in Democratic states and continue to threaten widespread job cuts as the government shutdown enters its second day.

Democrats continue to hold out, seeking concessions from Republicans on healthcare and restrictions on the president's ability to defund programs previously approved by Congress.

Meanwhile, government services all over the country have ground to a halt, and hundreds of thousands of ‘essential workers’ are being forced to work without a paycheck.

Context

The Republican-controlled House passed a Continuing Resolution in September that would extend government funding until November 21. The bill stalled in the Senate, where Republicans need 60 votes to pass legislation but hold only 53 seats. Due to Republican Rand Paul also voting against the bill, Republicans need 7 Democrats to defect to pass the CR.

President Trump met with Democratic and Republican leaders at the White House on Monday to negotiate Democratic cooperation on the CR. The meeting failed to produce an agreement, and the bill did not pass. Without the funding measure, approximately 25% of federal operations shut down at midnight.

On the first day of the shutdown, it is reported that over 750,000 federal workers were ordered not to work, and others, such as border patrol agents and military members, were ordered to work without pay.

Republicans vs Democrats

Republicans continue to ratchet up pressure on Democrats to acquiesce. Yesterday, President Trump announced $26 billion in funding allocated to Democratic states would be frozen.

The programs targeted include $18 billion for transit projects in New York and $8 billion in green energy projects in 16 Democratic states.

Vice President JD Vance also signalled Republicans would escalate measures to use the shutdown to further their policy goal of reducing government headcount.

Government services shut down

The U.S. Postal Service, Medicare services, and SNAP health food programs will remain unaffected. However, some veteran services, the collection and publishing of labour and data statistics, and large swathes of the Department of Education have all ground to a halt.

Federally run libraries and museums will also be shuttered as long as the shutdown continues.

No end in sight.

Republican and Democratic leaders show no signs of letting up, and the Senate is shutting down on Friday to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, making it likely that the shutdown will extend into the weekend.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said President Trump is sacrificing regular Americans for political gain. "He is using the American people as pawns, threatening pain on the country as blackmail," the Democratic leader said.

Meanwhile, Republicans have begun running ads blaming the shutdown on Democrats. "Democrats refuse to fund the government," it reads.

TDU asks