The United States government has entered what is expected to be a brief shutdown after Congress failed to approve a deal to keep a wide swath of operations funded ahead of a midnight deadline.
After hours of delay, the US Senate passed the spending package by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29 late on Friday, but the House of Representatives is not expected to vote on the new budget bills until Monday at the earliest.
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US President Donald Trump must then sign the bills into law.
As a result, the partial shutdown of the US government took effect at 12:01 am Eastern time (0501 GMT). The shutdown is likely to be brief.
Lawmakers from both parties have been working to ensure a debate over immigration enforcement does not disrupt other government operations, despite mounting Democratic anger over the killing of two people by immigration agents in Minnesota.
This is a marked contrast from last fall, when Republicans and Democrats dug into their positions in a dispute over healthcare, prompting a shutdown that lasted a record 43 days and cost the US economy an estimated $11bn.
“Technically, there will be a partial government shutdown come midnight on Saturday,” Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan said earlier on Friday, reporting from Washington, DC.
“The earliest that the House of Representatives can take a look at the changes, which the US Senate approved late on Friday, is not before Monday. That’s because they’ve been in recess all this week. They should be coming back to Washington this weekend,” Jordan said.
But there is also a concern the shutdown could drag out longer, given political polarisation around Trump’s administration’s harsh immigration raids and the killing of US citizens at those operations.
“So there is the expectation that this could be resolved early next week. But there is the possibility that it may not be,” Jordan added.
The funding impasse has been driven by Democratic anger over aggressive immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of two US citizens – Alex Pretti and Renee Good – by federal agents in separate incidents this month in the northern city of Minneapolis amid a violent operation against undocumented migrants.
The killings in Minneapolis have become a flashpoint that has hardened opposition to approving new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without changes to how immigration agencies operate.
“The nation is reaching a breaking point,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. “The American people are demanding that Congress step up and force change.”
“Instead of going after drug smugglers, child predators, and human traffickers, the Trump Administration is wasting valuable resources targeting peaceful protestors in Chicago and Minneapolis,” Senate Democratic Minority Whip Dick Durbin posted on social media.
“This Administration continues to make Americans less safe.”
As lawmakers in both parties called for investigations into the fatal shootings, Trump said he didn’t want a shutdown and negotiated the rare deal with Schumer, his frequent adversary. Trump then encouraged members of both parties to cast a “much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ vote.”
Under the deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, lawmakers approved five outstanding funding bills to finance most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September.
The deal approved by the Senate separates funding for the DHS – which oversees immigration agencies – from the broader government funding package, allowing lawmakers to approve spending for agencies such as the Pentagon and the Department of Labor while they consider new restrictions on how federal immigration agents operate.
Cricket’s shortest international format will take centre stage over the next month as the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 gets under way on February 7.
Five stadiums across India and three in Sri Lanka will host matches, as 20 teams fight for the world title.
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Here’s everything you need to know about the venues:
Narendra Modi Stadium
Location: Ahmedabad, India Capacity: 132,000 Inauguration: 1983 Fixtures: South Africa vs Canada (February 9), South Africa vs Afghanistan (February 11), New Zealand vs South Africa (February 14), India vs Netherlands (February 18), Super 8s Match 3 (February 22), Super 8s Match 7 (February 26), Final (March 8)
The world’s largest cricket stadium is designated to host seven matches, including the final and two Super 8s fixtures.
Before it was renamed after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the venue was known as the Motera Stadium or the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, after one of India’s best-known independence leaders.
The 2023 ODI World Cup final, in which India lost to Australia, was the biggest international match held at this venue.
The stadium has hosted several political events and rallies, too, including the “Namaste Trump” event in honour of United States President Donald Trump, back in 2020.
Fireworks light up the sky over the Narendra Modi Stadium after the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup final [File: Ajit Solanki/AP Photo]
Wankhede Stadium
Location: Mumbai, India Capacity: 33,100 Inauguration: 1974 Fixtures: India vs USA (February 7), England vs Nepal (February 8), England vs West Indies (February 11), Nepal vs Italy (February 12), West Indies vs Nepal (February 15), Scotland vs Nepal (February 17), Super 8s Match 4 (February 23), Semifinal 2 (March 5)
Located in the coastal city of Mumbai, the Wankhede Stadium is no stranger to high-stakes matches. It hosted the 2011 ODI World Cup final, in which India beat Sri Lanka to lift its second world title.
The venue, also the home ground of IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, will host the most games (eight) in India during the tournament, including a semifinal.
Though smaller in size than most of India’s popular stadiums, the Wankhede’s passionate crowd consistently creates one of the best atmospheres.
The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is known for delivering one of the best fan experiences across the country [File: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
Eden Gardens
Location: Kolkata, India Capacity: 68,000 Inauguration: 1864 Fixtures: West Indies vs Scotland (February 7), Scotland vs Italy (February 9), England vs Scotland (February 14), England vs Italy (February 16), West Indies vs Italy (February 19), Super 8s Match 12 (March 1), Semifinal 1 (provisional, March 4)
Known as the “home of Indian cricket”, Eden Gardens is the oldest cricket stadium in the country. The venue will host seven matches at the tournament, including possibly the first semifinal.
The first purpose-built ground for the sport in India, Eden Gardens, has hosted matches during five ICC World Cups, including the finals of the 1987 ODI and 2016 T20 World Cups.
It is also the home ground of the IPL’s Kolkata Knight Riders since 2008.
The Eden Gardens also hosted a semifinal during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India [File: Andrew Boyers/Reuters]
Arun Jaitley Stadium
Location: New Delhi, India Capacity: 55,000 Inauguration: 1883 Fixtures: Netherlands vs Namibia (February 10), India vs Namibia (February 12), Canada vs UAE (February 13), Afghanistan vs UAE (February 16), South Africa vs UAE (February 18), Super 8s Match 11 (March 1)
Situated in India’s capital, New Delhi, the Arun Jaitley Stadium has hosted matches at five World Cups. At this tournament, the venue will host six games, including a Super 8s fixture.
Formerly known as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, the venue was renamed after a former finance minister and parliamentarian from PM Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, following his death in 2019.
It is the home of the IPL team Delhi Capitals.
The Arun Jaitley Stadium was also one of the venues during the 2023 ODI World Cup – the last time India hosted a World Cup [File: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters]
M A Chidambaram Stadium
Location: Chennai, India Capacity: 38,200 Inauguration: 1916 Fixtures: New Zealand vs Afghanistan (February 8), New Zealand vs UAE (February 10), USA vs Netherlands (February 13), USA vs Namibia (February 15), New Zealand vs Canada (February 17), Afghanistan vs Canada (February 19), Super 8s Match 8 (February 26)
Located close to one of the longest urban beaches in the world – Chennai’s Marina Beach along the Bay of Bengal – the M A Chidambaram Stadium is known for being home to a sporting and knowledgeable cricket crowd.
Named after former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, M A Chidambaram, the venue is commonly known as the Chepauk Stadium. Home of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise, the stadium has hosted matches across four ODI World Cups.
At this edition, it will host seven games, including a Super 8s tie.
The Chepauk Stadium rounds up the list of venues in India [File: Michael Steele/Getty Images]
R Premadasa Stadium
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka Capacity: 35,000 Inauguration: 1986 Fixtures: Sri Lanka vs Ireland (February 8), Australia vs Ireland (February 11), Australia vs Zimbabwe (February 13), India vs Pakistan (February 15), Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe (February 19), Super 8s Match 1 (February 21), Super 8s Match 6 (February 25), Super 8s Match 9 (February 27)
The largest stadium in Sri Lanka, the R Premadasa Stadium, will host a majority of the heavyweight fixtures at the tournament, including India vs Pakistan, the most anticipated clash at any ICC event.
The venue is scheduled to host eight games, including three Super 8s fixtures, but two more could be added to its list.
If Pakistan qualifies for the semifinals, the R Premadasa Stadium, considered a neutral venue, will replace Kolkata as the host of the first semifinal. If Pakistan reach the final, that venue will also shift from Ahmedabad to Colombo.
As per an ICC-brokered agreement between India and Pakistan, both countries have the option to play their games at a neutral venue for a tournament hosted by either South Asian nations.
Known as the home of Sri Lankan cricket, the R Premadasa Stadium played host to three World Cups [File: Hafsa Adil/Al Jazeera]
Sinhalese Sports Club
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka Capacity: 10,000 Inauguration: 1952 Fixtures: Pakistan vs Netherlands (February 7), Zimbabwe vs Oman (February 9), Pakistan vs USA (February 10), Ireland vs Oman (February 14), Pakistan vs Namibia (February 18)
The smallest venue at the tournament, the Sinhalese Sports Club, will host the fewest matches (five), but features the all-important opening match between former champions Pakistan and the West Indies.
Situated only 5km (3.1 miles) away from the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the venue will host a World Cup for only the second time, following its maiden attempt at the 1996 ODI World Cup.
Sinhalese Sports Club has hosted test matches along with its maiden World Cup game in 1996 [File: Stu Forster/Getty Images]
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Location: Kandy, Sri Lanka Capacity: 35,000 Inauguration: 2009 Fixtures: Sri Lanka vs Oman (February 12), Australia vs Sri Lanka (February 16), Ireland vs Zimbabwe (February 17), Australia vs Oman (February 20), Super 8s Match 2 (February 22), Super 8s Match 5 (February 24), Super 8s Match 10 (February 28)
The Pallekele International Cricket Stadium rounds out the full list of venues at the T20 World Cup 2026. It will host seven games, including three Super 8s matches.
Opened 17 years ago, it is the newest of all venues at this year’s tournament. Situated in central Sri Lanka, the stadium was built for the 2011 ODI World Cup and also used at the 2012 T20 World Cup.
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium played host to the Asia Cup, including the Group A match between India and Nepal in 2023 [File: Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images]
More than 200 people have been reported killed in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located, told the Reuters news agency.
The mine, located some 60km (37 miles) northwest of Goma city, the provincial capital of North Kivu province, collapsed on Wednesday, and the precise number of casualties was still unclear as of Friday evening, Reuters reports.
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“More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued just in time and have serious injuries,” Muyisa told Reuters, adding that about 20 injured people were being treated in health facilities.
“We are in the rainy season. The ground is fragile. It was the ground that gave way while the victims were in the hole,” he said.
Eraston Bahati Musanga, the governor of North Kivu province appointed by the M23 rebel group, told the AFP news agency on Friday that “some bodies have been recovered”, without giving a specific figure of the number of those killed and injured, but suggesting a potentially high death toll.
An adviser to the provincial governor put the death toll at more than 200, speaking on condition of anonymity to Reuters because he was not authorised to brief the media.
AFP said it was unable to confirm the death toll with independent sources as of Friday evening.
Franck Bolingo, an artisanal miner interviewed at Rubaya by AFP, said people are believed to still be trapped inside the mine.
“It rained, then the landslide happened and swept people away. Some were buried alive, and others are still trapped in the shafts,” Bolingo said.
Rubaya produces about 15 percent of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.
The mine, where locals dig manually for a few dollars per day, has been under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group since 2024, after previously changing hands between the DRC government and rebel groups.
The heavily-armed M23 rebels, whose stated aim is to overthrow the DRC government in the capital Kinshasa, captured even more mineral-rich territory in the east of the country during a lightning advance last year.
The United Nations has accused M23 rebels of plundering Rubaya’s resources to help fund their rebellion, backed by Rwanda, an allegation that the government in Kigali denies.
A statue of the late golfer Seve Ballesteros, which had vanished from his hometown of Pedrena in northern Spain’s Cantabria region, was found chopped into pieces as the alleged thief prepared to sell it for its bronze, police have said.
Valued at about 30,000 euros ($35,820) but holding significant sentimental importance for locals and fans, the statue was discovered in a storage room in Santander. It had been cut in half at the waist.
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While the torso and head remained intact, the arms were broken into several pieces.
A 22-year-old man with a criminal record for copper theft was arrested on Thursday, police revealed on Friday, adding that more individuals could be involved.
A screengrab from a handout video shows pieces of a statue of Seve Ballesteros, a late Spanish professional golfer, recovered by members of the Spanish law enforcement, in Santander, Spain [Reuters]
Police had focused their investigation on metal trading centres, suspecting the thieves planned to sell the bronze for profit.
The 100kg (220.46-pound) statue, depicting Ballesteros in a signature pose celebrating his 1984 British Open win at St Andrews in Scotland, was torn from its base in La Barqueria Park earlier this month before being dragged across grass and dismembered for transport.
Created in 2009 by sculptor Salvador Garcia Ceballos, it was permanently installed in Pedrena in 2017.
Ballesteros, who won five major titles during his career and became a fan favourite for his capacity for digging himself out of trouble on the golf course, died in 2011 aged 54 after a battle with cancer.
Those are just some of the terms being used to describe Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States.
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If confirmed by the US Senate, Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, will replace Jerome Powell after his term ends in May. Trump announced Warsh as his nominee on Friday.
“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”
Over the past year, Trump has repeatedly lambasted Powell for not lowering interest rates at a pace and to a level of his liking. Warsh is expected to have a smoother experience – at least initially.
That’s partly because he comes from a Republican milieu. His father-in-law is Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune and a longtime Trump donor and ally.
Warsh is also currently serving as a fellow at the right-leaning Hoover Institution, a think tank at Stanford University, where he also lectures as a visiting scholar.
But more importantly, critics say, Warsh has shown a willingness to align with Trump’s policies. After years of supporting high interest rates to control inflation, Warsh has made recent statements arguing for lower rates, in line with the president’s views.
A history of ‘shape-shifting’
It is this flexibility that has prompted a mixed bag of reactions to Warsh’s nomination.
“He’s a very good chameleon,” said Skanda Amarnath, executive director of Employ America, a policy research organisation. “He comes across as informed and intellectual, but when you unpack what he says, there’s not a lot there.”
Amarnath’s criticism was based on years of observing Warsh’s policy stance.
Warsh, 55, joined the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 2006 at age 35, after serving on former President George W Bush’s National Economic Council. He remained at the Fed until 2011, during which time he worked with then-Chair Ben Bernanke to address the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
That crisis saw the collapse of financial services firms like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. Warsh notably objected to some of the low-interest policies that the Fed was pursuing at the time to stave off the impact of the crash.
During that period, he “spent most of his time worrying about inflation”, according to Amarnath. “Even in August 2008, he was talking about inflation as Lehman Brothers failed. He missed the whole boat on that.”
Amarnath said Warsh appeared to downplay the unemployment at the time as well, even though the jobless rate was headed towards 10 percent. Today, unemployment in the US is at a healthy 4.4 percent.
Warsh started softening his stance on inflation in 2017, when Trump began his first term as president. Amarnath told Al Jazeera that Warsh’s seeming partisanship gives him “some concern” about what might happen in case of another financial crisis.
“His track record speaks to someone who is pretty partisan and political in his views and mocks data dependence,” he said. “The shape-shifting depends on who is in office.”
A ‘political’ record
Some experts, however, were more optimistic about Warsh as a candidate for the top seat at the Federal Reserve.
Economist Robert Rogowsky, a professor of trade and economic diplomacy at Georgetown University, is among those who think that Warsh is a “solid pick, albeit not a stellar one”.
“He is obviously extremely bright and has a solid record of accomplishment in the area,” he said.
That said, Rogowsky acknowledged that Warsh could be seen as a political opportunist. “His record does seem a bit political – a monetary hawk under a Democratic administration and being promoted by Trump to be Trump’s monetary dove.”
Still, Rogowsky said he is not too worried about Warsh falling in line with Trump’s aggressive push to lower interest rates.
While the Fed chair is a very powerful role, it only represents one vote on a board of seven, and it cannot override the majority vote. And though Warsh “may sound Trumpy”, Rogowsky believes he will ultimately refuse to implement Trump’s “extreme and extremely harmful” interest rate cuts.
“He is smart enough – and, I pray, honorable enough – to be driven by his economic training,” Rogowsky said.
Trump has called on the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates from their current level – about 3.75 percent – to 1 percent, a major drop.
Rogowsky said Warsh is aware that such a policy move would result in “a medium-term inflationary disaster”, which, in turn, could lead to “an immediately disastrous decline in the dollar and a five-alarm fire in the global trading system”.
Trump’s trade policies will already pose a big challenge for any incoming Federal Reserve chair, according to Rachel Ziemba, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank.
Ziemba pointed out that Trump has pursued an aggressive international trade policy and immigration crackdown that could send shudders through the US economy. Currently, while economic growth is “OK”, there is little job growth, she added.
“Rate cuts are unlikely to solve those issues,” Ziemba told Al Jazeera.
For now, it remains unclear whether Warsh will ultimately take up the post. He faces a Senate confirmation hearing in the coming months, where Trump’s policies could also be a hurdle.
Already, at least one Republican senator, Thom Tillis, said he would not back any Trump nominees to the Federal Reserve until the president drops his criminal investigation of Powell.
