Congress stopped the clock ticking toward a government shutdown early Saturday after the Senate followed the GOP-controlled House’s lead in passing a stopgap measure that runs through March.

The latest: The resolution came after a Trump-backed plan to suspend the debt ceiling failed in the House Thursday and was nixed from the funding plan.

What he’s saying: Despite President-elect Trump’s Friday comment on Truth Social that “If there’s going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now, under the Biden administration,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), told reporters after the vote he was in “constant contact” with Trump.

State of play: An earlier version of the stopgap measure lost 38 Republican votes and gained two Democratic ones before legislators pushed a revised bill through both chambers.

The approved resolution will fund the government until March, provide about $100 billion for disaster aid and extend the farm bill for a year, but legislators nixed elements of the earlier plan that would have suspended the debt ceiling until January 2027.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) called it a “laughable proposal.”

What was in the first bill?

Congressional leaders unveiled legislation Tuesday to keep the government funded until March, setting up a showdown — with Johnson in the central pressure cooker.

It included around $100 billion in disaster relief, an extension of the farm bill and restrictions on investments in China. The 1,547-page bill includes wants from both Democrats’ and Republicans’ wish lists.
But some measures raised eyebrows: Notably, a pay raise for members of Congress (their first since 2009), caught the attention of Musk and others bashing the bill.
The mid-March extension date tees up another funding fight toward the end of Trump’s first 100 days in office.

What’s next, and what does it mean?

Lawmakers were able to push a deal through just after a midnight Saturday deadline, and Biden signed the resolution later Saturday.

The legislative save means stopping a shutdown just as lawmakers were meant to go on holiday recess.

For thousands of non-essential federal employees, a shutdown would have meant they stopped working.

That maneuver was also a face-plant, with the House voting it down decisively on Thursday; notably, 38 Republicans joined the Democratic caucus in rejecting it, incensed by the debt limit ploy. In seeking to browbeat congressional Republicans into submission ahead of taking office, the Trump-Musk administration instead provoked a greater uprising of spending hawks aligned with the Freedom Caucus than the Biden White House ever managed to.

The final bill that won passage disaggregated the main spending priorities of the prior two continuing resolutions into three stand-alone bills: the principal government-funding ask, combined with a $110 billion package of hurricane and agricultural relief aid, and a major bill called the farm law, combining anti-poverty and agricultural reform measures. After all the oligarchic sound and fury that overtook the spending negotiations, the end result isn’t all that different than what the House had started with.

More than 100 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar have been rescued while adrift on a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation by Sri Lanka’s navy, bringing them safely to port.Sri Lanka Navy rescues over 100 Rohingya adrift in the Indian Ocean

The 102 people, including 25 children, were taken to Sri Lanka’s eastern port of Trincomalee, a navy spokesman said on Friday.Sri Lanka Navy rescues over 100 Rohingya adrift in the Indian

Hamas asserts a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza is possible if Israel “stops setting new conditions,” according to a statement.

The statement comes after sources briefed on meetings related to the ceasefire talks told Reuters that a deal is expected to be signed in the coming days.

Israel’s defense minister has vowed that it would maintain “full freedom of action” in the Gaza Strip after fighting ends in the Palestinian enclave, a day after raising hopes that a ceasefire and hostage deal was imminent.

Israel was “closer to a ceasefire deal than we have ever been,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said during a closed-door parliamentary committee hearing Monday. The comment was confirmed to NBC News by an Israeli lawmaker who was present.

An agreement to halt the 14-month-old war in Gaza and free hostages held in the Palestinian enclave could be signed in coming days with talks in Cairo making progress, sources briefed on the meeting said on Tuesday.

The U.S. administration, joined by mediators from Egypt and Qatar, have made intensive efforts in recent days to advance the talks before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.

“We believe – and the Israelis have said this – that we’re getting closer, and no doubt about it, we believe that, but we also are cautious in our optimism,” White House spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview with Fox News.
“We’ve been in this position before where we weren’t able to get it over the finish line.”

The sources said a ceasefire deal could be days away that would stop the fighting and return hostages held by the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

In late September, an experienced pilot at low-cost European airline Wizz Air felt anxious after learning his plane would fly over Iraq at night amid mounting tensions between nearby Iran and Israel.

He decided to query the decision since just a week earlier the airline had deemed the route unsafe. In response, Wizz Air’s (WIZZ.L)

, opens new tab flight operations team told him the airway was now considered secure and he had to fly it, without giving further explanation, the pilot said.

“I wasn’t really happy with it,” the pilot, who requested anonymity from fear he could lose his job, told Reuters. Days later, Iraq closed its airspace when Iran fired missiles on Oct. 1 at Israel. “It confirmed my suspicion that it wasn’t safe.”
In response to Reuters’ queries, Wizz Air said safety of crew and passengers was its utmost priority and would not be compromised “in any circumstances”, adding its decisions on where to fly are based on stringent risk assessments in collaboration with third party intelligence specialists.

“Our aircraft and crews will only fly in airspace that has been deemed safe and we would never take any risks in this respect,” Wizz Air also said in a statement.
Reuters spoke to four pilots, three cabin crew members, three flight security experts and two airline executives about growing safety concerns in the European air industry due to escalating tensions in the Middle East following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023, that prompted the war in Gaza.

Four doctors were killed at Kamal Adwan Hospital in besieged northern Gaza on Friday, after Israeli forces stormed the compound, killing and injuring dozens of people in surrounding areas, eyewitnesses told CNN.

Israeli troops also forced health care workers and patients to leave the facility, and destroyed critical medical supplies, according to a statement by Dr Hussam Abu Saifya, the hospital director.

In the early hours of Friday, the Israeli military sent two plain clothed messengers into the hospital, who told people over a megaphone to evacuate, Abu Saifya added. The military detained a “large number” of young men in the two-hour raid, including health workers and Palestinians who had sought refuge, added Abu Saifya.

Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, located in the northern Gaza Strip, forced the medical staff and patients to leave, and detained many of those present inside.

WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli forces blew up a residential block near the Kamal Adwan Hospital, resulting in the killing of several civilians and the injury of others. They also stormed the hospital, forced out the medical staff and patients and detained several people present inside.Israeli military kills four doctors in raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital

Mexico has announced its largest-ever seizure of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, as cross-border pressure mounts for the country to crack down on drug trafficking into the United States.Mexican troops seize a record fentanyl haul in northern Sinaloa

“These actions will continue until the violence in the state of Sinaloa decreases,” he stated.

On the same day, the Mexican government announced the detention of over 5,200 migrants and asylum seekers who were heading towards the US border.

Both actions are likely to be seen as a response to pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened a 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada unless both countries intensify efforts to combat drug trafficking and immigration.Mexican troops seize a record fentanyl haul in northern Sinaloa

“It is clear that the Mexican government has been managing the timing of fentanyl seizures,” said security analyst David Saucedo. “But under the pressure by Donald Trump, it appears President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration is willing to the increase the capture of drug traffickers and drug seizures that Washington is demanding.”

Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, former Fox News weekend anchor Pete Hegseth, continues to be dogged by allegations about his past, potentially making his confirmation less likely and splitting right-wing media on his prospects as his candidacy faces an “absolutely critical day” on Wednesday.

Hegseth is due to take questions from the House Republican Study Committee today as well as appearing on Fox for an interview.

Hegseth’s mother Penelope has already appeared on the channel to defend him, having previously criticized her son’s behavior towards women in a letter, as the Trump transition team reportedly considers alternatives to lead the Pentagon, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer will meet on Wednesday with Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, according to a source familiar with the meeting.

The meeting will take place in Washington, DC, the source said. Axios first reported the meeting.

The two are likely to discuss Gaza hostage release efforts. On Monday, Trump warned that there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” if the hostages being held in Gaza aren’t released before he is sworn in as president in January.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for the “strong statement,” saying it “adds another force to our continuing effort to release all the hostages.”

On Tuesday, Trump’s pick to serve as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Sheriff Chad Chronister, withdrew from consideration, posting on X that he would be declining the “honor of a lifetime” after “the gravity of this very important responsibility set in”.

An impasse over FBI background checks for Trump’s Cabinet nominees will likely be resolved “in the next few days,” a top Republican told reporters Monday.

“I do think there will be FBI background checks,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the ranking GOP member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Norwich had to make the purchase now. Chelsea Groton Bank’s property was valued at $1.4 million, but the city negotiated the price down to $800,000. The city needs to make the purchase now so the bank will honor the price and claim the difference as a tax deduction. The purchase also helps with state funding for the police station project, City Manager John Salomone said.

The comments came amid fears the incoming Trump administration plans to bypass the customary step for top appointees, raising concerns about its vetting of candidates. The potential departure from protocol has sparked a debate about the necessity of reviewing the background of people who would hold high-level positions, with Democrats calling it a prerequisite.

“In our system of checks and balances, the Senate plays a vital role in ensuring the President appoints well-qualified public officials that will dutifully serve the American people and honor their oaths to the Constitution,” Schumer wrote. “Regardless of party, the Senate has upheld this sacred duty for generations and we should not and must not waver in our Constitutional duty.”