Thursday Briefing: U.S. Congress seeks to ward off government shutdown as Biden agenda at risk

Thursday, September 30, 2021

by Linda Noakes

Sponsored by   Deloitte

Hello

Here's what you need to know.

How global supply chains are falling out of fashion, the king of oil bets on batteries for a green world, and a 96-year-old war crimes suspect is on the run

Today's biggest stories

The U.S. Capitol seen through a skylight window at dusk, September 29, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

U.S.

Democratic divisions are imperiling President Joe Biden's agenda to invest in infrastructure, expand social services and address climate change as the U.S. Congress simultaneously faces a deadline today to avert a government shutdown.

Kyrsten Sinema is the recent recipient of an honor that Senate colleagues more loyal to Biden's agenda have never received - three invitations to the White House in just one day. The Arizona Democrat's private huddling this week with Biden and his aides comes as her opposition to the size of the social spending proposal has become a key obstacle to Democratic efforts to lock down support.

The House of Representatives Select Committee investigating the deadly January 6 riot at the Capitol said it had issued subpoenas to organizers of events and rallies leading up to the attack on the seat of government, as it broadened its inquiry. Klete Keller, a former Olympic swimmer who won two gold medals for the United States, pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to his participation in the riot.

Los Angeles officials signaled they would vote next week to prohibit unvaccinated people from entering most businesses in the United States' second-largest city, one of the nation's most severe crackdowns so far of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conservatorship that has controlled the life of Britney Spears for 13 years neared a possible end after a judge suspended her father, and the pop super-star said later that she was "on cloud 9 right now."

A woman waits outside of the Penitenciaria del Litoral, one of Ecuador's largest prisons, after prisoners died in a riot, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, September 29, 2021. REUTERS/Vicente Gaibor del Pino

WORLD

The death toll from a riot at one of Ecuador's largest prisons rose to 116, President Guillermo Lasso said, adding that he would send additional security forces and free up funds to avoid a repeat. The South American country's prosecutor's office said that six of the slain prisoners at Penitenciaria del Litoral had been decapitated.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was handed a one-year prison sentence by a Paris court after being found guilty of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid. Sarkozy is expected to appeal the sentence, a move that will in effect suspend it.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he is willing to restore severed inter-Korean hotlines next month but accused the United States of proposing talks without changing its "hostile policy", the North's KCNA state news agency reported.

A 96-year-old German woman fled ahead of the opening of her trial on charges of aiding and abetting mass murder in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two, a court spokesperson said. "The accused is on the run," said Frederike Milhoffer. "She left her home early in the morning in a taxi in the direction of a metro station."

This year's Nobel Peace Prize could go to exiled Belarusian dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, climate activist Greta Thunberg, or a media watchdog such as Reporters without Borders, Norwegian experts on the prize said.

BUSINESS

China Evergrande Group missed paying bond interest due yesterday, two bondholders said, its second unpaid offshore debt obligation in a week, although the cash-strapped company today made a partial payment to some of its onshore investors.

Global mergers and acquisitions hit new record highs in the third quarter as companies and investors shaped their post-COVID future through transformative deals while their advisers struggled to cope with transaction volumes never seen before.

ABB has launched the world's fastest electric car charger, as the Swiss engineering company presses ahead with plans to float its electric vehicle charging business.

Alex Beard is losing his thirst for oil. Once one of the world's most powerful oil traders, the former Glencore executive is now raising money to build a portfolio of strategic battery sites across the United Kingdom to support the renewable energy industry.

Fashion brands like Benetton are increasingly turning away from globe-spanning supply chains and low-cost manufacturing hubs in Asia, in a shift that could prove a lasting legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quote of the day

"No one else has these kind of problems that you’re finding here. It’s because of Brexit. Best of luck to you Monsieur Johnson"

Patrice Rese

Belgian truck driver

Christmas prices will rise in Britain, truckers say

Video of the day

China's high-tech military might on show

China put on an extravagant display of once-secret high-end military technology at its largest air show, while broadcasting its growing ambitions in space exploration and for self-sufficiency in commercial aircraft.

And finally…

Besieged by seaweed, Caribbean scrambles to make use of the stuff

As the sun rises in Mexico’s Quintana Roo state, home to the white sandy beaches of Cancun and Tulum, Rear Admiral Alejandro Lopez Zenteno readies his sailors for another day of dragging rafts of brown seaweed to shore and out of view of cocktail-sipping tourists.

Sponsored by Deloitte: Taking Action on Climate Change

Asia Pacific could see an economic gain if rapid decarbonization efforts are take, according to the Deloitte Economic Institute

Learn More

More from Reuters

COVID-19 The Great Reboot Disrupted Legal News Breakingviews

Thanks for spending part of your day with us.

Share your thoughts

You are receiving this email because you signed up for newsletters from Reuters. No longer want to hear from us? Unsubscribe from The Reuters Daily Briefing.

Terms, conditions, and privacy statement

© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.
3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036