Friday morning news - October 1, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Congress passes stopgap funding bill to avert shutdown » Lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday to head off a looming partial government shutdown.

AUDIO: On this vote, the yeas are 254. The nays are 175. The motion is adopted.

The House vote heard there. The Senate passed it 65 to 35. It will fund the government through Dec. 3rd.

Government funding would have expired at midnight. The stopgap measure will buy lawmakers more time to craft the spending measures that will fund federal agencies and programs.

But there’s still plenty of drama on Capitol Hill surrounding raising the debt ceiling and trillions of dollars in proposed spending. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki…

PSAKI: We need to do more to rebuild our roads and railways and bridges, that we need to cut costs for the American people. We need to address the climate crisis.

But progressives in the House are holding up a vote on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Some Democrats say they won’t back it unless the Senate also approves President Biden’s massive $3.5 trillion spending bill.

But centrist Democrat Joe Manchin said Thursday that he won’t support anything more than a $1.5 trillion bill.

MANCHIN: I’m willing to sit down and work through that $1.5 to get our priorities, and they can come back and do later and they can run on the rest of it later. I think there’s many ways to get to where they want to.

Without his vote in the evenly divided Senate, Democrats cannot pass the president’s spending bill.

Supply chain leaders warn of major shortages » Trade and groups are warning that the global transport system and supply chain could collapse unless governments around the world take action. WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg has more.

SARAH SCHWEINSBERG, REPORTER: The International Chamber of Shipping sent an open letter to the United Nations on Wednesday demanding changes to transport worker conditions.

A worker shortage and constantly changing requirements have strained the global supply chain for more than a year. Ports shut down because of the pandemic, and many crew members have had to stay on shore leave due to travel restrictions.

They have also had to get multiple vaccines for the coronavirus since requirements vary from country to country. Truck drivers also face complex quarantine and testing requirements across the world, which delays deliveries.

The challenges have caused burnout among shipping workers, many of whom have quit or are threatening to.

Companies usually start stocking up in October for the rush of holiday shopping, but the International Chamber of Shipping said the supply chain is maxed out trying to deliver overdue orders.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Sarah Schweinsberg.

Unemployment claims rise for third straight week » The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose for the third straight week. Some analysts say it could be another sign that the delta variant is weighing down the job market.

The Labor Department said claims rose unexpectedly by 11,000 last week to 362,000. And the four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, rose for the first time in seven weeks.

Since topping 900,000 in early January, applications had fallen fairly steadily as the economy bounced back from last year's shutdowns. But they've been rising along with coronavirus infections.

Restaurants and bars cut nearly 42,000 jobs last month, the first drop this year. But hiring is expected to pick up this month.

Ecuador declares emergency after prison massacre » Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency in the prison system following the worst outbreak of violence in the nation’s history. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: A bloody battle between gang members in a coastal lockup killed at least 116 people and injured 80. Officials said at least five of the dead were beheaded.

President Guillermo Lasso decreed a state of emergency Wednesday, which will give the government powers that include deploying police and soldiers inside prisons. The order came a day after bloodshed at a penitentiary in Guayaquil that officials blamed on gangs linked to international drug cartels.

At a news conference, Lasso was visibly moved by the carnage. He said it’s “regrettable that the prisons are being turned into territories for power disputes by criminal gangs.”

Images circulating on social media showed dozens of bodies in the prison’s Pavilions and scenes that looked like battlefields. The inmates were well armed with firearms, knives and bombs.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

96-year-old former Nazi Camp worker caught after skipping trial » A 96-year-old woman is in a German court this week facing 11,000 counts of accessory to murder more than 7 decades after she worked at a Nazi prison camp.

Authorities arrested her after she skipped the planned start of her trial. She reportedly left her home near Hamburg in a taxi on Thursday morning, a few hours before proceedings were due to start.

The defendant once worked as the secretary for the SS commander of the Stutthof concentration camp.

Prosecutors argue that the woman was part of the apparatus that helped the Nazis’ Stutthof camp function during World War II.

Despite her advanced age, the German woman was to be tried in juvenile court because she was under 21 at the time of the alleged crimes. German media identified her as Irmgard Furchner.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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