Continuing resolution would keep federal government open
Democrats controlling the House unveiled a government-wide temporary funding bill on Monday that would keep federal agencies fully up and running through Dec. 11. The measure would prevent a partial shutdown of the government after the current budget year expires at the end of the month.
The continuing resolution denies Republicans and President Donald Trump a provision that would give the administration continued authority to dole out Agriculture Department farm bailout funds. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had indicated she would add the provision so Trump could continue to release aid to farmers that would otherwise be delayed, but she pulled back after protests from other Democrats, who say the Trump administration has favored southern states such as Georgia — a key swing state and home of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue — and larger producers in distributing bailout funds.
The measure Democrats introduced would extend many programs whose funding or authorizations lapse on Sept. 30, including the federal flood insurance program, highway and transit programs and a long set of extensions of various health programs.
The release of the legislation paves the way for a House vote this week.
Protesters’ plaque lasts one day in Thailand field
A plaque honoring struggles for democracy in Thailand was removed from a royal field less than 24 hours after being installed by anti-government protesters and was submitted as evidence in connection with a complaint by officials that its installation was illegal and had destroyed an archaeological site, police said Monday.
The plaque had been installed Sunday at Sanam Luang, the historic field in the capital where tens of thousands of people rallied peacefully over the weekend. Protesters are calling for new elections and reform of the monarchy.
Police Supt. Worasak Pitsitbannakorn said the government’s Fine Arts Department and the Bangkok city government were responsible for removing the plaque, which had been installed in a part of the dirt field that had been cemented over several years ago.
Woman arrested after ricin found in letter to WH
A woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin, which was addressed to the White House, has been arrested at the New York-canada border and is also suspected of sending similar poisoned envelopes to law enforcement agencies in Texas, officials said Monday.
The woman was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Peace Bridge border crossing near Buffalo, law enforcement officials said.
Her name was not released, but the woman is expected to appear in federal court in Buffalo on Tuesday.
The letter addressed to the White
House appeared to have originated in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have said. It was intercepted at a government facility that screens mail addressed to the White House.
Envelopes containing ricin were also mailed to law enforcement agencies in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, a law enforcement official said.
Poisoned Putin opponent wants his clothes back
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny demanded Monday that Russia return the clothes he was wearing on the day he fell into a coma in Siberia, calling it “a crucial piece of evidence” in the nerve-agent poisoning he is being treated for at a German hospital.
In a blog post Monday, Navalny said the Novichok nerve agent was found “in and on” his body and that the clothes taken off him when he was hospitalized in Siberia a month ago are “very important material evidence.”
Navalny, 44, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, fell ill on a domestic flight to Moscow on Aug. 20 and was transferred to Germany for treatment two days later. A German military lab later determined that the Russian politician was poisoned with Novichok, the same class of Soviet-era nerve agent that Britain said was used in 2018 on a former Russian spy and his daughter in England.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said they see no grounds for a criminal case.
Iran, US, US allies at odds over status of nuclear pact
The head of Iran’s nuclear agency said Monday that the landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers on his country’s atomic program is struggling since the unilateral U.S. withdrawal but is worth preserving.
Ali Akbar Salehi told delegates at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that the socalled Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, has been “caught in a quasi-stalemate situation” since President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out in 2018.
The deal promises Iran economic incentives in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The remaining world powers in the deal — France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia — have been struggling to offset reimposed American sanctions.
Iran has been steadily breaking restrictions outlined in the deal on the amount of uranium it can enrich, the purity it can enrich it to and other limitations in order to pressure those countries to do more.
The U.S. on Monday slapped additional sanctions on Iran after the Trump administration’s disputed unilateral weekend declaration that all United Nations penalties eased under the 2015 nuclear deal had been restored.
The announcement came in defiance of nearly all U.N. members, including U.S. allies in Europe, who have rejected U.S. legal standing to impose the international sanctions. It set the stage for an ugly showdown at the annual U.N. General Assembly conference this week.