The Hitchhiker’s Guide to avoiding a government shutdown tonight
Expect the Senate to take a test vote to break a filibuster around 2 p.m. ET today on the Republican stopgap spending bill. This vote is the key to the entire ballgame. If the Senate breaks the filibuster, we are on a glidepath to a vote to avoid a government shutdown. But if this test vote fails, a government shutdown is all but ensured at 12:00:01 a.m. ET Saturday. Reminder: THIS VOTE IS NOT THE FINAL PASSAGE OF THE BILL. We should have a result on the vote to break the filibuster sometime in the 2 p.m. hour. Certainly by 3 p.m., unless they drag their feet. BARELY: HOUSE GOP PASSES GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL WITHOUT HELP FROM DEMOCRATS The calculus changed dramatically last night when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that he would support the Band-Aid bill. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is also in favor. Sixty votes are needed to break the filibuster. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is the lone GOP nay. So a grand total of eight Democrats are necessary to join the 52 Republican yeas to hit the magic mark of 60. Here’s whom to watch: Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., along with Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., John Hickenlooper, D-Co., Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and others. If Democrats fail to cobble together eight votes, this is a major miscalculation by Schumer. As it is said, a leader without any followers is just a man out for a walk. CHUCK SCHUMER WILL VOTE TO KEEP THE GOVERNMENT OPEN: ‘FOR DONALD TRUMP, A SHUTDOWN WOULD BE A GIFT’ Here’s what we don’t know: It’s unclear when the Senate would vote on the actual bill to align with the House if the Senate breaks the threshold of 60 yeas on the test vote. That will likely come late this afternoon or this evening. But those Democrats who may be willing to break a filibuster might demand a series of votes on amendments (which won’t pass) in exchange for their votes. That includes a vote on the Democrats’ 28-day temporary spending bill, additional money for Washington and restrictions for DOGE. Don’t underestimate how livid the left is at Schumer. Progressives who oppose the temporary spending bill could demand some time on the floor to speak against the plan. But there is also an appetite to escape Washington since the Senate has been in session for 10 consecutive weeks. So, if they break the filibuster, that could accelerate things, too.
South Sudan’s rising violence in “polarised regional environment”
Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group unpacks South Sudan’s escalating violence, who’s behind it, and what’s next. Alan Boswell from the International Crisis Group unpacks what’s happening on the ground in South Sudan and the border region, who’s behind the escalating violence and what could further fuel the conflict. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia, China call on US to drop Iran sanctions, restart nuclear talks
Deputy foreign ministers of Russia, China and Iran call for multilateral talks on ending ‘unlawful’ US sanctions. Representatives of Iran, Russia and China have urged United States President Donald Trump’s administration to end sanctions imposed against Tehran over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme, while calling for the resumption of the multilateral talks on the issue. The three nations “emphasised the necessity of terminating all unlawful unilateral sanctions”, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu read from a joint statement issued on Friday. He was flanked by his counterparts from Russia, Ryabkov Sergey Alexeevich, and Iran, Kazem Gharibabadi. “The relevant parties should work to eliminate the root causes of the current situation and abandon sanctions, pressure and threats of the use of force,” Ma said. Iran’s Gharibabadi praised the meeting as “very constructive and positive”, even as he accused “some countries” of creating “an unnecessary crisis” to thwart Tehran. Later on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was due to meet with the three senior diplomats. The talks are the latest attempt to resolve the Iran impasse, as Trump tries to reach out to its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an attempt to jumpstart talks. Advertisement Any progress on the Iran talks with the Trump administration requires the support of Russia and China, which are both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council alongside the US, France and Britain. The approval of the Security Council paved the way for the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump abandoned in 2018 during his first term as president, setting in motion years of attacks and tensions in the wider Middle East. Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67 percent purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 300 kilogrammes (661 pounds). The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran’s programme put its stockpile at 8,294.4kg (18,286 pounds) as it enriches a fraction of it to 60 percent purity. Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful. While Iran has maintained it would not negotiate under threat, its economy has been savaged by the US sanctions. Protests over women’s rights, the economy and Iran’s theocracy in recent years have shaken its government. Last Friday, Trump said he had sent a letter to Khamenei, urging negotiations but also warning of possible military action. In response, Khamenei mocked the US president saying he was not interested in talks with a “bullying government”. He complained that Tehran “negotiated for years, reached a complete and signed agreement”, and Trump “tore it up”. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also said that he would not negotiate with the US while being “threatened”, and Iran would not bow to US “orders” to talk. But he had previously said in a speech to the UN that Tehran was “ready to engage”. Advertisement Other Iranian officials have offered some signals over the possibility of negotiations, and the latest meeting in Beijing could indicate its openness for new talks. Adblock test (Why?)
Alcaraz’s Indian Wells three-peat bid on track with Draper next up
Carlos Alcaraz’s chase of a three-peat at India Wells continued on Thursday evening as the Spaniard overcame Francisco Cerundolo and will face Jack Draper, who in turn ended the hopes of the youngest American since 2004 to reach the event’s quarterfinals. Ben Shelton, at 22, had made headlines for his run on home soil but was stopped by Draper, of the United Kingdom, who claimed a straight sets 6-4 7-5 victory. The 13th-seeded Draper will face number two seed Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion who extended his winning streak at Indian Wells to 16 matches with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Cerundolo. On another cold, blustery night in the California desert, Alcaraz battled back from 1-4 down in the second set, coming up with a break and two love service holds to force the tiebreaker, and keeping his bid to join Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the only men to win three straight Indian Wells titles on track. Carlos Alcaraz hits a shot as he defeats Francisco Cerundolo (not pictured) in the quarterfinal [Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Image/Reuters] Alcaraz had to save break points in each of his first three service games. But after an emphatic hold for 4-3 he gained the first break of the contest with a deft volley and just like that he was serving for the first set. Advertisement After sliding to pop a drop volley winner over the net for set point, Alcaraz drilled a deep forehand that Cerundolo could barely get a racquet on. But it was Cerundolo who broke first in the second, finally converting his ninth break point of the match then holding for 4-1. He couldn’t hold off the world number three, however, who raced to a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker on the way to victory. “It was really difficult for me to start the match,” said Alcaraz, who looked less comfortable in the windy weather than he did just a day before. “He got a lot of chances in the first set,” Alcaraz said. “I’m just pleased about saving all of them and taking the only one that I had. “I didn’t hit the ball as clear as yesterday, but I just did what I had to and that’s what it’s about.” Jack Draper returns in his victory against Ben Shelton during his quarterfinal [Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images/Reuters] Draper took the opening set against Shelton with one break of serve then rallied from 0-3 down in a second-set slugfest. Shelton’s 32 unforced errors included five double-faults – with one to hand Draper a break for 6-5 in the second. Russian Daniil Medvedev, runner-up to Alcaraz in each of the past two years, rallied from a break down in a wild, wind-blown final set to beat Arthur Fils 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (9/7). The world number six booked a semifinal meeting with Denmark’s Holger Rune, a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 winner over Tallon Griekspoor. Medvedev, a six-time Grand Slam finalist, trailed 20-year-old Fils 2-4 in the third set of a compelling clash that was momentarily paused as gusting winds sent towels and rubbish cans flying on Stadium Court. Advertisement France’s Fils had shown admirable maturity in the face of Medvedev’s formidable defensive skills. He cut down on the unforced errors that marred his first set to win the second with ease and maintained his poise as he erased an early break in the third to seize the lead. But Medvedev wouldn’t be denied and after forcing the tiebreaker prevailed on his third match point when Fils pushed a backhand volley long. Arthur Fils shakes hands with Daniil Medvedev after their quarterfinal [Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images/Reuters] Medvedev, who had won just one of his past nine third-set tiebreakers, gave a leap of sheer joy after securing the win in 2 hours and 25 minutes to keep alive his bid for a first title since 2023 – when he won five. “I lost a lot of tight matches this year where I could have won, should have won maybe,” Medvedev said. “I have lost a lot of tight matches where it goes a little bit 50-50 and the more it goes like that, the more you can lose confidence in the tight moments. “I was happy I was able to get over the line as he saved some match points and had a break lead in the third. I am just happy to win.” Medvedev faces another young gun in Rune, who burst onto the scene in 2022 with a win over Novak Djokovic in the Paris Masters final. Rune has struggled often since, but after dropping the first set he dominated Griekspoor, the 43rd-ranked Dutchman who had removed top-seeded Alexander Zverev in the second round. Madison Keys, meantime, extended her winning streak to 16 matches, reaching the women’s semifinals with a 6-1, 6-1 wipeout of wild-card entry Belinda Bencic. Advertisement The Australian Open champion needed just 65 minutes to hold up her end of a rematch with top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-3 later. Keys beat Sabalenka in three sets in January at Melbourne Park, denying her a third consecutive title. Adblock test (Why?)
VP Vance jeered at Kennedy Center concert: video
People jeered Vice President JD Vance at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night. “Boos for JD Vance as he enters tonight’s concert at the Kennedy Center,” Global Affairs correspondent for The Guardian Andrew Roth tweeted when sharing a video of the episode on Thursday evening. Vance, seated next to his wife Usha, waved from a balcony amid the cacophony. BILL MAHER RIPS LEFT’S ‘EXCLUSIONARY ATTITUDE’ AS ‘HAMILTON’ CANCELS SHOWS AT TRUMP-BACKED KENNEDY CENTER Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell, who is serving in a leadership post with the Kennedy Center, suggested that people on the political left are “intolerant.” “The intolerant Left are radicals who can’t even sit in the same room with people that don’t vote like they do. What has happened to today’s Democrats? They are so intolerant,” he declared when commenting on the episode. Fox News Digital reached out to Vance’s team to request comment on Friday, but no comment was provided. KENNEDY CENTER DIRECTOR ENCOURAGES REPUBLICAN ATTENDANCE, SAYS ‘EVERYONE IS WELCOME’ The event was a National Symphony Orchestra concert, reports indicate. Vance, the author of the book “Hillbilly Elegy,” previously noted that he was shocked to find out that people listen to classical music for enjoyment. “Elites use different words, eat different foods, listen to different music — I was astonished when I learned that people listened to classical music for pleasure — and generally occupy different worlds from America’s poor,” Vance said, according to The New York Times. KENNEDY CENTER SHAKE-UP WILL USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARTS’ UNDER TRUMP, RIC GRENELL PREVIEWS CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP President Donald Trump announced a shakeup of Kennedy Center leadership last month. “I have decided to immediately terminate multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” the president declared in part of a Truth Social post in February. He later announced that Grenell would serve as interim executive director. A Kennedy Center press release stated, “the Board elected President of the United States Donald J. Trump as Kennedy Center Board Chair, replacing former Chair David M. Rubenstein,” and “terminated Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter’s contract and announced Richard Grenell as interim Kennedy Center President.” The press release also noted that more than a dozen new Kennedy Center Board of Trustee members were announced, including Usha Vance, Trump, and others.
Trump blames Biden for getting US into a ‘mess with Russia’
President Donald Trump is blaming former President Joe Biden for getting the U.S. into “a real mess with Russia,” but said he would get the U.S. out of it. He called on Russia to commit to the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine agreed to earlier this week. “Millions of people are needlessly dead, never to be seen again… and there will be many more to follow if we don’t get the ceasefire and final agreement with Russia completed and signed,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There would have been NO WAR if I were president. It just, 100%, would not have happened.” PRESIDENT TRUMP REPORTEDLY TOOK 1,009 QUESTIONS IN HIS FIRST MONTH, 7 TIMES MORE THAN BIDEN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the Trump administration to put more sanctions on Russia on Friday, claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to prolong the bloody three-year war. Putin said on Thursday that he agreed with the proposal in “principle.” Zelenskyy believes Putin will try to block the deal in any way possible. Trump hasn’t ruled out imposing more sanctions, but said he doesn’t “want” to go that route and would rather have peace. He did acknowledge, however, that the U.S. could make financial moves that are “very bad for Russia.” 6 TIMES TRUMP BASHED BIDEN IN ADDRESS TO CONGRESS “In a financial sense, yeah, we could do things, very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “But I don’t want to do that because I want to see peace.” In the same post, Trump listed numerous tragic events and hardships that he believes could have been avoided if he, and not former President Biden, won the 2020 election. “Likewise, there would have been no October 7th with Israel, the pullout from Afghanistan would have been done with strength and pride, and would not have been the most embarrassing day in the history of our country, it could have been a moment of glory. Also, there would not have been any perceptible inflation,” Trump wrote in a Friday post on Truth Social. Trump has not been shy about criticizing former President Biden, and even called out his predecessor multiple times in his address to a joint session of Congress. In his speech, Trump declared Biden was “the worst president in American history.” Trump also slammed the Green New Deal, which he calls the “Green New Scam,” said Biden didn’t do enough to free Marc Fogel from Russian detention, criticized Biden’s spending on the war in Ukraine and emphasized Biden’s failures on the border. “The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. ‘We must have legislation to secure the border.’ But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president,” Trump said as the room erupted with applause.
Vets group patching border fence pledges vigilance amid Trump success: ‘There are still gaps’
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A group of U.S. military veterans that formed to respond to the crisis at the southern border has continued its work, even as President Donald Trump has largely followed through on promises to stem the flow of illegal crossings. “As a country, we were going quietly into the night,” Kate Monroe, a Marine Corps veteran who became the founder of Border Vets, a group of U.S. military veterans who have given their own time and money to patch up holes in the border barrier in Southern California, told Fox News Digital. “It’s not as difficult to secure the nation as people might think.” The comments come as the group that Monroe founded, Border Vets, has continued its work to patch up potential weak points on the U.S. border with Mexico in Southern California. On a rainy and uncharacteristically cold day in San Diego County, Monroe invited Fox News Digital to see the volunteer organization’s continuing work. A group of nearly a dozen U.S. military veterans tagged along for the ride, returning to the infamous “San Judas Break,” a gap in the border wall that at its height was allowing more than 3,000 illegal migrants to spill into the U.S. on a weekly basis. ICE, DEA ARREST CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS ON IDYLLIC NEW ENGLAND ISLAND At issue is a gap in the barrier where the fencing erected by the U.S. government meets a hilly rock formation, leaving a tiny pathway into the country for thousands of migrants who knew where to look. While members of the Border Vets patched the hole with razor wire last year, the group returned to the spot to make improvements to the barrier and extend it further up the hill in an attempt to dissuade illegal crossings. But things have changed at this spot since the Border Vets initially volunteered their own time and money to patch the hole, with illegal crossings now coming to a near standstill in the area since Trump took office in January. The Mexican Army has also begun to occupy the area, standing up a makeshift encampment on the other side of the border just a couple of feet from where the Border Vets worked. The Mexican government’s cooperation and Trump’s reentry into the White House have had a profound impact on crossing numbers, with February data showing that just 8,300 people attempted to illegally cross the border last month, the lowest mark recorded since fiscal 2000. Agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have also had far fewer encounters with illegal migrants compared to the same time period in 2023 and 2024, recording just 30,000 encounters in February 2025 compared to more than 130,000 during the same time period in 2023 and 2024. VENEZUELAN GANGS ARE FAR FROM A ‘FAKE’ PROBLEM, COLORADO DA SAYS: ‘GIANT ISSUE’ Nevertheless, members of the Border Vets have continued their volunteer work, noting that some migrants have been determined enough to find a way through. “Things are getting better down at the border,” one Marine veteran who volunteers for Border Vets told Fox News Digital, noting that there are still gaps, not only figuratively, but literal gaps in the border. “You can see on the footpath that people are just walking through,” he added. The group insists they have had little trouble with CBP agents patrolling the area, arguing that many have welcomed the assistance, especially during the height of illegal crossings seen in the previous few years. An agent who anonymously spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday struck a similar tone, noting that the agency does not stop the group from erecting the makeshift barriers. In one area of San Diego County near Jacumba Hot Springs, a makeshift shelter built out of wood pallets and tarp, a site that once hosted hundreds of migrants as they waited to make asylum claims to border agents, stood empty. In other areas of San Diego County’s border with Mexico on Tuesday, members checked on their patchwork barriers while noting the stark difference between now and just a few short months ago. “It’s a crazy thing,” Monroe said. “There used to be hundreds of people crossing every time I came, now not one. And it’s not because of the rain, they were coming rain or shine … the difference has just been absolutely amazing.” Members of the Border Vets welcomed the change, though they plan to stay vigilant to prevent the situation from returning to the point of crisis it had reached over the last few years. “An open border policy that we’ve dealt with for the last four years has been nothing but a detriment to the country,” a Navy veteran member of Border Vets told Fox News Digital. “We’re all struggling, we’re all being dealt a bad hand, and it just doesn’t send the right message to have our borders wide open when every other nation has closed-border policies.”
Reparations fight hits Congress as GOP looks to defund new DC task force
FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is moving to have federal funds blocked to any state or local area that enacts policies regarding slavery reparations. It comes in response to Washington’s new reparations task force, expected to be formed this year after the Democrat-controlled city council approved it in its budget last year, according to the Washington Times. “That is now going to be, evidently, policy in Washington, D.C.,” House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “I think this is a very timely bill to be able to push back on basically . . . virtue signaling.” ‘TIPPING THE SCALES’: HOUSE GOP LEADERS RIP ACTBLUE AFTER DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT HIT WITH SUBPOENA Babin, who introduced the No Bailouts for Reparations Act on Friday, called the matter of reparations “a milking of the U.S. taxpayer for a very narrow group of people.” “I think it is a privilege to be an American citizen. And certainly we have had, there was slavery in the past. There’s been indentured servitude,” Babin said. “No American taxpayer should be on the hook to pay reparations to individuals for something that happened over 150 years ago.” Reparations refer to measures to redress past wrongs. In the context of the U.S. political debate, the term almost always refers to payments to Black Americans whose families have suffered from slavery. BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘PURGE’ OF ‘MINORITY’ FEDERAL WORKERS It’s a thorny political issue that’s vehemently opposed by conservatives, who see it as a waste of taxpayer dollars for something that living Americans aren’t responsible for, and backed by far-left progressives, who argue that the damages of slavery are still seen today. Just earlier this year, “Squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., released legislation “to establish a federal commission to examine the lasting legacy of slavery and develop reparations proposals for African American descendants of enslaved people,” according to a press release. That bill is virtually guaranteed to wither on the vine in the 119th Congress, however, with Republicans controlling all the major levers of power in D.C. President Donald Trump said, “I don’t see it happening” when asked about reparations in a 2019 interview with The Hill. Babin’s bill has circulated through the House for potential co-sponsors this week. “I don’t think the American people want to see divisiveness. They don’t want to see special victim interest groups for something, and we fought a war over, and it’s been over for 150 years,” he said. “The nation should focus on policies to promote economic opportunity for everyone, not government handouts based on ancestry.”
Ranya Rao Gold Smuggling Case: Tarun Raju linked to operation, sent to 15-day judicial custody
Tarun Raju, accused in the Kannada actress Ranya Rao’s gold smuggling case, was remanded to 15 days of judicial custody after his DRI interrogation.
Heavy rains splash Delhi-Noida-Ghaziabad on Holi: Soaring daily temperature comes down
Delhi and adjoining areas of Noida and Ghaziabad received light showers of rain in Holi.