A test is under way

October 18, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

The October drama over US government funding and debt-ceiling extension overshadowed a more far-reaching event – one that promises to reshape the size of government and its role in Americans’ lives more than any legislation since the Social Security Act of 1935.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

To read this post and thousands more articles, subscribe today!

Barriers went down at National Park Service sites and thousands of furloughed federal workers began returning to work across the country Thursday after 16 days off the job due to the partial government shutdown. The Office of Personnel Management announced that workers should return to work on their next regularly scheduled work day – Thursday for most workers. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of workers have been furloughed since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

The stock market closed at an all-time high a day after Washington reached a deal to avoid a US default. The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index rose 11 points to close at 1733 Thursday, beating its previous closing high of 1725 reached Sept. 18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell two points to close at 15371.

New Jersey’s US senator-elect says he’s ready to go to Washington and channel Americans’ frustration with Congress into energy for change. Newark Mayor Cory Booker appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday, hours after he defeated Republican Steve Lonegan in a special Senate election. Booker will fill the seat left vacant by the June death of Frank Lautenberg.

Police in Bosnia have detained eight Serbian men suspected of taking part in looting, expulsions, and killing of civilians during the country’s 1992-95 war. The prosecutor’s office in Bosnia said Thursday the men were arrested in the eastern town of Rogatica where the alleged crimes were committed.

Maj. Gen. Jameh Jameh, one of Syria’s most powerful military officers, was killed in fighting with Al Qaeda-linked Islamic extremists in an oil-rich eastern province largely controlled by the rebels, Syrian state-run television said Thursday. The fighting came amid a new push to hold an elusive peace conference for Syria’s civil war, with the government proposing the talks start late next month, though there was no sign the opposition would attend.

Saudi Arabia and Chad easily won coveted seats on the UN Security Council Thursday, despite criticism from human rights groups that their rights records are abysmal. Nigeria, Lithuania, and Chile also won seats. The five candidates endorsed by regional groups faced no opposition because there were no contested races for the first time in several years.

Nearly a hundred wildfires burned across New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, on Thursday, 18 of which were out of control, as unseasonably hot temperatures and strong winds fanned flames across the parched landscape.

President Obama is calling back a trusted counterterrorism adviser from his first term by nominating former top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson as secretary of Homeland Security. Obama plans to announce Johnson’s nomination today. He must be confirmed by the Senate before taking over the post most recently held by Janet Napolitano, who stepped down in August to become the University of California’s president.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

Are you sure?

Forgot to add folder?

Tags Error