Washington D.C. faces a potential government shutdown on Friday as negotiations intensify between the White House and Senate Democrats over a $1.2 trillion government spending package, according to BBC World. The talks are focused on the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operation, with Democrats pushing to remove funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, BBC World reported.
The potential shutdown looms as other international events unfold. In Beijing, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to foster deeper ties between the two nations, Fox News reported. While neither leader explicitly mentioned President Trump, Xi's comments suggested the U.S. president was on their minds, according to The Associated Press, as reported by Fox News.
Meanwhile, the European Union added Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its terrorist list in response to Tehran's crackdown on protesters, BBC World reported. The move places the IRGC, a significant military, economic, and political force in Iran, on par with groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. "Repression cannot go unanswered," said the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas, according to BBC World. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the EU decision as a "stunt" and a "major strategic mistake," BBC World reported. Human rights groups estimate that thousands of protesters were killed by security forces, including the IRGC, during unrest in December and January, according to BBC World.
In other news from the region, Israeli media cited a senior security source who stated that the military accepts that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in Gaza, BBC World reported. Israel had previously questioned figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, but the UN and other human rights groups have deemed those figures reliable, according to BBC World. The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in about 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages, BBC World reported. Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 70,000 Palestinians were killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, as reported by BBC World.
In South Africa, the documentary "Melania," about former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, will not be shown in cinemas, BBC World reported. Filmfinity, the South African distributor, decided not to release the film, with the head of sales and marketing declining to provide specific reasons to the New York Times and News24, according to BBC World.
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