As a Friday deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security approached, Democrats and Republicans remained deadlocked on a spending bill, raising the specter of a government shutdown, according to the New York Times. Simultaneously, a white supremacist who murdered 51 people in a 2019 New Zealand mosque attack sought to overturn his guilty plea, while thousands of businesses in Malawi closed in protest over new tax changes. The world of international business also saw a rise in abandoned oil tankers and a push for extreme work hours in the AI sector.
Negotiations on the DHS funding bill stalled over disagreements regarding immigration enforcement, particularly in the wake of federal immigration officers' killings of two American citizens in Minnesota last month, according to the NY Times. Democrats demanded new restrictions on immigration enforcement operations, including barring officers from wearing masks and mandating judicial warrants for private property entry. Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, stated on Fox News, "If I had to say now, I probably would expect there is a shutdown."
In New Zealand, Brenton Tarrant, the Australian man who admitted to the Christchurch mosque shootings, appealed his life sentence. The 35-year-old, who also admitted to one count of terrorism, filed the appeal out of time, according to the BBC World. The attack, which occurred in March 2019, resulted in the deaths of 51 people and the attempted murder of 40 others.
Meanwhile, in Malawi, thousands of businesses closed in protest against the new Electronic Tax Invoicing System (EIS). Demonstrations across the country's four main cities led to a delay in the introduction of the tax regime, which business owners claimed would cripple their livelihoods, The Guardian reported.
The business world also saw significant developments. The number of abandoned oil tankers and other commercial ships increased globally, according to BBC Business. One senior deck officer, identified as Ivan, spoke of the dire conditions on an abandoned tanker outside Chinese waters, stating, "We had a shortage of meat, grain, fish, simple things for survival. It's affected our health and our operational atmosphere."
In the burgeoning AI sector, some tech firms embraced extreme work schedules. One New York-based company, Rilla, advertised jobs with the warning, "Please don't join if you're not excited about working 70 hrs/week in person," according to BBC Business. The company's recruitment website highlighted "insane speed" and "customer obsession" as key values.
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