First Thing: US Congress passes last-minute stopgap bill to avert government shutdown

The shutdown would have started at 12.01am on Saturday. Plus, Netanyahu says he opposes creation of Palestinian state after war

Good morning,

The House passed a short-term spending bill on Thursday, sending the legislation to Joe Biden’s desk with just two days left before government funding runs out.

The president is expected to sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk, averting a government shutdown that would have started at 12.01am on Saturday morning. The bill, the third stopgap spending measure this fiscal year, extends government funding until 1 March for some agencies and until 8 March for others.

“Avoiding a shutdown is very good news for the country, for our veterans, for parents and children, and for farmers and small businesses – all of whom would have felt the sting had the government shut down,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. “And this is what the American people want to see: both sides working together and governing responsibly. No chaos. No spectacle. No shutdown.”

• How did the House votes split? The House approved the bill in a vote of 314 to 108, with107Republicans and207 Democrats supporting the proposal.

• And the Senate? The House vote came hours after the Senate approved the bill in a vote of 77 to 18, following bipartisan negotiations that stretched into late Wednesday evening.

• But but but: In a potentially worrisome sign for the House speaker, Mike Johnson, 106 Republicans opposed the bill as hard-right members called for steeper spending cuts.

Fears grow for Gaza’s largest remaining hospital as Netanyahu says he opposes creation of Palestinian state after war

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Thursday he would reject any moves to establish a Palestinian state when Israel ended its offensive against Gaza, and that all territory west of the Jordan River would be under Israeli security control.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have advanced further into southern Gaza’s main city, pounding areas near the territory’s biggest functioning hospital and prompting fears it could be forced to close.

Khan Younis residents and medical staff said the fighting had come within yards of Nasser hospital, the biggest hospital still partially working in Gaza, over the past week. It has been receiving hundreds of wounded patients a day.

Israeli officials have accused Hamas fighters of operating from Nasser hospital, which staff deny. The aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday that heavy bombing by Israeli forces in recent days had caused panic among patients and displaced people seeking refuge there.

• What did Netanyahu say? “In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control of all territory west of the Jordan [River],” he said. “This collides with the idea of sovereignty. What can you do?”

• What is the state of Gaza’s health facilities? Two-thirds of Gaza’s hospitals have now ceased functioning. Two other hospitals – al-Aqsa and the Gaza European – are also at risk of closure, according to the UN.

• How many people have been killed? A total of 24,620 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been confirmed killed in Gaza since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, according to the territory’s health ministry. Thousands more are thought to be buried under rubble.

Judge hints that Trump’s election interference trial might be delayed

The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results indicated on Thursday that the scheduled trial date would not hold, as a result of the case being frozen while the former US president appeals to have the charges dismissed.

The district judge, Tanya Chutkan, last summer scheduled the trial in Washington DC to start on 4 March, allowing Trump and his team seven months to prepare his defense.

But when Trump appealed against her decision in December refusing to toss the charges on grounds he could not be prosecuted for actions he took as president related to his duties, the case was automatically frozen while the US court of appeals for the DC circuit considered the matter.

On Thursday, Chutkan affirmed that Trump would get the full seven-month period to prepare.

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In other news …

• Italy’s highest court ruled that performing the fascist salute is only a crime if it endangers public order, or risks leading to a revival of the banned fascist party. The ruling was hailed by neofascists.

• A 30-year-old Thai man has been given a 50-year prison sentence for criticising the monarchy on Fabebook, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, the longest jail term handed down under Thailand’s strict royal defamation laws.

• Powerful winter storms in numerous US states left at least 43 people dead, damaged buildings and cut power to tens of thousands, authorities said, as forecasters warned of another round of snow and ice this weekend.

• Two Madonna fans in New York City are suing the pop star for starting her concert late, claiming that they “had to get up early to go to work” the next morning.

• The number of North Koreans who defected to South Korea tripled last year to 196, as the easing of Covid border closures saw students, women and diplomats make the perilous journey.

• Brazilian police have arrested another suspect over the 2022 murders of the journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.

• The credibility of the Cop28 agreement to “transition away” from fossil fuels rides on the world’s biggest historical polluters such as the US, UK and Canada rethinking current plans to expand oil and gas production, according to the climate negotiator representing 135 developing countries.

Don’t miss this: ‘I was attacked by a bear while running a marathon’

Six hours in, two or three miles from the finish line, I was running alone and became aware of something approaching me from the side, Karen Williams tells Chris Broughton. As it got closer I realised it was a bear. I felt a jolt of fear, then turned towards it, raised my arms to make myself as big as I could, and shouted: “No!” Suddenly, I was on my back being raked by the bear’s claws. She bit me on both arms and, when I screamed in pain, she gave me a left hook to the face. Fighting back wasn’t an option. I tried to roll on to my belly, and she bit my neck and started shaking me.

Climate check: Meadow brown butterflies ‘adapt’ to global heating by developing fewer spots

Female meadow brown butterflies who develop in warmer weather sport fewer spots on their wings, in an unexpected adaptation to global heating. The discovery was made by University of Exeter scientists who found that females whose chrysalises developed at 11C had six spots on average, while those developing at 15C had just three. “This suggests the butterflies adapt their camouflage based on the conditions,” said Prof Richard ffrench-Constant. “For example, with fewer spots they may be harder to spot on dry, brown grass that would be more common in hot weather.”

Last Thing: How South Korea fell in love with dogs

Last week South Korea passed a law banning the dog meat trade. The president, Yoon Suk-yeol, and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, who own several dogs, made no secret of their opposition to dog meat consumption. “The political narrative changed very quickly,” Annie Ko said. “And I think that has a lot to do with the current government.” While working as an interpreter for Humane Society International, her views on eating dog meat changed dramatically. Then she adopted DeeJay, who had been rescued from a dog farm. There are now 6 million pet dogs in the country. “These days, people want animals as companions,” she said.

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