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Janet Yellen warns US could run out of cash by 1 June
BBC reported that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the US may run out of cash by 1 June if Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.
Reaching the debt ceiling would mean that the government is unable to borrow any more money. The debt ceiling has been raised, extended or revised 78 times since 1960.
On Monday, Yellen urged Congress to act “as soon as possible” to address the $31.4tr (£25.12tr) limit. President Biden has called a meeting of congressional leaders on the issue on 9 May.
A default – which would be the first in US history – could upend global financial markets and shatter trust in the US.
In a letter to members of Congress on Tuesday, Yellen said that “We have learned from past debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States.”
Ms Yellen added that it is impossible to know for sure when exactly the US will run out of cash.
The Palestinian Authority says it has suspended broadcasting by the prominent Arab channel Al Jazeera in parts of the occupied West Bank, citing incitement and bias.
Qatari-owned Al Jazeera expressed shock and denounced the decision as “an attempt to hide the truth about events in the occupied territories”.
It links the closure to news coverage of the recent major crackdown by Palestinian security forces on armed Islamist groups in Jenin refugee camp where at least 11 people have been killed.
Al Jazeera, which is widely watched by Palestinians particularly for its exhaustive coverage of the Gaza war, has already been stopped in Arabic and English in Israel.
For the second time in months, Al Jazeera has broadcast the scene from within its own office in Ramallah as security forces enter and order it to close. Last year, it was Israeli soldiers who raided and this time, Palestinian police went in.
On Wednesday evening, a uniformed officer was shown handing an official order to an Al Jazeera correspondent who reads and signs it.
Fatah, the Palestinian faction which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA), has accused the Al Jazeera network of sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular”. Al Jazeera insists it is impartial.
The PA, which cooperates with Israel on security, is increasingly unpopular with the Palestinian public and has little control over Jenin’s urban refugee camp, historically seen as a stronghold for armed groups.
Since early December, its forces have been fighting members of the Jenin Battalion, most of whom are affiliated with Islamic Jihad or Hamas, whose 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.
Analysts say that the PA is trying to reassert its authority in the West Bank and prove its potential value to the incoming Trump administration. They suggest it may also want to show its ability to take a role in the future governance of Gaza.
However, ongoing events have drawn condemnation from many Palestinians.
“Al Jazeera has successfully maintained its professionalism throughout its coverage of the unfolding events in Jenin,” it said in a statement earlier this week.
According to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, Al Jazeera network has been deemed in violation of Palestinian laws and regulations and its operations suspended temporarily. The stoppage order applies to all work by its journalists and staff.
The network is accused of broadcasting “inciting materials” and “misleading reports” that “provoke strife and interfere in Palestinian internal affairs,” Wafa said.
Israel’s parliament voted to close Al Jazeera in Israel last May saying it threatened national security. Israeli police then raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera for broadcasting and some of its equipment was confiscated. The channel’s Arabic staff relocated to the West Bank.
In September, Israeli troops ordered the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah in the West Bank to close for 45 days claiming it was being used to support terrorist activities.
Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have often accused Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for Hamas.
Israel has also accused Al Jazeera staff in Gaza of belonging to the Islamist group. In July, the Israeli military killed Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza City, claiming he was a member of Hamas’ s armed wing. Al Jazeera strongly rejects all the allegations.
There is also a long history of hostility between Al Jazeera and the PA, with some PA officials accusing it of showing support for Hamas, a political rival of Fatah.
In 2011, Al Jazeera’s publication of the so-called Palestine Papers, a leak of confidential files detailing years of negotiations between Israel and Palestinian teams, embarrassed PA officials who accused the network of distortion. The documents purported to show offers of major concessions to Israel.
Some Palestinian journalists have criticised the PA decision to bar Al Jazeera saying it comes against a background of an increasingly authoritarian crackdown on dissent. The Foreign Press Association expressed “grave concern” over the action saying that it “raises serious questions about press freedom and democratic values in the region.”
[BBC]
The attempt to give this Test series context may ironically have stripped some from this Test match, especially as far as South Africa are concerned. The hosts have already qualified for the World Test Championship final after beating Pakistan by two wickets in Centurion, and as such, don’t necessarily have a bigger picture to play for. However, they have won eight consecutive Test matches at home against Pakistan, and never not won a home series against these opponents, and in that bilateral context, there remains plenty to play for.
In the days since South Africa qualified, there has been some attention towards the perceived softer nature of their draw en route to the World Test Championship, one that their coach Shukri Conrad made “no apologies” for. But with no Test cricket between this Test and the WTC final, South Africa will want to storm into the final in style, and extend a winning run that already stretches to six games.
Pakistan’s WTC hopes had long ago gone up in smoke, but they need to break out of a habit of letting slip winning positions, a habit in this particular cycle. As a result, they have now lost seven of the last nine Tests, and all of the last eight in South Africa. Centurion was the closest they came to breaking that hoodoo, at one stage two wickets away from a stunning win with South Africa still 49 runs away from victory. But, as has been the case with Pakistan too often, they struggled to finish off the tail with the ball, and watched another one slide through their fingers.
Newlands arguably plays slightly more to their strengths, lacking the express pace South Africa possess. It is a surface that both captains expect to take a bit more spin than Centurion, and should revert back to its natural characteristics after a freak Test last year against India that ended in a day and a half. Both sides are expected to field a spinner, while Pakistan’s seam and swing bowlers may find more joy, especially in the early stages of the Test before the surface flattens out. With just two Test wins in South Africa across three decades of playing here, a victory here – and a drawn series – will go down as their most impressive away Test series result in years.
With spin likely to play a more significant role at Newlands than it did in Centurion, Keshav Maharaj returns to the side. But for all of Newlands supposed accommodation for slower bowling, the left-arm orthodox spinner has a surprisingly indifferent record in Cape Town, managing just 9 wickets in 6 matches at an average in excess of 52. That’s almost double his average of 30.44 in South Africa in general, and Maharaj is returning from an adductor strain that ruled him out of the ODI series. Whether he can begin to turn his Newlands record around may be an intriguing plot point as the Test develops.
It’s not a vintage age for openers in Test cricket, and particularly not Pakistani openers. Until the final Test, they hadn’t produced a partnership over 15 all year, but offered faint glimpses of turning that around with the new pairing of Sam Ayub and Shan Masood putting up 36 and 49. But neither opener managed to kick on in either innings, something Masood brought up as a point of frustration in Centurion. Against the kind of world-class new ball bowling attack South Africa possess at home, runs for the first wicket are not exactly easy, but Pakistan desperately need them all the same.
It had taken Zimbabwe 197 overs and over two days to take ten Afghanistan wickets in the opening Test. A few days later, at the same venue, Zimbabwe required just 44.3 overs and less than two sessions to bowl Afghanistan out for 157, and take early control of the second Test in Bulawayo.
Newman Nyarohuri and Sikandar Raza picked three wickets apiece while Blessing Muzarabani got two as none of the Afghanistan batters managed to build on starts. In reply, the Zimbabwe openers Ben Curran and Joylord Gumbie had a tricky three overs to face which they eventually survived.
The conditions were very different at the start of the opening day, with persistent rain greeting the two teams, and the toss delayed by close to four hours.
When the conditions improved, Craig Ervine had no hesitation in bowling first on what his opposite number Hashmatullah Shahidi described as a “spicy pitch”. Zimbabwe made two changes to their playing XI from the first Test, bringing in Richard Ngarava and Raza, while Afghanistan made five changes to their side. That included them handing Test debuts to Fareed Ahmad, Riaz Hassan and Ismat Alam.
The Bulawayo pitch had a green tinge to it, but Blessing Muzarabani and Ngarava failed to extract much movement largely due to them being on the shorter side. The Afghanistan openers Abdul Malik and Riaz Hassan largely looked unhurried, and managed just 25 runs in the first ten overs.
But a moment of brilliance in the field gave the hosts the opening. Riaz pushed a full delivery from Ngarava to the right of point, and set off for a single, only to be sent back by Malik quite late. Riaz, who was almost halfway down the pitch, scurried back, but Bennett sprinted to his right, picked up the ball with one hand, and in one swift motion smashed the stumps at the striker’s end to catch the batter short.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 6 for 0 in 3 overs (Joylord Gumbie 4*, Ben Curran 1*) trail Afghanistan 157 in 44.3 overs (Rashid Khan 25; Sikandar Raza 3-30, Newman Nyamhuri 3-42, Blessing Muzarabani 2-56) by 151 runs
[Cricinfo]
Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera TV channel in West Bank
Deflated Pakistan look to set record straight in South Africa and level series
Raza, Nyamhuri take three each to skittle Afghanistan on rain-reduced day
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