The U.S. Senate is convening on Sunday in an extraordinary session to try to put an end to the 39-day government shutdown, which threatens to shrink GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to Kevin Hassett, Director of the White House National Economic Council.

In an interview with CBS, Hassett noted that U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs had previously estimated that the partial shutdown would cost the country around 1.5% of GDP. However, he warned that “this figure will likely fall short” if the impasse continues “for a couple more weeks.” The suspension of flights due to a shortage of air traffic controllers and major disruptions in food assistance distribution are among the difficulties the government is facing as operations stall over disagreements between Democrats and Republicans, including on healthcare spending.

Throughout Sunday, Donald Trump has continued to blame former President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and the pandemic-era subsidies paid to insurance companies. On Friday, Democrats proposed reopening the government in exchange for a one-year extension of medical tax credits — an offer quickly rejected by Republicans.

“The Obamacare scam directly benefits their allies in the insurance industry. They are getting richer at the expense of the American people, while healthcare coverage worsens. If Democrats get their way again, they will score yet another big win at the people’s expense,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

As he did on Saturday, Trump has demanded that Senate Republicans redirect subsidies directly to U.S. citizens. “Republicans should allocate these funds straight into their health savings accounts,” he argued.

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Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced Sunday that the chamber will remain in session until the government reopens in what is expected to be a marathon negotiation.

Senators are working on the final version of a package of three long-term appropriations bills that form part of the Republican plan to break the deadlock. Thune is pushing a strategy that would start by approving the temporary funding resolution previously passed by the House of Representatives and amending it to include the appropriations package — known as a “minibus” — with the ultimate goal of extending funding for a longer term.

At least four people were killed and 44 others injured on Sunday during a violent clash involving firearms and explosives at a prison in southwestern Ecuador, where deadly riots have become common in recent months, the country’s prison authority reported.

Ecuador’s prisons have increasingly become operational hubs for drug trafficking gangs. In their struggle for control of the lucrative trade, violent confrontations have erupted, leaving nearly 500 inmates dead since 2021.

Around 3:00 a.m. local time Sunday, residents near the city of Machala, in the El Oro province, recorded sounds of gunfire, explosions, and cries for help coming from inside the detention facility.

The National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) said in a statement Sunday morning that four people were killed in the clashes, without specifying whether all of them were inmates. Another 43 prisoners and one police officer were injured.

Elite police units entered the prison “immediately” and regained control after the uprising, according to SNAI.

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In late September, another armed confrontation in the same facility left 14 people dead, including a prison staff member.

Prison authorities said the latest violence was triggered by “a reorganization” of some inmates “in the new maximum-security prison” being built by the administration of President Daniel Noboa in the coastal province of Santa Elena. The facility is expected to be inaugurated later this month.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced on Saturday that the United States will restore ambassador-level diplomatic relations with Bolivia after 17 years. The statement came during his visit to La Paz to attend the inauguration of Bolivia’s new president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira.

In a brief appearance before the media, Landau noted that in recent weeks Washington had maintained “very close relations with the president-elect.”
“And now that he is officially president, we will restore relations at the ambassador level, as it should have always been,” he said, speaking alongside President Paz.

Landau described it as “highly unusual” and “very unfortunate” that the two nations have spent years without ambassadors in each other’s capitals — Washington, D.C., and La Paz.

“Diplomacy is ultimately about communication. Without an ambassador in the other country’s capital, that becomes more difficult,” the U.S. official emphasized, expressing hopes that the appointment of new ambassadors will be announced “very soon.”

He also recalled that President Paz has expressed his interest in maintaining a strong bilateral relationship, adding that the United States “reciprocally wants to establish a good relationship with this new Bolivian government.”

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For his part, President Paz thanked the U.S. delegation led by Landau for attending his inauguration and asked him to “convey a message of cordiality and friendship” to President Donald Trump and all levels of the U.S. government.