Credit rating agency Moody’s has cautioned that a government shutdown could harm America’s credit rating.

While it said that a short-lived shutdown would ‘unlikely disrupt the economy,’ it would ‘underscore the weakness of US institutional and governance strength’ of the US compared to other top-tier economies. 

Moody’s is the last major ratings agency to still have assigned US its top rating of AAA. 

Last month, Fitch, another major ratings agency, dropped the US rating from AAA to AA+, citing the country’s $33 billion debt and ‘a steady deterioration in standards of governance.’

On Monday, Moody’s echoed that sentiment, saying a shutdown would highlight the constraints that ‘intensifying political polarization put on fiscal policymaking at a time of declining fiscal strength.’

‘Looking ahead, weaker fiscal policymaking that leads to persistently high fiscal deficits and higher than expected interest costs would put pressure on the US rating or outlook,’ Moody’s wrote in a statement.

If Congress this week fails to provide funding for the new fiscal year, starting on October 1, government services would be disrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed without pay.

Moody’s analyst William Foster told Reuters the shutdown would be evidence of Washington’s weak policymaking in the face of financial pressures brought about by high interest rates and the country’s substantial $33 billion of debt.

‘If there is not an effective fiscal policy response to try to offset those pressures… the likelihood of that having an increasingly negative impact on the credit profile will be there,’ said Foster.

‘And that could lead to a negative outlook, potentially a downgrade at some point, if those pressures aren’t addressed.’

Moody’s rates the US government AAA with a stable outlook – the highest creditworthiness it assigns to economies.

‘Fiscal policymaking is less robust in the US than in many AAA-rated peers, and another shutdown would be further evidence of this weakness,’ Moody’s said.

President Joe Biden’s top economic adviser, Lael Brainard, said the Moody’s comment highlighted the importance that Congress reaches an agreement.

‘Today’s statement from Moody’s underscores that a Republican shutdown would be reckless, create completely unnecessary risks for our economy, and lead to disruptions for communities and families across the country,’ Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, said in a statement.

‘Congress must do its job and keep the government open.’

A Treasury spokesperson said the Moody’s report delivered ‘further evidence that a shutdown could undercut our current economic momentum’ at a time when inflation and unemployment were both below 4 percent.

Moody’s said the economic impact of a shutdown would likely be limited and short-lived, with the most direct effect from lower government spending, and the negatives growing the longer the shutdown lasts.

Congress so far has failed to pass any spending bills to fund federal agency programs amid a Republican Party feud. The shutdown would not affect government debt payments. 

Earlier this year political feuding around lifting the US debt limit threatened to cause a US sovereign debt default.

Although the crisis was eventually resolved before any debt payments were missed, it was a major factor leading to Fitch’s downgrade last month.

‘In this environment of higher rates for longer and pressures building on the debt affordability front, it’s that much more important that fiscal policy can respond,’ said Foster, from Moody’s.

‘And it looks increasingly challenged because of things like the government shutdown and having come off the debt limit episode, because it’s such a polarized political dynamic in Washington,’ he said.

Italy‘s hard-Right prime minister has claimed that Europe’s future is at stake unless the EU can stop the surge of uncontrolled migration across the Mediterranean. 

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the populist Brothers of Italy party, made the declaration alongside the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where thousands of irregular migrants have landed on their journeys to Europe. 

‘The future that Europe wants for itself is at stake here,’ Meloni, 46, declared at a press conference on the island. 

‘The future of Europe depends on its ability to tackle epoch-making challenges of our time and the challenge of illegal immigration is for sure one of them.’

She said that Italy could not shoulder the full weight of responsibility for fighting irregular migration: ‘We all stake our future on this issue. At the very least we need an EU naval mission against smugglers.’ 

‘If we don’t work seriously all together to fight the illegal departures, the numbers of this will not only overwhelm the border countries, but all of the others,’ she warned. 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen stood side-by-side with Italy’s first female prime minister, and revealed her ten-point immigration support plan to support the island of around 7,000 residents, telling them: ‘You can count on the European Union.’

The EU has pledged to move the 8,500 or so migrants that currently live on the island to other parts of the bloc. 

It will also step up border surveillance by beefing up Frontex, the EU’s border agency, with more equipment. 

Ms von der Leyen also vowed to increase migrants’ access to legal channels, telling the press conference: ‘The better we are with legal migration the stricter we can be with irregular migration.’ She added: ‘Irregular migration is a European challenge and it needs a European answer. We will decide who comes to the EU and under what circumstance and not the smugglers and traffickers.’ 

The major EU pledge comes just three months after both Ms von der Leyen and Ms Meloni travelled to Tunisia to seek its cooperation in the fight against irregular migration across the Mediterranean. 

Ms Meloni is looking to get the EU to accelerate a migration deal with Tunisia worth €785million (£676million) that would help the country return migrants to their countries of origin and beef up its coastguard with new and better equipment. 

The EU’s latest pledge also comes days after France stepped up its border security and Germany had suspended a voluntary programme for the reallocation of migrants, complaining that Italy was not respecting the EU’s rules on accepting returned migrants. 

The German government later reinstated the programme after von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel intervened. 

European sentiment towards migrants has soured as data from Frontex revealed that the EU has faced a 96 per cent increase in irregular crossings via the central Mediterranean route to Italy this year. 

Nearly 128,000 migrants have arrived in the EU via Italian soil this year so far, twice as many as last year. 

Italy currently bears the brunt of the migration crisis. Half of all irregular border crossings into the EU picked up by Frontex were in Italy.

This month, EU officials said they expected more than a million asylum seekers would register claims this year alone. 

In 2015, 1.2million asylum claims were lodged in the EU, which plunged the continent into crisis as more and more EU citizens were driven to hardline anti-immigration parties. 

The 2015 migrant crisis also left hundreds of migrants dead as EU states were unable to cope with the massive influx of people, with many bodies being found frozen in refrigerated vans, in the wrecks of capsized boats, and washed up on beaches.  

That September, a shocking image of the body of Aylan Kurdi, a two-year-old Syrian refugee, washed up on a Turkish beach after a failed attempt to get to Greece brought a harsh spotlight on EU countries for not doing enough to prevent migrant deaths. 

Despite this scrutiny, two weeks after the photo of Aylan was taken, Hungary put up a hard border with its neighbours Serbia and Croatia, with the aim of increasing border security and preventing irregular migrants from getting in. 

• Gabriel seemed to pick up a knock in his Brazil debut – a 5-1 win over Bolivia
• The Brazilian defender returned to the Arsenal starting XI against Man United
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast It’s All Kicking Off! 

By Dominic Hogan For Mailonline

Published: 02:26 EDT, 16 September 2023 | Updated: 03:19 EDT, 16 September 2023

The NHS is ‘not sufficiently resilient’ to look after patients this winter, a top doctor has warned.

Dr Adrian Boyle, Royal College of Emergency Medicine president, fears the health service could face a similar situation to last winter, described as one of the worst on record.

His comments come as Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Steve Barclay met with health leaders and charities in Downing Street to discuss how to keep the NHS running smoothly.

Doctors expect an influx of Covid cases, flu and other respiratory illnesses over the coming months.

Dr Boyle, who attended the meeting at No 10, said: ‘We remain concerned about how we’re going to be able to look after our patients this winter.

‘We still have far too many patients spending too long, waiting to be admitted into hospital. This will inevitably cause problems with ambulance handovers and also the problems with people being looked after in corridors last winter.

‘(Last winter) was extremely difficult and in terms of objective measures, it was the worst we ever saw.’

Asked if the NHS could see a repeat this winter, he said: ‘It is certainly a possibility. We still think our system is fragile and not sufficiently resilient to avoid a similar situation next winter.’

Dr Boyle said he would call for urgent action to tackle the numbers waiting for more than 12 hours in A&E. The figure in England was 23,934 in July, down 10 per cent from 26,531 in June. It hit a record 54,573 in December 2022.

The RCEM is calling for more to be done to vaccinate frontline health workers against flu and Covid.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, the Prime Minister said: ‘This year we started planning for winter earlier than before. We invested in more beds, ambulances and discharge lounges through our Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan, and we’re freeing up 15 million GP appointments through our Primary Care Recovery Plan.

‘To drive forward that progress, today we’re bringing together the best minds in healthcare who all have one shared aim – protecting patients and making sure they get the care they need this winter.’

Mr Barclay added: ‘Winter is always an extremely busy period and we’re working across the NHS to make services more resilient, ensuring those who most need help and support will get the care they need.

‘I’m working closely with NHS and social care leaders to provide additional hospital capacity, protect emergency care and harness the full potential of technology to deliver the best possible service and intensify our efforts to tackle waiting lists.’

Earlier this year, NHS England announced plans for cash incentives for hospitals who ‘over-achieve’ on performance measures such as waiting times.

It also announced plans to introduce social care ‘traffic control centres’ to help speed up hospital discharges so patients could be shipped out of hospitals when they no longer needed to be there.

Other plans include having more ambulances on the road, extra beds in hospitals and ramping up the use of ‘acute respiratory hubs’.

Sarah-Jane Marsh, NHS England’s national director of urgent and emergency care, said: ‘The forthcoming winter will be another challenging one for health and social care, which is why teams across the NHS have been planning for this busy period since the start of summer, including getting more ambulances on the road and putting more hospital and virtual ward beds in place.’

Around three-quarters of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es in July. The figure hit a record low of 65 per cent in December.

The NHS recovery plan has set a target of March 2024 for 76 per cent of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Meanwhile, a record 7.6 million people are waiting for treatment in England.

Ashtead booosted by US ‘mega projects’ and green bill but it warns UK market is softening

• Revenue rose by 19% to £2.7bn for the first half to 31 July year-to-year
• Rental revenue rose by 14% to £2.4bn over the same time period 

By Daniel Fessahaye

Updated: 12:37 EDT, 5 September 2023

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DP World profits sink as P&O Ferries owner warns of ‘uncertain’ outlook

• DP World reported profits fell by 9.7% to $651m for the six months ending June 
• Trading was hit by freight rates continuing the fall back from their record levels 
• Headquartered in Dubai, the group’s ports include Jebel Ali and Southampton 

By Harry Wise

Published: 09:10 EDT, 17 August 2023 | Updated: 09:10 EDT, 17 August 2023

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Comer warns more of Hunter’s associates will be brought in to testify

By Morgan Phillips, Politics Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 11:37 EDT, 10 August 2023 | Updated: 11:37 EDT, 10 August 2023

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We’ll SUBPOENA the Biden family, top Republican says: Rep. James Comer warns more of Hunter’s associates will be brought in to testify – and Joe could end up being witness

• ‘This was always gonna end with the Bidens coming in front of the committee. We are going to subpoena the family,’ Comer, R-Ky., said
• ‘We know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens,’ he added

By Morgan Phillips, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 11:00 EDT, 10 August 2023 | Updated: 11:48 EDT, 10 August 2023

China property giant Country Garden warns of £6bn loss

By Calum Muirhead

Published: 16:50 EDT, 11 August 2023 | Updated: 03:31 EDT, 12 August 2023

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Lindsey Graham is urging his ally Donald Trump to stop promoting conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rigged, claiming on Sunday that the ex-president is ‘hurting his chances’ of re-election by doing so.

It comes the same day as a new poll shows Republican voters are torn on whether they even want Trump as the GOP nominee in 2024 — and even fewer Democratic voters who want President Joe Biden to run again.

But according to Graham, the Republican presidential nomination is ‘his nomination for the taking’ — unless he keeps making his 2020 loss the main focus of his platform.

‘I am not contesting the 2020 election. I’d like to reform the system. The problems we found in 2020 need to be addressed. But the 2020 election is over for me,’ the South Carolina Republican senator said on ABC News’ This Week.

‘He has a great chance of being president again in 2024, if he’ll start comparing what he did as president versus what’s going on now and how to fix the mess we’re in. If he looks backward, I think he’s hurting his chances.’

While he hasn’t formally announced a re-election bid, the former president has dropped numerous hints that another campaign was at least on his mind. 

Graham, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in the Senate, was recently lambasted as a ‘RINO,’ or Republican In Name Only, by the ex-president for breaking with him on the Capitol riot.

Trump at a Texas rally last month pledged to pardon his supporters who were arrested for storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The remark earned instant bipartisan backlash. Graham, without mentioning Trump by name, released a statement declaring: ‘All Americans are entitled to have a speedy trial and their day in court, but those who actively engage in violence for whatever political cause must be held accountable and not be forgiven.’

ABC host George Stephanopoulos asked Graham about their recent public falling out and questioned how the GOP senator thinks Trump could change course now.

‘Well, here’s my statement about the president’s situation right now. He’s the most dominant figure in the Republican Party. I think Biden’s approval ratings are in the tank because his policies are not working,’ Graham said without addressing Trump’s insult.

‘For the president to win in 2024, he’s got to talk about the future. He’s got to talk about how to fix a broken border, how to repair the damage done through the Biden economic agenda and how to make the world a safer place.’

He added that continuing to push claims the 2020 election was rigged in Biden’s favor would have ramifications for the entire party.

‘I do believe, if he talked about what he’s capable of doing and remind people what he did in the past, he has a chance to come back,’ Graham said.

‘If he continues to talk about the 2020 election, I think it hurts his cause and, quite frankly, it hurts the Republican Party.’

Another prominent Republican lawmaker to break from Trump over the January 6 pardons was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who called the event a ‘violent insurrection.’

Since Trump left office, McConnell has become a favorite punching bag of his and in recent months the ex-president has reportedly worked behind-the-scenes to gin up support to topple McConnell from his position at the head of the Senate GOP.

Graham said on Sunday, ‘any Republican leader in the House or the Senate has to have a working relationship with President Trump, because most Republicans like President Trump’s policies.’

He previously suggested he may not support McConnell if he failed to reconcile with Trump.

‘A lot of us wish he would look forward, not backward. But he’s very popular because he stands up to all the things that most Republicans believe need to be stood up to,’ Graham said of the ex-president’s popularity.

But it appears not all Republicans feel the same as the ones on Capitol Hill do, according to CNN‘s new survey released on Sunday.

The January-into-February poll revealed that 50 percent of registered Republicans and Independent voters who lean to the right would vote for Trump to be the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

However 49 percent said they’d prefer a different candidate.

Among Republicans Trump’s support is slightly higher, with 54 percent saying they hopes he runs again.

But just 38 percent of GOP-leaning Independents felt the same.

The lackluster sentiment for their party’s top figure is shared by Democrats — even more of whom are hesitant about a second Biden term.

Just 45 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters said they wanted Biden as their nominee in 2024. Fifty-one percent prefer a different candidate to take up the president’s mantle.

Similar to Trump, registered Democrats are slightly more receptive to another Biden ticket. However unlike Trump he fails to capture a majority of their favor — only 48 percent said they’d back another run.

The share of left-leaning Independents who would support Biden is around 33 percent.