Talks to end the government shutdown are developing as Republicans and Democrats attempt to hammer out a solution that will save the U.S. from defaulting on its debt and put government back in session. During the same week, the Nobel Prize winners for 2013 were announced, once again identifying some of the key world players making a difference in our world today.
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Republicans and Democrats Begin Negotiations to End Shutdown
On Thursday, Republicans and Democrats jumpstarted negotiations to put an end to the government shutdown.
Talks between House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama collapsed on Saturday when the President rejected the GOP’s plan to increase the debt ceiling until Thanksgiving. Obama was opposed to Boehner’s initiative as it failed to address reopening the U.S. government.
Instead, there has been increasing interest in Republican Senator Susan Collin’s plan, which would involve raising the debt limit until Jan. 31. This would give Republicans and Democrats enough time to reach a deal.
Senator Harry Reid and Senator Mitch McConnell are now leading talks and trying to establish some basic framework by Monday. In the meantime, a poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal shows that support for the GOP has crumbled, with only 24 percent of respondents holding a favorable view of the GOP.
2013’s Nobel Prizes Awarded
This year’s Nobel Prize winners were announced throughout week, marking the award’s upcoming 112th ceremony and honoring some of the world’s most prominent activists, scientists and writers.
Among the biggest wins was that of physicists Peter Higgs and Francois Englert. The two men were among a group of scientists who in the 1960s theorized the Higgs boson particle’s existence. They claimed that the Higgs boson explained why the Universe’s most basic building blocks have mass, though the particle was not discovered until 2012 by the Cern lab’s Large Hedron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland.
Professor Higgs has so far avoided the public eye in preparation for the media storm to follow, but he provided a statement declaring that he was “overwhelmed” with the award. The British scientists also said that he hoped the prize would encourage scientists involved in similar fields of research.
But not all the awards granted were unanimously supported. People around the world were disappointed when Pakistani girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Peace Prize went to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for their work in eradicating Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.
Yousafzai, however, remained unhindered and instead declared her support for the chemical weapons watchdog. She congratulated the organization on her Twitter and emphasized that she was honored by the nomination regardless of the result.
Other winners included Alice Munro for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Economic Sciences prize will be awarded Monday.