Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. At midnight tonight, the partial government shutdown will become the longest in American history.
Our White House correspondents analyzed the mood in Washington .
Officially, Republicans blame Democrats. Privately, many concede, the stalemate over President Trump’s demand for a border wall has been made exponentially worse by how the White House played its cards on Capitol Hill, where two years of contradictory statements and actions have built up a profound lack of trust.
“It’s always difficult when the person you’re negotiating with changes their mind — including my wife,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas.
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2. The shutdown is being felt by Americans in widely varying ways, hitting some hard and missing others completely.
“It has been terrible,” said Andrea Caviedes, a single mother who is furloughed from the Agriculture Department. “My rent bill is due, my electric bill is due, my water bill is due, and I have medical expenses.” Ms. Caviedes, above right, serves on her church’s stage production team in her spare time.
To her friend Ximena Gumpel, it’s a blip on the nightly news: “You kind of push it aside and figure it will pass, that it’s just political bickering,” she said.
The partial shutdown is starting to affect air travel as a growing number of security agents are refusing to work for no pay. Another industry being held hostage by the shutdown: craft brewing.
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3. The U. S. began withdrawing equipment from Syria — but no troops yet — as part of President Trump’s order to wind down military operations there.
Officials said the number of American troops might actually increase in Syria, to help protect the final withdrawal — an operation that is still expected to take at least four to six months. Above, a convoy of U. S. military vehicles in Syria in December.
As recently as Sunday, the White House national security adviser, John Bolton, said the pullout was conditional. Then early Friday, a vaguely worded statement from the American military headquarters in Baghdad said the withdrawal process had begun.
The surprise announcement came amid continuing confusion over plans to disengage from one of the Middle East’s most complex conflicts.
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4. An 18-year-old woman who fled Saudi Arabia fearing for her life has been granted asylum in Canada, officials said.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, 18, above right, had rallied support from an airport hotel room in Thailand to avoid being deported, saying she feared that her relatives might kill her.
