Iraq moves against IS in Tikrit

2 March 2015 Last updated at 11:59

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Ahmed Maher reports from Baghdad: ''The capture of Tikrit could be a very good boost to the government forces''

Iraq has launched a military operation to recapture former leader Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit from Islamic State (IS).

Troops and militia were said to be attacking on different fronts, backed by airstrikes from Iraqi fighter jets.

The government says that its forces are advancing into the city but this has not been confirmed.

Tikrit lies 150km (95 miles) north of the capital Baghdad and was seized by IS militants in June 2014.

Major offensive

Al-Iraqiya TV said that IS militants had been dislodged from some areas of Salahuddin province, outside Tikrit.

It added that Iraqi troops and fighters from the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella group of Shia militia fighting IS, were moving into Tikrit as airstrikes hit militant strongholds.

Government forces say they are 5km away from the heart of the city, the BBC's Ahmed Maher reports in Baghdad, but this has not been confirmed by independent sources.

Our correspondent says that 4,500 militiamen are reported to be participating in the offensive.

Shia militia have done much of the fighting against IS militants but have also been accused of killing scores of Sunni civilians in apparent revenge for attacks carried out by the group.

Analysis: Ahmed Maher, BBC News, Baghdad

The operation involving up to 20,000 government troops is being backed by an alliance of volunteers mainly from the Shia community but also Sunni tribal fighters.

The Popular Mobilisation Force was formed last summer following the collapse of army troops after IS militants swept through the Sunni heartlands in the north and west of Iraq.

The jihadist movement is backed by Sunni insurgents, who started to take up arms against the Shia-led government in late 2013 after months of protests against what the Sunni community perceived as marginalisation and discrimination.

Several governments have attempted to reclaim Tikrit, the capital city of Salahuddin province, but have failed since July 2014.

The city is also symbolic for being the birthplace of Saddam Hussein. US forces found the former president hiding in southern Tikrit eight months after the US-led invasion in 2003.

If the ongoing military operation succeeds, the government forces and their allies will face a much bigger challenge to retake the main stronghold of IS in the north, the city of Mosul.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met military leaders in Salahuddin province ahead of the advance.

He declared the start of the operation late on Sunday, as tens of thousands of troops and militia gathered in the central town of Samarra in preparation for the offensive.

Mr al-Abadi offered to pardon all Sunni tribal fighters who "who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms" and abandon IS.

He described it as a "last chance", saying that the city of Tikrit would soon be returned to its people.

Tikrit, hometown of former President Saddam Hussein, was the second major gain for IS after the group captured the city of Mosul in June last year.

IS militants hold several areas of Salahuddin, a predominantly Sunni Muslim province.

Mosul was home to more than a million people when it fell to IS after the militants launched an offensive in northern Iraq that saw it seize large swathes of the country.

Soldiers and allied Shia militiamen have now begun to recapture territory from IS north of Baghdad, with the help of US-led coalition air strikes.

At the same time, Kurdish peshmerga forces have been making advances around Mosul.

In February, Mr al-Abadi said that Iraqi armed forces would be launching a major offensive "in a few months' time" to retake the city from IS militants.

Are you in the region? What are your views on this story? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. If you are available to talk further with a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number.

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US police shoot homeless man dead

2 March 2015 Last updated at 10:55

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A witness said five officers were involved in the altercation

US police have shot and killed a homeless man during an altercation in central Los Angeles, in an incident caught on video.

The graphic film shows a violent struggle between the man and several officers in the city's Skid Row area.

Police say that three officers opened fire after the man tried to grab a gun from an officer.

Witnesses said the dead man was known as Africa and had been homeless after treatment for mental illness.

The LA police department said officers had been responding to reports of a robbery and had attempted to use a Taser to subdue the suspect but he had "continued fighting and resisting".

No other gun was recovered at the scene, LA police commander Andrew Smith said.

Last year, highly publicised killings of black men sparked weeks of protests in the US.

Hours after the latest shooting, the hash tag #LAPDShooting was trending on Twitter in the US.

Shooting victim

• Nicknamed Africa, had been living on the street for months, eyewitnesses say
• Said to have spent 10 years in a mental health institution before winding up homeless
• Said by people who knew him to have not been violent but still exhibited "mental problems"

Sources: LA Times and ABC News

It is unclear from the video what exactly happened, the BBC's Alastair Leithead reports from Los Angeles.

The video begins with what appears to be a black man swinging punches at four police officers in daylight, near the tents and cardboard of a pavement homeless camp. Two other officers run up to join their colleagues.

As the man is knocked to the ground, a woman can be seen picking up a fallen police baton and a voice seems to shout "Give me my stick! Give me my stick!"

Several police officers turn to tackle the woman, in the foreground of the video, and her detention partially obscures what is happening with the man on the ground.

A voice can be heard shouting "Drop the gun!" four times before five shots ring out.

The police officers step away from the suspect lying on the ground and nobody approaches the body again for one minute 13 seconds, by which time police reinforcements have arrived.

The man taking the video can be heard swearing as he records it.

After the shooting, he can be heard saying. "Ain't nobody got no [obscenity] gun. I'm gonna record this [obscenity]... They just shot that man right here, man, they just shot that [obscenity] man right here, yeah."

Skid Row

• Name given to a central district of Los Angeles with a large homeless population
• Estimates of district's population range from 8,000 to 11,000 people, predominantly black people, with a homeless population of about 2,500, according to the LA Chamber of Commerce
• Described by the Associated Press as a "tenuous comfort zone for many who hit the rock bottom of their lives in America"
• Homeless people tended to gravitate to the area historically as it was near a railway terminal - "the last stop on the train for the whole country", according to the Union Rescue Mission charity
• Other US cities have their own "skid rows", with the term believed to have originated in Seattle, Washington State

Other cameras

Commander Smith said three officers, including a sergeant, had fired their guns as they struggled on the ground for control of one of the police officer's weapons.

He said the department was aware of the amateur video and would attempt to amplify its sound and pictures to establish exactly what had happened.

"The video is disturbing," he told reporters. "It's disturbing any time anyone loses their life. It's a tragedy."

The commander added that at least one of the police officers had been wearing a body camera.

According to an ABC News report, the three officers have been placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the shooting.

Steve Soboroff, president of LA's Police Commission, told the BBC it was important to investigate the facts before making any conclusions.

Witnesses told the Los Angeles Times that the man who died had been living on the street for four or five months.

Ina Murphy, who lives in an apartment nearby, said he had told her that he had recently been released after spending 10 years in a mental health facility.

People on Skid Row who knew him said he was not violent.

"What did he do?" said Steven Tugmon to ABC News. "He wasn't an aggravated person. He wasn't mad all the time. He just had mental problems."

Are you in Los Angeles's Skid Row district? Did you witness the events? You can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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Estonia ruling party wins election

2 March 2015 Last updated at 06:14

Estonia's governing Reform Party won a national election overshadowed by security concerns sparked by Russia's role in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, whose party has 30 seats, is set to form a coalition in the 101-member parliament.

The results are a blow to the Centre Party, which has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who were expected to do well in the poll.

Estonia was once part of the former Soviet Union but is now a Nato member.

"The Reform Party is the 2015 winner of the parliamentary elections," Mr Roivas declared on the ETV public television station.

'No Centre coalition'

Mr Roivas' party claimed 27.7% with most of the votes counted, down from 28.6% at the last parliamentary elections in 2011.

The pro-Russian Centre Party took 24.8% of the votes, winning one more seat to take them to 27 in total.

The Social Democrats, who have been Reform's coalition partner, now hold 15 seats after losing four while the IRL party lost nine seats to take them to 14.

Analysts said Reform could face some difficulty in forming a new coalition, with parliament now split between six parties rather than the previous four.

The two newcomers - a free-market liberal party and an anti-immigration conservative party - won 15 seats between them.

Asked whether he would contemplate forming a coalition with the Centre Party, Mr Roivas said "definitely not".

'Estonian-minded'

In the run up to the election, Mr Roivas had called for an "Estonian-minded government". At 35, he is the youngest prime minister in Europe.

The country's political debate has been dominated by economic issues and fears over defence due to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

One voter in the capital, Tallinn, told the AFP news agency: "If [the Russians] come in here, Estonia can't do anything."

"I'm not sure Nato will help us out, Let's hope that it will not go that far," he added.

Estonia has seen a number of airspace violations by Russia, and last year a security official was detained by Russia and accused of spying.

Mr Roivas has voiced concerns that Russia could seek to destabilise other former Soviet states following the conflict in Ukraine - a view echoed last month by UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

The Centre Party leader, Edgar Saavisar, favours a friendlier approach to Moscow, and has previously suggested that Russia's annexation of Crimea could be legitimate.

About a quarter of Estonia's 1.3m population are ethnic Russians, many of whom are Centre Party supporters.

The country is a pioneer of electronic voting, with a reported one in five casting their vote online.

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Arrests after HK shopping protest

2 March 2015 Last updated at 05:42

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A protest against shoppers from mainland China turns violent, as Russell Trott reports

Hong Kong police have arrested more than 30 people after the third angry protest in a month against shopping tourists from the Chinese mainland.

Clashes broke out on Sunday as hundreds of people demonstrated in Yuen Long, near the border with China.

Locals say the so-called parallel traders from China are exploiting visa rules to buy goods in Hong Kong to sell at a profit across the border.

But some residents accused the protesters are disrupting business.

The anti-trader protesters marched in the suburban town of Yuen Long, where many business cater to the huge number of Chinese tourists.

They say that networks of mainlanders come to Hong Kong to buy high-quality products at lower cost - because Hong Kong does not charge a goods and services tax - and that this drives up retail rental prices and forces out normal shopkeepers.

They want the government to change rules which allow mainlanders to cross the border multiple times in a day.

"There is a lot of anger from other people on Chinese smugglers because we just don't like how they drive up all the prices, drive up everything, create a lot of chaos, and we aren't benefiting from it,'' said protester Kelvin Lee, from Hong Kong Indigenous, one of the two groups that organised the demonstration.

But local man Tom Lau told Reuters the mainlanders just wanted to buy quality products, and that the protesters were simply "stirring up trouble".

'Creates pressure'

Later on Sunday scuffles broke out after some village residents who opposed the event hurled insults at the protesters.

Police then stepped in with batons and pepper spray to control the crowds.

Thirty-six people between the ages of 13-74 were arrested for offences including possessing offensive weapons, assault, disorder and fighting, police said.

On Monday, Hong Kong's Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung said the government would consider looking again at the territory's capacity to host tourists.

"Too many tourists can be a good thing, but also it creates pressure," he said according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

"We hope that through policy, we can make sure that it does not have a negative impact on local residents or affect their daily lives," he said.

Two other similar protests in Hong Kong's suburban areas this year have turned chaotic, including one last month inside a shopping mall.

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N Korea opens fire as drills start

2 March 2015 Last updated at 05:58

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea as annual US-South Korea military exercises got under way, officials in Seoul say.

The two missiles, with a range of 490km (305 miles), were fired from the western city of Nampo into the sea east of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean military said.

The drills, involving tens of thousands of troops, always anger Pyongyang.

It traditionally shows its displeasure with missile tests and louder rhetoric.

Seoul and Washington describe the military exercises as defensive in nature. North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion.

Key Resolve, a largely computer-simulated exercise, lasts 12 days and Foal Eagle, which has ground, air and sea components, lasts eight weeks.

'Merciless strikes'

In a statement, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles, fired early on Monday, were probably Scud Cs or Scud Ds.

The military remained "vigilant against any additional launches", it said.

Defence Minister Kim Min-seok vowed a stern response to any provocation.

"If North Korea takes provocative actions, our military will react firmly and strongly so North Korea will regret it in its bones," he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Earlier in the day the North Korean military condemned the joint exercises as "undisguised encroachment" on national sovereignty.

Aggression should be dealt with by "merciless strikes", it said in a statement carried by KCNA news agency.

In 2013 the joint exercises led to a prolonged surge in tensions, with North Korea threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes and cutting a military hotline with the South.

Drills in 2014 passed off relatively quietly, however.

In January North Korea said it would offer a moratorium on nuclear testing if the joint exercises were cancelled. The US rejected this suggestion as an "implicit threat".

North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear programme have been stalled since early 2009.

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Bangladesh arrest over writer murder

2 March 2015 Last updated at 10:26

Police in Bangladesh have arrested a man in connection with the murder of atheist writer Avijit Roy.

Farabi Shafiur Rahman, a "fundamentalist blogger", was detained by special police forces early on Monday at a bus stop in Dhaka.

He is accused of making a recent threat to kill Mr Roy on social media.

Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to death by men with machetes last Thursday while visiting Bangladesh. His wife was badly wounded.

Colonel Ziaul Ahsan, from Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), told local media bdnews24.com that Mr Farabi was leaving the city when he was arrested in Dhaka's Jatrabarhi area on Monday morning.

RAB spokesman Major Maksudul Alam said he was "the main suspect" in the attack on Avijit Roy, who was a critic of religious intolerance.

Mr Roy's family said he had been threatened by Mr Farabi on Twitter and Facebook, Maj Alam said.

"[Roy's] family told us that he got threats from Farabi several times," he told AFP news agency.

Wife in hospital

Avijit Roy was attacked last Thursday evening by men wielding machetes as he returned from a book fair in Dhaka, his native city.

His wife Rafida Ahmed also suffered head injuries and lost a finger in the attack and remains in hospital in a serious condition.

Mourners gathered on Sunday in Dhaka to pay their respects to Mr Roy.

"Free thinking in Bangladesh is becoming a great danger," Reuters quoted writer Shahriar Kabir as saying.

"We want to know why the government failed to ensure the safety of him, despite knowing that he had been facing threats from the Islamist radicals."

Farabi Shafiur Rahman is currently on bail in second case, having been previously arrested over online postings following the murder of another anti-extremism blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, in 2013.

Ahmed Rajib Haider was among a group of bloggers who had called for the execution of Islamist leaders for crimes committed in Bangladesh's 1971 independence war.

Avijit Roy

• Born to a Hindu family in 1972
• Founded Mukto-Mona ("Free Mind") blog site in 2000 to champion secular and humanist writing in Muslim-majority Bangladesh
• Bangladeshi-born US citizen on visit to Bangladesh
• Engineer by profession
• Received recent death threats from Islamist radicals for his writings, family say
• "He was a thinker, he was a man of great knowledge, he was a scientist, he was an engineer" - close friend and Dhaka University professor Anwar Hossain

Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy

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Kerry to tackle Lavrov on Ukraine

2 March 2015 Last updated at 10:40

US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting his Russian counterpart for the first time since he accused Russia of lying about its role in Ukraine's war.

The talks with Sergei Lavrov in Geneva coincide with a UN report on human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis in east Ukraine.

The UN says the conflict has claimed at least 6,000 lives, with hundreds killed in the past few weeks alone.

A fragile ceasefire is holding despite some fighting in recent days.

At his meeting in Geneva, Mr Kerry is also expected to raise the brutal murder of a Russian opposition politician in Moscow on Friday.

Boris Nemtsov, who was shot on a bridge near the Kremlin, had been planning an anti-war rally and was said to be working on a report to expose the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine.

His allies accused the Kremlin of involvement but Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the murder as "vile" and vowed to find the killers.

Mr Kerry will press for an investigation that he said should examine not only who pulled the trigger, but who ordered, funded and co-ordinated Mr Nemtsov's murder.

'Merciless devastation'

Fighting began in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions last April, a month after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula.

The UN estimates that at least 1.25 million have fled their homes, and believes that the real number of fatalities could be considerably higher than the 6,000 it has given.

In its latest report, released on Monday, it refers to credible accounts of heavy weapons and foreign fighters continuing to flow into eastern Ukraine from Russia.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the report painted a picture of "merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure".

The Ukrainian government, Western leaders and Nato say there is clear evidence that Russia is helping the rebels with heavy weapons and soldiers.

Independent experts echo that accusation but Moscow denies it, insisting that any Russians serving with the rebels are "volunteers".

Both sides in the conflict have been pulling back some heavy weaponry from the front line - one of the conditions of the ceasefire agreement signed in the Belarusian capital Minsk last month.

A senior official in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Eduard Basurin, told the BBC on Monday the rebels had withdrawn "absolutely 100%" of heavy weapons from the front line in line with the Minsk agreement.

He went on to accuse the Ukrainian government of "only withdrawing anti-tank weapons".

The government accused the rebels on Sunday of "simulating" a withdrawal of heavy weapons.

Monitors from the OSCE security group have reported weapons movements on both sides but say it is too early to confirm a full withdrawal.

'Craven behaviour'

The talks in Geneva are expected to be tense after Mr Kerry last week accused Russian officials of lying to him about Moscow's support for the rebels.

During a visit to London, Mr Kerry accused the Kremlin of "craven behaviour" in its support for the pro-Russian fighters, undermining a ceasefire.

Meanwhile violence continued over the weekend in eastern Ukraine:

• On Saturday, Ukrainian photographer Sergiy Nikolayev was killed in an explosion in the government-held frontline village of Pisky near Donetsk

• At least eight Ukrainian soldiers were injured over the weekend by rebel shelling, the military said.

• A rebel spokesman said Ukraine's armed forces had fired mortar rounds near Donetsk.

A US official travelling with Mr Kerry told reporters it was "too soon to tell" if the ceasefire would lead to an end in violence.

Separately, the US secretary of state is also expected to renew negotiations with Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Tehran's nuclear programme on Monday.

There is an end of March deadline to reach agreement on limiting the programme, in return for an easing of economic sanctions on Iran.

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Namibia president wins $5m award

2 March 2015 Last updated at 11:11

The outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has won the world's most valuable individual award, the Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership.

The $5m (£3.2m) award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office.

But the previous award was the fourth in five years to have gone unclaimed.

Mr Pohamba, a former rebel who fought for his country's independence, has served two terms as Namibian president.

He was first elected in 2004, and again in 2009. He is due to be succeeded by President-elect, Hage Geingob.

Who is Hifikepunye Pohamba?

• Born in 1935 in northern Namibia - a region that would become a base for the Swapo liberation movement
• Educated by missionaries and employed in a copper mine as a young man
• Co-founder of Swapo and close ally of Namibia's first President, Sam Nujoma
• Jailed for political activism by South African-backed authorities, later left to study in the Soviet Union
• Worked on land reform as minister in post-independence Namibia
• Was chosen by Mr Nujoma to succeed him as president in 2004
• Gradually emerged from Mr Nujoma's shadow as a soft-spoken consensus builder

Mr Pohamba was a founding member of the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo), an armed movement that waged a decades-long campaign against South African rule.

Since the country won independence in 1990, Swapo has dominated politics, usually winning huge majorities in elections.

Mr Pohamba, 79, was named recipient of the 2014 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya.

Mo Ibrahim is a British-Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist who made billions from investing in Africa.

He launched the prize to encourage African leaders to leave power peacefully.

The inaugural prize was awarded in 2007 to Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique's former president, who has since acted as a mediator in several African disputes.

The $5m prize is spread over 10 years and is followed by $200,000 a year for life.

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Obama leads Leonard Nimoy tributes

28 February 2015 Last updated at 10:55

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The BBC's David Sillito looks back at the life of Leonard Nimoy

President Obama has led tributes to Leonard Nimoy, the US actor who played Mr Spock in the cult sci-fi series Star Trek, who has died aged 83.

"I loved Spock," said Mr Obama.

Nimoy died in Los Angeles on Friday. His son Adam said he died of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is often caused by smoking.

His career took in acting, directing, writing and photography, but he was best known for portraying the half-human, half-Vulcan character Spock.

Obama said in a statement: "Long before being nerdy was cool, there was Leonard Nimoy.

"Leonard was a lifelong lover of the arts and humanities, a supporter of the sciences, generous with his time and talents.

"And of course, Leonard was Spock. Cool, logical, big-eared and level-headed, the centre of Star Trek's optimistic, inclusive vision of humanity's future."

Obama's approach to politics has been described as Spock-like. He greeted Nimoy with a four fingered Vulcan salute when the pair met in 2007.

Among the torrent of tributes on Twitter was a message from Nasa crediting Nimoy and Star Trek as an inspiration.

Other Star Trek cast members gave their praise too. William Shatner, who as Captain Kirk acted alongside Nimoy for years in Star Trek, said he loved the actor "like a brother".

George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu said "he was an extraordinarily talented man but he was also a very decent human being."

Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in a Star Trek prequel, said: "My heart is broken."

More than a Vulcan

Nimoy played the Spock in all three of the original series of the programme and later in several big-screen spin offs.

He did have success outside of his Spock costume, in both acting and directing, and he pursued music, painting, and photography.

After the end of Star Trek's initial run, he played master of disguise Paris in the hit adventure series Mission Impossible.

Later he directed two of the Star Trek films, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home, and in 1987 helmed the hit comedy Three Men and a Baby, one of the highest-grossing films of that year.

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US avoids homeland security shutdown

28 February 2015 Last updated at 05:53

The US Homeland Security Department has avoided a partial shutdown as Congress passed a one-week funding extension, hours before a midnight deadline.

The House of Representatives voted 357-60 in favour of the short-term bill after it had been passed in the Senate.

President Barack Obama, who said he would back a short-term deal to avert a shutdown, signed it shortly afterwards.

It ensures the department's 250,000 employees will be paid while a longer-term funding agreement is discussed.

The two-thirds majority vote was reached about two hours before the midnight (05:00 GMT Saturday) deadline.

Earlier, Republicans had rejected a similar three-week extension after provisions against President Obama's immigration plan were dropped.

The one-week deal was backed by a majority of Democrats despite many of them voting against the earlier bill in the hope that a longer-term deal could be agreed.

The move came shortly after President Obama had spoken by phone to Democratic leaders in a bid to avert the partial department closure.

The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for securing US borders, airports and coastal waters.

About 200,000 "essential" department employees would have continued to work without pay if the agency's funding had not been secured.

Effects of a Homeland Security shutdown

• Airport security agents required to work without pay
• Employers would not have the ability to use a programme called E-Verify to check if new employees are authorised to work legally in the US
• No grants made to local and state authorities, including for training and new equipment
• Secret Service will not be able to hire agents to protect 2016 presidential candidates
• Civil rights and civil liberties complaint lines and investigations will be shut down

Some Republicans had wanted to use the funding of the department, which includes immigration officials, as a bargaining chip to force President Obama to end policies on immigration.

Last November, Mr Obama used his executive powers to protect about five million undocumented immigrants from deportation. Republicans say Mr Obama overstepped his powers in doing so.

A separate ruling by a federal judge has blocked those policies from starting while a lawsuit by more than two dozen states goes forward.

Some Republicans senators had expressed a desire to fight the executive actions in the courts, rather than threaten the department's funding.

The BBC's Naomi Grimley in Washington says many on Capitol Hill feared a public backlash if the funding had been thrown into doubt at a time of fears about "lone wolf" terrorists.

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Will undocumented people come forward amid uncertainty?

On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson urged Congress to pass full funding.

"A short-term continuing resolution exacerbates the uncertainty for my workforce and puts us back in the same position, on the brink of a shutdown just days from now," Mr Johnson said.

Last week, the White House said Mr Obama would prefer a full funding bill but would sign a short-term measure to prevent a shutdown.

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