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Episode details

World Service,22 Jan 2018,26 mins

Shutdown Hits US as Working Week Starts

World Business Report

Available for over a year

Many US federal services are closed on Monday as politicians try to agree a budget. Demetri Sevastopulo of the Financial Times in Washington explains the impact, plus we talk to Andrea Bustamante from Atlanta, who is one of the so-called 'Dreamers' at the heart of the immigration debate that led to the government shutdown. Also in the programme, former footballer George Weah has been inaugurated as president of Liberia. We hear about the Liberian business community's hopes for his presidency from Rudolph Merrab, president of the Liberia Timber Association. A $2.3m settlement has been reached between a global clothing brand and Bangladeshi textile workers in the wake of the 2013 Rana Plaza factory disaster in the country. Jenny Holdcroft is from the IndustriALL Global Union which brought the case, and explains the significance of the deal. We have a report on the health of the global art market from the London Art Fair. Plus we find out about the avocado shortage in Kenya that has led to the authorities imposing an export ban on the fruit. (Picture: A government shutdown poster near the Statue of Liberty. Picture credit: Getty Images.)

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