10 things you need to know today: October 2, 2013

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster))

last updated 8 January 2015

1. Government shutdown furloughs 800,000 and closes national attractions

The U.S. government's first shutdown in 17 years began on Tuesday, closing all national parks, monuments, and government agencies like NASA and the EPA. Approximately 800,000 federal workers were furloughed indefinitely and favorite programs, from the PandaCam at the National Zoo to food assistance for low-income mothers and their children, were halted. There have been 17 shutdowns since 1976, with the longest lasting 21 days in 1995. There is no end in sight for this shutdown, however; Congress remains at a stalemate over what steps to take next. [CBS, CNN]

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The first day of the U.S. government shutdown also marked the launch of ObamaCare. Due to the overwhelming volume of users, ObamaCare's online health exchanges across the country encountered numerous problems and delays — both a blessing and a curse for the contentious policy. Wait times as long as four hours, numerical errors, and other problems affected people in states from Oregon to Rhode Island, as officials rushed to fix issues associated with the unforeseen demand. President Obama on Tuesday said the public's appetite for the exchanges "exceeds anything that we had expected" and Health and Human Secretary Director Kathleen Sebelius likened the technical problems to the roll out of iOS 7. [The New York Times]

Using data from seven government-funded drug surveillance systems around the world and calling on 10 years of research, the International Center for Science in Drug Policy has suggested that the war on drugs has failed. Drugs are now cheaper and purer around the world than at any time in the last 20 years. While seizures of cannabis, heroin, and cocaine by law enforcement agencies has risen significantly since 1990, the report indicates that controlling the global market through law enforcement is largely futile. Instead, the report suggests that drugs should be treated as a public health issue, rather than a criminal one. [BBC]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been named a candidate for this year's Nobel Peace Prize by a Russian advocacy group for his work to prevent an attack on Syria by the U.S. and its partners. Though Putin is no pacifist (see Chechnya, Georgia, and Libya), the nominating group — the International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation of Peoples of the World — argues that he is more deserving of the title than President Obama, who won the prize in 2009. [The New York Times]

A day after expelling top U.S. diplomat Kelly Keiderling from Venezuela, the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, announced that "no cordial relations" between the two nations will occur until U.S. diplomats cease conspiring with "the extreme right" to destabilize the country. In retaliation for the dismissal of Keiderling, the U.S. ordered three Venezuelan diplomats on Tuesday to leave the country. [ABC]

Big changes may be in store for the Catholic Church. Pope Francis on Tuesday began a landmark, closed-door discussion with cardinals from around the world about how to change the inner workings of the papal bureaucracy and forge a long-term vision for the church. Having called his predecessors "narcissists" and the papal court "the leprosy of the papacy" in a recent interview with La Repubblica, Pope Francis hopes to shift Vatican attitudes to reflect more universal values. [Reuters]

Thousands of people have been reporting persistent nosebleeds in Japan over the past few weeks, with over 2,500 tweeting as such in the last three days alone. Some say the malady could be a sign of radiation illness resulting from the explosion of the Fukushima power plant last year. The Japanese government has kept the details of radiation illness in Japan mostly under wraps, drawing criticism from around the world, particularly from Korea, whose minister of oceans and fisheries, Yoon Jin-sook, called the practice "immoral." [Arirang]

Sharon Weissburg was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island and is studying Italian literature and American history at Boston University. Follow her @thekidette.

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