A partial U.S. federal government shutdown officially began early Saturday after lawmakers missed the funding deadline, but major leaders in Washington say they expect it to be much shorter than last year’s 43-day closure and could end as soon as Monday or Tuesday once the House acts.

The federal government remains in a partial shutdown after Congress failed to finalize all funding bills before the deadline. The Senate has passed a bipartisan funding package that would reopen most agencies, while temporarily extending funding for the Department of Homeland Security to allow more time for negotiations over immigration and border security.

That measure now sits with the House, where leaders must first clear a procedural hurdle: the Rules Committee must approve a rule setting the terms for debate before the full chamber can vote. Even if the rule advances, support inside the House remains uncertain, meaning a final vote is unlikely to happen immediately, and the shutdown could extend several more days as negotiations continue.

The Cuban government has exchanged its fierce rhetoric and vows to resist President Donald Trump’s “threats” for a more conciliatory offer to renew cooperation on security matters and maintain a “respectful dialogue” amid increasing diplomatic tensions and several incidents of harassment of U.S. diplomats on the island.

“Cuba is prepared to reactivate and expand bilateral cooperation with the United States to address shared transnational threats, without ever relinquishing its sovereignty and independence,” the island’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement late Sunday, noting that the two countries would benefit from “constructive engagement.”

“Cuba reaffirms its willingness to maintain a respectful and reciprocal dialogue, oriented toward tangible results, with the United States government, based on mutual interest and international law,” the statement added.

The Cuban government, which the U.S. includes in its list of states sponsoring terrorism, denied it support or harbors terrorist organizations. It said it could cooperate with the U.S. in areas including “the fight against terrorism, the prevention of money laundering, drug trafficking, cybersecurity, human trafficking, and financial crimes, and continuing to strengthen its legal framework to support these efforts, recognizing that when there has been a will on both sides, progress has been made in these areas.”

Cuba started cooperating with the United States on these issues under the Obama administration but Trump scrapped those talks in his first term.

Donald Trump announced he will be seeking $1bn (£730m) in damages from Harvard University in his administration's ongoing feud with the institution.

The news comes after the New York Times reported that the US president's administration had to backtrack from its demand for a $200m payment in negotiations with the university.

Trump cited the story in a Truth Social post late on Monday, blaming Harvard for "feeding a lot of nonsense" to the New York Times.

Trump officials have accused Harvard of not doing enough to tackle antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests. Harvard has rejected the accusation.
Harvard has been a central target in the White House's campaign to stamp out what it calls "woke" and "radical left" ideologies on American campuses.

In April last year, Trump revoked around $2bn in research grants to Harvard and froze federal funding.

The university sued the Trump administration over the move, saying no government "should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue".

A US federal court later overturned the billions in funding cuts, ruling the government had violated university's free speech rights.

The White House vowed to immediately challenge the "egregious decision", saying Harvard remains "ineligible for grants in the future".