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WASHINGTON， Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Major tornadoes thrashed multiple states in southeast United States on Saturday and Sunday， killing at least 18 people and causing material damage.


The states of Mississippi， Alabama， Florida and Georgia are among those hit by extreme weather. 14 were killed in Georgia while four were killed in Mississippi.


Georgia Governor Nathan Deal on Sunday announced a state of emergency for seven counties in south Georgia.


Catherine Howden， a spokesperson for the state's Emergency Management Agency， said rescue dogs were dispatched to the region in search of survivors.


U.S. National Weather Service issued a warning Sunday saying ""a severe thunderstorm and tornado outbreak is expected today across north Florida and south Georgia.""

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Thousands of federal employees breathed a sigh of relief on Monday after U.S. senators reached a deal to end a three-day government shutdown Cheap Umar Sadiq Jersey , turning their brief time away from work into what one scientist described as a ""lunch break.""


During shutdowns, nonessential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Those deemed essential, including those in public safety and national security, keep working.


Health scientist Tom Chapel was among the many who spent the day at home after being furloughed from his job at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.


""It was essentially a lunch break Cheap Stephan El Shaarawy Jersey ,"" Chapel joked of the time he missed from work. ""I'm a much more relaxed federal employee now that I have had a nice lunch break.""


The federal government shut down at midnight on Friday amid a fight over immigration and border security between Democrats and President Donald Trump's Republican Party, the first time it has done so since closing for 16 days in October 2013, throwing 800,000 government workers temporarily out of work.


There was no official tally of how many were furloughed on Monday, the first workday during the closure.


Senators on Monday reached a deal to keep the government funded through Feb. 8 Cheap Rick Karsdorp Jersey , lifting worries of lost business in cities from Atlanta to Kittery, Maine, home to a large U.S. Navy facility that maintains warships.


""We're definitely having a slow day today,"" said Jay Patel, owner of the Fresh to Order restaurant across the street from the CDC's Atlanta headquarters.


'JUST CONFUSING FOR PEOPLE'


Workers who had been furloughed expressed hope that they would not face a replay when Congress reaches its next self-imposed deadline in less than three weeks.


""I'm very happy that they have agreed to push that back to Feb. 8 so they can resolve whatever issues they can so we can get back to work and help the American people Cheap Radja Nainggolan Jersey ,"" said Duncan Giles, a customer service representative at an Internal Revenue Service office in Indianapolis.


Giles has worked at the IRS for 23 years and endured four shutdowns.


""It's just confusing for people,"" Giles said. ""If you were planning on doing a dinner out or going to an event or something like that, those types of things are going to have to be postponed until you know that you're going to be having those regular paychecks again.""


At the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine Cheap Patrik Schick Jersey , some 5,300 civilian workers were told to show up on Monday, regardless of whether they had been scheduled to work, to learn if they would be furloughed. About half were, a spokeswoman said. That was in line with Pentagon officials' projections that more than half of the Defense Department's civilian workers would be furloughed.


Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt instructed all staff to work this week Cheap Maxime Gonalons Jersey , telling employees in an email over the weekend that the agency has enough resources to remain open for a limited time.


Agencies

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Facebook acknowledged Monday that the explosion of social media poses a potential threat to democracy, pledging to tackle the problem head-on and turn its powerful platform into a force for ""good.""


The comments from the world's biggest social media network were its latest response to intense criticism for failing to stop the spread of misinformation among its two billion users - most strikingly leading up to the 2016 US election.


In a blog post, Facebook civic engagement chief Samidh Chakrabarti said he was ""not blind to the damage that the internet can do to even a well-functioning democracy.""


""In 2016, we at Facebook were far too slow to recognize how bad actors were abusing our platform,"" he said. ""We're working diligently to neutralize these risks now.""


The post - one in a series dubbed ""hard questions"" - was part of a high-profile push by Facebook to reboot its image Cheap Marco Tumminello Jersey , including with the announcement last week that it would let users ""rank"" the trustworthiness of news sources to help stem the flow of false news.


""We're as determined as ever to fight the negative influences and ensure that our platform is unquestionably a source for democratic good,"" said Katie Harbath, Facebook's head of global politics and government outreach, in an accompanying statement.


Russian intervention


Facebook, along with Google and Twitter Cheap Lukasz Skorupski Jersey , faces global scrutiny for facilitating the spread of bogus news - some of it directed by Russia - ahead of the US election, the Brexit vote and other electoral battles. The social networking site has concluded that Russian actors created 80,000 posts that reached around 126 million people in the US over a two-year period.


""It's abhorrent to us that a nation-state used our platform to wage a cyberwar intended to divide society,"" Chakrabarti said.


""This was a new kind of threat that we couldn't easily predict, but we should have done better. Now we're making up for lost time."" he said.


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