it is time to hand you back to francios picard for the world this week. -- francois picard. >> it is time for the world this week. four correspondence. how are you? >> very well. >> we welcome the correspondent for the italian public broadcasting. thank you for being with us. craig, the atlantic. and the former france deux senior correspondence. angie for joining us. the world this week -- thank you for joining us. our hashtag twtw. the clock continues to tick on that standoff in washington. since tuesday, u.s. federal government has shut down nonessential services, not completely, but 800,000 federal employees laid off, another 1.4 million working without pay. if the shutdown persists beyond october 17 when congress has to raise the debt ceiling, well, then it becomes the whole world problem, with the u.s. running the risk of defaulting on debt. friday morning there was hope with the new york times and washington post reporting that john boehner might blink first a nd cross the aisle. however, republican lawmakers have since come out of the meeting with him flatly denying it all. wh