Nearly half of the IRS workforce — nearly 34,000 employees — faces furloughs as the government shutdown enters its second week, with the agency rolling out a contingency plan to keep key tax enforcement, data security, and filing-season operations running despite the lapse in congressional funding.

In a letter to staff Wednesday, the agency said most operations would shut down. The contingency plan, which takes effect Wednesday and runs through April 30, 2026, details how the IRS will operate without new congressional funding.

As of July 24, 2025, the IRS employed 74,299 people. During the shutdown, only 39,870 — about 54% — will stay on duty, though it’s unclear which positions will be retained.

Key operations that will continue to include tax processing to safeguard government revenue, IT and data-protection systems, criminal investigations, case work involving bankruptcies and liens, and disaster-relief support. However, taxpayer services — including call centers and most administrative functions not tied to life or property protection — will be suspended.

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The IRS’s Lapse Appropriations Contingency Plan outlined operations for the first five business days of the shutdown and said the agency would continue limited operations using Inflation Reduction Act funding.

The furloughs stem from a funding impasse between President Donald Trump and Congress that has forced a government shutdown with no clear resolution.

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Nearly half of the IRS workforce — nearly 34,000 employees — faces furloughs as the government shutdown enters its second week. (Fox News Digital/Emma Woodhead)

National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said the shutdown has cut off Americans from vital IRS services.

«Expect increased wait times, backlogs and delays implementing tax law changes as the shutdown continues,» she said. «Taxpayers around the country will now have a much harder time getting the assistance they need, just as they get ready to file their extension returns due next week. Every day these employees are locked out of work is another day of frustration for taxpayers and a growing backlog of work that sits and waits for the shutdown to end.

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A sign outside the National Gallery of Art informs visitors of its closure due to the government shutdown in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

«For frontline employees, the complete lack of planning left them in the dark about their work status until their supervisor informed them today,» Greenwald added. «This is not the way our government should treat its dedicated, nonpartisan public servants. We urge the administration and Congress to reach an agreement that reopens government and restores the services that Americans need and deserve.»

According to The Associated Press, the IRS told employees they would receive back pay once the shutdown ends. The Trump administration warned Tuesday that back pay for furloughed federal employees is not guaranteed.

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Earlier this year, the IRS began a series of workforce reductions that brought total employment down from about 100,000 at the end of 2024 to roughly 75,000 before the shutdown.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Un hallazgo paleontológico inédito se registró en la costa sur del Cabo, Sudáfrica: el primer fósil conocido de una “rastros de arrastre de glúteos”, atribuida a un damán roquero (Procavia capensis) con una antigüedad estimada en unos 126.000 años.

El descubrimiento, documentado por Popular Science y publicado en International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces, resalta por su singularidad y aporta nuevas perspectivas sobre el comportamiento y la ecología de estos mamíferos durante el Pleistoceno. Según el estudio, este mamífero “registra una variedad de rastros inusuales y únicos”, entre los que se encuentran “rastros de arrastre de glúteos, superficies rocosas pulidas, huecos de baños de polvo, excrementos e hyraceum, un producto cementado de la orina acumulada (…) que pueden tener decenas de miles de años de antigüedad”.

El fósil, localizado al este de Still Bay, consiste en una impresión de 95 centímetros de largo y 13 de ancho, con cinco estrías paralelas y bordes elevados. Dentro de la huella, los investigadores identificaron una protuberancia de dos centímetros de alto y 10 por nueve de superficie, que podría ser un coprolito, es decir, excremento fosilizado.

Mediante la técnica de luminiscencia estimulada ópticamente, se determinó la antigüedad del yacimiento al establecer el momento en que los sedimentos estuvieron por última vez expuestos a la luz.

El equipo del African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, integrado por Charles Helm, Lynne Quick y Mathilde Stuart, junto con el rastreador Mike Fabricius, realizó el hallazgo. Fabricius, con experiencia en rastreo de huellas, también reportó otro posible sitio de huellas fósiles de damán roquero cerca de Walker Bay, con una antigüedad estimada de 76.000 años.

Según Popular Science, la marca constituye el primer fósil de este tipo descrito en cualquier parte del mundo, y junto con el sitio de huellas, representa los únicos rastros fósiles atribuidos a damán roquero identificados hasta ahora.

La interpretación del rastro requirió descartar otras hipótesis. Los científicos analizaron la posibilidad de que un leopardo, un humano ancestral arrastrando una presa o incluso un elefante arrastrando su trompa hubieran dejado la marca.

Ninguna de estas opciones explicaba la ausencia de huellas asociadas ni la presencia de la protuberancia en el interior. Según los investigadores consultados por Popular Science, la explicación más coherente es que un damán roquero arrastró sus glúteos sobre la arena, borró sus propias huellas y dejó un excremento que quedó fosilizado.

El comportamiento de “arrastrar los glúteos”, observado en los damanes roqueros actuales, rara vez deja rastros fósiles debido a la preferencia de estos mamíferos por hábitats rocosos.

Además de las marcas de arrastre, los damanes suelen pulir las superficies de las rocas, lo que genera un brillo característico similar al causado por los búfalos en las praderas norteamericanas. Lo más característico es la acumulación de orina y excremento en puntos fijos durante generaciones, formando extensas capas blanquecinas de carbonato de calcio.

Estos depósitos, denominados hyraceum, resultan de la mezcla de orina y heces y pueden alcanzar decenas de miles de años de antigüedad. El hyraceum, oscuro y con textura similar al alquitrán, tuvo aplicaciones medicinales tradicionales y, según Popular Science, debe considerarse un recurso natural no renovable y amenazado.

Estos depósitos, sensibles a cambios ambientales y ricos en polen fósil y residuos orgánicos, son archivos naturales de gran valor para reconstruir climas, vegetación y ecología del pasado.

En paleontología, se distingue entre coprolitos (excrementos fosilizados) y urolitos (orina fosilizada), siendo estos últimos muy poco frecuentes a nivel mundial. Los damanes roqueros aportan gran parte de los urolitos conocidos, lo que resalta la relevancia de sus rastros en el registro fósil.

La propuesta de considerar el hyraceum como un tipo de rastro fósil, idea novedosa presentada en el artículo de Popular Science, podría favorecer la protección de este material hasta ahora poco valorado.

El legado de los damanes roqueros abarca marcas de arrastre, coprolitos, urolitos y depósitos de hyraceum, elementos que permiten a la ciencia reconstruir aspectos de su comportamiento y del entorno en épocas remotas.

It’s time to take on Russia’s «hybrid warfare» by openly acknowledging the threat and deterring future provocation, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday. 

The president of the European Commission highlighted that in just the last two weeks, Russian drones and warplanes have violated the airspace of six European nations, scrambling jets, grounding commercial flights and posing a direct threat to EU citizens.

«One incident may be a mistake. Two incidents a coincidence,» von der Leyen said while speaking to the EU’s parliament. «But three, five, 10 – this is a deliberate and targeted gray zone campaign against Europe, and Europe must respond.»

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The EU chief said these aerial threats are just the latest in a string of kinetic and non-kinetic Russian attacks that have targeted undersea cables, airports, logistics hubs and elections across the continent using direct force as well as cyber-based aggression.

«These incidents are calculated to linger in the twilight of deniability,» von der Leyen said. «This is not random harassment. It is a coherent and escalating campaign to unsettle our citizens, test our resolve, divide our union and weaken our support for Ukraine, and it is time to call it by its name. 

«This is hybrid warfare, and we have to take it very serious,» she said.

Von der Leyen said much has already been set in motion to better take on Russia’s growing aggression, including the mobilization of nearly $930 billion in defense expenditures through 2030 – which she said is the largest «surge of defense spending in the history of the Union.»

But the EU chief said more needs to be done, including promoting a «new mindset» when it comes to EU security among the public.

Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets and MiG-29 fighter jets fly above Moscow during the general rehearsal of the Victory Day military parade on May. 7, 2025.  (Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP via Getty Images)

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«Tackling Russia’s hybrid war is not only about traditional defense, it is about software for drones. It is about spare parts for pipelines. It is about rapid cyber response teams, and it is about public information campaigns to spread awareness,» she said. «We must be ready to leave our comfort zone.»

Nations like Germany are already taking new action to counter Russia’s gray zone tactics, and on Wednesday German lawmakers paved the way for local police forces to be granted permission to shoot down drones. 

The plan, championed by German Chancellor Frederick Merz on Wednesday, still needs to be approved by the nation’s parliament, but comes less than a week after planes were grounded at the Munich airport over nearby drone sightings. 

A sign indicates a no-drone-zone as flights resume at Munich Airport after temporary suspension early this morning due to drone sightings on Oct. 4, 2025 in Erding, Germany.  (Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

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«Drone incidents threaten our security,» Merz said in a post on X. «We will not permit that. We are strengthening the Federal Police’s powers so that drones can be detected and countered more quickly in the future.»

Local reporting earlier this week also noted that laser systems have been installed to better locate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) sightings after several incidents involving drones disrupted airports across Europe in recent months.