Gaza residents on Sunday had their electricity cut from eight hours a day to just six, after the only power station in the Gaza Strip stopped operating.

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The local energy authority said it had no option but to shut the plant down due to unpaid bills and taxes in a row between the Palestinian Authority government and the Islamic movement Hamas, which seized the enclave in 2007 from the Palestinian Authority; in control of the West Bank.

The two factions have been involved in a bitter dispute over tax bills on fuel imports amid a long-running border blockade by Israel and Egypt that has worsened power shortages.

The head of the energy provider, Samir Metir, said that all the plant's fuel, purchased in January with funding from Qatar and Turkey, had been used up.

The two countries stepped in earlier this year after the coastal Palestinian territory saw its worst power shortage in years, when electricity was cut to just three hours a day during a cold winter.

Metir said it was not clear when the Palestinian territory would receive more power.

The latest closure means Gaza's roughly 2 million residents will have to rely on electricity supplied by Israel and Egypt.

According to international groups, 80 per cent of the Gaza population lives on humanitarian aid, and more than half is impoverished.

More than two-thirds of households don't pay their electricity bills, in part because they can't afford it, according to the "Times of Israel."

The Maan news agency cited a Palestinian government spokesman as accusing Hamas of collecting millions of shekels from Gaza residents for electricity without forwarding the payments.

The Gaza Health Ministry warned that there could be serious repercussions for health services due to the power outage. There are also fears that drinking water supplies will be affected.</s>The Gaza Strip’s only functioning power plant was not functioning Sunday after running out of fuel, the head of the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave’s electricity provider told AFP.

Samir Metir said that all the plant’s fuel, purchased with funding from Qatar and Turkey, had been used up.

He said it was not clear when the Palestinian territory would receive more, owing to a “dispute” between the electricity authority in Gaza and Palestinian authorities in the West Bank.

The Gaza Health Ministry warned of a humanitarian crisis as a result.

The terror group Hamas seized power in Gaza in a violent coup in 2007 from the Ramallah-based Fatah organization of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and Egypt then initiated a security blockade meant to prevent the terror group, avowedly committed to the destruction of Israel, from importing weaponry and materiel into Gaza.

Fuel supply for the Strip’s two million inhabitants has been a long-running source of dispute, with most homes in Gaza receiving two eight-hour periods of electricity a day even when the plant is operating normally.

Protests broke out in January over the power shortages, which the Gaza Health Ministry warned could have “dangerous consequences” for patients.

As things stand, residents can expect two six-hour periods of electricity, Metir said, “including electricity bought from Israel and Egypt.”

Israel last week warned of the upcoming fuel crisis, warning Hamas that it must pay for the diesel fuel it consumes, which is supplied by Israeli energy company Dor.

In mid-September, Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement to resolve the Palestinians’ outstanding debt of almost NIS 2 billion ($530 million) to the Israel Electric Corporation.

The agreement was signed by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Yoav Mordechai, Palestinian Authority Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheik, Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Israel’s Ministry of Finance Director-General Shai Babad.

The IEC began to scale back the electricity flow to West Bank Palestinian cities in late May and early April due to the debt. Power supplies to Jericho and Bethlehem were limited, causing some blackouts, and the company threatened to do the same in other West Bank areas.

The agreement with the IEC from September did not affect the situation in the Gaza Strip.</s>Two million Palestinians in the besieged territory now down to a few hours of electricity a day as tensions rise.

The Gaza Strip's only functioning power plant has shut down after running out of fuel, leaving two million people in the Hamas-governed Palestinian territory with only six hours of electricity a day.

Samir Metir, head of Gaza's electricity provider, told AFP news agency that all the plant's fuel, purchased with funding from Qatar and Turkey, had been used up.

He said it was not clear when the territory would receive another shipment, owing to a "dispute" between the electricity authority in Gaza and Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank.

Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007 from Fatah, the party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A mooted power-sharing agreement between the two factions in Gaza has failed to materialise, and residents have been subjected to a decade-long Israeli blockade, strangling the local economy and severely limiting supplies.

Metir said the power plant cannot afford to pay the enormous fuel taxes imposed by the PA.

"Today we had about six hours of electricity at my house. Now it's off for the next 12 hours," Ezz Zanoun, a photographer in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

"Tomorrow we're expecting it to be less, probably about four hours [of electricity] - and from there the real problems start."

Protests broke out in January over the power shortages, which the Gaza health ministry said could have "dangerous consequences" for patients in hospitals.

The crisis was resolved by tax-free donations from Qatar and Turkey, which ran out last week. But now the PA is no longer willing to waive the fuel for Gaza.

Fuel supply for Gaza's two million inhabitants has been a long-running source of dispute, with most homes in the territory receiving two eight-hour periods of electricity a day even when the power plant is operating normally.

As things stand, residents can expect two six-hour periods of electricity, Metir said, "including electricity bought from Israel and Egypt".

Zanoun told Al Jazeera that due to shifting schedules, households are often relegated to only six-hour period a day.

At least 65 percent of residents in Gaza live in poverty, 72 percent are food-insecure, and 80 percent have grown dependent on international aid, according to a recent report published by the EU-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

Unemployment in the territory hit an unprecedented 43 percent in the last quarter of 2016.

A Fatah-led delegation is expected to travel to Gaza later this month to discuss reunification efforts with Hamas.</s>(CNN) Gaza's only power plant has run out of fuel, leaving 2 million residents of the coastal enclave with only four hours of electricity a day in what the UN cautions could be the tipping point to making Gaza "unlivable."

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza blame each other for the energy shortage.

The power generating authority in Gaza says it cannot afford to buy more fuel for the plant -- mostly because of taxes imposed by the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority claims that the Hamas officials in Gaza are simply incapable of running the plant efficiently.

In January, as wide-scale protests erupted in Gaza sparked by the lack of electricity, Qatar and Turkey agreed to provide a 3-month supply of fuel for the power plant, enough for 6-12 hours of electricity a day.

That supply was exhausted on Sunday, forcing Gazans to prepare for a life with even less electricity. Gaza will only have access to electricity imported from Israel and Egypt, which meets less than a third of demand.

The Gaza Ministry of Health on Monday warned of a health crisis and the possibility of delayed or canceled surgeries if the disagreement isn't resolved within 48 hours.

"If, in two days from today, the issue will not be solved, then we will have to cancel between 200-250 surgeries a day," Dr. Ashraf Al Qedra, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said.

"All will be affected by the electricity cut."

Lives 'start when the electricity comes on'

"It totally changed our daily lives into focusing only on when we have electricity," said Nivin Abu Marahil, 35, from central Gaza. "We have changed three refrigerator and four washing machines (in 10 years), as they get damaged each time the electricity goes off and on.

"We stopped buying food that we should store in a fridge. We buy every day what we need to cook on that day. Our lives start when the electricity is on, no matter if it does at night or during the day."

At a news conference held Monday, Gaza power authority Deputy Chairman Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil accused the Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah of attempting to "ignite an electricity crisis in Gaza."

Khalil said fuel taxes imposed by the Palestinian Authority more than double the cost of fuel and make it impossible to operate the plant consistently.

"We demand that everyone press the government of Hamdallah to stop the taxation of fuel stations so we can buy and operate the power plant," Khalil said.

Fuad Al-Shobaki, the director-general of the Palestinian Authority's Petroleum Authority in the West Bank, blamed Hamas for manufacturing a crisis, saying in a statement released last week that there was no electricity shortage in Gaza before Hamas took over more than 10 years ago. He said Hamas was unable "to cover their inability to manage the Gaza Strip."

The fuel shortage is one more problem for Hamas-controlled Gaza, which is already dealing with soaring unemployment and a lack of drinkable water.

Robert Piper, the UN deputy special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told The Jerusalem Post: "The UN has been warning for some years that the chronic problems of Gaza are accumulating to the extent that we may be approaching a tipping point at which Gaza becomes unlivable."

Gaza also has to contend with an Israeli land and sea blockade and restrictions on movements of goods and people, which Piper said is the primary cause of Gaza's problems, making a viable economy in Gaza impossible. The border with Egypt is also closed most of the time, opening only rarely for short periods.

The dispute over fuel is the latest flare-up in a long-running feud between the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and Hamas, a militant Islamist group which ousted Fatah when it took over Gaza in 2007. Last week, the Palestinian Authority cut the salaries of Fatah employees in Gaza in an attempt to put economic pressure on Hamas.

The decision was met with protests in Gaza, even by Fatah members, who were angry about the timing of the cuts. Mohammad, a Palestinian Authority employee in Gaza who did not want CNN to use his last name for safety reasons, said his salary was cut from approximately $1,000 a month to $700.

"I would happily have accepted this decision if it was in favor of bringing people together and reconciliation," Mohammad said, "but I know it will bring us a worse life than what we have now. People in the street see this step as the drums of war."

Last week, Prime Minister Hamdallah demanded that Hamas cede power to the Palestinian Authority, according to WAFA, the Palestinian Authority news agency.

Hamdallah said the salaries would be reimbursed once Hamas accepts Palestinian Authority governance. A Fatah delegation will head to Gaza next week to attempt to advance reconciliation between the West Bank and Gaza, seen as a necessary step for aspirations of a Palestinian state.</s>The Metropolis Police Department is reminding people to inspect their $20 bills.

According to police, there have been several counterfeit bills being circulated.

They remind people to inspect any $20 bills you receive, along with $50 bills.</s>What’s holding up all those bills, anyway?

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Anyone who grew up watching “Schoolhouse Rock!” probably knows how a bill becomes a law, right? Someone has an idea, it gets introduced as a bill, goes through the committee process, is passed and goes to the president or governor for a signature.

But — not so fast. Many people don’t know there are extra steps between the time the Legislature passes a bill and the time it can be acted upon by the governor.

“I know the popular perception is that once a bill passes both houses, it immediately goes to the governor’s office,” said Jared Hunt, communications director for the West Virginia House of Delegates. “However, there actually is a process the bill has to go through once it’s passed before it can be sent there.”

Each bill then has to be signed by six different people before it can be sent to the governor. Clerks from both the House and the Senate, a representative from the Senate and House of Delegates committee on enrolled bills, the speaker of the House and the Senate president all have to sign off on every single bill before it reaches the governor’s desk, Hunt said. It’s not exactly an instant procedure.

And there’s a deadline for signing bills as well. After the Legislature adjourns for good, or sine die, Hunt said the governor has five days to act on the budget bill and any supplemental appropriations. For other legislation, the governor has 15 days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto.

If the deadlines pass with no action from the governor, bills automatically become law without the governor’s signature, Hunt said.

House Clerk Steve Harrison said the House of Delegates passed 132 bills during the legislative session, and the Senate passed 130, for a grand total of 262 bills. That’s more than usual.

“We looked at the average over the past 20 years or so, and the average is in the 240s,” Harrison said.

So even though the Legislature has adjourned and most lawmakers have left Charleston, the Capitol has been buzzing with a flurry of activity from staff members busily proofreading and presenting bills for signatures.

You’d think actually signing the completed bills would be the easy part, but it’s not quite as simple as that, either.

“You have to sign four copies of everything,” said Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson. The bills typically come into his office in batches of a dozen or so, which means Carmichael has to sign his name 48 times.

“The actual signature part of it takes 20 minutes for 12 bills,” Carmichael said.

But it’s not a blind signature, he added.

“It’s tedious,” Carmichael said. “You have to look over them all and find out that they’re properly done and so forth.”

See more from The State Journal</s>* Provisions for unpaid bills more than doubled (Adds detail, background)

Greece's main electricity supplier Public Power Corp. (PPC) plunged to a loss last year as it set aside hundreds of millions of euros to cover the cost of bills left unpaid by customers hit by years of economic crisis.

PPC, which is 51 percent state owned, said on Tuesday it made a loss of 102.5 million euros ($114.6 million) last year, compared with a net profit of 91.3 million euros in 2014.

Provisions for unpaid bills and litigation more than doubled, reaching 950 million euros last year, as a protracted recession and capital controls imposed in June took a toll on households and businesses.

Overdue bills are estimated to have exceeded 2 billion euros since a debt crisis broke out in Greece in 2010.

PPC's Chief Executive Emmanuel Panagiotakis said bills in arrears was an issue of "strategic importance" which if not addressed would affect the company's investment plan.

In a bid to collect some of the unpaid bills, PPC announced last week a four-month payment scheme of 36 installments for households, businesses and industries, effective from next month.

Competition from smaller rivals also weighed on the utility, which lost market share and its sales dropped 2.2 percent to 5.73 billion euros as a result.

The company has said its share of the Greek electricity market fell to 94.5 percent last year from 98.5 percent.

Panagiotakis forecast sales will decrease further to 5.5 billion euros this year.

Under a third bailout Greece signed up with international lenders last summer, the country has committed to opening up its energy market to competition, with PPC's share expected to fall to below 50 percent by 2020.</s>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Rhode Island General Assembly has a lot of work to do when it returns from this week’s spring break.

There have been 1,119 bills introduced in the state House of Representatives, and 777 in the Senate, since the session began in January. Legislators typically adjourn in June after voting to approve a new budget for the coming fiscal year.
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State House officials said Monday that the House so far has passed 208 of its own bills, plus 31 Senate bills, which includes routine marriage solemnization bills. The Senate has passed 137 of its own bills, plus 40 House bills.

It’s common for lawmakers to spend the first four months of the session vetting bills in committee hearings. The House has heard 602 of its own bills; the Senate, 369.
The Gaza Strip's sole power plant is shut down due to running out of fuel, amid unpaid bills and a dispute over tax bills on fuel imports to the blockaded Palestinian territory.