- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Ubisoft fears assassin's hit over falling sales
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgery: reports
- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Tariffs, tax cuts, energy: What is in Trump's economic plan?
- Amazon wants to be everything to everyone
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- US, European markets rise as investors weigh rates, earnings
- In Colombia, children trade plastic waste for school supplies
- JPMorgan Chase profits top estimates, bank sees 'resilient' US economy
- Little progress at key meet ahead of COP29 climate summit
- 'Party atmosphere': Skygazers treated to another aurora show
- Kyrgyzstan opens rare probe into glacier destruction
- European Mediterranean states discuss Middle East, migration
- Thunberg leads pro-Palestinian, climate protest in Milan
- Stock markets diverge before China weekend briefing
- EU questions shopping app Temu over illegal products risk
- Han Kang's books sell out in South Korea after Nobel win
- Shanghai markets sink ahead of briefing on mixed day for Asia
- Investors, analysts eye bigger China stimulus at Saturday briefing
- Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'
- At least 11 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Delta eyes Election Day travel pullback as profits climb
- Florida battered by hurricane, floods but spared 'worst-case scenario'
- UK's William and Kate in first joint public engagement since cancer treatment
- Over 200 women in legal talks with Harrods over Fayed abuse claims
- A very stiff breeze: BBC says sorry for 20,000 kph wind forecast
Yellen reiterates debt default warning before Biden-McCarthy talks
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said new data reinforced an earlier warning that the US could default on its debts as early as June 1, ahead of crunch talks Tuesday between President Joe Biden and Republican leaders.
The Treasury has warned of "catastrophic" consequences if the US runs out of cash to pay its bills, which would leave it unable to pay federal workers and trigger a likely surge in interest rates with a huge impact for businesses and mortgage holders.
"We still estimate Treasury will likely no longer be able to satisfy all of the government's obligations if Congress has not acted to raise or suspend the debt limit by early June, and potentially as early as June 1," she wrote on Monday in a letter to the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy.
The talks have a lot of ground to cover, with the two parties still sharply divided on the terms under which they will agree to lift the government's borrowing cap to pay for existing spending commitments.
Republicans continue to insist that Biden agree to significant spending cuts in exchange for their support to raise the debt ceiling, while Democrats have been calling for a "clean" increase of the borrowing limit with no strings attached.
They have accused Republicans of using extreme tactics to push their political agenda ahead of the so-called "X-date" -- the point at which the United States will be unable to meet its financial obligations.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has forecast that the X-date could be reached by June 15.
- Still 'far apart' -
House, Senate and White House negotiators met over the weekend in a bid to make progress ahead of the talks, US media reported.
McCarthy has signaled the two sides still have much to hammer out.
"I still think we're far apart," he told reporters Monday at the US Capitol, adding that "it doesn't seem to me yet that they want a deal."
"They're not talking anything serious," he said. "It seems more like they want a default than a deal."
Republicans, who regained control of the House in the midterm elections, are using their newfound political clout to demand deep cuts of roughly $130 billion from federal agencies and programs in exchange for their support, limiting spending in the 2024 fiscal year to 2022 levels.
They also want to expedite domestic energy production projects, simplify the process for obtaining permits for pipelines and refineries, claw back unspent Covid relief funding and impose work requirements for social programs.
Biden has rebuffed many of these proposals, accusing Republicans of "holding the economy hostage" to further their political objectives.
- Four days left -
Including Monday, there are just four days remaining when the House and Senate are both in session before June 1.
Some senators have acknowledged that they may have to cancel the Memorial Day recess beginning Thursday to get a deal finalized, although there is no official plan to do so.
In recent days, Biden has suggested he may have to postpone a planned trip to Asia this week if the two sides fail to reach agreement, but has stopped short of canceling his visit while the talks continue.
As the X-date draws closer, Democrats in Congress have begun considering a range of alternatives, including using an arcane congressional procedure to bypass McCarthy.
They've also contemplated asking Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally -- a move opposed by Republicans.
The legal argument for doing so hinges around language in the Civil War-era amendment stating that US sovereign debt "shall not be questioned," which some legal scholars believe would allow the Treasury to simply ignore the debt limit.
But Biden has cautioned that the move would be challenged in court, and has instead continued to call on Republicans to support a clean increase to the debt ceiling.
Not doing so could cause a recession, which would be "catastrophic," Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told CNN Sunday.
"The United States of America has never defaulted on its debt -- and we can't," he said.
C.Smith--CPN