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A new, Republican-controlled US Congress convenes on Tuesday eager to repeal major portions of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have offered any sign of agreements on either the shutdown or the debt ceiling as an October 17 deadline looms.
The US Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to avert the "fiscal cliff" by stopping most of the tax hikes and across-the-board spending cuts.
Barack Obama is due to host congressional leaders including his Republican rivals in a last-ditch bid to halt America’s slide over the fiscal cliff.
Reports say the Democrats will retain control of the US Senate, after earlier reports said Republicans would keep the House of Representatives.
US lawmakers have abandoned efforts to rein in debt in a sign that Washington will be unlikely to resolve the tax and spending dispute before 2013.
Having said no to taxes for months, Republicans now are saying maybe in the face of public disgust over a deadlock in the US Congress.
A last-gasp deal to raise the US borrowing limit cleared its biggest hurdle in Congress on Monday, warding off the risk of a debt default.
Hopes have emerged that US lawmakers are close to a last minute deal that could raise the US debt ceiling.
Efforts to avoid an unprecedented US debt default suffered a new blow on Thursday when fiscally hardline Republicans blocked a budget deficit plan.
The US standoff over debt plans offers little hope of compromise, increasing the threat of a ratings downgrade that could sow chaos in global markets.
The US failed to achieve a budget breakthrough on Sunday and instead worked on rival plans in an impasse that heightened prospects for a debt fault.
The biggest climate meeting in history opened on Monday with hosts Denmark saying an unmissable opportunity to protect the planet was ”within reach”.
President Barack Obama’s top climate change negotiator on Thursday said international talks to cut carbon emissions were ”difficult”.
Barack Obama scored his first major legislative victory on Wednesday with passage of an -billion economic stimulus package.
A media report on on Wednesday claims that National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi is about to be fired.
With the US economic outlook darkening, Barack Obama went to Congress two weeks before taking office to try to entice support for a stimulus package.
The US House of Representatives set aside doubts that prevailed a few days ago and passed a landmark -billion Wall Street bailout bill on Friday.
The US Senate has approved a -billion bailout of the financial industry, putting pressure on the House of Representatives to approve the plan.
The Bush administration asked Congress on Saturday for -billion to bail out firms burdened with bad mortgage debt.
