WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on
Saturday visited Federal Emergency Management Agency
headquarters to get an update on preparations for Hurricane
Irene as it charged north along the U.S. East Coast.

Obama, who cut short his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts, by a day because of the hurricane, said it would
be a “tough slog” getting through the storm but praised the
federal effort so far.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s new second-in-command, Atiyah abd al-Rahman, was killed earlier this week in Pakistan, dealing a “major blow” to the group still reeling from the death of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Saturday.

Rahman, a Libyan national, rose to the number two spot when Ayman al-Zawahri took the reins of al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed in May in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s largest economy was headed toward an unprecedented default, and all Washington wanted to talk about was the manner in which the president had left a room.

A White House meeting in mid-July between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders had ended with sharp words as Obama clashed with the brash Republican House majority leader, Eric Cantor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s largest economy was headed toward an unprecedented default, and all Washington wanted to talk about was the manner in which the president had left a room.

A White House meeting in mid-July between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders had ended with sharp words as Obama clashed with the brash Republican House majority leader, Eric Cantor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top congressional Republicans held fresh talks on Saturday with President Barack Obama to try to break a deadlock on raising the debt limit and expressed confidence that a default by the world’s largest economy could be avoided.

While engagement with the White House after a week of poisonous political stalemate was a step forward, a deal still seemed elusive. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said the two sides were not close to agreement with a Tuesday deadline looming to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – Top congressional
Republicans held fresh talks on Saturday with President Barack
Obama to try to break a deadlock on raising the U.S. debt limit
and expressed confidence that a default by the world’s largest
economy could be avoided.

While engagement with the White House after a week of
poisonous political stalemate was a step forward, a deal still
seemed elusive. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat,
said the two sides were not close to agreement with a Tuesday
deadline looming to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion
borrowing limit.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facing a deadline to avoid a ruinous U.S. default, congressional leaders on Saturday braced for a tense weekend of negotiations to try to reach a compromise on a measure to increase in the country’s $14.3 trillion (8.70 trillion pounds) debt limit.

Senate Democrats aimed to seize the initiative by pushing their deficit-cutting plan, but entrenched differences remained less than 100 hours before the government says it will no longer be able to borrow to pay its bills.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facing a deadline to avoid a ruinous default, congressional leaders on Saturday braced for a tense weekend of negotiations to try to reach a compromise on a measure to increase in the country’s $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Senate Democrats aimed to seize the initiative by pushing their deficit-cutting plan, but entrenched differences remained less than 100 hours before the government says it will no longer be able to borrow to pay its bills.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – Facing a deadline to avoid
a ruinous U.S. default, congressional leaders on Saturday
braced for a tense weekend of negotiations to try to reach a
compromise on a measure to increase in the country’s $14.3
trillion debt limit.

Senate Democrats aimed to seize the initiative by pushing
their deficit-cutting plan, but entrenched differences remained
less than 100 hours before the government says it will no
longer be able to borrow to pay its bills.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Republican deficit reduction plan headed for two major votes in the U.S. Congress on Thursday and its expected demise could force a bipartisan compromise to avert an unprecedented debt default.

The maneuvers in the divided Congress signaled no immediate end to the feuding that has brought the United States to the brink of an economic crisis. There were still hopes a compromise could be hammered out five days before an August 2 deadline to raise the U.S. government borrowing limit.