USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Veering away from a default crisis, the House overwhelmingly approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, sending the deal that President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated to the Senate for swift passage in a matter of days, before a fast-approaching deadline.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban this month on resolving tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting said, signaling a new willingness by Afghanistan's rulers to discuss ways to end their isolation.

The May 12 meeting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar between Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Haibatullah Akhunzada is the first the reclusive Taliban chief is known to have held with a foreign leader.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump and efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss are examining his firing of a cybersecurity official whose office said the vote was secure, the New York Times said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - The first public meeting of a NASA panel studying what the government calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," commonly known as UFOs, kicked off on Wednesday to discuss findings since its formation last year.

The 16-member body, assembling experts from fields ranging from physics to astrobiology, was formed last June to examine unclassified UFO sightings, which it refers to as UAPs, and other data collected from civilian government and commercial sectors.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives is due to vote on Wednesday on a bill to lift the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, a critical step to avoid a destabilizing default that could come early next week without congressional action.

Republicans control the House by a narrow 222-213 majority, but the bipartisan deal will need support from both Speaker Kevin McCarthy's Republicans and President Joe Biden's Democrats to pass, as members of both parties object to significant parts of the bill.

CHICAGO, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose on Tuesday as U.S. treasury yields fell sharply.

The most active gold contract for August delivery rose 14.00 U.S. dollars, or 0.71 percent, to close at 1,977.10 dollars per ounce.

U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a deal Saturday night to raise the U.S. federal government's debt limit. The agreement is now waiting to be endorsed by Congress.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — The FBI is looking for any photos and videos that could help identify suspects in a Memorial Day shooting at a popular Florida beach promenade in which nine people were wounded, including a 1-year-old child.

The FBI issued a statement Wednesday asking for people to upload any visual evidence from the shooting to a page on their website.

“When the FBI has established digital media tip lines in the past, the public responded with a tremendous volume of information that is then reviewed by investigators,” the bureau statement said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges from California to Florida have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican attempt to expand work requirements for federal food aid in debt legislation moving through Congress would increase federal spending by $2.1 billion over 10 years — far from the cuts GOP lawmakers had promised.

SEATTLE (AP) — A group of Amazon workers upset about recent layoffs, a return-to-office mandate and the company’s environmental impact is planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday.

The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week.

“We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions,” the company said in a statement.