USA

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday underscored their determination to reach a deal soon to raise the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling and avoid an economically catastrophic default.

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Congress expressed frustration with President Joe Biden's willingness to engage with Republicans demanding tougher work requirements for food aid recipients as part of any deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

They have stopped short of threatening to block such moves, as talks on lifting the federal government's $31.4 trillion borrowing limit shifted into a bilateral format between Democrat Biden, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy and their staffs.

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — An 8-year-old girl died Wednesday in Border Patrol custody, authorities said, a rare occurrence that comes as the agency struggles with overcrowding.

The child and her family were being held at a station in Harlingen, Texas, in Rio Grande Valley, one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency, said in a statement.

17 May 2023; MEMO: Post-9/11 conflicts and invasions in the Middle East and other surrounding regions have directly and indirectly killed at least 4.5 million people over the past two decades, a new report has revealed.

WASHINGTON, May 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – U.S. President, Joe Biden, will not travel to Papua New Guinea and Australia later this month, as originally planned, due to the ongoing stalemate in negotiations with congressional leaders, to address the debt ceiling, multiple U.S. media outlets reported yesterday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

May 17 (Reuters) - The swift growth of artificial intelligence technology could put the future of humanity at risk, according to most Americans surveyed in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday.

More than two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the negative effects of AI and 61% believe it could threaten civilization.

May 17 (Reuters) - Amid the headline-grabbing insults and name-calling, Donald Trump is pursuing a surprisingly policy-heavy strategy to damage his closest Republican rival Ron DeSantis before he enters the presidential race, according to a Reuters analysis of the former president's statements since he announced his White House bid.

Forty percent of Trump's attacks on the Florida governor have targeted issues such as Social Security, the government-run Medicare health program for older Americans, foreign policy and DeSantis' record in office.

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 (Reuters) - The last ship left a port in Ukraine on Wednesday under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain a day before Russia could quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports.

The DSM Capella has left the port of Chornomorsk carrying 30,000 tonnes of corn and was on its way to Turkey, according to data issued by the United Nations.

LOS ANGELES, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Black population in the United States experienced more than 1.63 million excess deaths and more than 80 million excess years of life lost, when compared with the White population over the last two decades, according to a new study published on Tuesday.

After a period of progress in reducing disparities, improvements stalled, and differences between the Black population and the White population worsened in 2020, according to the study published in the medical journal JAMA.

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday to designate Nov. 26 every year as World Sustainable Transport Day.