(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States Senate has voted to approve a bipartisan deal that would increase the country’s debt ceiling, clearing the bill’s last major hurdle before it reaches the desk of President Joe Biden.
With Biden expected to sign the newly passed bill, Thursday’s decision is set to avert economic catastrophe, with the U.S. due to default on its debt on June 5.
Senators voted 63 to 36 in favour of the legislation,...
(BBC News) Elon Musk has reclaimed his title as the world's richest person, knocking the boss of luxury goods giant LMVH, Bernard Arnault, off the top spot.
His net worth has soared by $55.3 billion since January to $192 billion, after a rise in the value of electric car company Tesla.
Arnault's fortune has fallen by $24.5 billion to $187 billion, per Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.
He is followed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates in third and...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) China has blamed a U.S. “provocation” for an incident in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of an American surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea.
“The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.
“This kind of provocative, dangerous activity is the cause of the security issues on...
(BBC News) A NSA panel investigating unidentified flying objects has collected around 800 mysterious reports – but only a fraction are truly unexplained, researchers say.
The agency set up the panel last year to explain its work on what it calls unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
UAP are defined as sightings "that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective."
The panel, which will issue a report later this year, held its first...
(BBC News) A hard-line Republican revolt could not prevent legislation to raise the U.S. debt ceiling from clearing its first procedural hurdle in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday evening.
drama is playing out on Capitol Hill and a guide to what comes next.
The two parties finally reached a deal after a showdown lasting months, then weeks of painstaking negotiations. It was an uphill battle — but there are more steep hills to climb.
Now...
(BBC News) Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has visited Brazil for the first time since he was banned by former President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019.
Maduro was received by the new president, fellow leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ahead of a summit of Latin American leaders in Brasilia.
"What's important about Maduro coming here is that it's the beginning of Maduro's return," Lula said.
Maduro talked of a "new era" in bilateral relations.
Lula said the region should...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The debt-ceiling deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would suspend the United States’ debt limit through 2025 to avoid a federal default while limiting government spending, but its details are unlikely to be popular with progressive Democrats or hard-right Republicans.
The Democratic president and Republican speaker are trying to win lawmakers over to the plan, announced Saturday, in time to avert a default that would shake the global...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) North Korea has notified Japan of a plan to launch a ‘satellite’ that could be a ballistic missile between May 31 and June 11, a Japanese coastguard official has said.
North Korea has undertaken a series of missile and weapons tests in recent months, including a new, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Japanese officials believe the launch will involve a ballistic missile, according to a tweet from the prime minister’s office that refers...
(BBC News) Recep Tayyip Erdogan's supporters celebrated well into the night after Turkey's long-time president secured another five years in power.
"The entire nation of 85 million won," he told cheering crowds outside his palace on the edge of Ankara.
But his call for unity sounded hollow as he ridiculed his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu – and took aim at a jailed Kurdish leader and pro-LGBT policies.
The opposition leader did not explicitly concede victory.
Complaining of "the most...
(BBC News) Hundreds of Germans working in the education and cultural sectors will be expelled from Russia next month, the German foreign ministry says.
It confirmed media reports that Russia had decided to cap the number of German employees from the start of June.
They include teachers at the German school in Moscow and staff at the Goethe Institute cultural association.
The move follows tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats and increasingly strained relations between Russia and Germany.
Last month,...
