The family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells have been used for scientific research for decades, reached a settlement Tuesday with the biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific, the family's attorneys said.

Work requirements for federal food aid recipients have emerged as a final sticking point in negotiations over the looming debt crisis, even as President Joe Biden said Friday that a deal is “very close.” Biden’s optimism came as the deadline for a potentially catastrophic default was pushed back to June 5 and seemed likely to drag negotiations between the White House and Republicans over raising the debt ceiling into another frustrating week. Both sides have suggested one of the main holdups is a GOP effort to boost work requirements for recipients of food stamps and other federal aid programs, a longtime Republican goal Democrats have strenuously opposed. Even as they came closer to a framework on spending, each side seemed dug in on the work requirements. White House spokesman Andrew Bates called the GOP proposals “cruel and senseless” and said Biden and Democrats would stand against them. Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, one of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s negotiators, was blunt when asked if Republicans might relent on the issue: "Hell no, not a chance,” he said. The later “ X-date,” laid out in a letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, set the risk of a devastating default four days beyond an earlier estimate. Still, Americans and the world uneasily watched the negotiating brinkmanship that could throw the U.S. economy into chaos and sap world confidence in the nation’s leadership. Yet Biden was upbeat as he left for the Memorial Day weekend at Camp David, declaring, “It’s very close, and I’m optimistic.” With Republicans at the Capitol talking with Biden’s team at the White House, the president said: “There’s a negotiation going on. I’m hopeful we’ll know by tonight whether we’re going to be able to have a deal.” But a deal had not come together when McCarthy left the Capitol Friday evening. In a blunt warning, Yellen said failure to act by the new date would “cause severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests.” Anxious retirees and others were already making contingency plans for missed checks, with the next Social Security payments due next week. Biden and Republican McCarthy have seemed to be narrowing on a two-year budget-slashing deal that would also extend the debt limit into 2025 past the next presidential election. But talks over the proposed work requirements for recipients of Medicaid, food stamps and other aid programs seemed at a standstill Friday afternoon. Biden has said the Medicaid work requirements would be a nonstarter. But he initially seemed open to possible changes on food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The Republican proposal would save $11 billion over 10 years by raising the maximum age for existing standards that require able-bodied adults who do not live with dependents to work or attend training programs. While current law applies those standards to recipients under the age of 50, the House bill would raise the age to include adults 55 and under. The GOP proposal would also decrease the number of exemptions that states can grant to some recipients subject to those requirements. Biden's position on the SNAP work requirements appeared to have hardened by Friday, when spokesman Bates said House Republicans are threatening to trigger an unprecedented recession “unless they can take food out of the mouths of hungry Americans.” Any deal would need to be a political compromise, with support from both Democrats and Republicans to pass the divided Congress. Failure to lift the borrowing limit, now $31 trillion, to pay the nation’s incurred bills, would send shockwaves through the U.S. and global economy. But many of the hard-right Trump-aligned Republicans in Congress have long been skeptical of Treasury’s projections, and they are pressing McCarthy to hold out. As talks pushed into another late night, one of the negotiators, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., called Biden’s comments “a hopeful sign.” But he also cautioned that there’s still “sticky points” impeding a final agreement. While the contours of the deal have been taking shape to cut spending for 2024 and impose a 1% cap on spending growth for 2025, the two sides remain stuck on various provisions. House Republicans had pushed the issue to the brink, displaying risky political bravado in leaving town for the Memorial Day holiday. Lawmakers are tentatively not expected back at work until Tuesday, but now their return is uncertain. Weeks of negotiations between Republicans and the White House have failed to produce a deal — in part because the Biden administration resisted negotiating with McCarthy over the debt limit, arguing that the country’s full faith and credit should not be used as leverage to extract other partisan priorities. “We have to spend less than we spent last year. That is the starting point,” said McCarthy. One idea is to set the topline budget numbers but then add a “snap-back” provision to enforce cuts if Congress is unable during its annual appropriations process to meet the new goals. Lawmakers are all but certain to claw back some $30 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds now that the pandemic emergency has officially been lifted. McCarthy has promised lawmakers he will abide by the rule to post any bill for 72 hours before voting. The Democratic-held Senate has vowed to move quickly to send the package to Biden’s desk. ___ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri, Seung Min Kim and Kevin Freking and videojournalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Lauren Boebert claims Biden plan to combat antisemitism will target ‘conservatives’ Defense secretary tells Navy graduates they are ready to serve Doctor's supporters, hospital at odds with Indiana penalty for talking about 10-year-old's abortion

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Emilia Clarke’s mother has described how her daughter’s brain haemorrhage changed the Clarke family “in an instant”. Emilia, who played Daenerys Targaryen on Game Of Thrones, and her mother set up a brain injury charity after the star survived two life-threatening brain conditions while she was filming the hit TV show. Jenny Clarke said it feels like her daughter’s brain haemorrhage – a bleed on the brain – “feels like yesterday” even though it was more than a decade ago. The incident, which took place when Emilia was working out in a north London gym in 2011, was “completely out of the blue”, Jenny said. She said her daughter fought to stay conscious even though she was in “the worst pain she could ever imagine”. Emilia, now aged 36, was taken to a hospital in London but medics did not immediately spot that she had suffered a brain haemorrhage and it took “a long time” before she was sent to a specialist hospital where she received life-saving care, Jenny told the PA news agency. Jenny said there needs to be more awareness among medics about brain haemorrhages in young people because the condition is traditionally seen as something that happens to older people. Emilia also had to have a second procedure in 2013 where surgeons in New York had to remove a brain aneurysm which was found through routine check-ups. The Me Before You star and her mother have since set up the charity SameYou which is working to develop better recovery treatment for survivors of brain injury and stroke. Jenny, who is chief executive of the charity, said that rehabilitation after brain injury is “undervalued and under-prioritised” and should be a “key component of universal health coverage”. She said that while people with serious side effects of brain injury – such as mobility or speech and language problems – do get support, there is often little or no help for people who suffer mild to moderate problems. Jenny told PA: “It feels like yesterday to us really, because it was just such a profound shock. “She had just started Game Of Thrones, the first season had been filmed and she had just come back from a press tour. “And then she had her first brain haemorrhage which was completely out of the blue – it was a morning in March and she was in the gym and she suddenly felt this terrible pain in her head – she’s been quoted as saying it was the worst pain she could ever imagine. “She also realised that something was seriously wrong with her because the pain was so intense. “So she did her best, as she was lying semi-unconscious on the floor of the gym, to try and make sure she kept a sense of what was around her and she fought to make sure that she didn’t lose consciousness.” Jenny added: “When she was rushed to a hospital in London, it was very difficult to establish what has happened to her – and that’s also something that we think is very important; maybe there isn’t enough specialist information and training to actually recognise what happens when you have a brain haemorrhage when you’re young. “People expect people to have strokes and brain haemorrhages when they’re older, it’s a problem of older age, but Emilia was 23 when she had her first brain haemorrhage, so people didn’t recognise it as a brain haemorrhage. “So it took a long time before she was admitted to the wonderful Queen Square (the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery), which is part of University College London Hospitals and literally her life was saved because of an intervention to stop the bleeding. “But it was three weeks in hospital before we knew whether she was going to have another stroke, and whether she would have different health problems as a result of the brain haemorrhage.” Jenny continued: “When it comes completely out of the blue, your life is just changed in an instant. And I must say that our lives have been continuously changed because of it.” After describing the second “open head surgery” in the US, Jenny said: “Those two great big shocks really have profoundly changed all of us as a family.” The comments come as Jenny attended the launch of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Rehabilitation Alliance in Geneva – a coalition which is calling on countries to do more for people in need of rehabilitation services. Jenny delivered a speech to the WHO about the power of advocacy, saying: “There is huge power if survivors come together with one voice to demand that integrated rehabilitation is moved up the agenda. “One in three people will experience a brain injury. They are the most powerful advocates – and this meeting is calling for their needs to be heard and action to be taken.” On rehabilitation for brain injury survivors, she told PA: “As a young person… when something like this happens, you absolutely must have as much support as possible and it just doesn’t really exist. “If you have severe consequences of brain injury, of course, there are many places helping people if you’ve got strong long-term, serious conditions, but what we found was, is that you can have mild to moderate brain injury – and that means you don’t have any necessarily physical issues; you don’t have necessarily any speech and language difficulties, but you do always have the trauma that you’ve had the problem – and there is a just a huge lack of awareness that this is important enough to put resources to get it treated.” She added: “Rehabilitation is undervalued and under-prioritised and that’s clearly got to change as a key component of universal health coverage. “It was such a shock when it happened to us, when Emilia had her brain injury. “We’ve had thousands of people write to us, and so it’s not just our own lived experience, there’s just not enough provision, not enough services available. “There is a great unmet need and a gap in service provision after you’ve survived a brain injury, and you’re trying to rebuild your life, particularly if you’re a young adult. “And what we are advocating for is there needs to be a lot more information given to survivors of brain injury, about what’s happened to them and their opportunity to get recovery services. “There is a gap between what survivors and their families say they need and want and what is currently available in many developed countries.” Read More It took until my thirties to realise I might not be white Carrie Johnson announces birth of third child with Boris Johnson: ‘Guess which name my husband chose’ Buckingham Palace responds to Joe Biden’s ‘protocol breach’ with King Charles Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Transgender woman Brianna Kingsley demands her ex-boyfriend return her surgically removed testicles kept in a refrigerated jar

Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has indicated he will take gradual steps in steering toward more

Kassy Dillon took to social media to share her experience covering a protest at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus

Following New York City Mayor Eric Adams' announcement last week that the city will bus some migrants to hotels in nearby counties temporarily, officials in Orange County filed two lawsuits on Friday attempting to stop the plan -- even as some migrants have already arrived.

"It's good to have an enemy," says George Birnbaum, one of the godfathers of modern populism.

Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to the United Kingdom next week for a summit on artificial intelligence

One beekeeper who came to the rescue described a cloud of "angry, confused and homeless" bees.

Elton John has testified for the defense at Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault trial as the actor’s lawyer attempted to discredit a man who claimed the Oscar winner aggressively grabbed his crotch in a car on the way to the singer’s house