More than 100 million people are under air quality alerts Friday from Wisconsin to Vermont and down to North Carolina, as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to waft south, though conditions are expected to improve slowly into the weekend.

House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries sounded confident that Congress would vote to avert a default on the US’s obligations on Sunday, hours after news broke that the White House had reached a deal with Republican leadership to raise the debt ceiling. The “agreement in principle” was announced Saturday evening after much of the House of Representatives and Senate had left for the Memorial Day weekend. A handful remained in Washington to continue negotiations ahead of the deadline; the US Treasure Department estimates that the federal government’s ability to pay its debts will be in question come 1 June — this Thursday. Mr Jeffries spoke on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. While he cautioned that he had not seen the actual text of the bill, which is reportedly set to cap funding for the US government (except for the military) through 2024, he offered a simple “yes” when asked directly if he could guarantee that the US would avert default. It’s a statement that will likely mean a sigh of relief for those Americans worried about the effects that a credit downgrade would have on the US economy, though that remains a possibility thanks to the toxic partisanship that brought the US to this point in the first place, but also one that may frustrate progressives and other Democrats who may see the development as Democrats giving in to the GOP’s demands. The deal does stave off further debt ceiling negotiations until 2025, but many on the left simply wish to do away with the limit altogether. And there’s already signs that many on the conservative right do not like the deal, with some even calling any legislation that raises the debt limit a non-starter. Their opposition within the GOP’s slim House majority necessitates votes from Democrats to pass this deal or any other. More follows...

FBI Director Chris Wray is defending what he calls the “real FBI” before a contentious hearing of the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee

U.S. authorities have announced the arrests of four more people in last year’s smuggling deaths of 53 migrants, including eight children, who were left in a tractor trailer in the scorching Texas summer

A 9-year-old girl was fatally shot in front of her Chicago home by her neighbor, who allegedly fired the gun at her before her father ran toward the shooter and tackled him to the ground, according to a legal document CNN obtained Tuesday.

Two environmental activists have run onto one of the courts during the Wimbledon tennis tournament and disrupted a match by throwing confetti onto the grass

The US will bolster its defensive posture with heightened patrols in the Persian Gulf after destabilizing actions by Iran this past month to interfere with and seize commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz and other strategic waterways, according to a US National Security Council spokesperson.

Typhoon Lan reached the coast of central Japan early Tuesday, grounding flights and halting trains as residents braced

A political aide familiar with the plans says two-term North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is running for the Republican presidential nomination

By Hernan Nessi and Eliana Raszewski BUENOS AIRES Argentina's libertarian President-elect Javier Milei has won a closely fought

Another US military service chief has relinquished command without a Senate-confirmed replacement in place, marking the first time in the Defense Department's history that three services are operating without a confirmed senior military officer in place.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2023--