House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday’s meeting between him, other Congressional leaders and President Joe Biden had produced no forward progress on an agreement to stave off what economists say would be a catastrophic default on America’s sovereign debt. Mr McCarty, who has kept the House in recess for the last two weeks and for a majority of the days since he and Mr Biden last met on 1 February, told reporters outside the White House that Mr Biden and both Republican and Democratic leaders had merely reiterated the positions they held when the House Speaker and the President met 97 days before. “Nothing has changed since then ... everybody in this meeting reiterated the positions they were at. I didn't see any new movement,” he said. The California Republican’s last meeting came just a few weeks after he eked out enough votes to claim the Speaker’s gavel with support from extremist and white nationalist members of the House Republican Conference, many of whom demanded that he use the need to lift the government’s century-old statutory debt ceiling as leverage to force Mr Biden to roll back much of the legislative record he and Democrats accomplished over the prior two years. Since that February meeting, the White House and the House of Representatives have remained far apart on what is needed before legislation allowing the US to resume issuing new debt instruments can reach Mr Biden’s desk for his signature. For his part, the president’s view has remained consistent since the beginning of the year. Mr Biden has repeatedly said that Congress should pass a “clean” debt ceiling increase and negotiate on spending cuts desired for next fiscal year when Congress begins work on a budget. Mr McCarthy characterised Mr Biden’s insistence that the Congress lift the debt ceiling on its’ own and address the spending cuts Republicans covet during the regular budgeting process as intransigent even though Republicans have not introduced a budget proposal for the next fiscal year. He also accused Senate Majority Leader Check Schumer of trying to stymie negotiations so Congress would be left without a choice but to pass the “clean” debt ceiling increase desired by Democrats and Mr Biden. “Chuck's whole idea before was to take us to the brink and someone's going to have to break right. I don't want to play politics with this. I think this is too important,” said the Speaker, who suggested the only reason Mr Biden had called a meeting was because the GOP-led House had passed a bill to raise the debt limit while enacting drastic cuts to government programmes favoured by Democrats. That legislation, which passed the House with a bare majority of GOP votes last month, would provide just a year’s worth of relief coupled with spending provisions that slash non-defence spending by as much as 20 per cent. Among the programmes on the chopping block: President Joe Biden’s student debt relief initiative, as well as funding for new IRS personnel. The plan would also add new work requirements for adults on Medicaid, cap the growth of the federal government, and impose 2022 limits on discretionary spending. The White House said in response to the bill’s passage that Republicans were attempting to “strip away health care services for veterans, cut access to Meals on Wheels, eliminate health care coverage for millions of Americans and ship manufacturing jobs overseas”. While the House-passed bill is unlikely to go anywhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate, thus far Mr McConnell and Senate Republicans have backed up Mr McCarthy’s demand for Mr Biden to sign off on GOP-endorsed austerity measures in exchange for Republican votes to allow the US to continue paying its’ debts. Prominent GOP figures frequently claim that raising the statutory debt limit to enable the US to continue meeting financial obligations — a practice that was once routine under presidents of both parties and met no objections when it was done under Mr Biden’s predecessor — is akin to authorising new spending. That claim, however, is not how the debt limit works. Raising the debt limit does not increase or decrease the amount of money that is spent on programmes that have already been authorised by Congress and have had funds allocated to them in appropriations legislation. Experts say a failure to raise the debt limit would force the government to default on its debt and precipitate a worldwide financial crisis. The last time the US flirted with that disastrous outcome was 2011, when Republicans controlled the House and Democrats controlled the Senate and the White House. Mr Biden, then the vice president under Barack Obama, led the negotiations with congressional leaders that headed off a default, but not before the US had its credit rating decreased for the first time in history. That 2011 dispute ended with Republicans suffering a drop in their approval ratings and facing accusations of endangering the US economy for political reasons. It also came along with an unprecedented downgrade in America’s credit rating. Those same charges are being raised again now by the White House and the president’s allies in Congress, who are holding firm on Mr Biden’s call for a clean debt limit boost. Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that unless Congress acts, the US will by 1 June cease having the legal ability to issue debt instruments that allow the government to pay for spending already authorized and incurred. Despite attempts by reporters to get Mr McCarthy to guarantee that the US would not default, the House Speaker repeatedly refused to make such a promise.

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Ukraine’s global “peace summit” is likely to take place next year, amid concerns over diplomatic rallying for the end of war in Europe with a simultaneous war raging in Gaza. The war-hit country is arranging a fourth meeting of national security advisers in late November or early December, said Ihor Zhovka, president Volodymyr Zelensky’s top diplomatic adviser. “And the Global Summit might take place in February 2024,” he said in a statement. He added that the summit will “definitely” take place “as it will mark both the symbolic beginning of the practical implementation of the Ukraine ‘peace formula’ and summarise all the results that have already been achieved on this track”. Kyiv is looking to build a global coalition to come together and endorse a 10-point “formula” for peace in the region drafted by Volodymyr Zelensky. Under this plan, Mr Zelensky is calling for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, complete ejection of Russian troops, protection of food and energy supplies, nuclear safety and release of all prisoners of war. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Zelensky administration sought to build bilateral ties with several governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, some officials in the West have flagged their concerns that the fierce war in the middle east will affect Ukraine’s push to broaden its support and also take away the attention from Kyiv’s cause. But Mr Zhovkva said that Kyiv is carefully considering the factors affecting its peace plan, adding that even if the middle east conflict was affecting agenda priorities for some countries in the region, the talks in Malta last month saw attendance from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. "We don’t need the summit for the sake of the summit. We are talking about the widest possible involvement of the leaders of the Global South. Therefore, we must carefully consider the time and place of the Summit," he said. Mr Zelensky has said he discussed preparations for the summit with his counterparts from Indonesia and Paraguay, urging them to join the bid. Ukraine has counted on its allies across the world for its peace formula talks and does not involve Russia. Vladimir Putin and his allies have repeatedly rejected the peace “formula”, stating that it will be impossible to implement. Read More Russia-Ukraine war: Russian army ‘overextended’ as Kyiv warns peace talks are ‘traps’ Analysis: Ukraine’s current frontline stalemate with Russia is hurting Kyiv Ramaswamy walks back moment he calls Zelensky ‘Nazi’ at GOP debate

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Escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante has revealed that he managed to evade capture for two weeks on the run by burying his own faeces and surviving on watermelon. Cavalcante escaped Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania back on 31 August after he was handed a life sentence for murdering his former girlfriend. It was not until almost two weeks later – on the morning of 13 September – that the escaped prisoner was finally back in handcuffs, after he was captured by a tactical team and police K-9 in a wooded area. Since his capture, investigators have now revealed that Cavalcante complied with their questions and told them various details about his time on the run from the police. Supervisory Deputy US Marshall Robert Clark, who conducted the manhunt that eventually led to his capture, spoke to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo about the aftermath of his arrest. Mr Clark said that the fugitive was “brutally honest” about his two weeks evading capture from law enforcement and the measures he went to to survive and stay hidden. Various investigators, from US Marshalls, PA State police to county police, all wanted to interview him, but were unsure what to expect, he said. “We took a Brazilian law enforcement interpreter, and we asked if he wanted to talk and he did,” Mr Clark told NewsNation, saying that by Cavalcante agreeing, they were able to fill in the gaps in their investigation. According to Mr Clark, the fugitive said that, within the first three days, he didn’t move far from Chester County Prison. After that, Cavalcante said that he ate watermelon he stole from a farm, drank water from a stream and hid within dense thickets where, unless someone stepped on him, he would be able to remain hidden from sight. To cover his tracks, he would hide his faeces under leaves. There were several close calls with search teams, the fugitive also allegedly admitted. “He did say on three occasions law enforcement officers did almost step on him. They were about seven to eight yards away from him,” Mr Clark said. “We believe he was brutally honest. He described things such as hiding his faecal matter under leaves so that we couldn’t detect them.” The officers even asked how Cavalcante managed to change his appearance by becoming clean-shaven while on the run, questioning whether someone had helped him. His answer was simple: the backpack he was pictured with, held a single razor. The investigators and Mr Clark found Cavalcante’s story “credible” and “candid,” as he went into detail about how he moved out of the first perimeter by scoping out an area he could escape across. Cavalcante told officials that he noticed more and more of a law enforcement presence and became aware of aerial assets and helicopters. He apparently also told investigators about the vehicle he stole on 10 September, that police found abandoned in a field behind a barn 15 miles outside of Phoenixville. He also spoke about the stolen firearm, which he obtained after breaking into a resident’s garage, Mr Clark said. Had he not been captured – with the help of a K-9 that bit him on the top of his head – Cavalcante planned to flee the country. “He intended to carjack somebody in the community and head north to Canada, or either or try to get back to Puerto Rico. He said he was going to do that in the next 24 hours. And that was the reason he kept that firearm. He knew he needed a weapon in order to get a vehicle,” Mr Clark said. Cavalcante also told law enforcement that Mexico was on the list of possible places he may have fled to, according to Steve Keeley from Fox 29. “Cavalcante said his endgame was to carjack someone in next day because he noticed increasing aerial search helicopters & airplanes… He only moved at night, no days,” Mr Keeley said on X. Mr Keeley’s source also matched what Mr Clark said about the fugitive conducting his own surveillance during his escape, both of the perimeter around Longwood Gardens and on the house where he stole the firearm from. Mr Clark said his US Marshall colleagues described Cavalcante during the interview as “calm, cool, [and] didn’t have any attitude to him”. Cavalcante was finally caught when Pennsylvania officials closed in on him on Wednesday morning. He was crawling through heavy underbush trying to get away, but was stopped by a four-year-old K-9 called Yoda, who was dispatched to grab hold of him by biting him on his head. After he was captured, a large group of officers took a group photo with the criminal now back in handcuffs, something they have since come under fire for. Cavalcante was serving a life sentence in prison for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfiend Deborah Brandao. He is also wanted for a murder he committed in 2017 in Brazil. Read More Captured killer Danelo Cavalcante reveals how he survived on run as police under fire for group photo: Live Hundreds of police officers hunted for Danelo Cavalcante for two weeks. A dog secured his capture Pennsylvania fugitive Danelo Cavalcante is captured hiding under logs in shed two weeks after prison escape

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