Published July 31, 2011 Associated Press Washington –  The White House and Republican congressional leaders made significant progress toward a deal to avert a potentially catastrophic first-ever government default threatened for early next week, according to officials familiar with the talks. Under a plan negotiated late Saturday night, the nation’s debt limit would rise in [...]

By Suze Orman, Special to CNN July 30, 2011 7:04 p.m. EDT Editor’s note: Suze Orman is a financial adviser and hosts “The Suze Orman Show” on CNBC. She has written several books on managing personal finances, including her latest, “The Money Class.” Watching Washington hold our economy hostage the past few weeks, as it [...]

July 31, 2011 ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reports: There is caution on Capitol Hill about a tentative deal being reached. As the mantra here goes, “nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.” Congressional leaders have begun briefing their membership on this framework and are gauging reaction. The key question, of course, is whether [...]

By DAN HARRIS (@danbharris) July 30, 2011 A team of researchers received a magnificent “thank you” in the form of amazing jumps and dives from a whale they helped to rescue. The humpback whale became tangled in a nylon net in the Sea of Cortez off Baja, California. “When we first approached the whale, she [...]

29 July 2011 Last updated at 17:29 ET BBC The chief of the Turkish armed forces, Isik Kosaner, has resigned along with the army, navy and air force heads. They were furious about the arrest of senior officers, accused of plotting, shortly before a round of military promotions. A series of meetings between General Kosaner [...]

By Peter Schroeder – 07/29/11 05:11 PM ET The “limited magnitude” of both debt plans put forward by congressional leaders would not put the nation’s AAA credit rating back on solid footing, Moody’s Investors Service announced Friday. “Reductions of the magnitude now being proposed, if adopted, would likely lead Moody’s to adopt a negative outlook [...]

by Stephen Dinan Published on July 30, 2011 Senate Republicans want a 60-vote threshold for a debt-limit bill to pass the chamber, but it’s actually Democrats who are enforcing the filibuster on their own legislation, insisting on delaying a vote until 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Republicans offered to let the vote happen Friday night, just [...]

By Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman, Published: July 30 With the prospect of a government default just three days away, the White House entered intense negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday in a last-ditch bid to forge a bipartisan agreement to raise the federal debt limit. Shortly after 10 p.m., Senate [...]

Why there is a growth recession, and what to do about it. July 30, 2011 WSJ Americans already know that economic growth is flagging, but Friday’s second quarter GDP report confirms it: The current recovery, already one of the weakest on record, nearly stalled in the first half of 2011. The economy expanded by a [...]

The GOP fantasy caucus is empowering Nancy Pelosi. July 30, 2011 WSJ Political logic and perhaps even common sense seem to be prevailing within the House GOP after Thursday’s debt-ceiling vote was postponed—at least among most of the caucus. The shame is that the debt-limit absolutists have weakened Speaker John Boehner’s hand in negotiating a [...]