Obama and Congress leaders in White House summit

President Barack Obama is to meet congressional leaders at the White House for new talks aimed at averting a potential default over the US deficit.

Mr Obama is expected to propose cutting the US budget deficit by up to $4tr (£2.5) over a decade, possibly by trimming popular social programmes.
Meanwhile, Republican resistance to raising new tax revenue appears to be softening, analysts say.
The deadline to raise the $14.3tn (£8.9tn) US debt ceiling is 2 August.
The US currently runs an estimated $1.5 trillion (£932bn) annual budget deficit, and has already exceeded the national debt limit of $14.3tn.
The US government's borrowing authority is limited by statute but has traditionally been raised as a matter of routine by Congress.
However, a newly empowered faction of conservative, anti-tax Republicans are keen to extract dramatic cuts in government spending as the price of raising the limit, analysts say.
Backbench resistance Talks have proceeded in a halting fashion in recent months, with top Republican leaders walking out last month over Democrats' insistence on considering new sources of tax revenue, including closing loopholes in the tax code and eliminating tax breaks that primarily benefit the wealthy.

The president called the White House talks as rhetoric on the issue rose on both sides

Mr Obama's proposed $4tn deficit reduction roughly doubles the size of cuts identified in earlier rounds of talks.
But even if the White House and congressional leaders of both parties strike an agreement, they will have to win approval from rank-and-file party members, who may be less interested in the bargain.
Among other new developments, Republican Senator Jon Kyl has said his side had agreed to raising revenue by selling broadband spectrum and raising user fees, Reuters reported.
And Eric Cantor, a senior Republican Congressman, said Republicans could support eliminating some tax breaks in exchange to other tax cuts elsewhere.
"I can tell you one thing, that we are united as Republicans to say now is not the time to raise taxes," Mr Cantor said on MSNBC television on Thursday morning.
Social cuts Mr Obama is now reported to be open to money-saving changes in the social security and Medicare programmes for pensioners and the Medicaid programme for the poor, which Democrats had previously rejected.
On Wednesday, Mr Obama warned against allowing a default - which he said could seriously affect US creditworthiness - but said he remained confident a deal could be reached.
"My expectation is, is that over the next week to two weeks, that Congress, working with the White House, comes up with a deal that solves our deficit, solves our debt problems, and makes sure that our full faith and credit is protected," he said.
Without action in Congress to raise the debt limit, the US risks defaulting on its debt, and a broad range of economists and political figures have warned that could trigger a global financial crisis.

Posted in: US