hello, i m lukwesa burak. president biden has said a deal with republicans to raise the us government debt ceiling is very close and he s optimistic it will be achieved. the two sides have a little more breathing room after the treasury secretary, janet yellen, extended the deadline slightly, saying the government would not run out of money untiljune 5. they re working on an agreement that would ensure no repeat of the stand off before next year s presidential election. as the clock ticked down to the midnight deadline which hasjust passed mr biden hinted a deal might be not be too far away. with regards to the debt limit, things are looking good. i m very optimistic. i hope we ll have some clearer evidence tonight, before the clock strikes 12:00, that we have a deal. but it s very close and i m optimistic. and our north america correspondent nomia iqbal sent us this update. lawmakers have now been given a little more time to find that much needed solution. many of them h
assadollah assadi. the european union is to send a top human rights envoy to cuba in november. eamon gilmore will examine the situation since the mass arrests that took place during anti government protests two years ago. the announcement came as the eu foreign policy chief, josep borrell, is currently on a visit to cuba. he said the bloc didn t have the capacity or the will to impose changes in cuba, but that dialogue was important. thousands of pro government supporters have taken to the streets of the serbian capital, belgrade on friday night to rally behind president aleksandar vucic. it follows huge anti government protests, after two mass shootings in the country earlier this month including one at a school in belgrade. another protest is planned for saturday. the british tv presenter phillip schofield has resigned from itv, after acknowledging that he had an affair with a younger male