as he hailed what he called productive talks with his political rivals. this as the clock ticks towards a deadline to avoid missing a payment on the us government s loans. the government is set to hit its borrowing limit of $31.4 trillion next week, raising fears it could run out of money to pay its bills without a deal to increase the debt ceiling . joining me now is danni hewson, head of financial analysis at aj bell. do you think investors are happy to take president biden at his word that no matter how difficult these negotiations get, no matter how much they go down to the wire he will somehow ensure there is no default? i think investors are increasingly nervous as we get further down to the wire and we have seen markets lose about 2% this week as that clock counts down. at the moment i think investors do assume that politicians will not want to tank the us economy. there is some kind of agreement will be reached before it reaches a point of defaulting on debt becaus
we ll ask how the plan might work. also ahead. downing street says talks with the eu over a brexit deal covering northern ireland have been positive , raising hopes of a new agreement. also in northern ireland. a fifth person s been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of the off duty police officerjohn caldwell in omagh. officially, there are just 30 minutes left to vote in nigeria s most competitive elections since the end of military rule. but there are still long queues, with reports that some polling stations didn t open on time. a record number of people, nearly 90 million, have been eligible to vote. there s tight security across the country. 18 candidates are running to replace president buhari. the election is being seen as one of the most unpredictable in recent years. joining me now from lagos is our west africa correspondent, mayenijones. thank you forjoining us. just give us a little bit of context surrounding these elections, they are taking place i
millions of nigerians are voting in the country s most competitive election since military rule ended there more than two decades ago. the race is between two major established parties, and a third candidate, peter obi, who has galvanised the support of young people. this is africa s most populous country and a record number of people nearly 90 million have been eligible to vote. voting has officially ended but the millions of people who are in queues at polling stations nationwide can still cast their ballot. and in some places, especially in the south of the country, voting has not even started due to severe delays and violent disruptions. joining me now from adamawa state in the north east of the country is the bbc s yemisi adegoke. how has voting been going where you are? i going where you are? can see a big queue behind ) yes, i can see a big queue behind you? yes, yes there is. i am in the north east, i am yes, yes there is. i am in the north east, iam in yes, yes