a recent poll shows that of the 15 most successful democracies, nine are monarchies. the founding fathers rejected a king, but many europeans feel a royal family is an asset. i m leaving washington on a royal mission, as the uk has a new king charles iii. i want to find out how other royal families, many of them king charles relations, manage to stay relevant in the 21st century. i ll be mixing in royal circles. how was it? c etait bien? and visiting palaces. you can t walk past that line. then you will shoot me? yeah. talking to insiders. that is more my style. do i look like a princess? i can curtsy and talk at the same time. and consulting princes and princesses about life with a crown. your highness. tell me how you would like me to address you. your highness or princess, orjust martha, i don t mind. or life without a crown. i grew up in exile, i couldn t go in my country. are there lessons for good king charles in the modern game of thrones? so far i have been discuss
hello, i m sumi somaskanda. we start in washington tonight, where negotiators have been working to avoid a us debt default. negotiations have been described as productive but there s still no deal. earlier, presidentjoe biden and speaker of the house kevin mccarthy led talks on raising the debt ceiling to ensure the us can continue to pay its bills. biden and republican congressional leaders now have just ten days to avoid a default. president biden said: wwe reiterated once again that default is off the table. and the only way to move forward is in good faith toward a bipartisan agreement. kevin mccarthy spoke outside the white house and the bbc s nomia iqbal was watching. he said the meeting was productive. he said the tone was good. he appeared in an upbeat mood and he said there was still a way to go before they make a compromise. he did say that he believed the president does want to make a deal. bear in mind, we are fast approaching the deadline, and if a deal is
live from washington. this is bbc news, welcome to viewers on pbs in america negotiations on the us debt ceiling continue into the night. president biden and the speaker of the house say there s still no deal but they call their talks productive. i think the tone tonight was better than any other time we ve had discussions. russian authorities say they re battling a group of saboteurs that s crossed the border into the bel gorod region from ukraine. and coming up inside russian defences the new bbc verify service takes a look at moscow s preparation for an expected ukrainian counter offensive.