WAO ART #102

The White House and congressional Republicans are close to a deal to raise the US government's borrowing capacity for two years, avoiding a default on US debt. The deal may limit spending on everything except military and veterans until after the 2024 election.

Australian technology entrepreneur Mike Cannon-Brookes has rescued the collapsed Sun Cable renewable energy project, which aims to export solar power from Australia to Singapore via a 4,200 km undersea cable. The value of the sale was not disclosed.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook Tokyo and other areas of eastern Japan, centered off the east coast of Chiba Peninsula at a depth of 44.5 kilometers. No tsunami warning was issued and there is little chance of serious damage or fatalities. No problems were reported at the Tokai No. 2.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse believes a verdict in the company's lawsuit with the SEC is coming in weeks, not months, following a recent court ruling concerning the release of William Hinman documents. Ripple had cited Hinman's speech as evidence that XRP should not be classified as a security.

MEPs are expected to declare Hungary "unfit" to hold the rotating six-month EU Council presidency in the second half of 2024 due to the Orbán regime's "systemic corruption". Hungary is the third largest net beneficiary of EU funding, receiving €4.3bn in 2021, and is seeking over €20bn.

The US has imposed sanctions on Ivan Maslov, the local boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner in Mali, over concerns that the group is secretly trying to obtain military equipment for the war in Ukraine. The Treasury Department has accused Wagner employees of trying to procure mines, drones.

Venezuelans are being paid by the government to tweet propaganda, according to a report by BBC Trending and BBC Monitoring. The country's Ministry of Communications tweets a "hashtag", which is repeated by "digital troops", who spends at least 30 minutes a day posting pro-government content.