David Shear

The opening of negotiations, which started this week with a closed-door meeting of senior White House and Capitol Hill staff members, came as Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew warned Thursday that the United States would exhaust its ability to borrow on Nov. 5 if lawmakers refuse to increase the amount of money the government can legally borrow.

Japan will join a major US-Australian military exercise for the first time in a sign of growing security links between the three countries as tensions fester over China's island building in the South China Sea.

Australia said, today, that a senior US defence official misspoke when he told US lawmakers the Pentagon planned to send B-1 bombers to Australia, while a Pentagon spokesman said future military rotations to Australia were not finalised.

The opening of negotiations, which started this week with a closed-door meeting of senior White House and Capitol Hill staff members, came as Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew warned Thursday that the United States would exhaust its ability to borrow on Nov. 5 if lawmakers refuse to increase the amount of money the government can legally borrow.

Japan will join a major US-Australian military exercise for the first time in a sign of growing security links between the three countries as tensions fester over China's island building in the South China Sea.

Australia said, today, that a senior US defence official misspoke when he told US lawmakers the Pentagon planned to send B-1 bombers to Australia, while a Pentagon spokesman said future military rotations to Australia were not finalised.