:00:23. > :00:26.Good afternoon. President Obama has held more talks with Democrat and
:00:26. > :00:30.Republican leaders in Congress as part of last ditch effort to break
:00:30. > :00:34.the deadlock in the US debt crisis. There are two days before the
:00:34. > :00:39.deadline runs out for reaching an agreement that will allow the
:00:39. > :00:43.American government to continue paying its Bach -- paying its bills.
:00:43. > :00:48.Democrats and Republicans can't agree on how to tackle America's
:00:48. > :00:53.spending habits. Their rival plans share common goals but the
:00:53. > :00:58.Democrats favour one that bankrolls America until 2013. There are some
:00:58. > :01:03.signs a compromise may be on the cards. I am glad to see this move
:01:03. > :01:06.towards co-operation and compromise, I hope it bears fruit. I am
:01:06. > :01:10.confident that a final agreement which will adopt a long-term
:01:11. > :01:15.approach rather than the short-term band-aid will move forward.
:01:15. > :01:18.That has been the sticking point the House want to see. It want to
:01:18. > :01:23.see a much smaller rise in the debt, a plan which would allow Congress
:01:23. > :01:28.to address the same issue again in six months. Both parties accuse
:01:28. > :01:33.each other of failing to compromise, but amid the acrimony they are
:01:33. > :01:37.increasingly desperate to reach an agreement. I think we all know that
:01:37. > :01:42.if the President decides to reach an agreement with us, the Democrats,
:01:42. > :01:46.most of them, will fall in line. He is the leader of the Democratic
:01:46. > :01:50.Party, the President of the country. He needs to indicate what he will
:01:50. > :01:53.sign. We are in those discussions now.
:01:53. > :01:58.After another week of political soap opera, Republicans and
:01:58. > :02:02.Democrats are still deadlocked. Both sides are now turning to
:02:02. > :02:08.President Obama in the hope he can find a solution before the US
:02:08. > :02:12.Treasury runs out of cash. Human rights groups say at least 45
:02:12. > :02:17.have been killed in Syria after government forces launched an
:02:17. > :02:20.attack on the city of Hama. Residents say there has been heavy
:02:20. > :02:24.gunfire after tanks entered the city at dawn, overrunning
:02:24. > :02:28.roadblocks. Hama has been one of the main centres of recent anti-
:02:28. > :02:32.government demonstrations. Labour has accused the Government
:02:32. > :02:35.of shifting NHS funding in England from poorer areas towards richer
:02:35. > :02:39.parts of the country, saying changes to the way funding is
:02:39. > :02:44.calculated means areas with poor health rates would be given less
:02:44. > :02:47.consideration when money is at -- allocated. The Government has
:02:47. > :02:52.rejected the accusations and says NHS funding has increased across
:02:52. > :02:56.the whole country. The NHS is changing, so is its
:02:57. > :03:02.funding formula. The man in charge, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley,
:03:02. > :03:05.who was forced to rethink some of his reforms recently, is under fire
:03:05. > :03:09.again. Labour accused him of harming the poor to help the rich.
:03:09. > :03:14.Using figures calculated by public health bodies in Manchester, Labour
:03:14. > :03:18.is a poorer parts of England - not just Manchester but also Liverpool
:03:18. > :03:24.and Tower Hamlets in East London - will lose out when health spending
:03:24. > :03:28.is reallocated, but richer areas will benefit. The Government is not
:03:28. > :03:32.taking into account health inequalities as it used to in
:03:32. > :03:36.allocating money. Inevitably if you don't take health inequalities into
:03:36. > :03:40.account sufficiently, poorer areas lose money.
:03:40. > :03:45.Mr Lansley dismisses the figures as misleading and says Labour's policy
:03:45. > :03:50.of targeting funding at more deprived areas did not work. Under
:03:50. > :03:54.Labour, money was being allocated, in theory, to deal with health
:03:54. > :03:59.inequalities, but none of it was spent on that. The Government says
:03:59. > :04:04.NHS funding is going up in real terms. The less well-off area of
:04:04. > :04:09.Tower Hamlets will see a funding increase of 2.7%, very similar to
:04:09. > :04:12.the rise in the better off area of Surrey, which will receive 2.6%.
:04:13. > :04:17.The Health Secretary says the new formula will help tackle
:04:17. > :04:21.inequalities. We will take the public health budget and allocated
:04:21. > :04:26.to local authorities who will be able to use it to tackle issues
:04:26. > :04:29.like obesity, smoking and alcohol abuse. Labour believe the