31/07/2011 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. President Obama has held more talks with Democrat and

Republican leaders in Congress as part of last ditch effort to break

the deadlock in the US debt crisis. There are two days before the

deadline runs out for reaching an agreement that will allow the

American government to continue paying its Bach -- paying its bills.

Democrats and Republicans can't agree on how to tackle America's

spending habits. Their rival plans share common goals but the

Democrats favour one that bankrolls America until 2013. There are some

signs a compromise may be on the cards. I am glad to see this move

towards co-operation and compromise, I hope it bears fruit. I am

confident that a final agreement which will adopt a long-term

approach rather than the short-term band-aid will move forward.

That has been the sticking point the House want to see. It want to

see a much smaller rise in the debt, a plan which would allow Congress

to address the same issue again in six months. Both parties accuse

each other of failing to compromise, but amid the acrimony they are

increasingly desperate to reach an agreement. I think we all know that

if the President decides to reach an agreement with us, the Democrats,

most of them, will fall in line. He is the leader of the Democratic

Party, the President of the country. He needs to indicate what he will

sign. We are in those discussions now.

After another week of political soap opera, Republicans and

Democrats are still deadlocked. Both sides are now turning to

President Obama in the hope he can find a solution before the US

Treasury runs out of cash. Human rights groups say at least 45

have been killed in Syria after government forces launched an

attack on the city of Hama. Residents say there has been heavy

gunfire after tanks entered the city at dawn, overrunning

roadblocks. Hama has been one of the main centres of recent anti-

government demonstrations. Labour has accused the Government

of shifting NHS funding in England from poorer areas towards richer

parts of the country, saying changes to the way funding is

calculated means areas with poor health rates would be given less

consideration when money is at -- allocated. The Government has

rejected the accusations and says NHS funding has increased across

the whole country. The NHS is changing, so is its

funding formula. The man in charge, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley,

who was forced to rethink some of his reforms recently, is under fire

again. Labour accused him of harming the poor to help the rich.

Using figures calculated by public health bodies in Manchester, Labour

is a poorer parts of England - not just Manchester but also Liverpool

and Tower Hamlets in East London - will lose out when health spending

is reallocated, but richer areas will benefit. The Government is not

taking into account health inequalities as it used to in

allocating money. Inevitably if you don't take health inequalities into

account sufficiently, poorer areas lose money.

Mr Lansley dismisses the figures as misleading and says Labour's policy

of targeting funding at more deprived areas did not work. Under

Labour, money was being allocated, in theory, to deal with health

inequalities, but none of it was spent on that. The Government says

NHS funding is going up in real terms. The less well-off area of

Tower Hamlets will see a funding increase of 2.7%, very similar to

the rise in the better off area of Surrey, which will receive 2.6%.

The Health Secretary says the new formula will help tackle

inequalities. We will take the public health budget and allocated

to local authorities who will be able to use it to tackle issues

like obesity, smoking and alcohol abuse. Labour believe the