US President Barack Obama and top Congressional leaders are scrambling to agree a deal to raise America's $14.3 trillion (£8.8trillion) debt ceiling before financial markets open on Monday. The stakes have risen dramatically in the last 48 hours after long-running talks between President Obama and John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, collapsed in acrimony. "It's very important that the leadership (in Congress) understands that Wall Street will be opening on Monday, and we'd better have some answers," President Obama warned. Failure to strike a deal by August 2, when the government has said it will no longer ... (full story)