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Record-breaking heat wave grips western United States

A record early heat wave striking the western United States on Friday is a one-in-500-year event and almost certainly the result of human-caused climate change, experts say. The heat has been toppling records this week and is set to continue into the weekend across western cities while expanding eastward. Four locations in the desert area near the California-Arizona border registered 44.4 degrees Celsius on Friday, a US national record for March. The readings were recorded near Yuma and Martinez Lake in Arizona, and around Winterhaven and Ogilby in California. Read: Intense heatwave grips US, triggering record-breaking temperatures Already, 65 cities have recorded new March highs, ranging from Arizona and California to Idaho, Weather.com reported. Death Valley reached 40°C on Thursday, while typically cool and foggy San Francisco tied its historic March record at 29°C. In Colorado, skiers were seen hitting the slopes shirtless. The National Weather Service issued extreme heat warni...
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US national debt exceeds $35 trillion for first time

The US federal government's total public debt has surpassed 35 trillion US dollars for first time, as recorded at end of last week, according to data released by the Treasury Department Monday. The total public debt outstanding climbed to 35 trillion dollars on Friday, according to the newly released Daily Treasury Statement. The data is updated at the end of each business day with data from the previous business day. Just seven months ago, the US national debt surpassed 34 trillion dollars in late December 2023. Three months before that, the United States reached a historic milestone by passing 33 trillion dollars. "The borrowing just keeps marching along, reckless and unyielding," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement. "Yet despite all the risks and warning signs, these alarm bells seem to be falling on deaf ears." "We are going to have to get serious about the debt, and soon. Election years cannot be an exception for trying to prevent completely foreseeable dangers -- and the debt is one of the major dangers we are facing," said MacGuineas. According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organization focused on addressing US  long-term fiscal challenges, the national debt of 35.001 trillion dollars translates to 103,945 dollars of debt per person in the United States. "Our deficits are caused mainly by predictable structural factors: our aging baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and a tax system that does not bring in enough money to pay for what the government has promised its citizens," the foundation said. Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former official at the International Monetary Fund, told Xinhua earlier that "there can be no question that the U.S. budget deficit is on an unsustainable path." The "dangerous trajectory" poses "serious questions for the dollar" and inflation's long-run outlook, Lachman said. ■

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