WHITE HOUSE

President Barack Obama has requested that formal negotiations to begin in May on reducing the long-term U.S. debt as a share of the economy and annual deficits.

President Barack Obama's awaited proposal on Wednesday dealing with specific dollar amounts and cuts needed to address the United States' $14.3 trillion debt will contrast with a Republican proposal offered last week by offering a balance that it didn't have, a White House spokesman said.

The Obama Administration is trying to balance keeping spending up in certain areas while cutting federal deficits and may be open to striking a deal with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling above its current $14.3 trillion levels.

House Speaker John Boehner, fresh off a tightly fought political battle to cut $38.5 billion from the federal budget for the rest of the fiscal year, said he understands President Barack Obama better and says there is a wide ideological gap between them about the role of the federal government.

House Speaker John Boehner on Monday said that the Republican proposal for the 2012 budget leads where the Obama administration failed by taking on challenges facing healthcare, retirement and energy to create jobs.

President Barack Obama will announce later this week deficit reduction targets and a timeline to reach them, White House adviser David Plouffe said on Sunday.

Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell made historical allusions to the 1995 budget shutdowns on Friday as the current Congress avoided a shutdown of its own by reaching a deal to fund the federal government for the rest of the fiscal year.

A debt ceiling vote and the 2012 budget will be the next major fiscal battles facing the U.S. throughout the rest of 2011, as Washington looks ahead after lawmakers in the House and Senate averted a shutdown in a last hour deal to fund the government for the next six months.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached a last-minute budget deal on Friday, averting a government shutdown.

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner spoke for several minutes without reaching a resolution early Friday evening, a Republican aide said extending a day of delay on averting a federal shutdown by midnight.

Hitting $1472.50 for US investors today, the Gold Price also rose sharply against the British Pound - hitting its best level since New Year at £900 per ounce - but was in flat against most other major currencies. Silver Prices, in contrast, rose to new multi-decade highs across the board.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters on Friday that negotiators from the House and Senate attempting to avert a government shutdown had agreed to $38 billion in spending cuts for the current fiscal year, but it was unclear what would be done about Republican requests to defund Planned Parenthood and place new restrictions on the Environmental protection agency.

President Barack Obama said late Thursday that the federal government is starting to prepare for a shutdown and is seeking an early morning answer from Congressional negotiators on a possible budget deal.

The Department of Homeland Security will use Facebook, Twitter to send terror alerts to the public.

House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid expressed disappointment on Thursday after a third round of talks on the federal budget failed to avert a shutdown of the government that would put hundreds of thousands of workers on leave.

Robert Richard Titcomb, 49, a close friend of President Barack Obama has been arrested by the Honolulu Police Department on a prostitution charge.

President Barack Obama and allied Senate Democrats are sparring with House Republicans on non-budget related items attached to a budget measure that would keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year and avoid a shutdown of non-essential government services.

Moammar Gaddafi has sent U.S. President Barack Obama a three-page letter in which he asked the western coalition to stop bombing Libya.

Us Weekly is reporting that Bristol Palin made $262,000 as an abstinence ambassador. Palin made the money as the Candie's Foundation's spokeswoman.

'Nonstop' negotiations on passing a federal budget for the remainder of the fiscal year were continuing ahead of a Friday deadline to avert a shutdown of a big portion of the government, as House Republicans and Senate Democrats allied with President Obama sought to break an impasse that could put hundreds of thousands of workers on leave without funding in place.

If a shutdown does begin after a Friday deadline passes, hundreds of thousands of federal employees would be furloughed, tax refunds from paper-based filers would not be processed and federal loans for small businesses and new federal home loans would not be processed, Senior Obama Administration officials said on Wednesday.