Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/21/2011

According to the latest reports, President Obama and House Speaker Boehner are very close to cutting a deal to break the impasse on raising the debt ceiling. In return for the Republicans’ agreement to an increase in the debt level, the president is willing to see some spending cuts, lower tax rates, and a “simplification” of the tax code that is expected to increase revenues.

Meanwhile, President Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany have reportedly reached agreement on a package that will lead to the next bailout of Greece.

In other news, Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, has castigated Pope Benedict XVI for the priestly child sex abuse scandal.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Lurker from Tulsa, MF, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.