U.S. President Barack Obama met with congressional leaders Saturday for last-ditch White House talks on forging a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling, officials said.

The talks with Democrats Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi as well as Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell broke up after about 50 minutes.

The United States runs a "very real" risk of losing its top triple-A rating if nothing is done to reduce the ballooning deficit, an official said Friday after debt talks collapsed.

Republicans in the House of Representatives abruptly closed the door on acrimonious negotiations with President Barack Obama on raising the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been receiving treatment for blast wounds in Saudi Arabia since early June, will return "soon," deputy information minister Abdo al-Janadi said Saturday.

"The president is in good health. He will return to Yemen soon, but is awaiting the decision of his doctors," Janadi told a news conference, without specifying a date for Saleh's return.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirmed Thursday that she would retire after next year's election, saying she was physically tired from the "merry-go-round" of public life.

Clinton, in an interview with the BBC, said that "I love what I'm doing" and that she was in good health, thanks in part to exercise and yoga. But she admitted to fatigue as she jets around the world as the top U.S. diplomat.

Largest U.S. creditor China and Wall Street piled on pressure Thursday for President Barack Obama and his Republican foes to reach an elusive budget compromise and avert a ruinous early August default.

Cries of alarm over the stalemate's potential impact on the world economy grew louder as Obama and congressional leaders opened their fifth straight day of talks at the White House with long odds of a breakthrough.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Democrats and Republicans Saturday to take a "balanced approach" to cutting deficit before a new round of key talks aimed at averting a debt default.

Obama said the two parties must address challenges like the solvency of Medicare, a government-run health insurance program for seniors and also insisted on closing tax loopholes and deductions for the wealthiest Americans.

President Barack Obama answered questions from Twitter users across the U.S. in a town hall meeting Wednesday that used the popular social media service and focused on jobs and the economy.

White House officials say Obama sees social media as a way to reach beyond the mainstream media and interact with Americans directly, particularly the younger and more tech-savy part of the electorate as his campaign for re-election in 2012 ramps up.

In a symbolic but scathing rebuke to President Barack Obama, the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a resolution authorizing U.S. military action in Libya for one year.

Lawmakers defeated the measure with 295 voting against and only 123 for, and moved to take up a companion resolution aimed at sharply reducing the U.S. role in NATO-led, U.N.-mandated operations against Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that the current U.S. military action in Libya was legal, rejecting rising criticism from Congress over the goals and justification of the operation.

In a 30-page report to lawmakers, the White House argued that U.S. participation in the NATO-led assault on Moammar Gadhafi's forces did not require congressional authorization as the U.S. role was only a supporting one.

The White House significantly toughened its stance on Syria on Friday, calling for an "immediate end to brutality and violence" and warning President Bashar Assad was leading his nation on a "dangerous path."

White House spokesman Jay Carney issued a statement after Syrian forces killed at least 25 people in nationwide democracy protests and as security forces launched a long-feared crackdown on the northwestern flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur.