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17 and the end of the month.
• A short-term debt limit measure was expected to be a topic at a closed-door House GOP meeting Thursday morning. It wasn't clear what conditions GOP leaders might seek to attach to the bill, if any, but conservatives consistently have been pushing top Republicans like Speaker John Boehner to add conditions beyond what Obama says he'll accept.
• Also, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew was heading to Capitol Hill on Thursday to both give and get a public scolding. Lew's appearance before the Senate Finance Committee promised to be yet another public restatement of the administration's stance that Congress needs to reopen the government and lift the U.S. borrowing cap before Obama will negotiate over the nation's budget ills.
• The game of Washington chicken over increasing the debt limit -- required so Treasury can borrow more money to pay the government's bills in full and on time -- already has sent the stock market south, spiked the interest rate for one-month Treasury bills and prompted Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest manager of money market mutual funds, to sell federal debt that comes due around the time the nation could hit its borrowing limit.
• ___
Azerbaijan declares president's re-election a day before the vote; opposition cries foul
• BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) -- Something funny happened the day before Azerbaijan's presidential election: The election commission announced the winner.
• On Tuesday, a day before the voting began, the smartphone app of the Central Election Commission released results showing President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has been at the helm of the Caspian Sea nation for four decades, winning 73 percent of the vote.
• On Wednesday, the commission said Aliyev had won 85 percent of the vote. His closest contender, Jamil Hasanli, trailed with 6 percent, it said.
• The commission apologized for the early result on Thursday, saying it was only a test at one polling station conducted by the software developer. It expressed "deep regret" for the "misunderstanding."
• International monitors said Thursday that the vote that kept the dynasty in power was marred by violations.
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