Briefly

SUDAN

Conflict could prompt 800,000 people to flee

The United Nations warned on Monday that the conflict in Sudan could force 800,000 people to flee the country as battles between rival military factions persisted in the capital Khartoum despite a supposed cease-fire. UN official Raouf Mazou said the body's refugee agency was planning for an exodus of 815,000 people, including 580,000 Sudanese as well as foreign refugees now living in the country. Some 73,000 have already left Sudan, he said.

UNITED STATES

Govt may run short of cash for paying bills

The US Treasury warned on Monday that the federal government could run short of cash to pay all of its bills as soon as June 1 without a debt-limit increase, adding urgency to a bitter fiscal fight between congressional Republicans and Democrats and the White House. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to Congress that the agency will be unlikely to meet all US government payment obligations "by early June, and potentially as early as June 1" without action by Congress.

Regulators seize First Republic Bank

Regulators seized First Republic Bank and sold its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co on Monday, in a deal to resolve the largest US bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and draw a line under a lingering banking turmoil. The bank was among regional US lenders most battered by a crisis in confidence in the banking sector in March, when depositors fled en masse from smaller banks to giants like JPMorgan as they panicked over the collapse of two other midsized US banks.

Agencies Via Xinhua