US national debt hits record high of $40 trillion

THE United States national debt has topped $40 trillion (around £30trn) for the first time in history, according to data released by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday. The data shows that debt held by the public and intragovernmental holdings stood at $32.266trn (around £24trn) and $7.782 trillion (about £5.7trn), respectively, bringing total public debt outstanding to $40.047trn as of Tuesday.