President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he did not believe the US economy will fall into recession either this year or next year, his most confident prediction on the fate of an economy that is still rattled by fears of a downturn.
Asked in an interview whether he thought there would be a recession this year, Biden responded: "No, or next year. From the moment I got elected, how many of the experts are saying within the next six months there's gonna be recession?"
Economists for months have been warning of a possible recession as the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates in order to tame decades-high inflation.
Biden himself has said a recession was possible, and earlier this week he told reporters that the risk was very low.
On the whole, economic data in recent months has moved in the president's favor, particularly after inflation spiked to a 40-year high last summer and government reports showed the US economy could be heading into a recession.
Strong job numbers last week, which occurred despite layoffs in the technology sector as well as in interest-rate-sensitive sectors like housing and finance, poured cold water on market expectations that the US central bank was close to pausing its monetary policy tightening cycle.
A United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded on Tuesday that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had incited these acts.
Qatar and the United States are on the verge of finalising an enhanced defence cooperation agreement, top US diplomat Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, after Israel's attack on Hamas political leaders in Doha last week drew widespread condemnation.
Israel unleashed a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City on Tuesday, declaring "Gaza is burning" as Palestinians there described the most intense bombardment they had faced in two years of war.
US President Donald Trump sued the New York Times, four of its reporters, and publisher Penguin Random House for at least $15 billion on Monday, claiming defamation and libel, and citing reputational damage, a Florida court filing showed.
Australia urged social media platforms on Tuesday to employ "minimally invasive" methods to check the age of users covered by its world-first teen social media ban, which take into account artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioural data.