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.
Hopes grew on Friday for peace between Iran and the US after President Donald Trump said a deal could be signed as soon as this weekend, even as Tehran said it had not made a final decision on a pact.
Two people have been killed and another 10 injured in a Ukraine attack on Russia's border region of Bryansk, Acting Regional Governor Yegor Kovalchuk said in a Telegram post late on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump called off plans for renewed military strikes on Iran at the last minute on Thursday, saying negotiations with Tehran had advanced to the highest levels of Iran's leadership and had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers.
A South Korean court has sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday for charges linked to his ordering an incursion of military drones over North Koreato help create a pretext for his failed December 2024 martial law declaration.
Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, the eldest child of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, has died at 47, the royal palace said on Friday, after multiple health problems and nearly four years in a coma.
The UAE has launched a humanitarian initiative called 'Step of Hope' to provide prosthetic limbs for Palestinians who have suffered amputations during the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, has condemned the recent hostile Iranian attacks targeting Kuwait in a phone call with Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.