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.
The death toll from Venezuela's twin earthquakes has risen to 3,535, authorities said on Monday, while nearly 18,000 people remain homeless more than a week after the disaster struck the capital and nearby coastal areas.
Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 26 people and exposing Kyiv's critical shortage of US-made interceptors, officials said, just days after the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital this year.
Twenty-five people were killed and about 100 injured as security officials struggled to contain two days of clashes between rival groups of inmates at a prison in Sri Lanka, authorities said on Monday, marking the deadliest such violence in years.
At least six people have been killed when a group of buildings collapsed in the eastern suburbs of India's Mumbai on Sunday, the latest casualties of heavy rains that have disrupted travel and shut down schools in the city.
A wildfire burning out of control in southern France has forced the evacuation of over 10,000 people from two dozen small towns and villages near the Spanish border, and officials said on Monday strong winds would further fan the flames.