Aurelia Butler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden declared a “crisis averted” on Friday in his first address from the White House’s Oval Office, touting the passage of a bill to suspend the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid economic catastrophe. Biden used the moment to plead with Americans to bridge their divides, saying his compromise with top Congress Republican Kevin McCarthy showed what could be done. “No matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each other not as adversaries but as fellow Americans,” he said, asking Americans to “stop shouting, lower the temperature and work together to pursue progress.”Biden, a Democrat, said he would sign the bill into law on Saturday, concluding months of uncertainty and averting what would have been a first-ever U.S. default as early as June 5.”It was critical to reach an agreement, and it’s very good news for the American people. No one got everything they wanted. But the American people got what they needed,” Biden said while sitting at the historic “Resolute Desk” in the presidential office.”We averted an economic crisis, an economic collapse,” he said. After nail-biting negotiations, both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed a bill this week that suspends the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling.Biden said to preserve U.S. economic progress it was critical to keep the country’s full faith and credit in tact. “The stakes could not have been higher,” Biden said.The president, who is running for re-election, noted other bipartisan bills he has signed and offered praise to McCarthy, the speaker of the House of Representatives, who was his primary negotiating partner.McCarthy, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, was one of 147 Republicans who voted, unsuccessfully, to overturn the 2020 election that Biden won. “We were able to get along, get things done,” Biden said. “Both sides operated in good faith.”Republicans refused to increase the debt ceiling for months, asking Biden and Democrats to cut spending in the 2024 budget in return. The White House asked for a clean debt ceiling deal before starting negotiations. Ultimately Biden and McCarthy cobbled together a last-minute deal that suspends the debt limit until January of 2025 and caps spending. The Republican-controlled House voted 314 to 117 to approve the bill, and the Democrat-controlled Senate voted 63 to 36. “The final vote in both chambers was overwhelming,” Biden said.Fitch Ratings said on Friday the United States’ “AAA” credit rating would remain on negative watch, despite the agreement that will allow the government to meet its obligations.OVAL OFFICE ADDRESS U.S. presidents have generally reserved an address from the Oval Office for the most significant, and dramatic of events: the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, for example, or the Challenger space shuttle explosion.The White House said Biden was making his remarks there because of the gravity of the situation had the debt ceiling not been raised.Former President Ronald Reagan spoke to the nation from the Oval Office after the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle in 1986; and former President George W. Bush used the venue to address the country after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Former President Barack Obama made remarks from the Oval Office in the aftermath of the 2010 BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill in the Gulf Coast.Biden, who came into office in January 2021, has spoken before during ‘primetime’ hours, including his State of the Union addresses from the Capitol and a speech from the White House East Room during the COVID-19 pandemic.But the Friday night address is his first from the Oval Office, a setting that highlights the power and authority of the presidency, as Biden seeks a second term against a growing field of Republican candidates. More

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -U.S. aviation regulators finished a review of Mexico’s airspace safety but have not yet announced a final decision, Mexico’s transportation ministry said on Friday, more than two years after the country was stripped of its top air rating.    The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still has several weeks to finalize a decision about whether Mexico will recover the rating, the transportation ministry said in a statement. The FAA downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating to Category 2 in 2021, citing safety deficiencies and blocking Mexican carriers from adding new U.S. flights.Since Mexico lost the rating, the FAA has conducted a series of audits on the local civil aviation authority and its compliance with international safety standards. A government source told Reuters earlier on Friday that the concluded audit was Mexico’s “last,” implying a positive resolution.Mexican newspaper El Financiero had earlier reported that Mexico had already recovered the safety rating, citing government sources, but a short time later backtracked on the initial report.Restoring the FAA’s Category 1 safety rating would clear airlines like Aeromexico and Volaris to add new routes to the United States and potentially carry out marketing agreements with U.S. carriers.Aeromexico CEO Andres Conesa said last year the damage done by the downgrade was “significant.”In the two years since the FAA dropped Mexico to Category 2, the country has revamped its aviation standards, replacing officials and most recently overhauling its civil aviation law.Asked to comment on Mexico’s air safety rating, an FAA spokesperson would only say the agency continues “to provide assistance to Mexico’s civil aviation authority.”    More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A majority of EU countries have rejected a push by Europe’s big telecoms operators to force Big Tech to help fund the rollout of 5G and broadband in the region, people familiar with the matter said.Telecoms ministers from 18 countries either rejected or criticised the proposed network fee levy on tech firms at a meeting with EU industry chief Thierry Breton in Luxembourg on Thursday, the sources said.That echoed comments made last month by EU telecoms regulators’ group BEREC.Deutsche Telekom (OTC:DTEGY), Orange, Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) and Telecom Italia (BIT:TLIT) want Big Tech to shoulder part of the network costs and have found a receptive ear in the European Commission’s industry chief Breton, a former chief executive of France Telecom and French IT consulting firm Atos.Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc’s Google, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) have rejected the idea of a levy, saying that they invest in the digital ecosystem.The ministers cited the lack of an analysis on the effects of a network levy, the absence of an investment gap and the risk of Big Tech passing on the extra cost to consumers in the form of higher prices, the people said.They also warned about the potential violation of EU net neutrality rules which require all users to be treated equally, barriers to innovation, and a lower quality of products. The critics included Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta and the Netherlands, the people said.Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary and Italy backed the idea while Poland, Portugal and Romania either took a neutral stance or had not adopted a position, they said.Breton is expected to issue a report by the end of June with a summary of feedback provided by Big Tech, telecoms providers and others which will indicate his next steps.Any legislative proposal needs to be negotiated with EU countries and EU lawmakers before it can become law. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden may sign the bill lifting the U.S. debt ceiling as soon as Saturday, according to the White House.Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday the signing would take place after Congress finishes its work to finalize the bill. More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh met on Friday with China’s new ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, holding a discussion aimed at maintaining open communications between the world’s two largest economies, the Treasury said. “The meeting was candid, constructive, and part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage our bilateral relationship,” the Treasury said in a statement.Shambaugh, who heads international affairs at Treasury, raised U.S. concerns with Xie, but “emphasized the importance of the two largest economies closely communicating on global macroeconomic and financial issues and working together on global challenges.”Bilateral engagement on economic issues has increased recently, but tensions remain in security-related areas with China’s defense minister declining a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a security summit in Singapore.Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met separately with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, with both sides trading objections about each other’s trade, investment and export policies.U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has expressed hopes for a visit to China this year to meet with her new counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng.In April, Yellen gave a lengthy address laying out the Biden administration’s objectives for a “constructive and fair” economic relationship with Beijing, saying she wanted to “cut through the noise” and responsibly manage the relationship. More