Aurelia Butler

(Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Saturday that she is “probably done” serving at the highest levels of government after President Joe Biden’s term ends in January, but will likely meet again soon with her Chinese counterpart.Asked at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas whether she was “done” when a new administration takes over in January, or might continue in her job or take on a new administration role, Yellen said: “Probably done, but … we’ll see.”The comments are the closest that Yellen, 78, has come to announcing her future plans as the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump heats up. Yellen has been the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary, Federal Reserve Chair and director of the White House National Economic Council.Yellen told the event in Austin that she still has a lot of work to do at Treasury in coming months, including another likely meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, her Beijing counterpart, to try to manage an often tense relationship. The two met in April in Beijing, where Yellen warned China to rein in excess industrial capacity ahead of Biden’s decision to impose steep tariff increases on Chinese-made electric vehicles, batteries, solar products and semiconductors.Yellen said she would welcome a visit to the U.S. but also may return to China herself, adding: “My guess is that we will have, one way or another, a visit.”The Treasury’s top economic diplomat, Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh, will lead a delegation to Beijing “very soon” to discuss economic issues. Shambaugh leads a U.S.-China economic working group that has made addressing China’s excess factory production a top issue Yellen said the U.S.-China relationship “needs to be prioritized and nurtured” by the next U.S. administration, with discussions at the highest levels and among agency staffs.”We have enough differences and without a chance to discuss them and put them in context, it’s certainly possible for tensions to rise,” Yellen said. “So this is something that really requires ongoing attention. I hope that it would get it.”‘SOLID ECONOMY’Yellen also said the U.S. economy has largely reached a “soft landing” with lower inflation after U.S. August jobs data on Friday showed a slight decline in the unemployment rate despite slower hiring.”When you see pace of job creation diminishing over time, what I love to see is that it stabilizes roughly where it is now, and we have to be careful to make sure that it’s not going to weaken further,” Yellen said.She said consumer spending remains “quite solid” and while there is “less frenzy” in hiring, there are not meaningful layoffs”I’m attentive to downside risks now on the employment side, but I what I think we’re seeing, we will continue to see, is a good, solid economy,” Yellen said. More

PARIS (Reuters) -Thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday against Emmanuel Macron’s decision to pick centre-right politician Michel Barnier as prime minister, with leftist parties accusing the president of ignoring election results. Macron named 73-year-old Barnier, a conservative and the former Brexit negotiator for the European Union, as prime minister on Thursday, capping a two-month search following his ill-fated decision to call a legislative election that delivered a hung parliament.”Democracy is not only the art of knowing how to accept victory, but the humility to accept defeat,” Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the far-left France Unbowed party (LFI), told protesters at the start of the march in eastern Paris.”I call on you to undertake a long battle.” The organisers said about 300,000 people demonstrated peacefully across France, including 160,000 in Paris, although police in the capital said 26,000 people had protested in the city.The Interior Ministry did not immediately give a figure for the entire country, but its numbers are usually much lower than those given by organisers.Barnier meanwhile made his first official visit, meeting staff at a Paris hospital. The worsening condition of the public health sector has been one of the areas that people have demanded action after months of procrastination.”Without carrying out miracles, we can make improvements,” Barnier, who lacks a clear majority, told reporters.He said on Friday he wants to include conservatives, members of Macron’s camp, and some from the left in his future government.But he faces the daunting task of trying to drive reforms and pass the 2025 budget with the threat of a no-confidence vote hanging over him at the start of October, when he is due to outline his policy objectives to parliament.DENIAL OF DEMOCRACY France is under pressure from the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, and from bond markets to reduce its deficit.The left, led by LFI, has accused Macron of a denial of democracy and stealing the election, after Macron refused to pick the candidate of the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance that came top in the July vote.Barnier’s centre-right Les Republicains party is only the fifth bloc in parliament with less than 50 lawmakers, and the left believes he will push wholesale spending cuts and a tougher stance on immigration.Across 130 locations in France, people carried banners attacking Macron for betraying them and called on him to be impeached. “He (Barnier) has no social conscience and will constitute a government which will be in the same line as the previous ones. So that is enough now,” civil servant Jeanne Schmitt, 45, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Paris march.Pollster Elabe published a survey on Friday showing that 74% of French people considered Macron had disregarded the results of the elections, with 55% believing he had “stolen” them.Barnier continued consultations on Saturday as he looks to form a government, a tricky job given he faces a potential no-confidence vote.NFP and the far-right National Rally (RN) together have a majority and could oust the prime minister through a no-confidence vote should they decide to collaborate.The RN gave its tacit approval for Barnier, citing a number of conditions for it to not back a no-confidence vote, making it the de facto kingmaker for the new government.”He is a prime minister under surveillance,” RN party leader Jordan Bardella told BFM TV on Saturday. “Nothing can be done without us.” More

The talks, co-chaired by U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Marisa Lago, are the second this year involving the two officials and come amid trade tensions between the two powers.China’s commerce ministry said earlier this week that the United States should lift all tariffs on Chinese goods, ahead of an announcement by the Biden administration on expected hikes in levies on Chinese-made items, including electric vehicles.In a statement on Saturday the Chinese ministry said the two sides had conducted “professional, rational and pragmatic” talks on policy and business issues raised by the business communities of both countries.It added that China was focused on expressing concerns about issues including U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, and said China was opposed to the implementation of trade and investment restrictions under the pretext of overcapacity. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A beloved public garden in lower Manhattan may soon become a casualty of New York’s push to develop more housing despite opposition led by celebrities such as Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese.Elizabeth Street Garden, built by an antiques gallery owner on land leased from the city in 1991, is an urban oasis in the densely crowded Little Italy neighborhood, the backdrop for “Mean Streets,” Scorsese’s classic New York movie starring De Niro.In 2013, the city proposed a 123-unit affordable housing project for seniors on the one-acre (0.4 hectare) plot. Opponents have proposed alternative sites nearby that could create 700 units, but housing officials remain unconvinced. Legal options are running out to stop the garden’s eviction after the lease expires on Sept. 10.Thousands of people, including Scorsese, De Niro and another downtown luminary, poet and musician Patti Smith, have written letters asking Mayor Eric Adams to preserve the garden. “I support increasing the availability of affordable housing,” wrote De Niro, “but I’m also passionate about preserving the character of our neighborhoods.”The controversy is just one example of the tensions that have surfaced as New York strives to build more homes in one of the country’s most populous and expensive housing markets.Its vacancy rate dropped to 1.4% in February, the lowest since 1968, according to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.Adams has made building more housing a priority for his administration. In August, he ordered agencies to review all city-owned property for potential development, part of a goal he set in 2022 to build 500,000 new homes by 2032.Since 2016, the city has required 20-30% of new housing developments to be affordable, meaning residents earning an average of 40-80% of the area median income can buy the units.However, the nonprofit that runs Elizabeth Street Garden noted that the site’s affordability requirement ends after 60 years.Gentrification is at the heart of the opposition to another contentious plan: One45 Towers, a massive $700 million high-rise complex in Harlem.’CITY OF YES’In 2022, Adams unveiled a three-pronged plan called City of Yes to update zoning regulations for new development. The final portion, which the city council is expected to vote on this year, is designed to “build a little more housing in every neighborhood,” said Adams. This includes converting underused office buildings and allowing apartments above businesses in low-density commercial areas.Much of the opposition has come from low-density neighborhoods in New York’s boroughs outside of Manhattan.”I think it’s fear – fear of change,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who provided conditional support for City of Yes last week. Only in Staten Island, the most suburban of the five boroughs, did the borough president issue an unfavorable recommendation.Critics fear zoning changes will overcrowd their neighborhoods, making them like Manhattan.One controversial aspect allows homeowners to convert basements, garages and backyard cottages into rental apartments. Another proposal would eliminate mandates to provide parking for new development, angering residents of car-dependent areas.Richards called City of Yes a modest proposal that would not significantly alter low-density neighborhoods, but acknowledged the need for more affordable housing and parking in areas with little public transit.Paul Graziano, an urban planner who lives on a suburban block in Queens, called City of Yes “apocalyptic.” The plan’s ultimate goal, he said, is to transform areas with mostly owner-occupied single-family homes into neighborhoods dominated by market-rate or luxury apartments.”If you build it, they will come, right?” said Graziano. “If you enable it, it’s going to happen. This is what happens in the city of New York.”Quality of life is the bottom line for many in New York City, where low-density neighborhoods feel increasingly squeezed, as in Queens, or where green spaces are especially rare, as in lower Manhattan.”There’s nothing like Elizabeth Street Garden in the city, and the city will never build anything like it again,” said Joseph Reiver, who took over the space from his late father. “They’re never going to tear down buildings to build gardens.” More