Global report
1 UNITED STATES
Republicans warned over dangers of debt default
Joe Biden has condemned “reckless” Republicans for pushing the US government towards a historic debt default, warning: “A meteor is headed to crash into our economy.”
The president’s intervention came because there is a cap on how much money the federal government can borrow, which only Congress has the power to raise or lower.
The US treasury has said it will be unable to pay its bills by around 18 October, unless Congress raises the current debt limit of $28.4tn. Failure could trigger the first US default in modern history, wreaking havoc on the US and world economies. Senate Republicans have twice blocked action to raise the limit, arguing that Democrats can use a manoeuvre known as budget reconciliation to act alone.
“They won’t raise it even though defaulting on the debt would lead to a self-inflicted wound that takes our economy over a cliff,” Biden said in a televised address on Monday, noting that some of the debt was incurred by Donald Trump and is not related to his own spending plans.
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2 ECUADOR
Prison riot that left 116 dead blamed on cartel rivalries
A bitter struggle between rival Mexican cartels to control cocaine trafficking routes in Ecuador erupted in a day of bloodshed
