US Republican leader says debt cliff talks with Biden went well

US Republican leader says debt cliff talks with Biden went well
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US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters following his meeting with President Joe Biden about the looming debt ceiling issue at the White House in Washington on Feb. 1, 2023. (REUTERS)
US Republican leader says debt cliff talks with Biden went well
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US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters following his meeting with President Joe Biden about the looming debt ceiling issue at the White House in Washington on Feb. 1, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 02 February 2023

US Republican leader says debt cliff talks with Biden went well

US Republican leader says debt cliff talks with Biden went well
  • Republicans are threatening to block the usually rubber-stamp approval for raising the nation’s credit limit if Democrats don’t first agree to steep future budget cuts
  • The White House accuses the Republicans of taking the economy “hostage” in order to posture as fiscally responsible

WASHINGTON: The US took a small step back from the risk of a catastrophic debt default Wednesday after the new Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, said talks with President Joe Biden went well — even if a deal has yet to be reached.
“The president and I tried to find a way that we can work together,” McCarthy told reporters after an approximately one-hour meeting with Biden at the White House. “I think at the end of the day, we can find common ground.”
McCarthy said that while it was a “good discussion,” he cautioned that there were “no agreements, no promises, except we will continue this conversation.”
The White House also sounded positive, saying in a statement that Biden and McCarty had “frank and straightforward” talks and “agreed to continue the conversation.”
At stake is the stability of the world’s biggest economy.
Republicans are threatening to block the usually rubber-stamp approval for raising the nation’s credit limit if Democrats don’t first agree to steep future budget cuts.
The White House, meanwhile, accuses the Republicans of taking the economy “hostage” in order to posture as fiscally responsible.
Fail to raise the debt ceiling by around June, the Treasury says, and the United States will be forced into default on its $31.4 trillion debt — a historic first that would leave the government unable to pay bills, undermine the US economy’s reputation, and likely panic investors.
McCarthy said Republicans and Democrats have about five months to talk before reaching the debt cliff, but “hopefully it doesn’t take that long.”
There have been other showdowns over the years when Republicans balked at allowing US debt to spiral ever higher. But on most occasions the dispute was quickly smoothed over, Congress extended the ceiling and the economy kept going without a hiccup.
This time, the political heat makes things far riskier.
Two years through his first term, Biden is widely expected to be on the cusp of announcing his bid for a second term in the 2024 election. And Republicans, who have just taken over control of the House, are eager to show their muscle.
Even if McCarthy is minded to show flexibility, his power in Congress depends almost entirely on the desires of a far-right group of Republicans who are more likely to play chicken, regardless of the global financial consequences.

The White House says it won’t allow the current debt ceiling to be part of any negotiation on future government spending because that $31.4 trillion is money already agreed to by Congress. In other words, refusal to raise the debt ceiling would be like refusing to pay an already existing credit card bill.
There could be room for negotiating on changes to future budgets.
McCarthy said he had told Biden that he was against defaulting on the existing debt but that he wanted to see cuts in future spending, because “the current path we’re on we cannot sustain.”
But when it gets down to brass tacks, it’s hard for either party to say where they can find significant reductions — unless they go into the usually politically untouchable Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or other government-subsidized health care.
Biden signalled he wanted to call McCarthy’s bluff by insisting that the Republicans lay out where exactly they’d make cuts. His bet is that the internal divisions in the party will burst into the open as more right-wing members demand cuts to popular spending programs.
“What are House Republicans hiding?” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said.
In a memo Tuesday, Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, and Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, challenged McCarthy to publish a draft budget. The White House will issue its own on March 9, they said.
 


Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection
Updated 23 sec ago

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection
  • The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff has the infection but did not have COVID-19
  • Francis is sometimes short of breath and generally more exposed to respiratory problems
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend “a few days” in hospital for treatment, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, amid concern for the 86-year-old’s condition.
The 86-year-old pontiff was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after complaining of breathing difficulties over the past few days, the statement said. Tests showed he had the infection but did not have COVID-19, it said.
“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” the Vatican said.
Francis, who this month marked 10 years as pope, is sometimes short of breath and generally more exposed to respiratory problems. He had part of one lung removed in his early 20s when training to be a priest in his native Argentina.
His latest hospitalization comes ahead of a Palm Sunday service on April 2 that marks the start of a hectic week of ceremonies leading to Easter Sunday on April 9, throwing into doubt whether he would be able to lead them as customary.
Francis’ health has attracted increased scrutiny in the past two years, during which he has undergone colon surgery and begun using a wheelchair or a walking stick due to chronic pain in one knee.
The Vatican had initially said the pope had gone to hospital on Wednesday for a scheduled check-up. But Italian media reported he arrived in an ambulance after canceling a television interview at the last minute.
Francis had attended his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the morning, appearing in good health.
In Argentina, the faithful offered prayers for the recovery of the pope, who has not returned to his homeland since leaving for the Vatican a decade ago.
“If the Pope could listen to us, I would tell him that we need him because the reform that he faced is not finished,” said Marcela Mazzini, a professor at Inmaculada Concepcion Seminary in Buenos Aires, where the pope, then called Jorge Mario Bergoglio, studied.
The son of Italian immigrants, the future pope lived modestly when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, traveling by public transport and keeping a low profile when he visited the poor in shanty towns, where many still remember him.
The leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics suffers from diverticulitis, a condition that can infect or inflame the colon, and was operated on at the Gemelli hospital in 2021 to remove part of his colon.
He said in January that the condition had returned and that it was causing him to put on weight, but that he was not overly concerned. He did not elaborate.
Francis said in an interview last year that he preferred not to have surgery on his troublesome knee because he did not want a repeat of long-term negative side effects from anesthesia that he suffered after the 2021 operation.
Last July, returning from a trip to Canada, Francis acknowledged that his advancing age and his difficulty walking might have ushered in a new, slower phase of his papacy.
But since then he has visited Kazakhstan and Bahrain and made a trip last month to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
He has also committed to visiting Hungary in late April, Portugal in August and the French city of Marseille in September. He has said, if it can be arranged, he would want to then fly from Marseille to Mongolia.
After praising his late predecessor Benedict XVI’s historic decision to resign on health grounds in 2013, Francis has indicated he would follow the example only if he were gravely incapacitated.

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks
Updated 8 min 35 sec ago

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks

Pakistan militants kill 4 police officers, hurt 6 in attacks
  • Group known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP is separate but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban
  • TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Taliban militants killed four police officers by targeting a police vehicle with a roadside bomb and wounded six in an attack on a police station in northwest Pakistan early Thursday, police and the insurgents said.
The bomb killed four officers in a police vehicle carrying reinforcements sent to respond to the attack on a police station in Lakki Marwat, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Six officers were wounded in the attack at the police station.
Local police officer Ashfaq Khan said a search was underway for the militant suspects who attacked the police station in Lakki Marwat and later targeted the police vehicle with a bomb.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks. The group known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP is separate but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban. There has been an uptick in attacks in Pakistan after the Pakistani Taliban ended a cease-fire with the government of Pakistan.
TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 when US and NATO troops were leaving the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
Pakistan has seen innumerable militant attacks in the past two decades but there has been an uptick since November, when the TTP ended a monthslong Afghan Taliban-brokered cease-fire with the government of Pakistan.


Philippine ferry fire leaves 12 dead, at least 7 missing

Philippine ferry fire leaves 12 dead, at least 7 missing
Updated 30 March 2023

Philippine ferry fire leaves 12 dead, at least 7 missing

Philippine ferry fire leaves 12 dead, at least 7 missing
  • MV Lady Mary Joy 3 enroute to Jolo island from the southern port city of Zamboanga when it caught fire midway off Basilan close to midnight, says governor

MANILA, Philippines: A ferry carrying about 250 passengers and crew caught fire between Philippine islands and at least 12 people were killed with seven still missing, a provincial governor said Thursday.
Many of those rescued had jumped off the ferry in panic at the height of the fire and were plucked from the sea by the coast guard, navy, another ferry and local fishermen, said Gov. Jim Hataman of the southern island province of Basilan. The search and rescue effort was continuing Thursday.
The governor said most of those onboard the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 were rescued overnight but authorities were double-checking the numbers from different rescue teams, suggesting the figures could change.
The ferry was enroute to Jolo town in Sulu province from the southern port city of Zamboanga when it caught fire midway off Basilan close to midnight, he said.
The dead included at least three children, who apparently were separated from their parents, and at least 23 passengers were injured and brought to hospitals, he said.
“Some of the passengers were roused from sleep due to the commotion caused by the fire. Some jumped off the ship,” Hataman told The Associated Press by telephone.
Most of those who died drowned and were recovered at sea, officials said.
The burned ferry has been towed to Basilan’s shoreline and an investigation was underway, Hataman said.
Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained boats, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.
In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.


Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community in New York as she arrives for a stopover

Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community in New York as she arrives for a stopover
Updated 30 March 2023

Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community in New York as she arrives for a stopover

Taiwan president welcomed, denounced by Chinese community in New York as she arrives for a stopover
  • China has threatened reprisals if Tsai meets with US House speaker Kevin McCarthy
  • Tsai is stopping over in the US en route to Guatemala and Belize to shore up ties

NEW YORK: Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen arrived in New York Wednesday for a visit that has triggered threats of reprisal by China if she meets with House speaker Kevin McCarthy — and US warnings for Beijing not to overreact.
Tsai is stopping over in the United States en route to Central America, where she will meet with the leaders of Guatemala and Belize to shore up ties with those diplomatic allies. On her way back to Taiwan she will stop in California, where McCarthy had said he would meet her.
China claims the democratic island as part of its territory to be retaken one day and, under its “One China” principle, no country may maintain official ties with both Beijing and Taipei.
Beijing warned Wednesday that it was vehemently opposed to any meeting between Tsai and McCarthy and vowed to take “resolute measures to fight back” if it goes ahead.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen acknowledges well-wishers in New York on March 29, 2023. (AP Photo)

The United States responded by saying China should not use Tsai’s stopover as a pretext to act aggressively around the Taiwan Strait.
Tsai was seen arriving at her hotel in New York, where dozens of pro-Beijing demonstrators waving China’s red flag gathered boisterously while nearby a similarly sized group of pro-Taiwan people cheered and waved their banner and the US stars and stripes.
Xu Xueyuan, the charge d’affaires at the Chinese embassy in Washington, said she had spoken directly to US officials numerous times and warned them that Tsai’s trip would violate China’s core interests.
“We urge the US side not to repeat playing with fire on the Taiwan question,” she told reporters, alluding among other things to last year’s visit to Taiwan by then House speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Tsai’s trip follows Honduras’s decision this month to open diplomatic relations with Beijing, leaving Belize and Guatemala among just 13 countries that have official ties with Taipei.
After first visiting New York, Tsai will meet her Guatemalan counterpart Alejandro Giammattei and Belize Prime Minister John Briceno in their respective countries, her office said.
She will then stop in Los Angeles on her way home.
McCarthy has said he will meet Tsai in his home state, although the talks are yet to be confirmed by Taiwanese authorities.
Pelosi’s visit triggered an angry response from Beijing, with the Chinese military conducting drills at an unprecedented scale around the island.

A supporter holds a sign welcoming Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen as she arrives at the Lotte Hotel in Manhattan, New York City, on March 29, 2023. (Reuters)

Analysts say the US stopover comes at a key time, with Beijing having ramped up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power in 2016, poaching nine of its diplomatic allies.
“Beijing’s attempts to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic partners will lead to Taiwan developing closer ties with the United States,” said James Lee, a researcher on US-Taiwan relations at Academia Sinica.
The United States remains Taiwan’s most important ally — and its biggest arms supplier — despite switching its diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979.
“The loss of official relations with third countries will be offset by a deepening of Taiwan’s unofficial relations,” Lee said.
Recent visits by a Czech delegation and a German minister were met with rebukes from Beijing.
One of Tsai’s most prominent domestic opponents, ex-president Ma Ying-jeou, was in China on Wednesday, the first such trip by a former Taiwanese leader.

China has increased investment in Latin America, a key diplomatic battleground between Taipei and Beijing since the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.
Taiwan accused China on Sunday of using “coercion and intimidation” to lure away its allies after Honduran Foreign Minister Enrique Reina and his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang officially launched relations in Beijing.
Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the region, made the switch due to economic necessity, Reina had said earlier.
The move continued a trend in Latin America, with Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica all switching diplomatic recognition to Beijing in recent years.
In addition to Guatemala and Belize, Taiwan still has official ties with a handful of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Paraguay and Haiti.


UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda
Updated 30 March 2023

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda

UK military chiefs call for stop to deportation of Afghan war hero to Rwanda
  • Home Office: Because veteran did not enter Britain via legal route, his asylum claim may be denied
  • Ex-international development secretary: Govt ‘shirking’ its responsibilities toward Afghans who fought alongside UK

LONDON: Senior military chiefs, politicians and diplomats in the UK have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to prevent the deportation of an Afghan veteran to Rwanda, The Independent reported on Wednesday.

The war pilot flew 30 combat missions against the Taliban and was forced to flee to Britain. Because he could find no safe and legal route, he traveled on a small boat to reach the country. He was praised by his coalition forces supervisor as a “patriot to his nation.”

However, the Home Office said because he traveled through Italy, Switzerland and France in order to enter England, his claim for asylum in the UK may be denied. 

The Home Office informed the pilot that he “may also be removable to Rwanda,” and that his personal information could be shared with Rwandan authorities, The Independent reported.

Former International Development Secretary Rory Stewart called the pilot’s story “profoundly shocking” because it contradicts the government’s promises made to those in Afghanistan. 

“We are shirking our responsibilities towards Afghans who risked their lives to fight alongside us and who are now at risk of their lives,” he told The Independent. 

Sir Laurie Bristow, who was British ambassador to Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul, said the lives of Afghans who fought for the UK “are at risk as a result.”

He told The Independent: “Many of our own service people owe their lives to Afghans who worked and fought alongside them in Afghanistan.”

Sir Richard Barrons, a former chief of joint operations who served in Afghanistan, said the pilot’s route to Britain should not impact his asylum claim “considering the mess the government made with the evacuation process.”

When confronted on Wednesday about the Afghan veteran’s threatened deportation to Rwanda during the “Today” program, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said the government is determined to crack down on “criminal gangs who feed the illegal asylum trade” by bringing people to the UK on small boats.

But Col. Simon Diggins, who served as a defense attache in Afghanistan, told The Independent: “We shouldn’t accept the terminology that he got here ‘illegally’; that is not the right language for people like him who have no other means of getting here safely. It is appalling that this man who was in our allied forces is being treated in this way.”

Maj. Gen. Tim Cross, who served in Iraq, the Balkans and Northern Ireland, said: “If this man was a member of Afghan forces fighting alongside the coalition then the risks to him are obvious.

“The whole Afghanistan withdrawal was terribly done, and cases like these are the human consequences of mistakes we made in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Former Defense Minister Kevan Jones told The Independent: “We have a huge debt to these people. This is no way to treat them. It’s a stain on Britain’s great reputation of supporting its friends.

“We always stick by our friends. We should continue to do that. This government is clearly not doing that in this case and many others.”

Sunak has promised to review the veteran’s case. On Monday, he asked the Home Office to look further into his situation.