Economics

 

A group of reporters surround McHenry on Saturday. Jacquelyn Martin/AP  

 

US debt ceiling  

Difficult questions remain: "Is it about days or hours"  

 

A number of thorny issues remain to be resolved for negotiators in Washington before a deal on the debt ceiling can be presented. This is what Republican Patrick McHenry, one of Speaker Kevin McCarthy's senior negotiators, told Bloomberg outside the Capitol. 

 

- It's about hours or days. I don't know, he says.  

 

Finance Minister Janet Yellen on Friday moved forward the "x-date", i.e. when the money in the treasury runs out and suspended payments threaten, from June 1 to 5. 

 

Once the parties agree, the agreement must be approved by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Catching up will be a "difficult challenge", according to McHenry. 

 

  

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the leaders of France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. TT 

  

Recession worries  

German recession causes tremors in the EU - more people may be dragged along  

 

The fact that the eurozone's largest economy, Germany, has slipped into recession should worry everyone - so it's no wonder that other countries are shaking. That's what Politico writes.  

 

Germany accounts for almost 30 percent of the eurozone's entire economy and is the largest trading partner for more than half of the EU's 27 countries. The risk is therefore that the Germans drag others into the case, writes the politics site.  

 

- A fundamental improvement is not within sight, says Commerzbank's economist Jörg Krämer.  

 

At the same time, the German development stands in contrast to several neighboring countries, where the threat of a recession has decreased, writes Euronews. Despite the recession, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz predicts a bright future for the economy. But not everyone is equally positive.  

 

- Germany is generally seen as Europe's potential black sheep, says analyst Guillaume Dejean at Global Market Insights.  

 

Open AI CEO Sam Altman and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. TT  

 

The development of AI  

Altman turns: Chat GPT does not intend to leave Europe  

 

Open AI, the company behind the AI tool Chat GPT, has "obviously no plans to leave" Europe. This is what CEO Sam Altman writes on Twitter after his threat this week was widely spread in several media.  

 

“Very productive week of conversations in Europe on how best to regulate AI! We are happy to continue operating here," writes Altman in the post.  

 

He believes that the laws that the EU is developing are way too strict. One of the proposals in the draft is that AI tools must report all copyrighted material that has been used when the systems have been developed. The laws could be the first in the world to include AI, according to Reuters.