Obama signs sweeping US budget cuts into effect
USA
US President Barack Obama has signed into effect a wave of steep spending cuts which he has warned could damage the US economy.
The cuts - known as the sequester and drawn up two years ago - will take $85bn (£56bn) from the US federal budget this year.
Last-ditch talks at the White House to avert the reductions before Friday's deadline broke up without agreement.
The IMF has warned the cuts could slow global economic growth.
Thhe cuts were designed to be so brutally painful that politicians would be forced to agree on a better way of balancing the books, BBC reports.
However, as the deadline loomed on Friday, Mr Obama and Republican congressional leaders still failed to agree on a way to avoid them.
He warned the cuts - if fully realised - would slow US economic growth by half of 1% and cost 750,000 jobs.


















































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