BARACK OBAMA

Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.4 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.4 percent at 0930 GMT.

Press release service Business Wire said on Monday it will no longer accept releases by email after it inadvertently distributed a hoax statement involving a small pharmaceutical company, days after its main rival was burned in a similar fashion.

Some low-risk home loans that meet certain underwriting guidelines will no longer be eligible for an exemption from a broader rule requiring so-called skin-in-the-game if House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank gets his way as lawmakers put the final touches on new rules for Wall Street.

China's signal that it will ease its currency's 23-month-old peg to the dollar will spare the country from U.S. lawmakers' wrath only if it opens the door to significant upward movement in the yuan.

China said on Saturday it would gradually make the yuan more flexible, in a gesture that may deflect foreign criticism at next week's G20 summit but will not quickly yield a big move by its currency.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed China's decision on Saturday to make its yuan exchange rate more flexible, but said the test is how far and how fast they let the currency appreciate.

China on Saturday said it would gradually make the yuan more flexible, in a gesture that may deflect foreign criticism at next week's G20 summit, but will not quickly yield a big move by its currency.

Europe will push for a swift exit from fiscal stimulus programs and a focus on budget consolidation at the G20 meeting next week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Saturday he welcomed China's decision to make its yuan exchange rate more flexible, and called for vigorous implementation of the change.

The United States pressed China on Friday to move toward a market-based exchange rate, but Beijing said not to meddle with its management of the yuan, setting the stage for a clash at next week's G20 summit.

Cubans' ability to communicate with one another and the world remained well below the norm for the Caribbean and Latin America in 2009, according to a government report released this week.

The United States pressed China on Friday to move toward a market-based exchange rate but Beijing said not to meddle with its management of the yuan, setting the stage for a clash at next week's G20 summit.

BP CEO Tony Hayward may cling on after Thursday's mauling by U.S. lawmakers over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, investors and analysts said, while chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg looked less secure.

BP shares gained in London on Friday after its boss survived a bruising encounter with U.S. lawmakers and as hopes rose its $20 billion oil spill compensation and clean-up fund will cap public anger.

China told the rest of the world on Friday not to meddle with the way it manages the yuan, setting the stage for a clash with its biggest trading partners at next week's G20 summit.

President Barack Obama raised the prospect of a clash with China at a summit next week by calling for market-determined exchange rates, shortly after Beijing told the world not to criticize its currency policy.

Stock index futures pointed to a pause in the rally on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.15 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.06 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.03 percent at 0705 GMT.

BP Plc bosses weathered a week of anger in Washington but the energy giant's financial outlook faces renewed scrutiny from investors trying to gauge remaining costs and risks from the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

A sweeping overhaul of financial regulations will include a controversial plan to insulate banks from risky swap dealing, aides said on Thursday as lawmakers hammered out a final bill.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday won another battle to maintain its independence as lawmakers crafting a final Wall Street reform bill dropped a plan to make one of its top officials a political appointee.

Angry U.S. lawmakers hammered BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward at a congressional hearing on Thursday, accusing his company of taking extreme risks that triggered the worst oil spill in U.S. history.