BARACK OBAMA

China will stick to gradual reform of its yuan currency, President Hu Jintao told the United States at the start of high-level talks on Monday in which North Korea emerged as a point of potential contention.

Adalberto Lopez' family-run musical instrument shop in the bustling Arizona border city of Nogales sells guitars and accordions to foot-stomping banda musicians and mariachis who cross up from Mexico to shop.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a strengthened global economy is now in better shape to handle the strains emanating from Europe's crisis, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he did not agree with current opinion that the sovereign debt crisis had become the biggest threat to the world economy, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The Senate approved a reform of Wall Street on Thursday and President Barack Obama may be signing into law the most sweeping changes to financial rules since the 1930s as soon as next month.

Stocks rose on Friday, with bank shares leading a rebound as worries ebbed over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe and an overhaul of U.S. financial regulation.

President Barack Obama will meet on financial reform on Friday with Senator Christopher Dodd, the chairman of the Senate banking committee, and Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee, the White House said.

The world's largest bilateral trade gap -- and how to narrow it -- will be the focus of high-level China-U.S. talks in Beijing next week, with export barriers taking center stage and the yuan lurking on the side.

The Senate approved a sweeping Wall Street reform bill on Thursday night, capping months of wrangling over the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s.

Germany is poised to approve on Friday the lion's share of a $1 trillion safety net for financially troubled euro zone nations as an EU task force looks to toughen regulations within the bloc blighted by a debt crisis that has cast a pall over global economic health.

With U.S. Senate passage on Thursday of a landmark bill to crack down on Wall Street, lawmakers must resolve differences between that measure and one approved in December by the House of Representatives.

The Senate will pass a sweeping reform of financial regulation on Thursday night, said an aide to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, capping months of wrangling over the biggest overhaul of financial rules since the 1930s.

The Senate was expected by the end of the week to approve the biggest overhaul of financial regulations since the 1930s after the measure finally cleared a procedural hurdle on Thursday.

Democrats expect to have the votes needed on Thursday afternoon to advance the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s, paving the way for a final Senate vote on passage.

A proposal from Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln to force banks to separate swap trading desks from core operations as part of the financial regulation overhaul is a very strong proposal, a White House official said on Thursday.

(Reuters) - The United States does not produce or import anywhere near enough fruits and vegetables to provide Americans the right kind of diet to prevent cancer, government researchers said on Wednesday.

In a setback for the Obama administration, Senate Democrats failed to muster enough votes on Wednesday to end debate on the biggest overhaul of financial regulation since the 1930s, delaying a vote on passage.

The author of a sweeping Wall Street reform bill in the Senate backed away on Wednesday from a confrontation with another powerful Senate committee chairman over swaps market regulation.

A handful of Senate Democrats on Wednesday were pushing at the eleventh hour to make a sweeping Wall Street reform bill even tougher, but they were running out of time as a key procedural vote approached.

A handful of Senate Democrats on Wednesday were pushing at the eleventh hour to make a sweeping Wall Street reform bill even tougher, but they were running out of time as a key procedural vote approached.

Senior Senate Democrats clashed on Tuesday over the last disputed pieces of a sweeping Wall Street reform bill headed for final passage within days.