BARACK OBAMA

President Barack Obama on Thursday ratcheted up pressure on Israel to freeze settlements as he sought to reassure visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of U.S. support for Palestinian statehood.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met President Barack Obama on Thursday to urge stronger U.S. pressure on Israel to halt settlement building even as the Jewish state rebuffed Washington's latest appeal.

A pickup in U.S. home sales has kindled hopes for a housing recovery, but plunging prices, rising unemployment and a new wave of foreclosures are clouding prospects for a quick end to the American real estate debacle.

With unemployment rising to its highest level in more than a quarter century, more Americans are confronting the double crisis of losing both their jobs and their employer-sponsored insurance, which covers 177 million people.

President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he wants to see new types of biofuels commercialized as quickly as possible, but the corn-based ethanol industry needs to remain viable in the meantime.

A rift between Berlin and Washington threatened to torpedo Germany's goal of shielding Opel from the imminent bankruptcy of its parent General Motors , raising the risk of insolvency for the German carmaker.

The United States wants Israel to stop expanding Jewish settlements without exception, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, promising that Washington would push this point with its ally.

The U.S. economy is showing signs of stabilizing after suffering the worst economic crisis in decades, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday.

The battle over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor began to take shape on Wednesday as liberal supporters praised her as an independent legal thinker and conservatives argued she likely would rule based on her emotions rather than established precedent.

OPEC ministers set their sights on oil prices above $70 a barrel as they gathered for talks in Vienna, but they were expected to hold output steady and rely instead on economic recovery to push the market up.

Oil held above $63 on Thursday after OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna decided, as widely anticipated, to leave the group's crude output unchanged at 24.85 million barrels per day.

Oil slipped on Thursday as global markets dropped on government debt worries but held firmly above $63 a barrel as OPEC met in Vienna to discuss the group's oil output and what price the world could afford to pay.

Concerns about the debt burden facing countries trying to spend their way out of the economic downturn spooked investors on Thursday despite optimism from President Barack Obama that the U.S. economy was past the worst.

Oil prices fell below $63 a barrel on Thursday, snapping three sessions of gains, as investor sentiment soured on worries that a potential recovery in the United States might be delayed because of the country's rising debt.

General Motors Corp moved closer to filing the largest bankruptcy ever for a U.S. industrial company after a crucial bond exchange proposal failed, while the fate of GM's European brand Opel remained uncertain after marathon talks with German officials ended without a deal.

The Obama administration is weighing a plan that would put the Federal Reserve in charge of monitoring systemic risk and give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp authority to unwind insolvent bank holding companies, sources familiar with the proposal said on Wednesday.

General Motors Corp moved closer to filing the largest bankruptcy ever for a U.S. industrial company after a crucial bond exchange proposal failed and as German officials held marathon talks to decide the fate of GM's European brand Opel.

General Motors Corp moved closer to filing the largest bankruptcy ever for a U.S. industrial company after a crucial bond exchange proposal failed and as officials in Germany neared a decision on which company would take over GM's European brand Opel.

OPEC ministers set their sights on oil prices above $70 a barrel as they gathered for talks in Vienna, but they were expected to hold output steady and rely instead on economic recovery to push the market up.

by Lisa Lambert

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday the availability of over $467 million from the stimulus package for two Recovery Act energy programs on the 100 days anniversary since the President signed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.