BARACK OBAMA

The U.S. Congress on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that would impose sweeping new limits on the credit card industry, with President Barack Obama expected to sign it into law within days.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday the Obama administration was making headway in settling financial markets and said a program to cleanse so-called toxic assets from banks' balance sheets will start operating over the next six weeks.

The United States must allay Russian concerns over its planned anti-missile system in Europe if the two sides are to achieve a breakthrough on cutting nuclear weapons, Russia's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Serbia's president told visiting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday he hoped to open a new page in relations with Washington, ten years after NATO bombed the Balkan country over its conduct in Kosovo.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he saw some return to normalcy in financial markets but there was still much long-term work ahead to right the shaky economy.

Iran launched a missile with a range of close to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) on Wednesday and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Islamic state could send any attacker to hell, official media reported.

The tough U.S. fuel economy standards announced by President Barack Obama on Tuesday represents a bonanza for companies that supply hybrid technology and other gas-conserving components needed to meet the new benchmarks.

An Italian judge ruled on Wednesday to proceed with the trial of U.S. and Italian spies accused of kidnapping an Egyptian imam in 2003; Europe's highest-profile case over the secret transfers of terrorism suspects.

A panel of experts tapped by President Barack Obama to help shape his response to the economic crisis is led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

A high-level panel of experts that has been helping to shape President Barack Obama's response to the economic crisis will step into the public view on Wednesday at a meeting to discuss energy issues and job creation.

The Canadian government unveiled on Tuesday a C$1 billion ($860 million)Clean Energy Fund that will focus on the development of renewable energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage as well as sustainable oil sands development.

A White House task force charged with helping to revive the economy will focus on the creation of a comprehensive U.S. energy plan that will generate millions of clean energy jobs when its meets on Wednesday, the White House said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced fresh pressure on Tuesday from the United States to freeze Jewish settlement activity that Palestinians see as an impediment to peace.

Daimler is taking a 10 percent stake in Tesla Motors, a U.S. based electric car start-up, as it expands its green auto business, the head of Daimler's research department said on Tuesday.

Credit card companies are likely to have tougher rules to live by as the U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 90-5 to approve a new bill restricting credit card practices; President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law before month end.

U.S. President Barack Obama took aim at climate-warming greenhouse gases on Tuesday and obliged the struggling auto industry to make more efficient cars by imposing tough national standards to cut emissions and increase gas mileage.

U.S. President Barack Obama took aim at climate-warming greenhouse gases on Tuesday and obliged the struggling auto industry to make more efficient cars by imposing tough national standards to cut emissions and increase gas mileage.

President Barack Obama proposed on Tuesday the first U.S. regulation of auto emissions in a bid to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gasses and lower dependence on foreign oil.

Jewish settler leaders on Tuesday shrugged off President Barack Obama's call for Israel to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank, saying Palestinians needed to halt terror first.

Iran's leading authority accused the United States on Tuesday of promoting terrorism in border areas and using arms and money against the Islamic state, in his latest verbal attack on Tehran's arch enemy.

Western-backed technocrat Salam Fayyad will stay on as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority at the head of a new cabinet to be announced shortly, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday.