United States

• Saturday, April 10th 2010 - 04:55 UTC

  Major US banks lowered debt levels to mask risks, claims Wall Street Journal

  

  Major US banks temporarily lowered their debt levels just before reporting in the past five quarters, making it appear their balance sheets were less risky, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

• Saturday, April 10th 2010 - 04:49 UTC

  US stocks DJ at 11.000 for the first time since September 2008

  

  United States stocks rose Friday sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly above 11,000 for the first time since September 2008, as growth in wholesale inventories added to signs the economy is strengthening.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 23:42 UTC

  US/China hold talks on “economic relations” and global situation

  

  US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held talks Thursday in Beijing with Vice-Premier Wang Qishan. Neither the US nor Chinese officials would comment in detail on the meeting. But it is understood to be part of a long-running dispute over the value of the Chinese Yuan, which the US says has been kept artificially low.

• Thursday, April 8th 2010 - 04:21 UTC

  Brazil and US sign defence cooperation accord next week, first since 1977

  

  Brazil and the United States will sign a defence-cooperation agreement next week, Defence Minister Nelson Jobim said Wednesday. This would be the first major bilateral military cooperation agreement since 1977.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 23:57 UTC

  US federal judge rules in favour of Argentine sovereign bonds “holdouts”

  

  A United States federal judge ruled in favour of seizing 105 million US dollars from the Argentine Central Bank deposits in New York in order to pay the debt the country holds with two investment funds.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 23:40 UTC

  Bernanke warns US economy still faces ailing housing and employment

  

  United States Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned the US economy still faces significant headwinds, including a housing sector that has yet to recover convincingly and an ailing employment market.

• Wednesday, March 31st 2010 - 18:20 UTC

  Texas Congress discuss violence from drug war along border with Mexico

  

  The violence raging in Mexico’s drug war is worse now than the terror that enveloped Colombia during the 1980s and 1990s ever was, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve Mc Craw told state lawmakers this week in Austin.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 22:48 UTC

  Senator McCain calls for troops to be deployed along Mexican border

  

  The influential US Senator John McCain from Arizona sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano calling for the deployment of National Guard troops along the “southern border region” between the US and Mexico to help counter the growing violence from the drug cartels.

• Tuesday, March 30th 2010 - 04:21 UTC

  US Treasury planning to sell 27% stake in Citigroup during 2010

  

  Citigroup Inc.’s largest shareholder, the US Treasury Department, is planning to sell its 27% stake this year in what could become the biggest profit for the bank-bailout program.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 22:28 UTC

  US economy contracted 2.4% in 2009, in spite of strong 5.6% in fourth quarter

  

  The United States economy contracted 2.4% in 2009 according to the latest estimates from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. Growth in 2008 was 0.4%.