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Jan 18- Johnson& Johnson is negotiating a potential $2 billion settlement with patients who received its recalled artificial hip implant, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing five people familiar with the matter.

*Greece under microscope; some worry over Spain. But while many investors have, like Bass, bet heavily on chaotic sovereign default in countries such as Greece, three years of dogged diplomacy in Europe have so far wrong-footed the doomsayers. Unemployment in Greece and Spain has reached 25 percent.

NEW YORK, Jan 18- Wheat posted its biggest weekly gain in six months as it rallied Friday on concerns of dry weather in the U.S. wheat belt while arabica coffee surged to a 2- month high as growers became more restrained in selling.

WASHINGTON, Jan 19- President Barack Obama starts his second term in office facing unprecedented budget constraints that will challenge his ability to implement his economic vision.

BEIJING, Jan 11- China's annual consumer inflation rate quickened to a seven-month high of 2.5 percent in December on rising food prices, ahead of expectations and narrowing the scope for the central bank to boost the economy by easing monetary policy.

*Overseas Union- led group had bid S $9.08/ share. SINGAPORE, Jan 19- Thailand's third richest man has raised his takeover offer for Singapore's Fraser and Neave Ltd, valuing the property and drinks conglomerate at nearly $11.3 billion, a move to fend off a rival bid from a group run by Indonesian tycoon Stephen Riady.

WASHINGTON, Jan 18- In the summer of 2007, as storm clouds gathered over the world's financial system, then-New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner allegedly informed the Bank of America and other banks about the possibility the U.S. central bank would lower one of its critical interest rates, according to a senior Fed official.

*White House invites children as backdrop for gun control plan. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who led a task force that made recommendations on the issue, will present the measures at a White House event attended by children from around the country who wrote letters to the president about gun violence and school safety.

WASHINGTON, Jan 18- Top policymakers at the Federal Reserve felt for most of 2007 that problems in housing and banking were isolated and unlikely to tear down the U.S. economy as they ultimately did.

LONDON, Jan 14- New Generali boss Mario Greco vowed to boost operating profit by a quarter via an ambitious turnaround strategy that focuses on "value over volume" at Europe's No.3 insurer.

NEW YORK, Jan 18- Oil prices rose on Friday, recovering from an earlier dip after news that the U.S. House of Representatives will consider a bill to raise the debt ceiling enough to allow the country to pay its bills for another three months.

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan 15- Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled on Tuesday a feature to help its users search for people and places within the social network, in the company's first major product launch since its May initial public offering.

MUMBAI, Jan 18- India's central bank is expected to reduce its policy interest rate by 25 basis points in a policy review on Jan. 29, making its first cut in nine months on the back of slowing inflation and weak economic activity, economists polled by Reuters said.

Kraft Foods Global Brands LLC, a subsidiary of Mondelez International, sued Kellogg Co's North American unit on Wednesday claiming the food maker improperly uses one of its patents to keep Keebler and Sandies cookies fresh. Michael Mitchell, a spokesman for Mondelez, declined to comment.

Jan 18- Caterpillar Inc uncovered "deliberate, multi-year, coordinated accounting misconduct" at a subsidiary of a Chinese company it acquired last summer, leading it to write off most of the value of the deal and wipe out half a quarter's profits.

TOKYO/ SEOUL, Jan 18- Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7- inch screens for Apple Inc's iPad, two sources said, possibly as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.

*Q4 adjusted profit of 44 cents tops 43 cent Wall St view. General Electric Co shareholders are wondering what the company's chief executive plans to do with a cash windfall that could total tens of billions of dollars over several years as the company sells its remaining stake in NBC Universal and recoups more of the profits earned by finance unit GE Capital.

Jan 18- Brian Moynihan is known inside Bank of America Corp as a problem-fixer and a cost-cutter, according to two executives who have worked with him, and in his three years as the bank's chief executive, he has had that reputation tested like never before. Now, proof of his abilities is beginning to show.

TOKYO/ SEOUL, Jan 18- Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7- inch screens for Apple Inc's iPad, two sources said, possibly as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.