With no margin for rebellion, Senate Democrats pushed toward a crucial weekend test vote on their sweeping health care bill Friday, and wavering moderates appeared to be falling in line on President Barack Obama's signature issue.

Designed to help low-income people afford to buy houses, the Federal Housing Administration's is now insuring houses for increasingly well-off buyers, says the New York Times.

U.S. pressure on China to raise the value of its currency amounts to Washington abdicating responsibility for ballooning deficits and would impede global economic recovery, an official Chinese newspaper said on Friday.

Expressing frustration over the Obama administration's light touch on China's yuan exchange rate, two U.S. senators asked the Commerce Department to investigate alleged Chinese currency "manipulation."

Congressional budget crunchers said  the Democrats' latest health care plan would hold down federal red ink for at least 20 years, an assessment that gave supporters hope as the Senate moved gingerly toward  debate.

U.S. President Obama and his South Korean counterpart pressed North Korea to return to dormant nuclear talks and said it was time forPyongyang to break a pattern of provocative behaviour.

The economy still needs help. So White House officials are looking at creating a new version of cash for clunkers — this time for home weatherization. The New York Times reports.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of a sweeping U.S. Senate health care overhaul at $849 billion over 10 years, a senior Senate aide said on Wednesday.

In a report released Tuesday by the comptroller of New York State, Wall Street profits in 2009 are on track to exceed the record set three years ago, reports the New York Times.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told President Barack Obama his nation does not seek a trade surplus with the United States and wants to balance flows, striking a conciliatory note but avoiding public comment on currency rifts.

Improper payments by the U.S. government to people, firms and contractors rose sharply to $98 billion in fiscal 2009 and President Barack Obama plans new rules to clamp down, the White House said Tuesday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told President Barack Obama his nation does not seek a trade surplus with the United States and wants to balance flows, striking a conciliatory note but avoiding public comment on currency rifts.

The Obama administration created a new task force  to crack down on financial fraud, an increasingly important political issue after a spike in mortgage scams and big Wall Street trading scandals.

"Unfriend" has been named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, chosen from a list of finalists with a tech-savvy bent.