Dec 15 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The New York Times business pages on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. * The United States is too reliant on China for minerals crucial to new clean energy technologies, making the American economy vulnerable to shortages of materials needed for a range of green products -- from compact fluorescent light bulbs to electric cars to giant wind turbines. So warns a detailed report to be released on Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Department. * Over the last year, Save the Children emerged as a leader in the push to tax sweetened soft drinks as a way to combat childhood obesity. At the same time, executives at Save the Children were seeking a major grant from Coca-Cola Co to help finance the health and education programs that the charity conducts here and abroad, including its work on childhood obesity. * For foreign manufacturers, competing for China's lucrative business means playing by house rules that are often stacked in Beijing's favor. * The U.S. Federal Reserve, batting away unusually fierce criticisms, forged ahead on Tuesday with its effort to prop up the economic recovery by buying $600 billion in Treasury bonds. But interest rates on government bonds continued to march upward, appearing to defy one of the Fed's goals for the bond-buying program: lowering long-term interest rates. * Republican members of a panel examining the causes of the financial crisis are expected to blame housing policies. * Federal prosecutors accused a Swiss banker of advising wealthy American clients to avoid disclosing their hidden offshore accounts held at a small Swiss bank. * On Wednesday, a securities exchange in Moscow is scheduled to open direct trading between the currencies of China and Russia for an hour a day.
Keywords: PRESS DIGEST/NYT (Compiled by Tenzin Pema; Bangalore Equities Newsdesk +91 80 4135 5800; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved.
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