Over the next month, two of President Barack Obama’s closest first-term advisers will spill insider details on the administration’s handling of the early days of the Great Recession, the White House’s cautious response to the Syrian civil war and the genesis of clandestine talks with Iran.

President Barack Obama was cutting short his holiday and returning to Washington today as a senior Democrat warned that the US appeared to be heading over the year-end “fiscal cliff” of higher taxes and deep spending cuts that could spin the still-fragile economy back into a recession.

President Barack Obama and members of Congress prepared for one last try to avert across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts known as the fiscal cliff, as the US Treasury Department warned that it will begin taking action to prevent the government from hitting its debt limit.

President Barack Obama and Republicans crept closer to talks on avoiding a recession-threatening package of automatic tax increases and spending cuts, but the White House insisted it would not budge on higher taxes on the wealthy.

US president Barack Obama will make his first comments on the economy and the financial crisis today as the White House makes the issue its top post-election priority.

When the United States wants to talk to Europe about the eurozone debt crisis, what number does it dial?

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today said financial reforms and other measures in response to the global crisis are yielding results, helping the American economy to grow at a pace better than there was reason to expect.

The US has raised pressure on eurozone leaders to take decisive action to solve the debt crisis, by lowering troubled members’ borrowing costs, before a crucial European Central Bank meeting.

Banking’s reputation was already on the floor when along came rate-fixing and money laundering for drug cartels and rogue states to completely destroy the public’s trust, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Bank of England boss Mervyn King told MPs he was not to blame for failing to spot the rate-rigging scandal engulfing the industry amid mounting accusations over the central bank’s role..

Barclays was in a “state of denial” over regulatory concerns with the bank following its rate-rigging scandal, Bank of England governor Mervyn King told MPs today.

The International Monetary Fund, armed with a replenished arsenal containing billions of dollars to battle Europe’s lingering debt crisis, now must press governments in the eurozone to carry out bold changes to reassure nervous financial markets and avert sending the crisis into a more dangerous phase.

THE 2012 foreign investment harvest is starting to look pretty good.

Timothy Geithner said he will not serve President Barack Obama as Treasury Secretary in a second term.

European stock markets have closed with mixed results this evening, as the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visits the Eurozone ahead of the Summit of EU Leaders this Friday.

SEVEN world leaders yesterday demanded Europe act more decisively to quell its debt crisis as a European Central Bank study warned that the entire euro currency project was now in peril.

US SUGGESTIONS for a bigger EU rescue fund met with an ill-tempered response from European finance ministers yesterday.

The United States has urged Europe to end potentially "catastrophic" in-fighting that is delaying a new rescue plan for Greece.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has created waves at a meeting of EU Finance Ministers by urging them to leverage the EU bailout fund to better tackle the debt crisis.

European Finance Ministers will meet in Poland today to discuss the eurozone crisis.

US TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner’s invitation to a special EU finance ministers meeting in Poland later this week is aimed at giving confidence to the markets, in a flurry over Greek default fears.

THE United States pressed Europe’s strongest economies yesterday to give “unequivocal” financial support to weaker euro zone states to overcome a debt crisis that threatens the world economy.

Europe’s handling of its debt crisis returned to haunt markets today, with stocks down sharply and the euro sinking to its lowest level against the dollar in more than six months after a top European Central Bank official unexpectedly resigned.

Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner said today credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s showed “terrible judgment” in lowering the US government’s AAA status.

Washington: US President Barack Obama’s senior advisers are confident Timothy Geithner will remain treasury secretary even though he hasn’t publicly revealed his intentions.

THE SENATE emphatically passed emergency legislation yesterday to avoid a first-ever government default, rushing the legislation to President Barack Obama for his signature just hours before the deadline. The vote was 74-26.

A deal that heads off an unprecedented US financial default and begins the process of curbing the country’s spiralling debt was expected to clear a final legislative hurdle in the Senate today, just hours before the deadline.

TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner said it is “unthinkable” that there would be a time when the US couldn’t pay its bills.

Barack Obama told top politicians they must hammer out a deal within the next 10 days to avoid an unprecedented default on US debt.

Washington: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is considering stepping down later this year, but will not make a decision until contentious negotiations over the US debt ceiling are completed.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is poised to become the next leader of the scandal-rocked International Monetary Fund, with a major endorsement from the Obama administration.

TWITTER: Bringer of democracy to the Arab world — or just bringer of gossip about which Z-List nobody is knocking-off which Premiership footballer?

AMERICA is “rooting” for Ireland to overcome its economic problems and will do all it can to help out, President Barack Obama pledged yesterday.

The US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said Dominique Strauss-Kahn is "not in a position to run" the International Monetary Fund after his arrest over an alleged sexual assault.

US TREASURY Secretary Timothy Geithner reassured investors that White House and Republican lawmakers will reach a deal to control the nation’s finances, downplaying a warning that the government risks losing its coveted debt rating if it fails to do so.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today reassured investors that the White House and Republican politicians will reach a deal to control finances, downplaying a warning that the government risks losing its coveted debt rating if it fails.

TAOISEACH Enda Kenny will meet US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner in Washington today as he attempts to rebuild Ireland’s reputation abroad.

The G20 group of leading advanced and emerging countries today said that they have agreed to avoid potentially debilitating currency devaluations and will pursue policies to reduce global imbalances that threaten the economic recovery.

THE United States was yesterday to push Europe to focus on encouraging economic growth rather than slashing budgets as world leaders gathered for G8 and G20 summit talks.

The US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in Europe today to put pressure on leaders for united action on the deepening debt crisis.

Thousands of neo-Nazis and their opponents massed today in the eastern German city of Dresden on the 65th anniversary of the deadly Allied bombing at the end of the Second World War

A crisis in Europe over budget belt-tightening has upended global markets and seized the attention of financial leaders meeting in the Canadian Arctic.

US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner is to face a congressional grilling about suppressed details about deals that funnelled billions to big investment banks while he was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The Obama administration extended the $700bn (€475bn) bailout programme until October, setting the scene for a Congress battle.