Geithner pledges

The work of the Treasury Department under Geithner must begin at once, the president said.
Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been at the sharp end of U.S. authorities' battle to shore up panicky financial markets by overseeing the central bank's intervention in recent months.
He said among his immediate objectives were "to make our economy more productive ... to restore trust in our financial system with fundamental reform (and) to make our tax system better at rewarding work and investment."
The U.S. Senate approved Geithner as Treasury Secretary despite dissatisfaction of some over his tax mistakes.

Coal producers

In 2009, Vietnam is planning to export over 19.5 million tons of coal out of the country's total coal output of 41 million tons, a Vietnamese newspaper reported.
At the annual coal prices negotiation conference recently, China's five leading power companies failed to reach an agreement with coal miners on next year's annual supply contracts.
A gap between China's domestic coal prices and international prices has attracted some foreign coal companies. Although both have been declining, internal coal prices are relatively higher than international ones.