New York - US stock indices made gains Wednesday after government figures showed demand is rising for long-lasting goods and housing.

Durable goods orders increased 3.4 per cent in February, and purchases of new homes jumped 4.7 per cent, adding to a spate of slightly more positive economic news coming out of the United States in the last week.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89.84 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 7,749.81, rallying during the final hour from a more than 100-point drop earlier in the afternoon.

Mexico City  - On her first visit to Mexico, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Wednesday emphasized that Washington was prepared to help shoulder the responsibility alongside Mexico for fighting the increasingly violent drug cartels south of the US border.

Before her meeting with President Felipe Calderon, Clinton remarked to reporters that the "insatiable demand" for illegal drugs in the US feeds the drug violence and trade. Mexico's Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa joined the talks.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama headed to Congress Wednesday for a meeting with his fellow Democratic Party lawmakers, some of whom have been skeptical of the administration's massive spending plans to help end the country's recession.

His visit came as the budget committees of both chambers in Congress began debating Obama's 2010 budget proposals - the first step in what is likely to be a prolonged battle over the president's spending priorities.

Washington  - China's military transformation has intensified in recent years as it acquires more advanced weaponry and technologies to conduct nuclear, space and cyber warfare, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The Chinese military buildup poses troubling questions because Beijing has not clarified its intentions and does not publicly reveal all of its defence spending, the Pentagon annual report to Congress said.

Washington  - US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent the US currency tumbling Wednesday by saying he was open to enlarging the International Monetary Fund's currency reserves, but rallied again as he clarified the dollar will remain "the world's dominant reserve currency."

His comments at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York were in response to China's suggestion that a new global currency reserve should replace the dollar in order to guard against fluctuations in economic crises.

Washington  - The space shuttle Discovery undocked from the International Space Station Wednesday to head back to Earth after a week at the station on a milestone construction mission that has doubled the station's capacity.

The mission astronauts installed the fourth and final set of solar panels needed to double power capacity at the station so it can hold six instead of the current three long-term residents - possibly as early as May. The crew completed three spacewalks, including one to install the panels.