G7 Welcomes Geithner

New Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner could have had an awkward first meeting with his fellow finance ministers in Rome. He did crash global markets on Tuesday with a botched rollout of his bank rescue plan, after all. But he got some good reviews at the G7 summit—French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said he was welcomed "warmly"—and appeared more self-confident at a news conference today in Italy. "The world is facing enormous challenges. Governments around the world are acting with greater force and urgency to address these challenge," he said. In a final statement, the finance ministers all agreed to work together and avoid protectionism to pull the global economy out of the financial crisis; they also unanimously endorsed Obama's bailout plan. Still, they warned reporters not to expect an economic turnaround until late this year at the earliest.