FACTBOX: Economy, healthcare, war on Obama's tough agenda

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama heads to New York on Monday to try to push forward a stalled package of financial regulatory changes and highlight a steadier tone in the economy and the markets since he took office in January.

He will deliver a speech in the heart of Wall Street on the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers that helped send global financial markets to the brink of collapse.

The financial reform issue is just one on Obama's long list of domestic and foreign policy challenges. Here is the status of some major issues:

FINANCIAL REGULATORY REFORM - Obama may be hard-pressed to achieve his goal of broad financial regulatory changes by year-end.

Under a proposal Obama unveiled in June, the Federal Reserve would get new powers to monitor big financial firms that could pose a "systemic risk" to the economy. The plan would also create a new consumer protection agency for financial products. But many provisions are controversial and the legislation has bogged down in Congress.

One possible outcome could be that financial regulatory reform is put off until 2010. Another possibility could be passage of a "reform lite" package containing watered-down versions of the more controversial measures.

HEALTHCARE REFORM - Obama made a high-stakes speech to Congress last week to offer his vision for overhauling the $2.5 trillion healthcare industry, after opponents seized control of the debate with vehement protests during the summer.

His remarks won positive reviews but it's unclear if they will change lawmakers' minds about Obama's top domestic priority.

Obama has not provided specifics on how the plan, which he says would cost $900 billion over 10 years, would be paid for. He said it would not add to the burgeoning U.S. budget deficit, but opponents say that is impossible and call it unwarranted government interference in the private sector.

Three House of Representatives committees and one Senate panel have finished work on healthcare plans, leaving a solution from the Senate Finance Committee the last hurdle before the House and Senate each take up the issue.

The finance committee has been negotiating for months, but committee chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat, said Obama's plans had helped build confidence among the "Gang of Six" negotiators -- three Democrats and three Republicans -- trying to craft a bipartisan plan.

Baucus said he plans to push ahead with a bill even if he wins no Republican support.

THE ECONOMY - Obama signed his $787 billion economic stimulus plan in February, and has started to cautiously claim credit for some improved data. But with U.S. unemployment still at 9.7 percent, and most economists expecting it to reach 10 percent, it is too soon to talk with confidence of recovery.

There is still periodic talk that another stimulus program may be needed, but the administration was waiting and watching -- and hoping for a better jobs picture.

CLIMATE CHANGE - The Obama administration would like to have a climate change law in place before international talks in Copenhagen in December. But oil, agriculture and manufacturing firms have lined up in opposition, saying it would add costs without guaranteeing environmental gains.

The House narrowly passed legislation to cut carbon emissions and Senate Democrats are expected to introduce their version of a sweeping bill. But it was unclear whether the full Senate will pass anything this year, despite the White House expressing a willingness to be flexible on its wish-list.

Senate Democrats have said they would not unveil their legislation until later in September, a timetable that has slipped several times since July as the Senate has become bogged down in the struggle over healthcare reform.

AFGHANISTAN - Obama has been trying to rally Americans behind the war in Afghanistan, where U.S. combat deaths have risen as a resurgent Taliban has confounded NATO-led efforts to stabilize the country.

A formal assessment from U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, is widely expected to set the stage for a request by the military for more troops. The White House is in an internal debate over whether to send them, as it is already on track to nearly double U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 68,000 this year. Many of Obama's fellow Democrats worry about flagging public support for the conflict as they face re-election battles next year.

There are also serious concerns about fraud in Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election, which has raised questions about U.S. support for incumbent President Hamid Karzai. Karzai appears to have won with about 54 percent of the vote, but in some districts he won up to 94 percent and his main contender has challenged the outcome.

IRAQ - Obama has declared that the Iraq war will end for the United States by 2012, when remaining U.S. troops are due to withdraw after invading in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein. But a recent surge in bomb attacks that have killed scores of Iraqis and targeted government ministries has raised questions about Iraqis' ability to combat al Qaeda and other militants before elections due in January.

Obama is banking on saving billions of dollars from winding down U.S. operations in Iraq to help cut a record budget deficit.

IRAN - The Obama administration said it would accept an offer from Iran for wide-ranging talks with major powers but Tehran and the United States differ on whether the talks should discuss Iran's nuclear program.

The United States and other Western countries believe Iran's uranium enrichment program is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon but Iran has repeatedly said the program is for civilian energy uses.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Iran would not negotiate its nuclear "rights," though the United States says the upcoming talks will focus on Iran's atomic activities.

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT - Obama has made jump-starting Middle East peace talks a top foreign policy priority but so far has made little progress.

Moderate Arab states have rebuffed his appeal to make conciliatory gestures to encourage Israel to halt settlement building in occupied territory, and the Jewish state's right-leaning government has ignored his call for a freeze on settlement construction.

A settlement deal would end the most serious rift in U.S.-Israeli relations in a decade and could lead to an announcement by Obama, during the U.N. General Assembly this month, of a resumption of Middle East peace talks. A breakthrough would boost Obama's efforts to rebuild the U.S. image in the Muslim world.

(Compiled by Patricia Zengerle and Caren Bohan, editing by Todd Eastham)