Washington  - US President Barack Obama flatly rejected China's call for a global currency that would gradually replace the dollar as an international reserve.

"I don't believe that there's a need for a global currency," Obama said at a White House press conference Tuesday night, adding that the dollar "is extraordinarily strong right now."

Washington  - US President Barack Obama defended the spending outlined in his budget Tuesday, saying investments in health care, energy and education are essential to long-term economic growth and eventually bringing deficits under control.

Washington - US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner plans to unveil later Monday details of a programme that will mop up billions of dollars in toxic assets and build new capital for banks to help recover from the financial crisis.

Going by the information from sources, a Monday-expected announcement from US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would put forth the Obama administration’s move of buying nearly $1 trillion in sour loans and toxic assets from rundown banks.

On Thursday the Quebec Liberal government tabled a budget projecting a $3.9-billion deficit. This deficit has happened for the first time in the last decade, but the government is hopeful that a 1-per-cent sales-tax increase beginning Jan. 1, 2011, will eventually help eliminate it.

Canadian pet store chain Petcetera has filed for bankruptcy protection and has launched a two-month, cross-Canada sale to unload merchandise and to generate capital for restructuring.

The sale commences on March 21 and will offer price cuts of up to 70 per cent.

Statistics Canada, yesterday, reported an increase of 1.9 per cent in Canadian retail sales, in January, giving the economists "a glimmer of hope".

"Amidst the sea of bad economic news ... Canadian consumers are still standing," said Krishen Rangasamy of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Some good news for the poor residents of Ontario, as yesterday Premier Dalton McGuinty announced that the provincial sum set aside for child benefit available for low-income families will nearly double to $1,100 a year beginning this July.

Amid the obvious rage against AIG for paying its employees more than $165 million in bonuses, a last week rather atypical announcement by the Federal Reserve took a backseat - that of buying long-term Treasury bonds up to a worth of $300 billion!

Promising the government's seriousness to counter the impact of the global economic crisis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced his "anti-crisis" measures, which include trimming his budget to counterbalance the fall in oil revenues, and increasing planned government financing by three times.