Washington  - US government officials warned they may need even more money to stabilize the country's crumbling financial sector as they launched a new
1-trillion-dollar programme Tuesday designed to unfreeze credit markets.

The US Treasury and Federal Reserve said they would begin directly lending up to 200 billion dollars by March 25 to help restart securitization markets, a critical component of the struggling US economy that provides loans for small businesses, cars, student tuition, credit cards and other core sectors.

Washington - US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday warned there was "considerable uncertainty" over how quickly the United States can recover from a deep recession, even as funds from a massive government stimulus package were being released into the economy.

While President Barack Obama announced that new infrastructure projects would begin Tuesday and help spur job growth, Bernanke told a Senate hearing that it was difficult to measure the impact of Obama's 787-billion-dollar plan.

Washington  - The US government on Tuesday launched a new programme designed to unfreeze credit markets by taking a direct role in lending for small businesses, cars, student tuition, credit cards and other core sectors of the struggling US economy.

The US Treasury and Federal Reserve said they would begin lending up to 200 billion dollars by March 25 to help restart securitization markets, a critical component of the US economy that has virtually come to a halt since the financial crisis exploded in September.

The shadows of the economic slowdown are lengthening every day. On Monday, the rupee declined against the dollar, the markets crashed, and the export figures showed another decline.

Rupee down: Bad news on the economic front haunted the rupee as it closed at an all-time-low of Rs 51.95 against the US dollar. Bankers believe the Indian currency will be under constant pressure this week. "It could weaken to 52.50-52.70 levels as global uncertainties and weakness in the local stock market are impacting the rupee," said RVS Shridhar, head of markets at Axis Bank.

Now the sea lovers can cruise their way to their favorite destinations as the recession makes the cruise industry to come up with all kinds of cruise deals to attract the consumer. This includes attractive offers like discounted airfare, free tickets for kids, onboard credits, lower deposits and deals on cancellation insurance.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon announced that private health insurance premiums will go up by an average of 6.02% on April 1. She said she had written to several large funds in this regards and had challenged their request for larger premium rises.

"Without that close scrutiny, premium rises would have been higher for up to eight million Australians," she said.

"This year's increase is the result of increased benefits paid to patients, rising health service costs, and investment losses from the global financial crisis."