WASHINGTON, - PRESIDENT Barack Obama will challenge government departments on Monday to slice US$100 million (S$151 million) from the US federal budget in the next three months, during his debut cabinet meeting.

The move will highlight his vow to trim unneeded spending from the budget as the deficit is inflated by hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending intended to rescue the crisis-mired economy.

NEW YORK - INVESTORS are having doubts about banks' profit reports, and wondering whether their better-than-expected performance mask larger problems with bad debt.

DETROIT - A TOP General Motors Corp executive says 1,600 workers will lose their jobs during the next few days as the automaker tries to cut costs and restructure to stay in business.