In Tuesday's Americas papers

15 January 2008 11:28  [Source: ICIS news]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

Front Page

 

Citigroup plans big dividend cut

Citigroup is expected to announce a sizeable dividend cut, cash infusion of at least $10bn and write-down of as much as $20bn in mortgage-related investments as part of its fourth-quarter earnings report, people familiar with the plans said.

 

States to tighten belts as weakness of economy cuts into tax receipts

Slower growth in tax revenues, the result of a weakening economy, are prompting governors from New Jersey to California to consider an array of belt-tightening measures to balance their budgets for this year and next.

 

Oil prices detach from demand in West

Oil prices have disconnected from demand in rich countries, showing how the global oil market has become unmoored from some of the factors that steered it in the past.

 

Money & Investing

 

Greenspan will join Paulson as an adviser

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, whom some blame for fuelling a housing bubble, is signing on as an adviser to hedge-fund firm Paulson & Co, which has profited handsomely from the collapse of that bubble.

 

Merrill to get cash injection from Japanese bank

A unit of Japanese megabank Mizuho Financial Group will later today announce a $1.3bn investment in Merrill Lynch, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

 

Fidelity reopening Magellan fund

Fidelity Investments is reopening its Magellan Fund to all investors after a decade of restricted access, in an attempt to draw new cash into the mutual fund and highlight its performance.

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES

 

Front Page

 

Chinese and US demand drives commodities surge

The price of copper has tripled in five years. Zinc has doubled. Wheat and soybeans rose 70% in 2007. Futures prices of crude oil, gold, silver, lead, uranium, cattle, cocoa and corn are all at or near records.

 

Militants escape control of Pakistan, officials say

Pakistan’s premier military intelligence agency has lost control of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy, two former senior intelligence officials and other officials close to the agency say.

 

Business Day

 

Study reveals doubt on drug for cholesterol

A clinical trial of a widely used cholesterol drug has raised questions both about the medicine’s effectiveness and about the behavior of the pharmaceutical companies that conducted the study, cardiologists said on Monday.

 

Europe may ban imports of some biofuel crops

In a sign of growing concern about the impact of supposedly “green” policies, EU officials will propose a ban on imports of certain biofuels, according to a draft law to be unveiled next week.

 

THE WASHINGTON POST

 

Front Page

 

FDA says clones are safe for food

A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last US regulatory barrier to the marketing of meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats.

 

Allies feel strain of Afghan war

The US plan to send an additional 3,200 Marines to troubled southern Afghanistan this spring reflects the Pentagon's belief that if it can't bully its recalcitrant Nato allies into sending more troops to the Afghan front, perhaps it can shame them into doing so, US officials said.

 

Business

 

Ex-officials benefit from corporate clean-up

Federal prosecutors are steering no-bid contracts to former government officials who earn millions of dollars by monitoring companies accused of cheating investors and other schemes.

 

Yale announces plan to cut tuition for many

Yale University is slashing the cost of tuition by as much as 50% for some students, joining a list of elite schools seeking to make college more affordable for lower-, middle- and upper-middle-income families, officials said yesterday.

 

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

 

Front Page

 

Anxiety grows about economy, jobs, poll finds

Canadians are becoming ever more anxious for their jobs and economic future, placing the issue behind only the environment on their list of concerns. The results are found in a survey in which Ontarians express particularly deep unease about their economic prospects.

 

MPs push forward Mulroney probe timetable

The House of Commons ethics committee is planning a busy February of late-night sittings into the Mulroney-Schreiber affair in an effort to wrap up its probe before a possible federal election and to pave the way for a public inquiry.

 

Business

 

CIBC braces for new hit
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's massive stock offering puts it in a bullet-proof position to weather more writedowns that may be in the pipeline, bank watchers said Monday.

 

SEC takes fresh look at oil sands reserves

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at putting Alberta's oil sands reserves on the same footing as conventional crude oil, a move that could boost the value of the enormous resource.

 

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

 

Front Page

 

Emmanuel meets his mom

After almost six years of being held in the jungle in the hands of FARC guerrillas, Clara Rojas returned to the Colombian capital yesterday where she met her three-year-old son Emmanuel, born in captivity, whose trail she had lost since he was eight months old and had been taken from her and turned over to the government foster care system.

 

Brown, Europhile

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to tell business leaders in London today that Britain’s economic future depends on it playing a central role in the EU.

By: Staff Reporter
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