In Tuesday's Americas papers

01 April 2008 12:00  [Source: ICIS news]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front Page

UBS seeks fresh capital, expects $19bn in write-downs
UBS said Tuesday it will ask shareholders to approve up to Swiss francs (Swfr) 15bn ($15.07bn) in additional funds to shore up its dwindling capital base as it unveiled a quarterly loss of Swfr12bn, the result of major losses on US mortgage securities.

Trying to get up off the mat
After the beating that the stock market took during the first three months of 2008, one question seems to be on everyone's mind: Is it over? The first quarter was one for the history books.

Lobbyists, small banks attack plan for markets
Small banks, state officials and others began an assault on the Bush administration's sweeping plan to overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system.

Money & Investing

Lehman wants to short-circuit short sellers
Lehman Brothers Holdings has unveiled its latest attempt to try to shake the shorts. On Monday, the firm announced it plans to issue $3bn of preferred shares, a move that will strengthen its balance sheet and that it hopes will dispel speculation that it is facing a capital crunch

Deutsche Bank faces writedowns of about $3.95bn
Deutsche Bank said Tuesday said it expects to mark down €2.5bn ($3.9bn) in the first quarter, reflecting deteriorating market conditions for the global financials sector.

Blame game: the 'uptick' rule debate
With the stock market posting its worst quarter in six years, an obscure change in how stocks are traded is the subject of a nasty debate on Wall Street, with one side blaming the switch for everything from increased volatility to the collapse of Bear Stearns and the other side dismissing those critics as fools and worse.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front Page

Bush supports Ukraine to join NATO
President Bush said Tuesday he will work ''as hard as I can'' to help Ukraine join NATO and declared that Russia will not be able to veto former Soviet states joining the transatlantic military alliance.

Hamas’ insults to Jews complicate peace effort
In the Katib Wilayat mosque one recent Friday, the imam was discussing the wiliness of the Jew. “Jews are a people who cannot be trusted,” Imam Yousif al-Zahar of Hamas told the faithful. “They have been traitors to all agreements — go back to history. Their fate is their vanishing. Look what they are doing to us.”

Business Day

UBS to write down $19bn; chair will depart
UBS, the largest Swiss bank, said on Tuesday that it would write down another $19bn related to "US real estate and related structured credit positions" and said Marcel Ospel, its chairman, would step down.

Doubts greet treasury plan regulation
As Treasury Secretary Henry M Paulson Jr laid out an ambitious plan to overhaul the regulatory apparatus that oversees the nation’s financial system on Monday, lawmakers and lobbyists from an array of industries opposed to the plan predicted that most of it would be dead on arrival.

WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

GAO blasts weapons budget
Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

Chinese crackdown on Tibet protested
Wrapped in multihued Tibetan national flags, more than 1,500 Tibetan refugees from as far as Georgia and Massachusetts rallied yesterday in front of the White House to protest China's recent crackdown on dissent in their homeland and demand that President Bush boycott opening ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Business

Opposition to treasury's blueprint gains steam
Senior Treasury officials identified three immediate targets yesterday for their plan to overhaul the nation's financial regulatory structure, including streamlining the approval process for securities that contributed to the crisis now roiling Wall Street.

Virginia employment commission cuts back
The Virginia agency charged with processing unemployment claims is retrenching just as workers are beginning to feel the pinch of the economic slowdown.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front Page

Ottawa panel wants to stop lowering flag for Vimy Ridge
A federal advisory panel that studied whether Ottawa should fly the Peace Tower flag at half-mast to mark the deaths of individual soldiers is rejecting the idea - and wants to dramatically scale back the number of days already receiving the ceremonial honour.

PM confident of securing key demands at NATO summit
Prime Minister Stephen Harper departed last night for a NATO summit in Romania, armed with a parliamentary mandate to secure reinforcements from allies for Canada's tough Afghanistan mission or bring the troops home.

Business

Crawford feels investors' anger
The small investors suddenly have the power in the asset-backed commercial paper market, and they're letting the big ones know it.

UBS doubles subprime writedowns
UBS doubled its writedowns from the subprime crisis, parted company with its chairman and asked shareholders for more emergency capital on Tuesday in a second dramatic attempt to reverse its fortunes.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front Page

Each side says it’s the other’s move
The government is scheduled to meet representatives from the four big farm-sector groups this afternoon to try to resolve the 19-day rural tax revolt, after the parties failed to reach an agreement on Friday. 

West Bank: ‘50 fewer roadblocks’
In talks with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on Sunday, Israel pledged to remove some 50 West Bank roadblocks as a start to “concrete steps” aimed at achieving a peace deal with the Palestinians this year The Israelis will also give Palestinians more security responsibility in Jenin.

Sadr orders Iraqi truce
Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday ordered his followers to cease fire, although they will not hand over their weapons to government forces.

By: Staff Reporter
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