In Thursday's Americas papers

Front Page

US cites planning gaps in Iraqi assault on Basra
Interviews suggest that Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki overestimated his military’s abilities and underestimated the scale of the resistance in Basra.

In Nepal, long-lived monarchy fades
King Gyanendra at a Hindu festival in Kathmandu in March. At last year’s festival, a crowd hurled stones at him. The monarchy could be scrapped next week.

Business Day

Unsold homes tie down would-be transplants
The housing slump is distorting the normal working of the American job market, restricting workers’ ability to pursue better career opportunities.

In Senate, agreement on housing

Senate Democrats and Republicans reached a tentative deal on a package of tax breaks, grants and tax-exempt bonds to help homeowners and stabilise the housing market.

THE WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

NATO Alliance invites Croatia, Albania to join
After vigorous debate, NATO political leaders effectively reject Bush's bid for roadmaps to membership for Ukraine and Georgia.

Belatedly, the bad news bearer
It's (semi) official: we're in a recession. The Federal Reserve chairman didn't come right out and say it in his appearance before the Joint Economic Committee yesterday, but in his carefully hedged, deliberate mumbo jumbo, Ben Bernanke delivered a message as stark as bread lines and shantytowns.

Business

Armour contracts filled without initial tests
Officials with the inspector-general's office say its auditors did not test the body armour for army soldiers or look for flaws after it was made and put into use.

FAA: four airlines probed after safety audit
Officials say disclosures of maintenance problems prompted investigation of major airlines that were not complying with federal safety directives.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

 

Front Page

 

NATO answers Harper's request
NATO allies have answered Canada's call for troop reinforcements in southern Afghanistan, partly fulfilling Ottawa's conditions for extending a military mission in one of the deadliest regions of the country.

 

Mugabe loses control of Harare legislature
Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party lost control of the House of Assembly to the opposition yesterday, in the first defeat the ruling party has suffered since independence in 1980 and the first certain sign that change is coming to Zimbabwe.

 

Business

RIM rocks as the economy reels
Research In Motion has found a new best friend in Facebook. In less than six months, more than one million BlackBerry users have downloaded an application that allows them to update their Facebook page, and send messages and photos through the social networking site.

 

Now it's her chance to stretch
It was a somewhat shambling and occasionally discursive Chip Wilson who popped up at a marketing conference a month ago and started talking about growing up in the seventies: "Kinda like the women's lib kinda time."

 

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

 

Front Page

 

CFK likens protest to ‘76 lockout
As tens of thousands of Argentines rallied in her support yesterday, President Cristina Kirchner blasted striking farmers, comparing their nearly three-week-old protest to a similar 1976 strike that sowed chaos one month before a military coup.

 

Gov’t denies beef export suspension
Meat industry sources said yesterday beef shipments had been halted amid a 20-day-old farm lockout that has emptied butchers’ counters. However, an e-mailed statement from the government’s customs agency later denied beef exports had been suspended, saying officials had simply been checking documents related to shipments.

 

Zimbabwe opposition ‘on verge of power’
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader insisted yesterday that he has won presidential elections outright and wasn’t negotiating to ease out President Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe from liberation to ruin.

By: Staff Reporter
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