In Wednesday's Americas papers

30 April 2008 12:16  [Source: ICIS news]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front Page

Countrywide loss focuses attention on underwriting
Countrywide Financial reported an $893m loss for the first quarter, amid mounting evidence of serious problems with its underwriting of many home loans.

Iraq oil revenue may top outlook
A new US government report projects Iraq's oil revenue will top a record $70bn this year, adding fuel to a congressional push to force the Iraqi government to assume more responsibility for rebuilding the country.

Microsoft's next move on Yahoo is imminent
Microsoft is expected to make its next move in the three-month-old takeover standoff with Yahoo as early as Wednesday, as the two sides have failed to reach any negotiated acquisition deal.

Money & Investing

Room to rise? In hotels, operators have an edge over owners
Heading into an economic downturn, hotels are often among the first industries to suffer as travel slows and room rates weaken. And now, vacancies are on the rise just as the fruit of a hotel-construction boom is set to add a quarter of a million new rooms to the US supply over the next 24 months.

Posco's enviable position
Shares in Posco, which a year ago appeared to be as stainless as some of the steel it produces, have fallen sharply in the past seven months amid a broad selloff of South Korean stocks by foreign investors and mounting raw materials costs.

Speed bumps: GM obstacles are piling up
Last week Ford Motor posted a surprising first-quarter profit and stoked optimism about its recovery. Wednesday, General Motors is likely to do just the opposite. GM is expected to report that it lost $1.54/share in the first quarter and revenue fell 5% from a year earlier.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front Page

Obama’s break with ex-pastor sets sharp shift in tone
Senator Barack Obama broke forcefully on Tuesday with his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah A Wright Jr, in an effort to curtail a drama of race, values, patriotism and betrayal that has enveloped his presidential candidacy at a critical juncture.

Against odds, New Orleans schools fight back
No road leads to George Washington Carver Senior High School here. It sits on no street and has no address. No sign announces it.

Business Day

Shortages threaten farmers’ key tool: fertilizer
Truong Thi Nha stands just four and a half feet tall. Her three grown children tower over her, just as many young people in this village outside Hanoi dwarf their parents.

Bush says pain from economy defies easy fix
With consumer confidence slipping and gasoline and food prices soaring, President Bush delivered an unusually dark assessment of the economy on Tuesday, saying the nation was in “very difficult times, very difficult.”

WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

Siphoning off corn to fuel our cars
Erwin Johnson picks up a clump of the dark, rich soil that he has farmed for 35 years, like his father and grandfather before him. In a few months, this flat expanse of northern Iowa will be crowded with corn ready to be trucked to market.

In India, even Gods are going hungry
Every morning, Hindu devotees haul buckets of fresh, creamy milk into this neighborhood temple, then close their eyes and bow in prayer as the milk is used to bathe a Hindu deity. At the foot of the statue, they leave small baskets of bananas, coconuts, incense sticks and marigolds.

Business

Fed decision on key rate presents risks either way
The Federal Reserve will decide today whether to cut interest rates for the seventh time in seven months. For leaders of the central bank, there is no obvious course of action, with big risks no matter what they do.

Obama calls minister's comments 'outrageous'
Using his sharpest language yet, Senator Barack Obama strived to distance himself further from his former longtime pastor on Tuesday, calling the Reverend Jeremiah A Wright Jr's comments about the US "outrageous" and "destructive."

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front Page

Cost overruns endanger copter deal
Federal officials are threatening to cancel a $5bn contract with Sikorsky because the US-based helicopter maker is asking for up to $500m in extra funds to replace Canada's 40-year-old Sea Kings.

BC natives should ration salmon catch, Ottawa says
Sockeye returns to the Fraser River this summer will be so poor that the federal government has asked 94 native bands in the watershed to come up with a catch-sharing plan that, for the first time, may involve “salmon rationing.”

Business

'There is no sign of a bottom'
Conditions at the epicentre of the credit crunch are getting worse as Ben Bernanke and the US Federal Reserve Board appear poised to slow their aggressive drive to cut interest rates.

Talisman profit tops $466m
Talisman Energy has reported first quarter earnings were $466m, or $0.46/share, down 10% from the same period last year, mainly due to gains on asset sales in the prior year.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front Page

Isabel Peron not to be extradited
The Spanish courts will not grant former president María Estela ‘Isabelita’ Martínez de Perón’s extradition, court sources reported yesterday, since they claim the crimes for which she is indicted in Argentina are not crimes against humanity, and, hence, the statute of limitations applies.

‘Market speculation did it’
UN officials yesterday blamed market speculation for the recent jump in global food prices and called for a concerted effort to ensure the world’s poor can afford to feed themselves.

Alliance of Civilizations underway
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos yesterday inaugurated the "Women and the Alliance of Civilizations" conference now being held in Buenos Aires.

By: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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