In Thursday's Americas papers

15 May 2008 12:30  [Source: ICIS news]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front Page

GE may shed storied appliance unit
General Electric is preparing to sell or divest itself of its century-old appliances business, one of the best-known American consumer brands, as Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt seeks to revive his weakened conglomerate.

US to seek client names from UBS in tax case
US prosecutors are expected to confront Swiss banking giant UBS with a broad subpoena for the names of wealthy American clients who may have used its services to avoid income taxes, according to lawyers and others involved in the case.

Icahn pushing Yahoo back to Microsoft
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is launching a proxy contest to unseat Yahoo board of directors, according to a person close to the matter, a move aimed at pressuring the Internet company to reach out to Microsoft to restart sale discussions.

Money & Investing

Is debt thaw on borrowed time?
Slowly but surely, the grease that lubricates Wall Street's deal machine is flowing again. A significant improvement in the credit markets since late March is emboldening more companies to undertake acquisitions and share buybacks that will be financed largely with debt.

Fund firms, if not funds, draw interest
Spotty performance and investor defections are making a lot of mutual-fund companies look cheap -- and very attractive for buyers. A shopping spree for fund firms is under way, as other asset managers and private-equity firms launch takeovers.

Parsing Freddie's profit report
Freddie Mac's earnings report more clearly than ever defined the battle lines between the company's shareholders and the government, which sees it as one of its main tools to bolster the housing market.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front Page

Immigration and violence propel Father’s crusade
Jamiel Shaw Sr never gave much thought to the immigration status of gang members in his South Los Angeles neighborhood. With his military wife deployed to Iraq and two sons to raise, there were football practices to manage, shoes to buy, college applications to consider.

Republican election losses stir fall fears
The Republican defeat in a special Congressional contest in Mississippi sent waves of apprehension across an already troubled party Wednesday, with some senior Republicans urging Congressional candidates to distance themselves from President Bush to head off what could be heavy losses in the fall.

Business Day

Collateral foreclosure damage for condo owners
Barbara Sanz has never missed a mortgage payment, but the plunge in real estate is punishing condominium owners like her anyway.

Merrill tries to temper the Pollyannas in its ranks
Sometimes Wall Street seems a bit like the make-believe Lake Wobegon: Most stocks are above average, and it is always a good time to buy.

WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

China expedites vast rescue operation
The Chinese government accelerated its massive rescue-and-recovery operation Wednesday, dispatching hundreds of busloads of civilian rescue teams, paramilitary police and youthful volunteers toward earthquake-ravaged regions in a vivid demonstration of the Communist Party's power to mobilise.

Edwards throws support to Obama
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave his long-sought endorsement to Senator Barack Obama on Wednesday night, calling on Democrats to unite behind him and turn their attention to the fall campaign.

Business

Luxury foreclosures
For sale: Spacious home outfitted with six bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, granite countertops, stainless-steel kitchen appliances, a three-car garage, exercise room and wet bar -- all for $875,000 in the Red Cedar West subdivision of Leesburg where houses once sold for $1-million-plus.

Food costs jump most in 18 years
Rising global grain prices helped spark the largest increase in monthly food costs in nearly 20 years, as consumers paid more in April for cereals and baked goods, and the dairy, meat and other animal products that rely on feedstocks, the government reported yesterday.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front Page

Why China's buildings crumbled
The bodies of the children were lined up in a long row in the mud of a basketball court, just outside the flattened school. Every few minutes, another corpse was brought out of the rubble, carried on a wooden door, covered in rags.

Police psychologist likens RCMP to Putin's Russia
Someone else might have resisted the temptation, especially knowing he might be blackballed as a result. But Mike Webster has never operated that way.

Business

Former executive testifies he told Livent to clean up the books
A former Livent employee told a Toronto court Wednesday that he tried to persuade the company's executives to clean up the books before Livent went public in 1993, but they refused.

Deal close between CAW and GM, Chrysler
The Canadian Auto Workers extended contract talks with Chrysler Canada Inc. and General Motors of Canada Ltd. Wednesday night, saying it was close to a deal with both companies but remaining issues could still prevent an agreement from being reached.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front Page

Farmers take demands to Congress
While the government yesterday reaffirmed that it "will not give in to pressure" from hundreds of thousands of protesting farmers who demand the elimination of higher export duties, producers took their demands to Congress in an effort to gather political support.

19,000 buried in China rubble
Thousands of Chinese troops are set to join a frantic search for earthquake survivors today, with prospects looking increasingly grim for thousands of people buried under rubble and mud.

Clinton, too little, too late?
Hillary Rodham Clinton coasted to an overwhelming but largely symbolic victory in working-class West Virginia yesterday, handing Barack Obama one of his worst defeats of the campaign yet scarcely slowing his march toward the Democratic presidential nomination.

By: Staff Reporter
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