In Friday's Americas papers

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

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front Page

Wal-Mart warns of Democratic win
Wal-Mart Stores is mobilising its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionise companies - including Wal-Mart.

US ties Pakistani intelligence to attack in Kabul
US government officials have concluded that elements of Pakistan's intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, aided militants in an attack last month on India's embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Hu defends China's actions in rare address to media
Chinese President Hu Jintao, making an extremely rare direct address to the foreign media, defended his government's preparations for the coming Olympic Games in Beijing and pledged to continue reform policies despite increasing economic challenges.

Money & Investing

Treasury ex-official is at centre of UBS probe
A former Treasury Department official is at the center of a civil complaint recently filed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo against UBS, in which the firm is accused of fraud in the auction-rate-securities market.

More sectors look ripe for job losses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases July unemployment and nonfarm payroll data Friday. Economists expect to see the jobless rate tick higher to 5.6% and payrolls shrink by 65,000 jobs, the seventh consecutive month of losses.

Economic unease halts stock rally
Surprisingly weak reports on economic output and jobless claims squelched a two-day stock rally and sent oil prices lower Thursday as demand fears heated up. Investors also responded to earnings news from several bellwether names whose reports included both promising and troubling elements.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front Page

A saddened Corona receives its soldier, home from Iraq
For 14 months, they waited for him. They hung the midnight-black missing-in-action banner at his home in Queens, offsetting its grimness with the bright hues of the Dominican and American flags. They dreaded another knock at the door from soldiers in uniform, but as the months dragged on, some came to crave closure most of all

McCain camp says Obama is playing ‘race card’
Senator John McCain’s campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing “the race card,” citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

Business Day

More arrows seen pointing to a recession
The American economy expanded more slowly than expected from April to June, the government reported Thursday, while numbers for the last three months of 2007 were revised downward to show a contraction - the first official slide backward since the last recession in 2001.

Profit data may explain US gloom
Corporate profits earned in the US rose much more rapidly from 2005 through 2007 than had been earlier reported, making the subsequent fall seem even more precipitous, government figures showed Thursday.

WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

Anthrax scientist commits suicide as FBI closes in
A top US biodefence researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatised the nation in the weeks following the 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.

Tijuana's AIDS epidemic is a binational threat
Half a dozen prostitutes swarm Angel Cabrera's car as he inches along the traffic-choked streets of downtown Tijuana on a balmy Friday evening. "Muchacho," they beckon. "Come here, handsome!"

Business

(no news update)

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front Page

A quiet ride - then carnage
Night was closing in and passengers were dozing off as The Legend of Zorro played on the television screen. An aboriginal man of about 20, making his way home to Manitoba from Edmonton, was sitting on his own in the back row, headphones covering his ears, sleeping with his cheek resting on the window pane.

Tobacco firms hit with $1bn in penalties
Two of Canada's big three tobacco companies will pay more than $1bn in criminal and civil penalties for orchestrating the wholesale shipment to the US of cigarettes that were smuggled back to this country and resold at bargain prices.

Business

Energy slams brakes on growth
The North American economy has lurched to a virtual standstill, as high gas prices and the US housing meltdown push the continent to the brink of recession.

Imperial Oil profit jumps 61%
Imperial Oil reported a second-quarter profit of $1.15bn, up from $712m a year ago, and increased its quarterly dividend on Thursday.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front Page

President finally receives Cobos
President Cristina Kirchner (CFK) yesterday met vice-president Julio Cobos for the first time in over three weeks after his vote in Congress killed a bill on export duties that sparked a four-month farm rebellion in Argentina, one of the world’s leading food exporters. 

Nighttime city bus strike ends
The UTA transport union yesterday lifted its 10pm to 4am strike, held since Saturday to protest a bus driver’s killing. The decision came after the government gave assurances of tighter security in the Greater Buenos Aires area. 

Olmert says he’s leaving
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced yesterday he will resign in September, throwing his country into political turmoil in a move that could stall delicate peace efforts with both the Palestinians and Syria. 

By: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

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