In Tuesday's Americas papers

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

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front Page

Radical Iraq cleric in retreat
Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr - long a thorn in the side of the US military and Iraqi government - intends to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social services organisation.

Alcatel goes on hunt for new leaders
Alcatel-Lucent is kicking off a global hunt for new leadership this week, after former BT Group boss Ben Verwaayen rebuffed an initial approach from the company a few days ago, people familiar with the matter said.

No fun for Six Flags as parks face slump
Six Flags Chief Executive Mark Shapiro looked up at Goliath, a 200-foot-tall roller coaster just outside of Atlanta, as riders roared downhill at 70 miles per hour. "Nice ride," he noted. "But we'll never get our return on investment with it."

Money & Investing

Credit-card bonds fight a tougher debt market
Investors are growing wary of bonds backed by credit-card payments, jamming up another debt market and making it tougher for Americans to tap what has been one of the easiest places to get credit.

UBS lawyer quits amid securities probe
David Aufhauser, a top lawyer at UBS, resigned from the Swiss bank after being embroiled in a New York state civil complaint against the firm for its actions in the auction-rate-securities market, which collapsed earlier this year.

Wachovia CEO says shake-up is over
New Wachovia Chief Executive Robert K Steel indicated to Wall Street analysts Monday in New York that the recent shake-up in the bank's executive suite is over.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front Page

Getting in shape for games, China strengthens ties with neighbours
Until recently, the sight of a Japanese warship steaming toward Chinese shores or of a Chinese aircraft swooping low over Taiwan would have provoked alarm across Asia.

An Olympic stadium worth remembering
Given the astounding expectations piled upon the National Stadium, I’m surprised it hasn’t collapsed under the strain. More than 90,000 spectators will stream through its gates on Friday for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games; billions are expected to watch the fireworks on television.

Business Day

Merrill’s chief defends recent sale
John A Thain said he had to do something to stop the bleeding at Merrill Lynch. A week after he stunned Wall Street by selling billions of dollars of toxic mortgage investments for pennies on the dollar, Mr Thain defended his decision on Monday, saying he needed to take decisive action to shore up the Wall Street giant and morale among its employees.

Inflation takes steam out of rise in spending
Consumers spent more in June, but only because the things they bought cost more. Driven primarily by energy and food prices, inflation grew 0.8% over May, the biggest monthly increase since September 2005, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Monday. Spending, by comparison, grew just 0.6% in June.

WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

US may have taped visits to detainees
The Bush administration informed all foreign intelligence and law enforcement teams visiting their citizens held at Guantanamo Bay that video and sound from their interrogation sessions would be recorded, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.

Anthrax dryer a key to probe
Bruce E Ivins, the government's leading suspect in the 2001 anthrax killings, borrowed from a bioweapons lab that fall freeze-drying equipment that allows scientists to quickly convert wet germ cultures into dry spores, according to sources briefed on the case.

Business

Builder's troubles put buyers in a bind
Jane Hwang spent $120,000 and devoted five years waiting for her perfect custom home. Then in one brief phone call, she learned she might lose it all. The builder, Seville Homes, couldn't pay its bills, and its bank was seizing Hwang's nearly completed house.

Gas prices apply brakes to suburban migration
That 1958 brick rambler inside the Beltway is suddenly looking a lot better to Dawn and Jeff Schaefer, who are buying their first house in Northern Virginia.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front Page

Strict security, growing costs impede major military purchase
Ottawa is facing an uphill battle to carry out a promised purchase of $17bn in new military equipment because of stringent US security rules and ballooning costs caused by a series of delays, newly released documents show.

Khadr seeking to have charges withdrawn
Omar Khadr's US military defence lawyer will try this month to have charges against his client tossed out--launching what may be the final legal broadside against the US government before the detained Canadian's trial is expected to start in October.

Business

Bleak quarter for Asian, European banks
Several large banks in Asia and Europe reported sharp declines in quarterly earnings on Tuesday, squeezed by the downturn in global markets and the slowing world economy, and predicted little growth for the year ahead.

The long shadow of oil's rise
The price of crude oil slid to its lowest level in three months Monday, leaving energy experts scurrying for explanations that ranged from the altered tack of tropical storm Edouard in the Gulf of Mexico, to Barack Obama's tentative support for offshore drilling, to a weaker-than-expected US spending report.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front Page

De Angeli vows no more roadblocks
Alfredo De Angeli, the Entre Rios province Agrarian Federation leader who sprang to national fame during the recent dispute between the farm sector and the government, yesterday stated that there was no possibility of once again mounting roadblocks, and demanded that new national Agriculture Secretary Carlos Cheppi call a meeting with the heads of the four rural sector organizations to deal with issues left over from the recent conflict.

Solzhenitsyn dies aged 89
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet dissident writer and Nobel literature prize winner who revealed the horror of Stalin’s camps to the world, died yesterday at the age of 89, Russian news agencies reported. For more than 20 years, the bearded World War II veteran, who spent eight years in Stalin’s camps for criticizing the Soviet dictator, became a symbol of intellectual resistance to the Communist rule.

Reactions to the president’s press conference
Former economy minister Roberto Lavagna yesterday expressed disappointment with the press conference given by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner at the presidential residence in Olivos on Saturday, saying that she had given no answers on “inflation and crime”.  

By: Staff Reporter
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