In Tuesday's Americas papers

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

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front page

With speech, Michelle Obama seeks reintroduction
Accompanied by her two young daughters, Michelle Obama took on a big challenge Monday night, to make the country more comfortable with her husband and her.

H-P to close $13.25bn EDS purchase
Hewlett-Packard Co. said it expects to close its $13.25bn acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp Tuesday.

Regulators step up bank actions
Federal regulators have increased the number of struggling banks they have effectively put on probation, forcing them to fix their problems and try to avoid potentially costly failures.

Money & Investing

Economy challenges Obama agenda
Obama is proposing to use the government to remake economic policies in a way that Washington hasn't seen in decades. If an Obama administration pursues an activist agenda, it could alienate the rising number of conservative Democrats.

Home sales rise but risks persist
Existing-home sales rose a healthy 3.1% in July from the previous month, but growing inventories of unsold homes and rising mortgage interest rates continue to thwart a full housing-market recovery.

Slowdown in China hits Taiwan
Taiwan's export orders grew at their slowest pace in more than five years in July as demand for technology products, including flat-panel displays, and electrical and machinery goods fell amid the global economic slowdown.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front page

Kennedy tugs at hearts, as Obama’s wife praises values
The Democrats sought to present an emotionally powerful two-act evening, featuring Senator Edward M Kennedy, struggling with brain cancer, and Michelle Obama.

Three democratic clans mix uneasily
Neither family wanted it this way, neither the Kennedy’s nor the Clintons. But the opening of the Democratic convention on Monday brought a stark contrast: a bittersweet public celebration of the life of Senator Edward M Kennedy, who is suffering from brain cancer, and an embittered private drama about the terms on which the Clintons would yield the party to Senator Barack Obama.

Business Day

Communities become home buyers to fight decay
Several big cities are using tax dollars and private funds to buy and refurbish foreclosed properties to help declining neighbourhoods survive.

Home sales increased 3.1% in July
The respite for the housing slump came as falling prices appeared to lure more buyers into the market, but the number of homes for sale increased significantly.

WASHINGTON POST

Front page

Obama, Kennedy electrify crowd
Two of Barack Obama's most important allies, his wife Michelle and ailing Sen Ted Kennedy, make the case for the candidate on convention's first day.

Obama signalled early that he was unlikely to choose ex-rival
In a private meeting with Sen Barack Obama after she conceded the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen Hillary Rodham Clinton made a request: that he consider her for his vice presidential running mate, but not put her through the charade of being vetted if he was not serious.

Business

After Merrill's sale of bad debt, few follow
The sale of the investment firm left Merrill's peers wondering whether they should take a similar loss on the securities or hold on to them and risk an even further drop in value.

Volatility takes its toll on Wall St
US stocks got off to a rocky start this week as concerns about weakness in the housing market and volatility in oil prices continued to gnaw at investors.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front page

'My husband will be an extraordinary president'
Michelle Obama, the feisty, straight-talking wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, launched a spirited effort Monday to woo wary voters by casting Barack as a regular guy, an American success story and not the exotic figure unfit to be president that is portrayed by his adversaries.

Harper ups ante on election ultimatum
The rush for a snap election is quickening as senior Conservatives indicated that Prime Minister Stephen Harper might not wait to meet Stéphane Dion before calling a vote if the Liberal Leader does not agree to talks next week.

Business

Will that be cash or bitumen? Alberta retools royalty system
The government is pressing ahead with a plan to take some oil sands royalties in bitumen instead of cash, as it seeks to ensure as much heavy crude processing takes place in the province as possible.

Brazil quashes Canadian potash deal
Just two years after Canada gave a Brazilian mining giant the green light to buy Canadian nickel stalwart Inco, Brazil has quashed a Canadian-backed company's deal to buy potash assets in the Amazon, citing the mineral's strategic national value.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front page

US Democrats launch into fest
US Democrats opened their convention here yesterday to anoint Barack Obama as the first black presidential candidate for a major US party, setting in motion a four-day political festival that seeks to heal wounds opened in a bruising primary battle. 

Cromañón blame ‘lies elsewhere’
“It wasn’t me. It wasn’t them (the Callejeros band); I’m innocent.” Ana María Fernández, former deputy director of the Buenos Aires city supervision department, yesterday stated she had been assigned “minor tasks” by her boss, Fabiana Fizbin, four months before the fatal fire at the Cromañón rock club in which 194 people lost their lives on December 30, 2004.   

‘Iraq won’t grant immunity’
 Iraq and the United States have agreed that all US troops will leave by the end of 2011, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki insisted yesterday even as Washington repeated that no final deal had been reached.

By: Staff Reporter
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