In Thursday's Americas papers

18 June 2009 11:30  [Source: ICIS news]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front page

EU plan for market watchdog rattles UK
A summit starting today will expose tensions over tighter financial-market regulation between the UK, home of Europe’s financial centre, and other members of the bloc.

Iran arrests reformers as protests continue
Iran arrested prominent critics as protests continued. Meanwhile, Tehran accused Washington for the first time of interfering in the post-election dispute.

European farmers turn to biogas plants
European governments are transforming the practice of turning manure into energy from a fringe technology into a tool for slashing greenhouse gases and boosting energy supplies.

Money & Investing

Microsoft, Google in App clash
Microsoft said Google’s new Apps Sync disables the search capabilities of Microsoft’s popular Outlook software.

Eddie Bauer plots its next ascent
Eddie Bauer filed for bankruptcy protection and said a sale of its assets could be completed by mid-August, signalling a fresh start for a brand that has been buffeted by business fads.

Medtronic paid surgeon nearly $800,000
Medtronic paid nearly $800,000 to a former Army surgeon accused of fabricating a study that reported positive results for its key spine products.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front page

Face of Iran’s opposition: An insider turned agitator
His followers have begun calling him "the Gandhi of Iran". His image is carried aloft in the vast opposition demonstrations that have shaken Iran in recent days, his name chanted in rhyming verses that invoke Islam’s most sacred martyrs.

Clerics may be key to outcome of unrest
With Iran’s political establishment at war with itself, a central question lurking behind the post-election tumult is which side the country’s highly influential clerics will back.

Business Day

Looking to buy gold? Grab a sack of quarters first
If gold is the ultimate sanctuary for small investors who have taken furious flight to quality, then Thomas Geissler may have invented the ultimate vending machine.

In Britain, an aversion to rules from Europe
As the Obama administration announced a regulatory overhaul, a squabble between Brussels and Britain over a proposal for supervising financial markets and firms - many based in London - offered a glimpse of how difficult global regulatory reform is likely to be.

WASHINGTON POST

Front page

Core reforms held firm as much else fell away
The plan President Obama unveiled yesterday to overhaul the government’s oversight of the financial system was not the wholesale remaking of Washington that the administration had initially envisioned.

US struggling for right response to Iran
The political unrest in Iran presents the Obama administration with a dilemma: keep quiet to pursue a nuclear deal with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, or heed calls to respond more supportively to the protesters there - and risk alienating the Shiite cleric.

Business

Automakers’ pain, consumers’ gain
As autos sales hit historic lows, analysts say car buyers are getting some of the best discounts on record, and evidence suggests the perks work as the number of people buying cars increases 0.5% from April to May, boosting overall retail sales.

Expansive energy bill advances
A proposed Senate energy bill will create a new "clean energy" financing agency that extends subsidised loans and loan guarantees to a variety of projects, including nuclear plants.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front page

BC Premier leads charge on EI overhaul
Canada’s western premiers meet on Thursday to debate a radical redrawing of employment insurance, a new blueprint that British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said would scrap the philosophy of using the EI system to prop up economically stagnant parts of the country.

Canada’s monster computer roars to life
It has taken a year and $50m to put together, and its brain takes up as much room as a warehouse full of refrigerators.

Business

Pay-TV network files for court protection
Super Channel, the upstart movie network that launched two years ago to challenge a geographic monopoly in Canada’s pay-television sector, has filed for court protection from its creditors.

Chrysler dealers left without vehicles
Chrysler Group LLC will start cranking out vehicles at seven of its North American assembly plants on 29 June, but some Canadian dealers say they will be unable to restock their dealerships with new vehicles because they cannot get the financing they need.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front page

Obama urges biggest financial reforms since 30s
US President Barack Obama laid out his vision for reshaping US financial regulation, aiming to tighten oversight of large firms whose excessive risk-taking triggered a global economic slump.

Nasdaq rose but banks dragged S&P, Dow fell
The Nasdaq rose, lifted by technology and biotech shares. But financials weighed down the Dow and S&P 500 on uncertainties about the Obama administration’s proposed regulatory reforms and after Standard and Poor’s cut debt ratings on 22 US banks.

Financial Times praises Argentine ‘heterodox’ economic model, warns of ‘unstable conditions for investments’
The Financial Times praised Argentina’s devalued exchange rate and demand driven economic model, which was considered as a "test bed" for many countries currently analysing different alternatives to cope with the spreading economic crisis.

By: Staff Reporter
+44 20 8652 3214

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly