In Thursday's Americas papers

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Wave of deadly attacks in Pakistan
Pakistan erupted in a wave of violence believed to involve up to 50 militants at locations in Lahore and in the country’s northwest. At least 20 people were killed.

Lazard CEO Wasserstein dies
Bruce Wasserstein, who helped define an era of aggressive Wall Street deal makers, died at 61 years of age.

UK presses anti-insurgent strategy
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans on Wednesday to send additional troops to Afghanistan, signalling his support for the military strategy backed by the top American commander on the ground there, Gen Stanley McChrystal.

Calpers rocked by ‘pay-to-play’
Calpers said a former board member had reaped $50m in fees for arranging investments that could saddle state taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Goldman mounts charm offensive
Goldman has embarked on a soft-sell campaign, aiming to defuse a potential backlash on employee pay as it prepares to report earnings.

JP Morgan Chase earnings surge
JP Morgan Chase reported a $3.6bn quarterly profit on growth in its investment-banking division.

Coordinated attacks target multiple sites in Pakistan
At least 26 people are dead after gunmen launched daring attacks on two police centres and engaged officers in a gun battle at a federal building in Lahore on Thursday, officials said.

Industry built from scratch
On one side of a factory here, workers dump 500-pound sacks of pine chips into a hopper. Deep inside the plant, an 8,000-degree blow torch roars like a jet engine as the chips are processed. At the far end, the workers turn a tap and out pours ethanol, ready for use as a motor fuel.

In Hong Kong, a $56.6m apartment
A developer announced the record sale just hours after Hong Kong’s chief executive warned that the city might be facing a real estate bubble.

Asian markets extend rise after Dow passes 10,000
Asian stocks extended their rise after the Dow rose past 10,000 points in New York on Tuesday, but indexes in Europe were lower in early trading.

Obama urges payments for seniors, disabled
President Obama on Wednesday attempted to preempt the announcement that Social Security recipients will not get an increase in their benefit checks for the first time in three decades, encouraging Congress to provide a one-time payment of $250 to help seniors and disabled Americans weather the recession.

Hidden costs of medicare advantage
Patrick Higney, 66, doesn’t want to give up the freebies that come with his zero-premium Medicare Advantage plan: free aspirin and free Band-Aids, a free blood pressure machine and a free ear thermometer.

Many small investors have sat out rally
Wall Street may be cheering the rally in the US stock market, but many individual investors watched the Dow Jones industrial average soar past the 10,000 mark on the sidelines.

Cars aside, retail sales rise
Americans spend more money on food, gas and furniture in September than they did in August, new data show, but auto sales dry up.

Gold-standard drug does nothing for some breast-cancer patients
Thousands of Canadian breast cancer patients who take tamoxifen for years in the hope of fending off a recurrence may be doing it for naught: Because of their genetic makeup, the drug is doing little or nothing to help them.

Canadians warned early that Afghan detainees faced torture
Almost from the start of its big 2006 push into southern Afghanistan, Canada’s senior military and government officials were warned of "serious, imminent and alarming" problems with handing over captured prisoners to that country’s notorious jails.

Mortgage rate hike could cool housing rebound
For the first time since Jason Pilon began selling houses two years ago, he’s fielding questions from anxious clients about rising mortgage rates.

Fat US bank profits mask housing woes
JP Morgan Chase & Co’s fat investment banking profit masks a dark underside of the US recovery – the housing market is still a mess and homeowners are defaulting at an alarming rate.

Honduras de facto leader dampens hope of Zelaya deal
Honduras’ de facto leader Roberto Micheletti appeared to back away from a proposed deal to resolve a political crisis sparked when the army ousted President Manuel Zelaya in a coup.

After Gore conference, Tigre Mayor Sergio Massa calls for ‘awareness’
Tigre Mayor Sergio Massa spoke during and after the conference held by ex US Vice President Al Gore at the Museo de Arte de Tigre (MAT).

Congress debates tax extension, 2010 Budget
The Congress is debating the extension of key taxes and the introduction of changes to the Fiscal Responsibility Law and the 2010 Budget Bill in a session that started this morning and is expected to end late tonight.