In Wednesday's Americas papers

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

US indicts hackers in ATM heist
The Justice Department indicted eight Russian and Eastern European computer hackers, alleging they were part of a crime ring that broke into ATMs in hundreds of cities world-wide and stole $9m.

Chairman tightens grip as GM rebuilds
GM's chairman said the board isn't comfortable with management's 2010 forecasts, and indicated the CEO's timetable for a stock offering may be too optimistic.

Merkel pledges to cut taxes despite job losses
German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed her commitment to cutting taxes and warned that Europe's biggest economy will feel the effects of the economic crisis well into next year, in a speech setting out the agenda of her new centre-right alliance.

AIG’s Benmosche threatens to jump ship
Robert Benmosche has told the board of AIG that he is considering stepping down as chief executive of the government-controlled insurer, just three months after taking the job.

US loses bear fraud case
Two ex-Bear Stearns hedge-fund managers were acquitted of fraud in the first major criminal trial over the US financial crisis.

ING swings to profit
ING swung to a third-quarter net profit on improving investment markets and that its restructuring plans are on target.

Top Obama advisors favour adding troops in Afghanistan
The president’s national security team is coalescing around a proposal to send 30,000 or more additional troops to Afghanistan, officials say.

German goalkeeper’s death investigated
Fans in Hanover gathered to mourn the death of the German national goalkeeper Robert Enke, who was hit by a train on Tuesday in an apparent suicide.

Recession upends German zeal for fiscal prudence
Germany’s leaders are grappling with a rising budget deficit as they push a tax cut to stimulate the economy.

Under attack, Fed chairman studies politics
As the Federal Reserve has come under scrutiny, Ben S Bernanke, its chairman, is nurturing political ties as never before.

Sniper John Allen Muhammad is executed
A man who directed what many law enforcement officials consider one of the worst outbreaks of crime in US history dies by lethal injection.

Possible agency missteps debated
As the nation mourned the 13 people shot dead last week at Fort Hood, Texas, finger-pointing in Washington intensified on Tuesday about whether officials at several agencies had failed to coordinate as they tracked the suspect's activities or to react to possible warning signs in the months before the attack.

Former Bear Stearns executives acquitted
The government's most prominent criminal case against Wall Street executives accused of wrongdoing in the financial crisis collapses as a jury finds two former hedge-fund managers not guilty of charges they lied to investors when their investments in sub-prime mortgages turned sour.

Dodd’s reform plan takes aim at Fed
The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee unveils a sweeping regulatory reform bill that would strip the Federal Reserve of nearly all of its power to oversee banks, setting up a possible clash with the Obama administration, which has argued for the central bank to play a pivotal role.

Why is 11 November blooming?
The annual Remembrance Day is growing like poppies.

MacIntyre takes Giller Prize
Veteran investigative reporter Linden MacIntyre scored a surprise upset on Tuesday night by winning the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize for excellence in Canadian literature.

Saving Opel could cost GM $8.5bn
General Motors Co faces as much as US$8.5bn in costs to restructure and revive its troubled Adam Opel GmbH unit, and the German government warned GM it will have to bear most of that burden itself.

Economic realities plague Japan’s leadership
It swept into power with a Barack Obama-like call for change less than two months ago, but Japan's new government has already run headlong into a wall of economic reality.

‘There will be no opposition’ if Kirchner remains as PJ head, Gioja
Chaco Province Governor Jorge Capitanich showed himself to be against ex President Néstor Kirchner's resignation of the Justicialist Party (PJ) leadership, which Kirchner presented a few months ago.

Subway workers announce they will not extend the strike
Subway workers announced they will not extend the subway and tram strike that started in the morning.

Interamerican Press Society criticises freedom of speech ‘deterioration’
Freedom of the press is deteriorating in America due to government actions and criminal violence, with sixteen journalists having been killed in the last semester of the year, according to the Interamerican Press Society (SIP), after the conclusion of the 65th Assembly in Buenos Aires.