In Monday's Americas papers

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

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front Page

Russia launches new raids on Georgia
Swarms of Russian jets launched new raids on Georgian territory Monday while Russian officials accused Georgia of violating its pledge to observe a cease-fire around the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Mortgage-market trouble reaches big credit unions
Five of the nation's largest credit unions are reporting big paper losses on mortgage-related securities, a sign that housing-market distress is spreading even to the most risk-averse financial sectors.

Waste management presses for rival
Waste Management was expected to raise its unsolicited cash offer for rival Republic Services by nearly 10% to $6.7bn, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest salvo in an increasingly heated turf war among the nation's biggest trash haulers.

Money & Investing

Signs say economic recovery isn't here
It hasn't been a smooth ride, but the stock market's ability to hold onto gains posted since mid-July once again is raising hopes that a bottom finally is in place.

Predicting what's next gets harder
Investors often expect the stock market to behave like a crystal ball. Lately it has made a better rearview mirror. Conventional wisdom holds that the market efficiently reflects future corporate earnings. This makes sense, as one ostensibly buys stocks in companies to claim bucketfuls of their future profits.

Banks' gift from the Fed
The Federal Reserve has come up with plenty of newfangled ways to shore up the financial system in recent months. But its oldest, and simplest, trick has been to let banks try earning their way out of trouble by cutting short-term interest rates.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front Page

Russians push past separatist area to assault Central Georgia
Russia expanded its attacks on Georgia on Sunday, moving tanks and troops through the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and advancing toward the city of Gori in central Georgia, in its first direct assault on a Georgian city with ground forces during three days of heavy fighting, Georgian officials said.

On slog to safety, seething at West
In retreat, the Georgian soldiers were so tired they could not keep from stumbling. Their arms were loaded with rucksacks and ammunition boxes; they had dark circles under their eyes. Officers ran up and down the line, barking for them to go faster.

Business Day

Giant retailers look to sun for energy savings
Retailers are typically obsessed with what to put under their roofs, not on them. Yet the nation’s biggest store chains are coming to see their immense, flat roofs as an untapped resource.

Is Google a media company?
Type “buttermilk pancakes” into Google, and among the top three or four search results you will find a link to a detailed recipe complete with a photo of a scrumptious stack from a site called Knol, which is owned by Google.

WASHINGTON POST

Front Page

Georgia retreats, pleads for truce; US condemns Russian onslaught
The Georgian army, suffering massive casualties in the face of overwhelming Russian firepower, retreated from the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Sunday. Georgian leaders' recent expressions of defiance turned increasingly into pleas for a cease-fire and Western support in the face of a military debacle.

Early in the Games, glimpses of China's security struggles
Violence and bloodshed marring the first two days of the Beijing Olympics provided a dramatic reminder that there is no such thing as perfect security in a country as vast as China, with so many people nursing grievances against the authoritarian government.

Business

Violent S American jewel thieves may be hitting smaller US cities
The FBI is investigating whether a violent, well-organized ring of South American jewelry thieves is expanding its operations away from large metropolitan areas such as New York, Miami, Houston and Chicago and hitting targets in smaller cities in the South.

NoMa gets gentrified, now waits for tenants
When National Public Radio said in March that it would build its new headquarters in NoMa, politicians and developers heralded it as a key boost for the rapidly developing neighborhood.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front Page

Russian blitz on Georgia continues
Swarms of Russian jets launched new raids on Georgian territory Monday while Russian officials accused Georgia of violating its pledge to observe a ceasefire around the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Montreal community seeks answers after police kill man
Freddy Alberto Villanueva and his older brother Danny were playing dice with friends in a park in a tough Montreal neighbourhood when police rolled up and asked to talk to the elder sibling.

Business

Playing the blame game
In the two years before the asset-backed commercial paper market collapsed, the investment was undergoing a transformation, morphing not only into a much riskier product but one that would start to look less out of place on the shelf among a broker's range of products on offer to ordinary clients.

AECL's future hinges on Ontario deal, sources say
Atomic Energy of Canada is fighting for its survival, as industry supporters say the federal government is preparing to pull the plug on the heavily subsidized Crown corporation if it loses a bid to build two nuclear reactors in Ontario.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front Page

Georgia says in ‘state of war’
Russia and small US-allied Georgia headed toward a wider war yesterday as Russian tanks rumbled into the contested province of South Ossetia and Russian aircraft bombed a Georgian town, escalating a conflict that already has left hundreds dead and the Russian commander wounded. 

Garre suspends 23 military
Defence Minister Nilda Garre filed criminal charges against 23 members of the armed forces--among them four generals--and ordered their suspension on charges of administrative corruption. 

Morales pins all on recall vote
Evo Morales is hoping victory in a referendum on his presidency today will re-ignite his stalled crusade to remedy age-old inequities. Polls strongly indicate he’ll keep his job. 

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Staff Reporter
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