In Wednesday's Americas papers

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Front page

Obama pushes states to cover unemployed
Obama plans to offer states $7bn to entice them to expand unemployment-insurance laws.

Israel to briefly halt Gaza offensive
Israel was set to pause its Gaza offensive for three hours to allow food and fuel to reach Palestinians, as the country's leaders debated whether to accept an international ceasefire plan.

Hadley: Pakistan is top US challenge
Pakistan will pose the greatest foreign-policy challenge to the Obama administration, Bush's national security adviser said in an interview.

Money & Investing

Madoff tried to stave off firm's crash
Days before Madoff's arrest, he received $250m from a Wall Street mentor, showing how the investment manager tried to raise cash to stave off his firm's collapse.

German billionaire commits suicide
German billionaire Adolf Merckle has committed suicide after his business empire ran into trouble in the global financial crisis, his family said.

Alcoa to cut 15% of work force
Alcoa set asset sales, a 15% work-force reduction, more plant closures and a 50% cut in capital spending.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Front page

Israel accepts brief pause in fighting for relief supplies
Under pressure to ease its 12-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Israel agreed to suspend the fighting three hours a day and permit aid delivery.

For older Italians, Brooklyn has changed
As the city’s demographics shift, many elderly Italian immigrants see the enclaves they built disappearing.

Business Day

Austria’s ‘Woman on Wall Street’ now out of sight
Sonja Kohn made few friends gathering billions for Bernard L Madoff from wealthy investors in Russia and across Europe.

Want to copy iTunes music? Go ahead, Apple says
Apple said it would begin selling song downloads without anti-copying measures and change its pricing structure.

WASHINGTON POST

Front page

President-elect predicts trillion-dollar trouble
Obama warns of years of deficit spending to come unless policymakers "make a change in the way that Washington does business".

Obama faces fire over Panetta
Current, ex-CIA officials criticise "opaque" process of selection as Democrats stew over lack of consultation.

Business

Post-holiday sales won't prevent erosion
The service sector contracted in December for the third consecutive month, while orders at factories fell the previous month on weakening consumer demand, says the Institute for Supply Management

Fed fears 'prolonged retraction' to economy
The economy is set to remain weak well into this year, and could even be at risk of entering a "prolonged contraction," leaders of the Federal Reserve conclude.

GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada

Front page

Cellphone firms ordered to fix 911 system to save lives
Canada’s telecom regulator will force the cellphone industry to upgrade the country’s 911 system, which has fallen behind other parts of the world and may be contributing to deaths involving wireless calls for help.

‘A manly nation requires manly games’
In December of 1862, The Globe ran a letter to the editor complaining about a group of rowdies who bullied skaters "of respectable appearance" on the Don River in Toronto while engaged in a most curious pastime with curved sticks.

Business

Is it a breakout, or fake out?
A bear market mauling cut the TSX in half in 2008. Quietly, stocks are climbing again on positive momentum, rising more than 20%. Is it a breakout? Or just another fake out?

Worst is yet to come, Fed acknowledges
The world’s largest economy now faces an even deeper downturn than previously forecast, with soaring unemployment in 2009 and perhaps years of trillion-dollar deficits.

BUENOS AIRES HERALD

Front page

Transport hikes: it’s official now
A top government official on Tuesday formally confirmed that public transport fares in the City of Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires will increase, but he did not name a date for the hike to come into effect.

Two police officers arrested in kidnapping case
A police captain and a lieutenant were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the kidnapping of Leonardo Bergara, who was abducted by four heavily armed men dressed as policemen in Ranelagh, Berazategui, on 22 December.

The rivers are running low
Low river levels are causings problems on Paraná.

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