business

Fallout from the credit-market crisis spread to the reinsurance industry when Swiss Re took a $1.1 billion write-down stemming from exposure to subprime-mortgage-related debt. Two weeks earlier, buoyant quarterly earnings gave no hint of the loss.

Freddie Mac, one of America's two government-sponsored mortgage giants, reported a net loss of $2.03 billion for the third quarter and blamed "weakening house prices and deteriorating credit" for its woes. Fannie Mae, its larger rival, recently announced a quarterly loss of $1.4 billion. Both handle around $4.8 trillion in housing loans and were set up by the government partly as a bulwark against times of crisis in financial markets.

Northern Rock, a British bank afflicted by the credit crunch and now being propped up by public money, said it had received more expressions of interest about a takeover, though some of the offers came in below its already-depressed share price. More calls were made for Northern Rock to be nationalized and its assets sold.

DP World raised almost $5 billion in its initial public offering, the biggest ever in the Middle East. Owned by the emirate of Dubai, the port and logistics company was caught in a political squall last year when it bought some operations in the United States.

ArcelorMittal said it was talking to China Oriental Group about increasing its holding in the firm. The world's biggest steelmaker took a 28 percent stake in its Chinese rival earlier this month. China's government has resisted attempts by foreigners, so far, to take control of Chinese steel producers.

SABMiller's offer to buy Grolsch for $1.2 billion was accepted by the Dutch brewer. Grolsch is one of the world's oldest breweries, tracing its roots to 1615. It sells most of its beer in Britain and the Netherlands, but SABMiller thinks Grolsch will go down well in emerging markets too. The deal left Anheuser-Busch standing at the bar; America's biggest brewer markets Grolsch in the United States and was interested in an acquisition.

TomTom, the market leader in satellite-navigation devices, made formal its offer to buy Tele Atlas, a maker of digital maps, after Garmin conceded defeat for its rival bid. TomTom amassed a 28 percent stake in Tele Atlas, its Dutch compatriot, during negotiations.

Amazon.com took the wraps off its new portable digital book-reader. The Kindle allows its users to download books and magazines for a fee and, unlike similar devices, has a wireless connection. A revolution in reading habits through e-books has long been promised by retailers, but many analysts remain skeptical.

Hewlett-Packard reported a strong quarter that helped its annual sales for the year ended Oct. 31 push past $100 billion for the first time.

Political economy

Huge transport strikes continued in France against the government's pension reforms. Sabotage against high-speed trains was also reported. With other aggrieved groups joining in, mostly on one-day strikes, President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to stand firm, though negotiations continued behind closed doors.

Japan became the second country, after America, to fingerprint and photograph all foreigners who arrive in the country. It justified the measure on counterterrorism grounds, but critics scented racial discrimination.

Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, staged an enormous rally in Moscow to boost his United Russia party ahead of parliamentary elections and denounced the opposition for behaving like jackals in seeking foreign cash. The Russian authorities have denied visas to foreign election-observers.

At a summit in Singapore to mark its 40th anniversary, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted a charter committing the group to promote human rights and democracy. Critics suggested that the presence at the summit of the prime minister of Myanmar, and his approval of the charter, showed it to be a sham.