USA and Canada

Alberto Salas, president, La Sociedad Nacional de Minería (the national mining society of Chile)

What is the historical role of SONAMI?
La Sociedad Nacional de Minería (SONAMI) is one of the oldest business organizations in Chile. This year we’ll have been running for 129 years and during that time we have played a key role in the development of the mining sector.

Chile is currently responsible for over a third of worldwide copper production. It has been the leading global producer of copper since the 1990s when the government’s liberalisation policy opened the country to the international mining community.

New home sales surged some 16 percent in January to their highest rate since July 2008, while The Conference Board index of consumer attitudes rebounded to 69.6 in February from an upwardly revised 58.6 in January.

This latter figure suggests Americans has recovered from the shock of a sharp rise in payroll taxes over the New Year.

Markets were buoyed by the US data, which were both well above expectations, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recovering half a percent in morning trading.

Wherever life may take us, we are all born with the same basic skill set. However it is from this point onwards that we each develop and progress as human beings in hugely different ways from one another. Nevertheless, the vast majority of us will one day find ourselves in a similar position to when we were young in that we will require training to embark on our future career paths.

Copper fundamentals are highly buoyant. Demand for copper is increasing at over half a million tones annually, most of it driven by China, which consumes 20 percen of global supply. Demand for copper shows no sign of levelling off in the opinion of researchers at Yale, who calculated from 2006 consumption figures that global demand for copper would exceed the amount extractable from the ground by 2100.

The change, expected this autumn, follows other moves by the NY Times to consolidate its image, including plans to sell off the Boston Globe announced this month. It will bring to an end the 40-year-old IHT brand familiar to US expatriate readers.

Chief executive Mark Thompson, previously director general of the BBC, said the paper would add new reporters, and aim to expand its overseas readership.

In a joint statement, the companies said the deal would create "a stronger, more efficient global provider better able to compete in the rapidly changing office solutions industry".

The combined company would have had combined revenues of about $18 billion in 2012, the firms said.

Under the terms of the all-stock deal, Office Depot will issue 2.69 shares for each OfficeMax share. That is equal to about $13.50 per share, based on Office Depot's closing share price on Tuesday of $5.02.