Chemical Industry Weekly News Round-Up, August 5

Editor's note: I'll be away on vacation tomorrow, so here's an early (if somewhat abbreviated) news round-up.

This Week on CW:

Earnings continued to be strong, though there were some hiccups. Dow Chemical swung to profit in the second-quarter, though earnings fell a bit short of analyst estimates. DSM and Arkema saw significant profit increases, while Sherwin-Williams fell very slightly short of estimates amid earnings improvement. Huntsman, meanwhile, swung to profit.

Reliance is forming yet another joint venture in the U.S.'s Marcellus shale.

A massive explosion at an Iranian fertilizer complex killed five people.

Around the Web:

International leaders are growing increasingly frustrated by the inability of the U.S. government to act on climate change, the New York Times reports.

Do the American rich need everyone else? A Wall Street Journal blog poses the question.

A rather brainy blogger pens a thought-provoking, and generally positive, review of a book called Copycats, which argues that imitation is as important as innovation, if not more so (be sure to check the comments, which make an interesting reference to Celanese).