AMIA judge seeks arrest of ex-Iranian FM
Velayati has always denied any kind of involvement in the AMIA attack, labelling the accusations against him and others as baseless and politically motivated. He is currently the president of the Centre for Strategic Research, a leading Iranian think tank that was previously chaired by the current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Thursday, July 21, 2016 AMIA judge seeks arrest of ex-Iranian FMMagistrate requests cooperation from Singapore, Malaysia to extradite suspect VelayatiFederal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral has requested that Singapore and Malaysia arrest Ali Akbar Velayati — Iran’s former foreign minister and a suspect in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre — and extradite him to Argentina. The unit formally petitioned Canicoba Corral to issue the arrest warrant on Monday when it became aware that Velayati was in Singapore. At press time, the Singaporean and Malaysian foreign ministries had not confirmed receipt of the arrest requests.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 21, 2016 03:11 UTC
Vidal: 1,600 police officers suspended so far
Thursday, July 21, 2016 Vidal: 1,600 police officers suspended so farOut with the old, in with the new. Buenos Aires province Governor María Eugenia Vidal greets secondary school students in La Plata yesterday. Cristian Ritondo, the Security minister of Buenos Aires province, is a newcomer to the field. On January 12, seven police inspectors who worked directly under Bressi were dismissed in what was the first police shake-up of the Vidal administration. Before being appointed to the highl-profile post he served as a PRO party legislator during the tenure of Mauricio Macri as mayor of Buenos Aires City.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 21, 2016 03:11 UTC
IMF worsens outlook: local economy to shrink 1.5%
Thursday, July 21, 2016 IMF worsens outlook: local economy to shrink 1.5%IMF growth forecasts for the biggest countries of the region show Argentina performing better than Venezuela and Brazil but worse than Colombia and Peru. The fall in commodity prices has clearly affected the region’s prospects, and they are not expected to bounce back in the near term, Werner said. Overall, that means that growth forecasts for the region remain relatively stable when compared to estimations made early in 2016, rising by 0.1 percentage points. To counteract global instability, the IMF made a recommendation in line with Argentina’s Central Bank’s recent monetary reforms: keeping exchange rate flexibility. Argentina will experience a deeper economic contraction than initially expected this year, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest report.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 21, 2016 03:11 UTC
Grain truckers strike costing US$3.5M a day
Thursday, July 21, 2016 Grain truckers strike costing US$3.5M a dayExporting firms claim to be losing growing amounts because of continued nationwide protestA strike by grain truckers over hauling rates is costing grain exporters daily losses of about US$3.5 million and is keeping 120 ships stranded in ports nationwide — a scenario that could worsen and affect fuel supply. The grain truckers strike started in Monday and comes midway through the corn harvest and at the tail end of the soy harvest. If no deal is reached, the strike could not only affect grain exporting companies but also fuel stations, unions warned yesterday. Keeping one ship on port waiting to be loaded costs US$30,000 per day,” Andrés Alcaraz, spokesman of CIARA chamber of grain exporters, said. Grain firms have to pay truckers an annual mandatory set rate, which the unions claim is insufficient and should be increased.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 21, 2016 03:11 UTC
Eighteen protesters arrested in Cleveland after scuffle with police
Two of those arrested were charged with felonious assault on an officer after officers tried to confiscate the flag, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters. Fifteen of the 16 other people arrested were charged with a misdemeanor offense of inciting violence near the crowded Quicken Loans Arena, police said. Cleveland police arrested 18 protesters on Wednesday after scuffling with demonstrators who tried to set an American flag on fire near the crowded entrance to the arena where Republicans made Donald Trump their presidential nominee, officials said. None of the protesters were charged for burning the flag. Two police officers were injured during the scuffle, sustaining what Williams described as "minor bumps, bruises."
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 21, 2016 03:00 UTC
Thinking Photography in Latin America ‹ The Argentina Independent
Indeed, it established that the identity of Latin American photography rested upon recording the socio-political circumstances of Latin American countries in their condition as anti-imperialist revolutionary societies. So, what is contemporary Latin American photography and what does it consist of? Erika Teichert checks out Fototeca Latinoamericana, a new permanent space dedicated to Latin American photography in Palermo. The history of Latin American photography though is slightly easier to map out. The first Colloquium of Latin American Photography was held in Mexico in 1978.
Source:The Argentina Independent
July 20, 2016 19:41 UTC
Date Fixed For Buenos Aires Subte Fare Hike ‹ The Argentina Independent
A single fare on the Buenos Aires subte network will cost $7.50 from 27th July, according to a resolution published in the city government’s official gazette today. The new fare represents a 67% hike from the current $4.50, while there will still be discounts for frequent users. The fare hike had been announced in March, but delayed to hold a series of public audiences as legally required for increases in the rates of public services. Earlier this month, Del Corro argued that the proposed fare hike should be postponed until a full audit is carried out to determine exactly how city funds allocated to operating the subte network have been used. A ‘social fare’ of $4.00 will be available for low income households, those who receive welfare support, and the unemployed.
Source:The Argentina Independent
July 20, 2016 18:22 UTC
AMIA: Judge requests extradition of former Iranian official
22° anniversary of attack Wednesday, July 20, 2016 AMIA: Judge requests extradition of former Iranian officialJudge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral submitted requests to Singapur and Malasia for the extradition of Alí Akbar Velayati, who was Iran’s Foreign Minister at the time of the 1994 AMIA deadly bombing in Buenos Aires. The request was submitted to those countries as it was known the former Iranian official Landed in those countries to offer several lectures. When asked if he would be willing to appear before an Argentine court, he responded that there's no reason why an Iranian official should have to respond to another nation. Last Monday, during a ceremony to commemorate a new anniversary of the tragedy, AMIA leaders and victims’ relatives urged the government to consider the probe a “state priority.” Accused of being one of the masterminds of the terrorist attack against the Jewish community centre which left 85 people killed, Velayati has denied his role in the bombing.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 18:22 UTC
AFA head: priority is naming new coach
Martino quit the national team after losing the Copa América Centenario final to Chile in the United States. “There are many priorities but the national team needs a new coach. It will be a committee’s decision but we have to meet ourselves and consider all the options to make the right decision,” Pérez said on Radio Cooperativa yesterday. Messi decided to quit a few minutes after the painful defeat at the Copa América Centenario final, his fourth final defeat in a row with the national team. Argentina is the best team in the world and it has no coach,” he said on TN channel.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:32 UTC
La Plata: federal court indicts former military officers for human rights abuses
8 Wednesday, July 20, 2016 La Plata: federal court indicts former military officers for human rights abusesA federal court in La Plata has indicted 21 suspects charged with crimes against humanity committed during the last military dictatorship (1976-1983) in Police Station No. 7 unit and the Intelligence 101 Detachment of La Plata, in coordination with the Buenos Aires provincial authorities. 8 of Buenos Aires province’s capital, which functioned as a clandestine detention centre during that period. The police station was just one link in the chain of clandestine detention centres that functioned in La Plata and in the surrounding areas. Retired officers Carlos del Señor Hidalgo Garzón and Ricardo Luis Von Kyaw are charged with kidnapping and torturing 81 people between 1976 and 1978 in the Greater Buenos Aires district of La Matanza.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:11 UTC
The road to 2030: challenges in water scarcity, poverty and hunger
— The proportion of the global population suffering from hunger declined from 15 percent in 2000-2012 to 11 percent in 2014-2016. — Third-generation (3G) mobile-broadband covered 89 percent of the urban population but only 29 percent of the rural population last year. — In 2015, 6.6 billion people, or 91 percent of the global population, used an improved drinking water source, compared with 82 percent in 2000. — In 2013, 59 million children of primary school age were out of school and gender inequality remains a persistent challenge for countries worldwide. — Water scarcity affects more than two billion people worldwide.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:11 UTC
Colombia high Court approves peace plebiscite
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Colombia high Court approves peace plebisciteFormer president Uribe, critic of FARC negotiations, calls vote ‘a government trick,’ urges rejectionBOGOTÁ — A Colombian high court late Monday night ruled in favour of allowing a plebiscite to approve a peace deal being negotiated with Marxist FARC rebels that seeks to end more than five decades of war. A final peace accord could be signed in a question of weeks and the vote held by year-end. Yesterday Uribe, a leading critic of the government’s peace negotiations with the FARC, said that his Democratic Centre party had not decided whether to participate in the plebiscite on an eventual peace agreement endorsed late Monday night by the country’s own Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court decision would allow the accords to be approved with 13 percent, or 4.4 million, of the electorate and would be a response to one question. Some 33 million of Colombia’s almost 49 million population are eligible to vote.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:10 UTC
Chubut sells US$650M in oil-backed bonds
So far, however, with low interest rates across the globe, Argentina remains attractive in the short term. Investors have already absorbed some US$7.275bn in Argentine bonds over the last month and a half alone — much of that provincial debt. Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Chubut sells US$650M in oil-backed bondsProvince becomes latest to join in local debt spree after country’s return to global marketsArgentine borrowers continued to play the market yesterday, as the province of Chubut sold US$650 million in bonds at 7.75 percent interest, continuing the massive, months-long provincial debt spree. Sean Newman, a senior portfolio manager at Invesco, still sees further upside potential investing in provincial bonds despite the fact that their value has already improved in secondary markets over the last few weeks. The bonds will be backed by the province’s oil and gas royalties.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:10 UTC
Where are the constructive alternatives?
Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Where are the constructive alternatives? Any third way out of this quandary must come from the political world since court rulings by definition must follow a binary logic of either rubberstamping Macri’s indigestible increases or reverting to an unsustainable status quo. It should not be a mission impossible to come up with a way of updating utility billing which is superior to the complete hash coming from Macri’s team, but this particular public service is nowhere to be found. The courts are showing signs of accelerating their always lethargic timetables to shorten the legal limbo surrounding the definition of gas pricing, but it should never have depended on them in the first place — this issue has always been a political problem which should have been resolved by the politicians. Much the same situation applies today — Macri deserves virtually all the criticism he is receiving and more but the opposition should also be showing the way ahead out of this predicament since going back to the absurd subsidy mountain is not an option.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:10 UTC
Uruguay denies pulp mill pollution
After complaints from Gualeguaychú municipality Wednesday, July 20, 2016 Uruguay denies pulp mill pollutionThe new UPM pulp mill planned for construction near the Río Negro in Uruguay will have no effect on the Uruguay river, the neighbouring country’s environmental agency said yesterday. But Gauleguaychú’s government argues that the Río Negro eventually flows into the Uruguay river, which borders the Argentine province, and thus could affect Uruguay’s neighbours. “Uruguay was already able to analyze to pulp mills and follow how they worked, with no environmental impact at all in either of the previous two projects. “If the law is followed, everythings points to no pollution problems” in the river shared by both countries, Nario told Radio Sarandí. The plant will require a US$5-billion investment, the largest in the history of the country.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 20, 2016 03:10 UTC