Uribe names terms for new FARC peace deal
Former Colombian leader calls for detention of rebels, limit to politics Monday, October 10, 2016 Uribe names terms for new FARC peace dealFormer president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe (left) greets President Juan Manuel Santos at Nariño Palace in Bogotá, on Thursday. In a statement posted on Twitter, Uribe, now a senator, stressed the importance that drug-trafficking offences are not regarded as being part of rebellion activities. He promised the residents of Bojayá that he won’t give up on securing peace despite voters’ rejection of the deal. More than 96 percent of residents of Bojayá voted for the peace deal. “The victims have taught me that the capacity to forgive can overcome hatred and rancour.”Of the 81 municipalities nationwide hardest-hit by the internal conflict, 67 voted for the peace deal, according to the Bogotá-based Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 10, 2016 03:33 UTC
Clinton, Trump sling mud in ugly debate
Monday, October 10, 2016 Clinton, Trump sling mud in ugly debateUS Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton take the stage without shaking hands at their presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, last night. Trump unexpectedly appeared live at a press conference hours before the debate with women who have accused the former president of rape and unwanted advances. The four women were seated with the Trump family in the front row of the audience of the debate hall. The tension between Trump and Clinton was palpable from the start of their 90-minute debate, the second time they have faced off in the presidential campaign. About Sanders, who eventually endorsed Clinton, Trump says, “I was so surprised to see him sign on with the devil.”Trump went on to repeat debunked claims that Clinton started rumours that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 10, 2016 02:37 UTC
Sarlo: Macri embodies a neopopulism of joy
But I think the media are going after ratings before going after the news. Macri referred to the “Dirty war” to describe the years of the dictatorship and Esteban Bullrich talks about “a new Conquest of the Desert”? I think that Macri wasn’t thinking about state terrorism in the 1980s or in the 1990s. Macri isn’t a youth, he is 15 years older than Obama when he took office for the first time. Macri is going to turn 60 while he is the president of Argentina.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 09, 2016 03:44 UTC
Court rules no statute of limitations for corruption cases
Following investigation into late la plata judge suspected of graft Saturday, October 8, 2016 Court rules no statute of limitations for corruption casesA court in La Plata, Buenos Aires province took a step towards a possible radical change to Argentina’s laws surrounding graft after approving a request filed by Civic Coalition (CC) lawmaker and government ally Elisa Carrió to remove corruption charges under the current Criminal Code from the statute of limitations. Carrió previously demanded that statute limitations be removed for the criminal investigation into Miralles, who died in 2013 while the case was ongoing, as part of a broader effort to make corruption investigations open-ended and any subsequent prosecutions not restricted by time. PrecedentThe ruling was based on an interpretation of Article 36 of the national Constitution, which says that “corruption offenses punishable under Title XI of the Criminal Code” are not subject to the statute of limitations. Carrió has regularly campaigned for a tougher legal stance to fight corruption and argued with former political allies in 2014 that corruption should not be subjected to the statute of limitations, in the same way that a Supreme Court decision previously ruled that crimes against humanity cases should be exempted from such regulation. The “breakthrough” heralded by the CC leader reportedly made history as it is the first time a court had ruled in favour of removing the statute of limitations in a corruption case.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 08, 2016 03:11 UTC
No Dilma among charges but plenty of accusers
Friday, October 7, 2016 No Dilma among charges but plenty of accusersBRASILIA — Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) has accepted a prosecutors request to investigate a swathe of figures from the country’s political elite, nearly doubling the amount of people who were already under investigation. Also implicated are the head of the Lula Institute, Paulo Okamotto, and former personal adviser to Rousseff, Giles de Azevedo. PMDB leadersTop figures from Temer’s PMDB join their collegues under the graft spotlight. Among them Senate President Renan Calheiros, and Senator Romero Jucá, who is the PMDB’s president. From the PP, which supports Temer, former minister Aguinaldo Silva and PP President Ciro Nogueira are being investigated, among others.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:29 UTC
UN, airlines agree to cap greenhouse gases
Friday, October 7, 2016 UN, airlines agree to cap greenhouse gasesWASHINGTON — The United Nations’ aviation arm overwhelmingly ratified an agreement yesterday to control global warming emissions from international airline flights, the first climate-change pact to set worldwide limits on a single industry. Full compliance with the 15-year agreement would the reduce carbon that would otherwise be emitted by 2.5 billion tons, according to an Environmental Defense Fund calculation. Governments must present national plans to reduce emissions to limit global temperature rise less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). “This deal was the world’s first opportunity to test whether the new Paris Agreement would change the way we do business and rally the world toward its new goals. Aviation accounts for less than two percent of the world’s carbon emissions.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:29 UTC
Tax info exchange with US moves forward
Key for whitewash programme Friday, October 7, 2016 Tax info exchange with US moves forwardThe negotiation between Argentina and the US to facilitate tax-related information exchanges between both countries began yesterday, with representatives for the AFIP tax bureau and the Finance Ministry travelling to meet authorities in the world’s number one economic powerhouse. The news came a week after United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew offered Washington’s additional support to President Mauricio Macri’s whitewash tax amnesty plan, announcing a fresh effort and new steps to improve the exchange of tax information between the nations during a brief stopover in Argentina. In May, the government declared its proposals to bring part of the billions worth of undeclared assets that Argentines hold abroad through a sweeping tax amnesty programme that officially opened in August. By the end of March next year, further declared assets will be taxed at a maximum 15 percent rate. The amnesty window is set to close on April 30, 2017.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:29 UTC
Policing the police II
Friday, October 7, 2016 Policing the police IIIn his successful electoral campaign last year, President Mauricio Macri identified three top priorities — “zero poverty,” the fight against drug-trafficking and national reconciliation. The government remedy continues to be parading numbers but it is quality which needs attention, not size — policy-making is also woefully inconsistent. The new City force only underlines these flaws — paid over twice as much with superior educational requirements and a focus on detective work instead of going on the beat. Elsewhere Buenos Aires province Security Minister Cristian Ritondo praises his hard-line predecessor Alejandro Granados one day and echoes Governor María Eugenia Vidal’s reform intentions the next — in contrast, national Security Minister Patricia Bullrich is not so much inconsistent as permanently disconnected. No more space to list problems but evidently Macri needs to sort out his police ahead of any crime-fighting plans.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:29 UTC
Soy oil sales to China plunge 97%
Friday, October 7, 2016 Soy oil sales to China plunge 97%Beijing halts nearly all purchases from Argentina, as domestical processing of crop risesChina has halted its soy oil purchases from Argentina, raising concerns over the future of one of the country’s main exports, soy-based products. According to sources in the sector, exports of soy oil to Beijing have plunged in 2016 so far, though other sales of other soybean products continue. Argentina, on the other hand, saw its soy oil exports plunge from 525 million tons in 2015, when it was the main provider of soy oil to China with 65 percent of the market. Egypt, Peru, Bangladesh, Algeria and Iran have also been buyers of local soy oil this year. Demand for soybean per se would not necessarilly be affected by decisions on soy oil.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:18 UTC
More cash, but more poor clubs too
This column mentioned before that the Argentine Football Association (AFA) hung onto this money for a time, possibly earning interest on it from banks, and then paid clubs with post-dated cheques which the clubs, needing cash urgently, had to cash at certain places which then a percentage off the top. AFA, then under the control of now deceased president Julio Grondona, lent a lot of money to clubs. Of 170 clubs directly affiliated to AFA only 30 clubs are debt-free. This will mean that clubs will receive even less money, but the old saying that, “A rich AFA and poor clubs,” is no longer true. All lower division clubs have joined them, but then some C Division clubs decided to play.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:18 UTC
Judges keep CFK treason case alive
Yesterday, Prosecutor Germán Moldes appealed the decision by a separate Appeals court to not re-open the case. Bonadio has also summoned former Foreign ministers and diplomatic officials for testimony and has rejected requests from Timerman’s lawyers to close the case. Bonadio has accepted that Luis Czyzewski and Mario Averbuch, fathers to two of the AMIA victims, be considered as plaintiffs in the case. The complaint carried out by Prosecutor Nisman was dismissed ab initio, without any evidence measures being considered. Defence lawyers for Timerman had argued that no two judges should both rule on the same set of events, recalling language in the appeals court ruling that confirmed Rafecas’ decision not to open the Nisman complaint.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 07, 2016 04:18 UTC
Priest found dead after clashing with local drug traffickers
Investigator points to suicide but neighbours suspect murder Thursday, October 6, 2016 Priest found dead after clashing with local drug traffickersJuan Heraldo Viroche, a priest who led rallies against the advance of drug trafficking in the province of Tucumán, was found hanged yesterday in his home at a small church in La Florida, a village located 70 kilometres away from the provincial capital. Judicial sources disclosed opposite versions regarding hypothesis for the cause of Viroche’s death. But many neighbours disagree, saying that the priest had received threats over the last few days and that murder was likely. The Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEA) also issued a press release expressing “sorrow and dismay” about Viroche’s death, and demanding an investigation. Local press reported that the priest’s neighbors believed that he could have been killed due to his complaints against drug trafficking and insecurity in the village.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 06, 2016 04:06 UTC
Uribe demands changes to Colombia peace deal
Thursday, October 6, 2016 Uribe demands changes to Colombia peace dealColombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos talks during a press conference after a meeting with former president and Senator Álvaro Uribe at Nariño Palace in Bogotá, yesterday. Without giving any concrete proposals, Uribe, 64, said Santos had shown he was disposed to changes. Uribe, a former lawyer and cattle rancher, opposed Santos’ peace talks from the start and said the final deal, which was reached in August after four years of painstaking negotiations in Havana, gave too many concessions to the rebels. A senior US State Department official said yesterday the government and rebels are committed to dialogue to reach agreement. The official also said it was too soon to discuss US plans to send Colombia hundreds of millions of dollars in aid intended to support the country as the peace deal went into effect.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 06, 2016 04:06 UTC
Argentina, without Messi, faces Peru today
Soccer — South American World Cup qualifiers Thursday, October 6, 2016 Argentina, without Messi, faces Peru todayArgentina''s Gonzalo Higuaín (left) with Paulo Dybala at the end of their training session in Lima. LIMA, Peru — Argentina’s national team, without its star and captain Lionel Messi, will visit Peru today at 11.15pm (Argentine time) at the Nacional del Peru stadium in Lima for a ninth-round match of the South American World Cup qualifiers. Apart from Messi’s absence, Argentina will not have Lucas Biglia either, as the Lazio midfielder suffered an injury a couple of weeks ago. We prepare for the match without him and that’s why Agüero, Dybala and Higuaín will play,” said the coach. Peru has not played a World Cup since Spain 1982.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 06, 2016 04:06 UTC
World Bank: 2016 recession to hit 1.5%
Thursday, October 6, 2016 World Bank: 2016 recession to hit 1.5%Protestors block traffic at the Corrientes and Callao intersection in downtown Buenos Aires to organize one of many impromptu soup kitchens across the country demanding measures against poverty and joblessness. During a presentation of the World Bank’s report on the regional economic perspective for Latin America, the Bank’s Augusto de La Torre forecast three percent growth in 2017, as investment will rise by 1.8 percent. He was speaking during a conference in Washington DC where the IMF and the World Bank hold their yearly assembly. The World Bank also worsened its forecast for Argentina, although by a lesser margin. Questions over the health of Germany’s largest lender loomed large over the start of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, dominating a news conference on risks to global financial stability.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
October 06, 2016 03:15 UTC