INDEC: economy shrank 5.9% in July
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 INDEC: economy shrank 5.9% in JulyMost severe contraction in 14 years, based on annual comparison, led by constructionThe economy registered its most severe contraction in almost 14 years in July, shrinking by 5.9 percent when compared with the same month last year, the INDEC statistics bureau announced yesterday — a steeper decline than even the gloomiest estimates. The news casts a further shadow over the government’s economic plans, which has struggled to kickstart the economy. INDEC pinpointed the chief negative factors as lower consumer demand and industrial production (with manufacturing output down 7.9 percent). The numbers were drawn from the EMAE monthly index of economy activity. Trade surplus reportedGreater exports and a reduction in imports to Argentina resulted in a trade surplus of US$ 705 million in August according to the Indec statistics bureau.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 28, 2016 03:11 UTC
New faces in town
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 New faces in townPresident Mauricio Macri (right) received credentials from five new ambassadors to Argentina at the Pink House yesterday, including the freshly appointed ambassador from Brazil, Ergio França Danese (left), who was appointed after Michel Temer became the Brazilian president earlier this year following the controversial impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff. The meeting coincided with confirmation that Temer will lead a Brazilian delegation to Buenos Aires in an official visit next Monday. Macri has prioritized improving economic ties with Brazil since his election. His first foreign visit as president-elect was to Brazil, meeting then-president Rousseff, while the Let’s Change (Cambiemos) government was among the first worldwide to acknowledge Temer as the president of Brazil, in stark contrast to other regional states including Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Finnish Ambassador Teemu Tahvana Turunen, French Ambassaor Pierre-Henri Guignard, Czech Ambassador Karel Beran, and Swedish Ambassador Barbro Elm also presented their letters of credence yesterday.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 28, 2016 03:06 UTC
US and us
This strange combination of a highly linear relationship with Washington and multilateralism has its explanations. Five years earlier, Néstor Kirchner had taken office amid of the devastating consequences of the Washington Consensus. The complex world which Macri inhabits does not offer the same clarity — US hegemony now seems gone but the BRICS are also struggling. Perhaps Macri’s willingness to be all things to all men also reflects having a foreign minister who is trying to become United Nations secretary-general. Lew’s flying visit had little time for surprises, hardly departing from the expected script with support for Macri’s tax amnesty very much on the front-burner.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 28, 2016 03:00 UTC
Battle over gas rate hikes returns to courts
They added that the decision urged the ENARGAS national regulator to roll back all hiked rates for natural gas for SMEs to March 31 levels and that they remain “unaltered” until December 27. Soon after being sworn in as energy minister, Aranguren laid the groundwork for massive hikes to energy bills including natural gas and topping 400 percent in some cases. Following the hearings, new rates “averaging 203 percent” increases to natural gas bills were agreed upon and due to come into effect in October. The decision came just weeks after San Martín Federal Judge Martina Isabel Forns blocked all electricity hikes issued by Aranguren and the energy ministry along similar lines to those applying to natural gas. As with the natural gas hearings, the government vowed to hold public consultations over the frozen electricity hikes and these are due in precisely one month’s time, starting on October 28.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 28, 2016 03:00 UTC
Appeals court declines to reopen Nisman complaint
He added that the DAIA respected court decisions but that “we know our rights.” Rafecas had denied the DAIA the status of plaintiff in the case, a decision also confirmed by the appeals court. Earlier this year the DAIA had urged Rafecas to reopen Nisman’s complaint about an alleged plan by CFK to cover up Iran’s involvement in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. Rafecas dismissed the Nisman complaint in February 2015, sparking a round of appeals and dismissals that concluded when a prosecutor before the Cassation Court declined to advance the complaint and judges agreed that there was nothing else to be done with it. Judges ruleBallestero, noting that the same court ruled that the MOU with Iran was unconstitutional but not criminal in nature, cited himself in yesterday’s ruling. In a shorter text, Freiler also agreed with Rafecas’s decision to not re-open the case based on the MOU and audio recordings.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 28, 2016 03:00 UTC
Fact-checking the first debate
#watchyourstep Wednesday, September 28, 2016 Fact-checking the first debateRepublican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton are introduced ahead of their debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, on Monday night. By Glenn Kessler & Michelle Ye Hee LeeThe Washington PostIn the first debate between the presidential contenders, Donald Trump repeatedly relied on troublesome and false facts that have been debunked throughout the campaign. I’m under a routine audit, and it’ll be released.” — TrumpTrump cites an Internal Revenue Service audit as his justification for not releasing his federal income tax returns, but the audit does not prohibit from releasing the returns. Moreover, Trump has not released his tax returns from before 2009, which are no longer under audit, according to his attorney. Hillary Clinton has released three decades’ worth of tax returns.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 23:03 UTC
Moisés Ville: A Jewish Colonial Relic in the Pampas
Midday sits like a haze over Moisés Ville, Argentina – shop doors close, windows creak shut. When Moisés Ville was founded in 1889, it was composed of a few Eastern European Jewish families. Plaques in the Moisés Ville museum pay homage to these folkloric heroes, neatly constructing a linear story of struggle into prosperity. Moisés Ville was not the only colony of its kind, but it remains one of the most iconic for Argentine and international Jewish tourists alike. Today, Moisés Ville’s Jewish residents seem acutely aware of the fading relevance of the town’s cultural centres.
Source:The Argentina Independent
September 27, 2016 18:00 UTC
WTO slashes 2016 trade forecast to lowest rate since 2009
Growth of 1.7 percent downgraded from 2.8 in April Wednesday, September 28, 2016 WTO slashes 2016 trade forecast to lowest rate since 2009By APGENEVA —The World Trade Organization dramatically slashed its forecast for trade growth this year by about a third to its lowest rate since 2009, when the global economy was mired in recession in the wake of the financial crisis. The Geneva-based WTO, perhaps best known for dealing with trade disputes, predicted that global trade will rise only 1.7 percent this year, way down from its April prediction for 2.8 percent. It said the downgrade was largely due to an unexpectedly sharp drop in merchandise trade volumes in the first quarter. “The dramatic slowing of trade growth is serious and should serve as a wake-up call,” WTO director-general Robert Azevedo said. As well as reducing its 2016 forecast, the WTO cut its project for next year to between 1.8 percent and 3.1 percent from 3.6 percent.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 16:07 UTC
The King is dead
Golf — Opinion Tuesday, September 27, 2016 The King is deadBy David MackintoshGolfing TravellerArnold Palmer, 1929 - 2016Hard to believe. The King is dead. At age 87, Arnold Daniel Palmer, the King of Golf, is no longer with us. Arnold Palmer not only made you care about golf, he made you care about him. For the longest time Arnold Palmer was the most recognizable of golfers with that high-twirling swing we all loved but never wished to imitate.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:04 UTC
Malcorra up to 4th in UN race
Former Portugal PM Guterres retains top spot Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Malcorra up to 4th in UN raceForeign Minister Susana Malcorra and President Mauricio Macri enter United Nations heaquarters in New York earlier this month, as they attended the United Nations General Assembly. Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra rose one place to fourth in the latest informal poll of Security Council members, though she registered the same voting breakdown. In the nine-way race, the fact that the highest-ranked woman, Malcorra, was tied for fourth left many diplomats disappointed. Former Serbian Foreign minister Vuk Jeremic came in second with eight encourage, six discourage and one no opinion, while Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak was third with eight encourage and seven discourage. Former New Zealand PM Helen Clark, who heads the UN Development Programme, and former Macedonian Foreign minister Srgjan Kerim tied for sixth, while Moldova’s former Foreign minister Natalia Gherman came in last.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
Outcry as FIFA disbands anti-racism taskforce
soccer Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Outcry as FIFA disbands anti-racism taskforceFIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura insisted that the fight against racism is being taken "very seriously" despite the governing body''s taskforce overseeing discrimination being abolished. The Associated Press revealed on Sunday that the anti-racism group was being dismantled after FIFA decided that its mission had been completed after three years. “The fight against racism is far from over and the notion that the current FIFA leadership believes that the ‘taskforce’s recommendations have been implemented’ is shameful,” said Prince Ali, a former FIFA presidential candidate and FIFA vice president. “Now the idea that FIFA believes that it’s the right time to disband its anti-racism taskforce is ridiculous.”Prince Ali believes the taskforce should have been empowered to work further with soccer authorities and governments to use the sport to tackle discrimination in wider society. “The taskforce had a very specific mandate that to our knowledge it has fully fulfilled,” Samoura said at the SoccerEx convention.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
A new independence
More attention has been bestowed on the CGT for announcing a general strike without setting a date — which should be interpreted as strengthening the union umbrella’s negotiating position (especially as regards the income tax floor, perhaps) rather than as an irreversible stoppage decision. Prior to the passage of the 2017 Budget, the governors are seeking to unite all the legislators from the various strands of Peronism via the Federal Investment Council (CFI) to impose structural changes permanently strengthening the provincial hand. A six-point package has been drafted whose general thrust is to make all remittances to the provinces within and beyond federal revenue-sharing totally automatic, thus removing the executive branch’s power to dominate the provinces via a discretionary control. One difficult question for Macri is whether he wants to block changes which he approves in principle — another difficult question is whether he can. Perhaps the biggest worry for the government is not securing approval of the 2017 Budget but having to accept it with mechanisms which end a dependence that helped Macri disguise his parliamentary weakness so well until now.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
Syria says truce still viable after week of airstrikes batters Aleppo
Russia, Western powers trade accusations Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Syria says truce still viable after week of airstrikes batters AleppoBEIRUT — Syria’s foreign minister said yesterday that an internationally-brokered ceasefire is still viable, as rescue workers in Aleppo sifted through the rubble from the heaviest airstrikes on rebel-held areas of the northern city in five years. The UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting but failed to take any action because of deep divisions between Russia and Western powers. “It’s apocalyptic what is being done in eastern Aleppo.”Airstrikes on Aleppo yesterday killed at least six people, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist-run collective. President Bashar al-Assad’s media adviser told Al-Mayadeen TV that the Syrian government abided by the ceasefire but the rebels did not. Al-Moallem accused the US, Britain, and France of convening the Security Council meeting a day earlier in order to support “terrorists” inside Syria.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
Massa tries to dissuade unions from striking
Meanwhile, the ATE state employees union confirmed yesterday they would continue with their strike planned for today, a work action of mostly Buenos Aires province teachers’ unions and health professionals. ATE union leader Hugo “Cachorro” Godoy announced yesterday that his union would lead a nationwide strike to express rejection of various government policies. The Buenos Aires Teachers Federation (FEB), the SUTEBA teachers union of Buenos Aires province, Private Teachers Union (SADOP), Argentine Teachers Union (UDA) and DAC Argentine Teachers Confederation have all confirmed they will participate. The CTERA union leader said that they had asked to meet with different congressional lawmakers so that they could determine their opinions about the upcoming 2017 budget. Along with the strike, the unions are planning to march to Congress at midday where they will hold a protest demonstration.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
C. Bank: 12-17% inflation in 2017
The INDEC statistic bureau’s “most widely representative index” will be used for comparison, the Central Bank confirmed yesterday. “The first step is to announce the inflation target. Then the Central Bank has a series of instruments that it will use to reach that target. No more and no less than that central inflation target. The reference rate will now be the seven-day interbank lending rate, which the Central Bank will determine weekly.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC