Former President Cristina Kirchner warns that 'democracy is at risk in Argentina'

The Citizens Unity party, led by former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, issued a public statement in which they warn that opposition leaders are facing judicial persecution.

“In Argentina, the Government of President Mauricio Macri is using the Judiciary to persecute the opposition” the open letter issued this Friday stated. “The objective is to frighten the leaders of the opposition so that they are submissive before the second phase of austerity the administration is seeking to implement.”

“Argentina's democracy is going through a delicate situation, whereby the rule of law and the division of powers is being violated (or terminated).”

The open letter comes days after the arrest and imprisonment of Congressman Julio de Vido and former Vice President Amado Boudou - neither of whom were under formal investigation by the courts (a necessary requisite for arrest in Argentina).

Boudou, 54, was dogged by influence peddling allegations during his 2011-15 tenure over the 2010 federal bailout of a printing contractor. He was arrested on Friday not on any charges but instead on a presumption of “possible future obstruction of justice” - a concept so novel in Argentine jurisprudence, Judge Ariel Lijo could only cite de Vido's arrest on the same grounds a week earlier as precedent.

De Vido, who served as Public Works Minister from 2003 to 2015, faced malfeasance allegations regarding the construction of a coal-fired plant in Patagonia as well as for natural gas import contracts.

Three court-appointed experts had found nothing unusual or fraudulent in the contracts - but Judge Claudio Bonadío, a close ally of the right-wing Macri administration, relied on the opinion of a fourth expert to order his arrest.

“The judge had twice said that there was no cause for an investigation,” de Vido's attorney, Maximiliano Rusconi, said. “But the House (controlled by Macri's 'Let's Change' coalition) orders him to rule against his convictions and the judge complies.”

“The concept of judicial independence was violated.”

De Vido, who's 67 and diabetic, was denied the benefit of house arrest - a benefit Macri and close allies like Congresswoman Elisa Carrió, who spearheaded de Vido's expulsion from the House, have been actively seeking for the 733 officers convicted of human rights atrocities during the 1976-83 dictatorship.

While politicized expulsions from Congress were a fixture of Argentine political life in the 1920s and '30s, de Vido is the first sitting lawmaker to be expelled since 1974.

Double standards

Numerous lawmakers and public figures, including some of Macri's allies, have pointed out that a double standard is being applied.

They point out that while de Vido was expelled from Congress and jailed without so much as a formal investigation, Macri's Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren was acquitted within months after his offices were raided on conflict of interest charges over ordering 600% gas rate hikes without arranging ​​prior public hearings as required by law, and over natural gas imports from a Shell Argentina subsidiary in Chile rather than from Bolivia (which are 56% cheaper).

Both moves favored Shell Argentina, which Aranguren led as CEO for 12 years and in which his family trust remains a significant shareholder.

Macri himself has, since he took office two years ago, faced at least six cases ranging from influence peddling to tax evasion and money laundering. The Macris have faced string of corruption and tax evasion charges which since the 1980s have totaled around $1 billion.

So far none of the cases - including his documented role in the Panama Papers offshoring scandal - has resulted in charges against the president, and he denies wrongdoing.

Laura Alonso, the Macri loyalist appointed to head the office tasked with investigating current officials implicated in corruption (a total of 22, facing 70 charges among them), calls the cases “complicated.”

A onetime lobbyist for vulture fund head and GOP megadonor Paul Singer, Alonso's alleged stonewalling led pro-Kirchner lawmakers to file a complaint against her in June 2016 for collusion.

That too was dismissed by the courts.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.diarioregistrado.com%2Fpolitica%2Fdeclaracion-de-unidad-ciudadana---esta-en-riesgo-la-democracia-argentina-_a59fcad60469c062c48782997&edit-text=

Former Vice President Amado Boudou and Congressman Julio de Vido. No charges; but jailed “just in case.”

With elections out of the way, Argentina's Macri pursues new round of austerity

Days after an unexpectedly strong showing in mid-term congressional elections on October 22, Argentine President Mauricio Macri has announced a new round of utility and fare hikes, pension cuts, and limits to labor rights.

While still lacking a majority in either house, Macri's 'Let's Change' coalition gained 19 seats in Congress and 9 seats in the Senate - something the president interpreted as an endorsement of policies considered by critics to be 'trickle-down.'

"We've come to change Argentina forever," Macri declared on election night, predicting that his right-wing coalition will remain in power "for the next 20 years."

Rate and fare hikes

Cutbacks in public utility subsidies and the resulting jump in rates have been some of Macri's most controversial austerity tools.

Within a week of the election, administration sources confirmed that rate hikes for next February will include 20% for water, and 42% for gas and electricity - similar to those approved for last February.

While milder than the first round of rate hikes enacted by decree in April 2016 - including around 300% for water, 600% for electricity, and 1000% for gas - this new round threatens to slow the country's recovery from the 2016 recession.

Subsidy cutbacks for public transport, in turn, will double fares for city buses from 6 pesos (34 cents) to 12 pesos by next January. Commuter train tickets will rise from 4 pesos (23 cents) to 10 pesos, or 150%.

Public transport fares had already doubled in February 2016, two months after Macri took office.

Prices at the pump have likewise doubled since Macri took office, to 23 pesos a liter - nearly $5 a gallon.

The hike, the first since July, was authorized by Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren - a longtime executive and large shareholder in Shell Argentina, the country's second-largest gas retailer.

Twin deficits

Known in Argentina as tarifazos, these hikes have been part of a broader, IMF-endorsed austerity package designed to trim $4 billion annually from a record budget deficit of $25 billion last year (4.6% of GDP).

These savings, however, were lost to export tax cuts for the agrarian and mining sectors, which cost the treasury $4.2 billion last year.

Nor did exports recover, settling instead at $58 billion for the third year running. Lower import barriers and an overvalued peso, meanwhile, will leave a record $8 billion merchandise trade deficit this year.

Including trade in services and interest payments, Argentina's 2017 current account deficit may reach $25 billion - a shortfall financed with a growing foreign debt as are record budget deficits.

Pensioners and childhood benefits

Argentina's 8 million retirees, whose median pensions of 7,247 pesos ($410) are the region's highest, have their benefits increased by law twice a year above the rate of inflation.

Their benefits may erode in real terms if the Macri administration implements a planned cost-of-living adjustment of just 10% in 2018.

Annual inflation in Buenos Aires, as of September, was 26% and is projected to remain at 22% for next year.

The same applies to the Universal Childhood Entitlement (AUH), which benefits 4 million poor children and like most pensions is financed by the AFIP social security agency.

Raising pensions and childhood benefits by 10%, rather than 22%, represents a $6 billion annual cut. Some of those savings will be lost to a proposed payroll tax reduction, which will cost AFIP around $2.5 billion a year.

Pensioners are already reeling from Macri's decision in March to defund the REMEDIAR drug subsidy program, which paid for some 13 million prescriptions a month - some 70% of them free of charge since former President Néstor Kirchner extended REMEDIAR in 2005.

Proposed changes to labor laws made at an October 30 conference, in turn, seek to curtail unions, limit workplace injury compensation, and raise the retirement age.

Reaching for social security

These developments helped convince Kirchner's widow and successor, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, to return to politics - winning a seat in the Senate despite a lackluster showing.

Former House Speaker Leopoldo Moreau, who was elected to Congress and is an ally of Mrs. Kirchner, denounced Macri for "cutting retiree benefits, raising the retirement age, hiking rates and fares, and curtailing labor rights."

"Administrations that take on excessive debt," Moreau noted, "always reach for social security."

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ambito.com%2F901162-todos-los-aumentos-que-se-vienen-tras-las-elecciones

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Scientists discover hidden structure in Egypt's Great Pyramid

Source: NBC News

Scientists using an imaging method based on cosmic rays have detected a large and enigmatic internal structure in the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, the massive Great Pyramid of Giza on the outskirts of Cairo.

Researchers announced the discovery on Thursday but said they did not know the purpose, contents or precise dimensions of what they are calling a “void” or “cavity” inside the pyramid, built as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC.

To peer inside the pyramid, the scientists used an imaging technique called muon tomography that tracks particles that bombard Earth at close to the speed of light and penetrate deeply into solid objects like X-rays.

They said the newly discovered internal structure was at least 100 feet long, and located above a hallway measuring about 155 feet long called the Grand Gallery, one of a series of passageways and chambers inside the immense pyramid.

The researchers said it constitutes the first major inner structure found in the Great Pyramid since the 19th century.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/scientists-discover-hidden-structure-egypt-s-great-pyramid-n816821

Colombia's former FARC rebel chief 'Timochenko' to run for president

For most Colombians, former rebel chief Rodrigo Londoño – better known by his wartime alias “Timochenko” – is more commonly associated with kidnappings and bomb attacks than voter polling and stumping on the campaign trail.

So an announcement that the leader of the demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Farc, plans to run for president in next year’s elections, has prompted widespread outrage in the Andean nation.

His first test will be convincing a suspicious electorate that he has left his violent past behind. Within minutes of the announcement, “Timochenko” was trending on Colombian Twitter – with most users expressing anger.

“Each vote that Timochenko receives is an insult to the victims,” one user tweeted.

But Londoño’s move into politics forms a crucial part of a peace deal sealed last November, ending 52 years of war that left 220,000 dead and more than seven million displaced.

At: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/01/colombias-former-farc-rebel-chief-timochenko-to-run-for-president

Bullets to ballots: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and former FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño.

Monsanto, BASF weed killers strain U.S. states with damage complaints

Source: Reuters

U.S. farmers have overwhelmed state governments with thousands of complaints about crop damage linked to new versions of weed killers, threatening future sales by manufacturers Monsanto and BASF SE.

Monsanto is banking on weed killers using a chemical known as dicamba - and seeds engineered to resist it - to dominate soybean production in the United States, the world’s second-largest exporter.

The United States has faced a weed-killer crisis this year caused by the new formulations of dicamba-based herbicides, which farmers and weed experts say have harmed crops because they evaporate and drift away from where they are applied.

Monsanto and BASF say the herbicides are safe when properly applied. They need to convince regulators after the flood of complaints to state agriculture departments.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pesticides-complaints/monsanto-basf-weed-killers-strain-u-s-states-with-damage-complaints-idUSKBN1D14N0

New York attack: five Argentines confirmed among the dead

Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this afternoon that among the victims of today's attack in New York there were five Argentine citizens.

The group had traveled to the United States as part of a group of ten people celebrating their graduation anniversary. They had attended the Polytechnic College of Rosario, Argentina third-largest city.

The victims had reportedly rented bicycles and were riding through Lower Manhattan, when they were hit by a truck on West Ave and Debrosses Street. In addition to the five fatalities, another member of the group from Argentina was seriously wounded; the other four members of the group are out of danger.

"The Government of the Argentine Republic is deeply shocked by the death of the compatriots and works to help the relatives and friends of the victims," ​​the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In turn, Foreign Ministry noted that "the federal authorities of the United States reported that they are conducting a criminal investigation into the terrorist act, having applied the summary secrecy rule and therefore have not yet disclosed the identity of the deceased."

A total of eight people were killed and 12 wounded after a 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan hit them with a rented van in a pedestrian and bicycle path in southwest Manhattan, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

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