2030 World Cup: Tournament to be held across six countries in three continents

Source: BBC Sports

The 2030 World Cup will be held across six countries in three continents, Fifa has confirmed.

Spain, Portugal and Morocco have been named as the co-hosts, with the opening three matches taking place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

The opening matches in South America are to mark the World Cup's centenary as it will be 100 years since the inaugural tournament in Montevideo.

The decision is set to be ratified at a Fifa congress next year.

"In a divided world, Fifa and football are uniting," said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67010609

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during a recent meeting in New York.

FIFA today made the unprecedented decision to hold the 2030 World Cup tournament in six countries across three continents: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

The opening three matches will be held in the three South American countries - with subsequent matches and final in Morocco and Europe.

The decision came as a disappointment to Uruguayans, who had hoped to re-enact the first World Cup final in Montevideo on its centennial in 2030.

Spain's king asks Pedro Sanchez to form government

Spanish King Felipe VI on Tuesday ordered caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to attempt to form a government.

Sánchez’s Socialist Party came second in July’s inconclusive national election, in which the center-right Popular Party won the most votes.

Conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo attempted to form a government but last week failed to obtain the majority support of the Spanish parliament needed to become prime minister - garnering 172 votes to 178.

Sánchez, who has governed since 2018, does not control enough seats in the parliament to govern on his own, and is widely expected to attempt to form a minority government with Yolanda Díaz’s far-left Sumar coalition - a successor of the Podemos party with which the Socialists governed during the previous term.

He will likewise seek outside support from regional groups like the Basque Nationalist Party, the Basque separatist party, the Galician Nationalist Bloc, the Catalan separatist Junts group and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

At: https://www.politico.eu/article/spain-election-king-felipe-vi-ask-prime-minister-pedro-sanchez-form-government/

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez applauds after a governance vote in parliament defeated the neo-Francoist right-wing coalition by 178 votes to 172.

The pragmatic Sánchez moved quickly to secure the support of Catalan, Basque and other regional and separatist groups - signing a preliminary agreement to grant amnesty to those implicated in the failed 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

Once a secret, the temporary House speaker is Rep. Patrick McHenry

Source: Business Insider

Kevin McCarthy was ousted from power on Tuesday evening, leading to Rep. Patrick McHenry being named the temporary leader of a chamber thrown into chaos.

Under House rules, McCarthy was required to provide the House clerk in January a then-secret list of members that temporarily serve as Speaker of the House if the office became vacant. McHenry, a nine-term North Carolina Republican, was revealed to be the first name on McCarthy's list.

McHenry, who leads the House Financial Services Committee, now has the power of the speakership that is needed to lead the chamber through the days ahead.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/who-leads-the-house-mccarthy-ousted-speaker-pro-tempore-2023-10

Outgoing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (left) speaks to House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC).

The bow-tied McHenry, a hard-right loyalist of the just-ousted McCarthy, was named temporary leader of a chamber thrown into chaos.

Kevin McCarthy removed as House speaker in historic vote

Source: CBS News

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his leadership position in a historic vote on Tuesday after a far-right revolt over his reliance on Democrats to pass funding to avert a government shutdown earlier this month.

It's the first time a House speaker has been removed in a no-confidence vote.

Now someone from a secret backup list McCarthy created in January will likely serve as a temporary speaker overseeing a new election. It's not clear how extensive the power of any temporary speaker would be, but Republicans would likely push for that person to have more power than Democrats would want.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-vote-matt-gaetz-kevin-mccarthy-motion-to-vacate-watch-live-stream-today-2023-10-03/

Outgoing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy was ousted just hours after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a resolution to vacate the Speakership - with the House voting to agree to the resolution by 216 to 210.

Nearly all Democrats voted with Gaetz and his allies to do so.

McCarthy, 58, thus becomes the shortest-serving Speaker in 147 years - since Rep. Michael Kerr (D-IN), who died in office after eight months in 1876.

With few surprises, Argentina's presidential candidates go head-to-head in presidential debate

Argentina’s five remaining presidential candidates clashed in an ill-tempered but civilized debate in Santiago del Estero on Sunday night that ticked along without any of the hopefuls delivering a knockout blow.

The encounter, staged at the northern city’s Provincial Forum convention center, saw far-right frontrunner Javier Milei, 52; Sergio Massa, 51 (center-left); Patricia Bullrich, 67 (hard-right); Juan Schiaretti, 74 (centrist); and Myriam Bregman, 51 (left-wing) go head-to-head in a debate that nominally focusing on three themes: economy, education and human rights.

In truth, the candidates trained their ire on their preferred targets, rivals and talking points.

Milei and Bullrich went for Massa’s throat on the economy and inflation while the ruling coalition candidate pitched himself as the experienced pro-dialogue fixer and promised to introduce a unity government if elected head of state.

Seeking to build his national profile, Schiaretti talked up his party’s third-way approach and record in Córdoba (while dealing Bullrich a few softball questions) - and Bregman laced criticism of all four rivals with her traditional leftist talking points, observing that her front is the only one that would stand up for workers and the working class.

"Milei is not a lion," Bregman said of Milei - referring to his nickname. "He is a cuddly kitten of economic powers; he is an employee of big businessmen."

At: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/argentinas-presidential-candidates-go-head-to-head-in-presidential-debate.phtml

Gen. Mark Milley Warns of Fealty to Dictators, in Exit Speech Aimed at Trump

Source: Wall Street Journal

Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Pentagon's top officer, warned in his retirement speech on Friday that military officers must adhere to the Constitution and not bow to political pressures, in what appeared to be thinly-veiled comments about former President Donald Trump.

"We don't take an oath to a country, we don't take an oath to a tribe, we don't take an oath to a religion, we don't take an oath to a king, or a queen, to a tyrant or dictator or wannabe dictator," Gen. Milley bellowed across a military parade field, without mentioning his former boss by name.

"We do not take an oath to an individual, we take an oath to the Constitution, to the idea that is America and we're willing to die to protect it."

Friday's speech was Milley's last official ceremony as the Joint Chiefs chairman after years of positioning himself as a defender of democracy -- and drawing the ire of critics who have accused him of overstepping the authority of the commander in chief and pursuing what they perceive as a progressive agenda.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/gen-mark-milley-warns-of-fealty-to-dictators-in-exit-speech-aimed-at-trump/ar-AA1hsA6h

Trump and others on the political hard right have repeatedly attacked Gen. Mark Milley, pushing up against norms for public behavior for politicians and elected officials in the process.

James Hoge, Sun-Times editor who oversaw era of audacious investigations and 6 Pulitzers, dies at 87

Former Sun-Times Editor James Hoge helped usher in a golden age of Chicago journalism by hiring young talent and signing off on audacious investigative projects, including the Mirage Tavern undercover sting. The newspaper would win six Pulitzer Prizes under his watch.

This all happened by the time he was 45 years old.

Hoge started at the Sun-Times in 1959 as a $68.50-a-week night police reporter while still a graduate student at the University of Chicago.

He sprinted from assistant city editor in 1965 to managing editor in 1967, to editor-in-chief in 1968 to publisher by the time he was 44.

Hoge left the Sun-Times in 1984 and was appointed president and publisher of the New York Daily News, where he remained until 1991.

Hoge died Tuesday in New York City. He was 87.

At: https://chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2023/9/20/23863369/james-hoge-dead-chicago-sun-times-editor-obituary

Former Sun-Times editor and New York Daily News publisher James Hoge, 1935-2023.

Hoge had the added distinction of moderating the nation's first televised vice-presidential debate in 1976.

Sparks fly in Argentina's first televised vice-presidential debate

The five vice presidential candidates for the upcoming elections met for a TV-organized debate Wednesday night to discuss their main campaign proposals.

The debate - the first of its type in Argentina - was strongly marked by accusations regarding human rights, mainly between Victoria Villarruel from the far-right Forward Liberty and Agustín Rossi, from the ruling, center-left Union for the Homeland.

Last night's debate - organized and broadcast by cable news network TN - also featured Luis Petri for the right-wing Together for Change, Nicolás del Caño for the Leftist Workers' Front, and Florencio Randazzo for the centrist Working for Our Country.

The strongest moment was arguably when Rossi accused Villarruel of “infiltrating democracy...because you don't believe in democracy” - referencing her ties to military officials who were part of the 1976-83 dictatorship and her defense of those later tried for crimes against humanity.

Del Caño also asked Villarruel about her meetings with the late, fascist dictator Jorge Videla, who died in prison in 2013.

“You need to explain why you were in [Miguel] Etchecolatz’s contacts book,” Del Caño added. She didn’t respond to his inquiries.

Etchecolatz, who died last year, was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for his role in multiple atrocities. The star witness in the case, Jorge Julio López, later went missing.

Far right at advantage in potential runoff

Last night's event was a likely preview of presidential debates scheduled for October 1st and 8th; general elections are scheduled for October 22nd.

Recent polling suggests the Forward Liberty ticket - led by the fiery Javier Milei, who professes admiration for Donald Trump and was recently interviewed by Tucker Carlson - is headed for a runoff on November 19th with the Union for the Homeland ticket led by current Economy Minister Sergio Massa.

While Massa has earned plaudits for his handling of a crippling foreign debt crisis inherited from former right-wing President Mauricio Macri - exacerbated by a record drought that has slashed Argentine exports this year by 24% - an inflation rate that has more than doubled to 124% has left Massa's coalition at a disadvantage.

Massa would, moreover, have to surmount the likelihood that Together for Change voters - led by Macri's hard-line but lackluster former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich - would largely migrate to Milei's column.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/politics/vp-candidate-debate-rossi-accuses-villarruel-of-infiltrating-democracy

Argentine vice-presidential contenders Victoria Villaruel (far-right), Luis Petri (right-wing), Agustín Rossi (center-left), Florencio Randazzo (centrist), and Nicolás del Caño (left-wing).

Villaruel was confronted over her record as an apologist for the fascist, 1976-83 dictatorship, while Rossi was on the defensive over an inflation rate that has more than doubled to 124% during the outgoing administration - of which he's currently cabinet chief.

Both are expected to advance to a potential runoff on November 19th - in which Villaruel's far-right ticket, led by the pro-Trump Javier Milei, is at an advantage.

Prolific Argentine actor Pepe Soriano dies at 93

Argentine actor José "Pepe" Soriano, a prolific performer on stage and film in Argentina and Spain, died on Wednesday at age 93.

Soriano, who retired just two years ago after a career spanning seven decades, received international awards as recently as 2021 for his role in Gonzalo Calzada's psychological thriller “Nocturnal” - for which he earned a Best Actor nod in that year's Screamfest.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1929 to a Jewish family, Soriano left law school to join the theater in 1950. Success eluded the young actor until 1968, when he was cast as the lead in Juan José Jusid's production of Roberto Cossa's tragedy, Tute Cabrero, and in Raúl de la Torre's character study, “Mr. and Mrs. Juan Lamaglia” in 1970.

But it was his portrayal of Schultz, a German labor organizer, in Osvaldo Bayer's “Rebellion in Patagonia” in 1974 that gave him his most memorable film role.

The depiction of the brutal repression of a 1920-22 sheep ranch workers' strike resulted in serious problems for those involved in the film - including Soriano, who left for Spain shortly after a fascist military coup in 1976.

Amid an easing of repression by the dictatorship, Soriano returned in 1979. That year, he reprised his best-known stage role on film: that of a senile but ravenous grandmother in Roberto Cossa's tragicomic La nona - which in some ways mirrored the country's sudden foreign debt crisis, with its ever-growing interest obligations.

Soriano's role in “Another Hope” in 1984, a dystopian film set in a factory where energy is generated from human bodies, was likewise a timely metaphor for the targeting of union members during the 1976-83 regime. He then portrayed the late reformist Senator Lisandro de la Torre in Juan José Jusid's “An Assassination in the Senate” - a historical drama based on de la Torre's 1935 attempted murder.

Among his better-known later roles were that of a dying idealist determined to stop the sale of a historic Uruguayan steam locomotive in Diego Arsuaga's “The Last Train” (2002), and as an elderly and struggling Argentine immigrant in New York in Rodrigo Fürth's “Through Your Eyes” (2006).

At: https://euro.eseuro.com/news/1014977.html

Prolific Argentine actor and playwright Pepe Soriano, 1929-2023.

Soriano was equally at home on stage as on film. “Cinema is the great medium. It is really the possibility of showing work for posterity,” he noted recently.

“Theater is like water in your hands: It begins and ends, and remains, in memory. Cinema, on the other hand, rescues (memories) from the greats.”

Argentine monthly inflation rate hits 12.4% in August, a 32-year high

Argentina’s monthly inflation rate was 12.4% in August, according to the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC).

The figure is almost double that of July and represents the highest monthly rate since February 1991, when the country was mired in a hyperinflation crisis.

Food and beverages had the greatest impact on the index - with the cost of meats, derivatives, vegetables, and legumes increasing by 15.6%.

INDEC’s price report, the first since the nationwide primary (PASO) elections on August 13, is the first to reflect the 22% devaluation that raised the official exchange rate for the U.S. dollar from 300 to 366 pesos.

The parallel, "blue" rate jumped within days from 605 pesos before the primaries to 720, as worried Argentines rushed to buy dollars; exchange rates have since stabilized however.

Year-over-year inflation hit 124.4% - the highest since August 1991 - and for the first eight months of 2023 reached 80.2%.

Median wages as of June had risen 108.7% annually - but among unregistered workers (around a third of the total), only 82.4%.

Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who's running for president on the ruling, center-left Union for the Homeland ticket, enacted a 36% raise in pensions for September in response - among other measures including wide-reaching tax cuts.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/economics/monthly-inflation-rate-hits-12-4-a-32-year-high

Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa announces a stimulus package in response to inflation numbers for August - the highest for the country in 32 years.

Massa, who's running for president on the ruling, center-left Union for the Homeland ticket, enacted a 36% raise in pensions and a 152% jump in income tax standard deductions among other measures.

The pragmatic Massa faces a stiff challenge from far-right candidate Javier Milei - who has tapped into popular discontent by pledging to "dynamite" the central bank and other institutions.