
Máximo Kirchner, 36, son of the President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is recovering from cleansing minor surgery for a septic arthritis of his right knee after he was hospitalized in the early hours of Monday at the Austral Hospital in the Greater Buenos Aires.

Argentine former economy minister Domingo Cavallo assured that had the restrictions to buy US currency not been applied by the local Government “people would be flocking to buy dollars.”

The image of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez and the approval of her government have fallen significantly in June compared to last October when she was re-elected for a second four year mandate.

Ahead of a week of intense diplomatic exchanges and on the Day of the Affirmation of the Argentine Rights Over the Malvinas, Islands and Antarctic Sector, the Argentine Government once again ratified its claim over the Islands’ sovereignty and questioned the UK over the “illegal exploitation of their natural resources” and the “increased militarization of the South Atlantic region.”

For the third night in ten days angry Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires and other major cities banging pots and pans to protest corruption, rampant crime and insecurity, inflation and the dollar clamp in the midst of an economy that is showing clear signals of exhaustion and growing questions on the current course of affairs.

Industrial activity in Argentina dropped 3% in April compared to the same month a year ago, with the first four months closing with 1.1% growth, although with a declining tendency according to the latest data from the Argentine Industrial Union, UIA.

Argentina is rapidly becoming an expensive country for tourists and evidence of this is the declining number of tourists arriving in the country in the first months of the year while the number of Argentine travelling overseas is soaring, according to Mario Lielman, chair of the Buenos Aires Tourism and Travel Agencies Association.

Environment organizations meeting in Panama will demand the creation of a whales’ sanctuary in the south Atlantic and south Pacific, at the coming meeting of the International Whaling Commission.

Repsol, the Spanish oil producer whose Argentine unit YPF was nationalized in April, was cut to the lowest investment grade by Fitch Ratings, the first downgrade since reducing dividends to shore up its finances.

UK Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne turned down on Friday an invitation sent by Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman to visit Argentina. Timerman had hoped to meet with the UK government official in Buenos Aires when Browne makes his trip to the Falkland Islands next week.