Argentina

• Saturday, June 20th 2009 - 16:31 UTC

  Argentina’s trade surplus surges 139% in May but imports plunge 49%

  

  Argentina's May trade surplus soared 139% from a year ago to 2.48 billion US dollars because of a sharp drop in imports as the economy slows, the government said on Friday.

• Saturday, June 20th 2009 - 08:06 UTC

  June 28 is signalling the end of the Kirchner couple hegemony

  

  The hegemonic leadership of the Kirchner couple in Argentina, prevalent since 2003, could be coming to and end following on Sunday June 28th mid term elections, according to several Buenos Aires pollsters and political analysts.

• Friday, June 19th 2009 - 17:58 UTC

  Che Guevara’s granddaughter to pose nude for vegetarian diet

  

  Lydia Guevara, granddaughter of the late revolutionary idol Ernesto “Che” Guevara, is set to star in a campaign to encourage a vegetarian diet for the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA.

• Friday, June 19th 2009 - 14:11 UTC

  A/H1N1 virus influenza deaths climb to six in Argentina

  

  Argentina health authorities announced Thursday two more people have died of A/H1N1 flu, raising the country's total to six. Buenos Aires province Health Minister Claudio Zin says a 15-year-old died in a clinic in La Matanza, while health officials in the capital are confirming the death of a girl. They did not give her age.

• Friday, June 19th 2009 - 14:07 UTC

  Four million live in poverty in metropolitan Buenos Aires

  

  An estimated four million Argentines live in poverty in metropolitan Buenos Aires of which 1.2 million are described as indigent, which means they don’t have minimum resources to purchase the basic food basket according to a survey from SEL Consultores released this week.

• Thursday, June 18th 2009 - 15:03 UTC

  Argentina has only shown aggression towards the Falklands, says Summers

  

  Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly elected member Mike Summers said the Argentine government has shown no willingness to discuss with the Falkland Islanders and went on to describe Argentina as resembling “a dictatorship with elections”.

• Thursday, June 18th 2009 - 14:59 UTC

  UN Assembly president, strong defender of Argentina in Malvinas question

  

  The president of the United Nations General Assembly is “well informed” on the Malvinas Islands issue and is a “strong defender of Argentine rights (over the Falkland Islands) and very much personally interested in all the claim process which Argentina has been intensifying”, said Argentine Foreign Secretary Jorge Taiana in New York.

• Thursday, June 18th 2009 - 08:58 UTC

  Foreign tourism in Argentina slips 6% during April

  

  Tourists arriving in Argentina through the country’s main international airport, Ezeiza dropped 6% last April compared to the same month a year ago according to the Statistics and Census office, INDEC.

• Wednesday, June 17th 2009 - 12:10 UTC

  Oil and gas exploration off Comodoro Rivadavia begins August

  

  Argentine oil and gas company Pan American Energy will invest 80 million US dollars in the first phase of an offshore exploration program in the San Jorge Gulf in Patagonia, next to Comodoro Rivadavia, the company said Tuesday in a statement.

• Wednesday, June 17th 2009 - 11:48 UTC

  Argentina’s A/H1N1 influenza deaths climb to four

  

  One day after reporting the first A/H1N1 flu fatality, Argentina announced three more deaths, bringing the total to four. Vice Minister of Health Carlos Soratti said two of the patients who died lived in Buenos Aires province and the third in the capital itself