Argentina

• Sunday, July 22nd 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner government payroll balloons at 441 per day rate

  

  Argentina last year under President Nestor Kirchner contracted 161.000 government employees at federal, provincial and municipal level, which is equivalent to 441 per working day, (or 18 every 60 minutes) according to La Nacion Sunday edition.

• Saturday, July 21st 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Rampaging fishermen set six plants on fire in Santa Cruz

  

  Striking Argentine fishermen in Patagonia rampaged and set on fire property and vehicles belonging to several of the companies in conflict, two of them Spanish. The serious incident took place in Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz province, 520 kilometers from where President Nestor Kirchner and his candidate wife were on an official event.

• Saturday, July 21st 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine Defence Minister backtracks on FAL rifle ignorance

  

  While leading government figures continued their onslaught on a judge who has summoned Defence Minister Nilda Garré in a gunrunning case, the minister backtracked yesterday on her previous claims to ignorance as to what a FAL (light automatic rifle) is.

• Friday, July 20th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Mrs Kirchner launches presidential bid promising continuity

  

  Argentina's First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez Kirchner launched late Thursday evening her campaign to become the country's first elected woman president praising her husband's administration and pledging to lift Argentines self esteem.

• Friday, July 20th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  The Kirchner model: king and queen penguin

  

  The “first lady” of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, launched this week the campaign to succeed her husband Néstor as president. This is less a story of Evita Perón or Hillary Clinton than a political fix by illiberal architects of a failed model of governance, says Celia Szusterman in Agora Vox, the Citizen Media, European Union.

• Thursday, July 19th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Energy shortages impact on Argentine industrial activities

  For the first time since Argentina begun its strong recovery in 2003, industrial production contracted apparently because of the escalating energy problems and restrictions, according to the Buenos Aires think-tank FIEL which regularly releases monthly reports on economic and other activities.

• Thursday, July 19th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Sea trials for Comodoro Rivadavia bio-fuel powered fishing vessel

  

  The first fishing vessel powered with bio-fuel, a mix of micro Patagonian algae with hake and squid residue, set to sea from Comodoro Rivadavia this week reports the Argentine press.

• Wednesday, July 18th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Half a million foreign tourists visit Ushuaia annually

  Half a million foreign tourists arrive every year to Ushuaia in the extreme south of Argentina attracted by its wild life, numerous marine species and Antarctica which has become the natural magnet and challenge for visitors looking for exotic destinations.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina tightens controls on squid fishery companies

  Taking advantage of the abundance of squid, in spite of poor international prices, Argentina has decided to implement stricter controls on companies involved in the squid fisheries.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Peirano expected to confirm Argentina's economic policy

  

  Argentina's Industry Secretary Miguel Peirano was the man finally chosen by President Nestor Kirchner to head the Economy Minister for the few months left of his administration that officially ends next December 10.
  
  Peirano, 40, is scheduled to take office Tuesday at 19:00 hours.