Five weeks ahead of primaries and three months away from mid term congressional election, public opinion polls indicate that President Cristina Fernandez could be heading to a serious defeat, particularly in the province of Buenos Aires, which with 37% of the national vote is decisive for any victory pretension.
Argentina’s teamsters union headed by the powerful leader Hugo Moyano, a former ally of the government and currently one of her most aggressive adversaries, has declared a national strike on Monday which in practical terms means the country is in full campaign ahead of the mid term October election when President Cristina Fernandez will try by all means to retain control over Congress.
At least 17.8% of the Argentine population lives in indigence conditions, taking as reference a ‘Healthy Food Basket’ which estimates family monthly needs in 3.700 Pesos which is more that five times the official stats office Indec reference sum of 730 Pesos.
Argentina’s flagship the tall mast frigate ARA Libertad which last year was retained in Ghana for 77 days, unexpectedly suspended until 2014 the beginning of its annual instruction trip which was scheduled to leave Buenos Aires this weekend.
Argentina’s Prosecutor General Alejandra Gils Carbo has prevented AMIA case Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman from attending the US Congress. Nisman was expected to expose the 500-page indictment accusing Iran of allegedly “infiltrating” Latin America to establish “intelligence networks”.
Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over reports its citizens' electronic communications have been under surveillance by US spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday.
Britain and Spain faced another round of diplomatic tension on Wednesday night after four Spanish jets “buzzed” over the BOT Gibraltar, causing delay to a commercial flight. Reports collected by the Gibraltar Chronicle indicate eyewitnesses said the Matador jets flew in from behind Los Barrios and very close to the north end of the Rock.
The Spanish government believes an “error of appreciation” was committed in the incident involving the Galician trawler “Piscator” captured this week in the South Atlantic allegedly operating in Argentine waters. Spain is hopeful that the situation will be resolved in “coming hours”.
The US economy added a net 195,000 new jobs in June, official figures show. The figure was well above economists' expectations of 165,000. Revisions to data for April and May added a further 70,000 jobs to previous estimates. This means the jobless rate remained steady at 7.6% of the workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
Chilean president Sebastián Piñera congratulated former president Michelle Bachelet and ex Economy minister Pablo Longeuira who emerged as winners in the two main coalition’ primaries held last Sunday, the first time such an event takes place in the country.