
Who have been the most influential Argentines during 2018, is a traditional public opinion survey which Consultants Giacobbe & Associates have been releasing annually uninterruptedly since 1995. And this last year there were no big surprises: the main characters have been president Mauricio Macri and ex-president Cristina Fernandez.

The Argentine government announced on Thursday new increases in public transport rates, some 40% on average that will apply from next January to travel by bus, train and metro.

Argentina, Brazil and India lead the prospects of an economic recovery, according to Michael Hasenstab of Templeton Global Bond Fund Management.

In a local replica of the #MeToo movement, actress/model Thelma Fardin last week announced with the backing of radical feminist groups that she had been abused by actor Juan Darthes while on tour in Nicaragua. At the time of the alleged abuse in 2009, Fardin was 16 and therefore a minor. Darthes has already been “buried alive” and any show or commercial ad with his face has been removed from national TV.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri Tuesday launched an appeal in Montevideo to find solutions to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and called for the return of democracy in that country. He delivered that speech during the Mercosur summit where he is to take up the bloc's rotating presidency from host Tabaré Vázquez.

Argentina is in recession after its economy shrank by 3.5% during the third trimester of 2018, the state statistics bureau said on Tuesday. It was the second such shrinkage in a row after the economy shrank 4.0% in the second quarter, with respect to the same period a year ago.

Bolivia’s football-mad President Evo Morales has offered his Argentine, Uruguayan and Paraguayan counterparts help in their joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.
Morales made the offer to the equally passionate presidents, Mauricio Macri of Argentina, Uruguay’s Tabare Vazquez and Paraguayan Mario Abdo Benitez during regional Mercosur heads of state meeting in Montevideo.

The presidents of all Mercosur member and associate countries gathered Tuesday in Montevideo for a summit to redefine the bloc's future, in light of recent statements from Brazil's future government that the region will not be among the priorities of Jair Bolsonaro when he becomes president on January 1.

Argentine ex-president and Senator Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is back on stage and looking to run in next October's presidential election, hopefully with a united opposition. Mandatory primaries in Argentina are only eight months away and several of her acolytes over the weekend and with her blessing announced she is prepared to run for the presidency.

Poverty in Argentina has risen to its highest in eight years, a new report has revealed, with more than a third of the population now considered to be poor. The new survey, from the Catholic University of Argentina's Social Debt Observatory, found that 33.6% of Argentines were living below the poverty line in the third quarter of the year.