Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner kicks off her second four-year term, intent on bolstering the country’s economy by promoting industry and consumer spending despite the crisis in Europe.
“Nothing and no one can force us to change course,” Fernandez said on Wednesday, the last official day of her first term as president of the vast South American nation of 40 million.
The 58-year-old Fernandez was re-elected on Oct. 23 with 54 percent of the vote — the strongest mandate for an Argentine president since the end of the 1976-1983 dictatorship.
Fernandez, still mourning the death more than a year ago of her husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, was due to deliver her -inauguration speech before lawmakers and foreign dignitaries at 3pm.
The president’s re-election came in the face of a divided opposition, allowing her party to win back control of the Congress, lost over a long battle with farmers, and maintain its majority in the senate. Fernandez has since chosen a new Cabinet chief, Juan Manuel Abal Medina, and a new finance minister, Argentine Finance Secretary Hernan Lorenzino, while keeping most of her other key ministers.
Although the political winds may be blowing in her favor, Fernandez is facing a far more difficult economic context than during her first term because of the fallout from the world financial crisis, including the eurozone debt crisis.
“The global crisis is a threat here as it is everywhere else,” said Rosendo Fraga, of the Nueva -Mayoria institute.
The government has slashed costly energy and transport subsidies, while taking draconian measures to slow capital flight, which has put a dent in Argentina’s foreign reserves.
Economists estimate capital flight has neared US$68 billion over the past four years, including US$22 billion this year alone.
In her first term, Fernandez maintained popular social programs started by her husband when he took office in 2003, including for pensions and child benefits, as well as the now-slashed subsidies for transport and utilities.
That model has resulted in a 4 percent increase in household consumption per year, and an average of 8 percent annual economic growth since 2003, except for 2009, when growth stood at 0.9 percent.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing