Latest news with #BuenosAires
Bloomberg
19 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Total Gets Offers for Potential Sale of Argentina Shale Oil Assets
France's TotalEnergies SE is in talks with at least two suitors who have submitted bids for its shale oil assets in Argentina, according to people familiar with the matter. Progress with the divestment comes after Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said earlier this year that he'd be willing to offload stakes in the fields at the right price.
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Argentina's Javier Milei Will Miss His Peronist Nemesis
With Cristina Fernández de Kirchner confined to house arrest, Argentina's most influential political leader this century enters her inescapable twilight. But the person who may end up missing her the most is her ideological nemesis and rival, the libertarian president Javier Milei. Since last week, the 72-year-old Kirchner has been sporting an ankle monitor that prevents her from leaving her Buenos Aires apartment, the result of a six-year corruption sentence by Argentine courts that also banned her from occupying office ever again. It's an embarrassing finale for a political figure who not too long ago was one of the world's most powerful women.
Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Lalo Schifrin obituary: composer of the Mission Impossible theme
He may not have been a secret government agent like the heroes of the Mission: Impossible TV series or Tom Cruise movies which featured his thrilling theme music, but Lalo Schifrin was an expert at covert operations thanks to his passion for a banned art form. As a jazz-mad teenager growing up in Buenos Aires in the late 1940s, he had to be sneaky in order to feed his voracious appetite for bebop. The Argentinian leader, the dictator Juan Perón, had issued a blanket ban on jazz, so there was none to be heard on the radio or in nightclubs. 'Peron had made a law that Argentinian popular music had to be promoted. And in every theatre, between movies, they had some kind of folk music act with singers doing so-called national music, which was horrible. Or, if the music was good, the singers were bad. So the people would go to the lobby, waiting for them to finish, and then they would go back to see the movie.' The young Schifrin bought his records from an American merchant marine skipper sailing from New Orleans. He would pay for the records in advance, then wait 40 days for their arrival. When he went down to the docks to collect his stash, he wore a long raincoat under which he could hide his latest acquisitions. 'In a way, I was smuggling records, but not for sale,' Schifrin said in 1996. 'They were for my own private collection.' Schifrin was born Boris Claudio Schifrin in Buenos Aires in 1932. His father, Luis, was the concertmaster for the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, and the young Schifrin was exposed to the great classical composers from birth and classically trained on piano from a young age. Hearing Duke Ellington's music for the first time as a teen was, he said, 'like a religious conversion, and that conversion became more refined, focused and passionate when I discovered Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell'. He briefly studied law before going to France to study music at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included the composer Olivier Messiaen, and he fell in love with the edgy sounds of the modern composers. Ironically, it was there that his love for Latin American music was kindled after he attended a lecture and workshop given by the Cuban composer and author Julio Gutiérrez, who had written a book entitled Mambology. It was also in Paris that he began playing jazz professionally. He said: 'I led a double life. I was a classical pianist during the day, and a jazz musician at night.' Returning to a post-Peron Argentina in 1956, he started a big band. Later that year, Gillespie's big band toured Argentina, and Schifrin's outfit was booked to play at a reception in his honour. Gillespie liked what he heard, asked the young Argentinian if he had written the arrangements for the band and suggested he work for him in the States. Schifrin and his first wife, Silvia, moved to New York in 1958. They divorced in 1970, and Schifrin is survived by his second wife Donna (née Cockrell) and his three children — William and Frances, from his first marriage, and Ryan, all of whom work in film and TV production. Aged 26, he composed Gillespiana — a five-movement suite based in part on baroque music forms and scored for a traditional big band minus saxophones, but augmented by four French horns, two percussionists and a tuba. With Schifrin on piano, Gillespie's band performed the piece throughout Europe and the United States. It established him as a composer who could elegantly blend classical music with jazz, and it was a logical step for him to head next to Hollywood, where Elmer Bernstein and Johnny Mandel were taking the same approach to movie scores. Among the early films he scored were Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Bullitt (1968), Kelly's Heroes (1970) and Enter the Dragon (1973), along with Dirty Harry (1971) and several of its sequels. But it was the suitably 'groovy' and exciting music he wrote for the TV series Mission: Impossible in 1966 which put him on the map. It was composed before the title credits were created, and the only inspiration the producers could offer was a cryptic instruction about a 'lit fuse'. Written with an unconventional 5/4 time signature it injected, he explained: 'A little humour and lightness that didn't take itself too seriously.' Thirty years later, when the show was turned into a blockbuster action film starring Tom Cruise, the star told him that retaining the original pulsating and suspenseful theme music had been a deal-breaker when he took on the project. Since that first Mission: Impossible movie in 1996, there have been a further seven films in the series — all with that 'earworm' Schifrin theme. The most recent was released this year and made almost £400 million worldwide. Alongside his film and TV work, he was kept busy with commissions, including the grand finale music for the 1990 World Cup Championship in Italy, when The Three Tenors — Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras — sang together for the first time. He worked with Carreras and the London Symphony Orchestra on the album Friends for Life in 1992, and again with the LSO on Symphonic Impressions of Oman, a piece commissioned by the Sultan of Oman and released on CD in 2003. He was in demand as a conductor with orchestras across the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra — which recorded his Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, featuring the soloist Angel Romero, in 1984. In the late 1980s, he was musical director of the new Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, formed with the express purpose of recording music for films, performing concerts and participating in TV shows, and he operated as both pianist and conductor for the successful series of Jazz Meets the Symphony recordings, with the LPO, through the 1990s and early 2000s. Along the way, he also wrote compositions which added Latin American influences into the mix. 'People ask me how it is that I'm so 'versatile,'' he said in 1996. 'But I say, 'I'm not versatile. I just don't see limits. To me, all music is one music.' Lalo Schifrin, pianist, composer and conductor, was born on June 21, 1932. He died on June 26, 2025, aged 93
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
The history behind Marcos Acuña and his Club World Cup rage
There's a common phrase in Argentina that is synonymous with the country's sporting culture. In English, it's best described as 'grit' or 'tenacity'. In Argentina, where male athletes and men's teams are judged by their steel and resilience, the ultimate badge of honor is linked to the strength of their nether regions. Advertisement 'Poner huevo', in the figurative sense of the definition, is to leave everything on the field. To fight for your teammates, club or country at all costs and against all odds. The literal definition is to 'have balls, or eggs (huevos)', and that's River Plate fullback Marcos Acuña's calling card. Nicknamed 'El Huevo', Acuña has made a living by playing football on the edge. Diminutive in stature but built like an Olympic wrestler, the former Sevilla star earned his moniker with Club Ferro Carril Oeste, a proud second-division team with a unique relationship with Aston Villa. Acuña came up through the Ferro, which is located in the Caballito neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Acuña stood out as a young player for his relentless play and his fearless desire to tackle despite his size. He moved to Racing Club in 2014, two years before making his senior international debut for Argentina. A period at Sporting CP in Portugal was preceded by his most noteworthy spell in Spain with Sevilla, where he cemented his reputation in La Liga as a technical and bruising defender. He started four matches for Argentina during the title run at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. His profile at the top level has been understated, but highly valued by Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni; Acuña is the type of player most coaches would relish having on their side. 'He's quiet, but if you're going to war, you go with 'El Huevo' Acuña,' Scaloni told ESPN in 2021. 'El Huevo is a guy we appreciate in a special way — and he knows it. Getting words out of him is hard. But when he speaks, he says just the right thing. And when he has to play, he plays, he gives it everything… He's the kind of player we like to have.' On Wednesday in Seattle, Acuña played like his alias. The 33-year-old was among River Plate's top performers in their 2-0 loss to Champions League runners-up Inter at the Club World Cup. But Acuña's fiery personality got the better of him after the final whistle. It took a handful of River Plate players, plus Inter coach Cristian Chivu and River Plate's team bodyguard, to restrain Acuña, who became enraged and ran after Inter's Denzel Dumfries as the Dutch international headed to the stadium's tunnel. Advertisement Dumfries and Acuña aren't strangers. They last faced each other in 2022, during a highly combative World Cup quarterfinal in Qatar. Argentina and the Netherlands battled to a 2-2 draw before the former prevailed 4-3 in the penalty shootout. There was also a bench-clearing scuffle between both sides that raised the temperature to a boiling point. After Lautaro Martinez scored the winning penalty, several Argentina players taunted their opponents as they celebrated their qualification to the semifinals. The images of Argentina's players laughing in the faces of the devastated Dutch side were seen by the football world. But there's one video that was obscure, and that may have led to the clash between Acuña and Dumfries in Seattle. Aca no se acuerda nadie porque estaban todos festejando pero lo de Acuña y Dumfries viene de aca. — lautaro (@notlauti_) June 26, 2025 An overhead angle of Argentina's celebrations sees Acuña bait Dumfries. A melee ensued and Dumfries was shown a second yellow. Acuña, a left fullback, was Scaloni's answer to containing the speedy Dumfries. The two players became very familiar with each other that day. When the Club World Cup groups were announced, the River Plate and Inter match was among the most anticipated of the group stage. There wasn't a great deal of friction between the two during the match. Both players got the better of each other at times, but they kept it professional until Alessandro Bastoni put the game on ice in second-half stoppage time. Acuña had previously been triggered by something one of Inter's assistant coaches had said, so the tensions were rising. With River Plate's elimination a certainty, Acuña became enraged and tangled with Dumfries on the ground after he dragged the Inter defender down by his shirt. They both shared a sinister grin and that's when the two began to exchange pleasantries. Perhaps Acuña reminded the Dutch fullback that Dumfries had left Qatar without a medal. After the match, Inter captain Martinez, Acuña's Argentina teammate, revealed how the ordeal was resolved. 'I spoke with Marcos. He's a great person, and that's that,' Martínez said. 'I've known him for years. These are situations that happen in the heat of the match. It happened, it was a momentary bout of anger, but everything stays on the field. The confrontation… stayed on the field. Acuña and Dumfries made peace inside the locker room.' Advertisement River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo lauded his team's effort against one of the strongest teams in Europe. The incident between Acuña and Dumfries, though, marred the Argentine club's participation in the tournament. Fans and pundits in South America blasted River Plate and Acuña for failing to lose honorably. 'I understand the emotions of the players, but the ending is not the image we want to show,' Gallardo said. 'A fight between two players causes everyone to get involved. It's not River's style for things to end that way.' Gallardo wasn't proud of his player's behavior after the final whistle. But for El Huevo Acuña, the question remains whether he's a modern-day hard man or a victim of his own pride.
Times of Oman
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Times of Oman
'Mission: Impossible' theme creator Lalo Schifrin dies
Lalo Schifrin, the Argentine musician considered one of the most influential film composers of his generation and writer for the "Mission: Impossible" theme music, has died at the age of 93, various media across the United States reported on Thursday. Schifrin died in the morning, according to his sons Ryan and William. Schifrin, who lived in the United States, was also a pianist and conductor. Among his other works are: "The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and "Bullitt" (1968), both with Steve McQueen, Paul Newman's "Cool Hand Luke" (1968), and Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" (1971). But his creation for the 1960s "Mission: Impossible" television series — which inspired the theme of the massive film franchise starring Tom Cruise — is arguably his most famous work. Classical music background Born in Buenos Aires in 1932, Schifrin's father was the concertmaster of the capital's Philharmonic Orchestra. Early exposure to classical music shaped him, but as a teenager, Schifrin became more into jazz, which he later skillfully combined with classical element — a hallmark of his music for film and television. A pipe-smoker in his younger years and bespectacled with a mane of silver hair later, Schifrin was also given an honorary Oscar, presented by Clint Eastwood, for his lifetime of work in 2018.
