Latest news with #LucilaSigal
Ya Libnan
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Argentina to try 10 Iranians and Hezbollah official in absentia for deadly 1994 Jewish center bombing
By Lucila Sigal People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community centre, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina July 18, 2024. REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas/File Photo An Argentine judge on Thursday ordered that the 10 people accused of the deadliest bombing in the country's history face a trial in absentia, three decades after the attack on a Jewish community center that killed 85 people and wounded more than 150. Argentine authorities have charged 10 people as perpetrators of the 1994 attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires – including former Iranian government officials and others whom it says are members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Those accused include Iran's former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaee, former ambassador to Argentina Hadi Soleimanpour and other embassy staff. Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tehran has previously denied involvement and refused to turn over suspects. People of Lebanese and Colombian nationality accused of being tied to Hezbollah are also among those accused. The country's judiciary considers all defendants to be fugitives from the law, many since 2003. It argues the attack was carried out by Hezbollah with the backing of the Iranian government. Judge Daniel Rafecas ordered the measure on the basis of a law that was passed in February this year that allows long-term fugitives to face trial in absentia. Argentina is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community. President Javier Milei has been diplomatically supportive of the governments of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, both of whose long-standing feuds with Iran dramatically escalated this month. A similar attack against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 killed 22 people. Reuters
Medscape
27-05-2025
- Business
- Medscape
Argentina to Review Fast-track Authorization of Costly Drugs
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina's government said on Monday that it will review the use of fast-track authorizations for high cost drugs, as well as requiring future vaccine trials to include a placebo test group, as part of a broader revision of its healthcare policy. "The Ministry of Health will propose to discuss the use of this type of authorization for very high-cost drugs, especially those intended for children and rare diseases," the government said in a statement. "Innovation cannot justify hasty decisions without solid evidence." It said it would open technical discussions on approval criteria that prioritize patient safety and system sustainability. The government also said vaccines would be subject to clinical studies with a placebo group "as a minimum standard." "To review is not to deny," it added, saying the approach aimed to improve scientific rigor and boost public confidence. (Reporting by Lucila Sigal and Peter Henderson; Editing by Kylie Madry) Reuters Health Information © 2025 Reuters Ltd.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What economists say about Argentina's FX reforms and IMF deal
By Lucila Sigal and Eliana Raszewski BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's central bank has announced a major overhaul to the country's exchange rate policy, unleashing the peso and years-long controls on the currency ahead of an expected $20 billion International Monetary Fund deal. The central bank announced that it will undo a fixed currency peg from Monday, letting the peso freely fluctuate within a moving band. Here is what economists have to say about the policy changes and the IMF loan program, the country's 23rd in a long and complex history between Argentina and the lender. CLAUDIO LOSER, EX-IMF WESTERN HEMISPHERE DIRECTOR "I must say I am surprised by the amount of money at Argentina's disposition starting next week, approximately $20 billion." "Eliminating the CEPO (currency controls) is important, though it does not mean everyone can take out their money. What's more important is that the dollar will fluctuate, there will be fluctuation. People will be very nervous." RICARDO DELGADO, ECONOMIST "This is a devaluation, different from what the government would have wanted ahead of the elections... Lifting the CEPO is striking at this time of global volatility." MARTIN REDRADO, ECONOMIST AND FORMER CENTRAL BANK HEAD "There will be a limit to what the central bank will be able to invest in the upper part of the band. The IMF will surely set a limit that we may or may not be aware of, but that the market will put to the test." AGUSTIN ETCHEBARNE, HEAD OF FREEDOM AND PROGRESS FOUNDATION "Uncertainty will diminish and that's a positive thing." "This will help to strengthen the central bank... That is good news and it will allow inflation to continue decreasing in the mid-term to much lower levels than we currently have." JAIME REUSCHE, MOODY'S VP - SENIOR CREDIT OFFICER "The $20 billion agreement with the IMF is an important anchor that will help Argentina prepare for the next phase of its adjustment, which involves the elimination of the currency controls and capital controls." "Argentina's credit outlook remains positive, although navigating the current global environment in the context of the planned macroeconomic adjustment will be more challenging for the authorities."
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Argentina targets $20 billion IMF deal as markets wobble
By Lucila Sigal BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina is targeting a $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said on Thursday, formally putting a figure on the long-mooted program for the first time as he looks to calm local market jitters. The South American grains-producing nation, which has been battling triple-digit inflation, depleted reserves and rising debt, has been in talks with the IMF for months, though neither side had previously put a number on the planned deal. A new program would be the country's 23rd with the IMF if approved, and is seen helping bolster the central bank's reserve levels, strengthening the government of libertarian Javier Milei and defusing debt repayment risks in the years ahead. "What we are looking for with this agreement is that people can rest assured that the pesos that exist are backed by the central bank," Caputo said. "That will make us have a healthier currency, with less inflation, with less poverty." He added that the "amount we agreed upon with (IMF) staff - which ultimately the board will decide if it's approved or not - is $20 billion." Argentina's markets have wobbled in the last week amid question marks over the IMF deal and fears over a potential faster devaluation of the peso currency, currently held in check by strict capital controls and a so-called "crawling peg." The central bank has been forced to sell record amounts of dollars to support the peso, a worry with net foreign currency reserves already at least $4 billion in the red. The government says a new deal will bolster the central bank's accounts and allow the country to start undoing years-old capital controls it says stymie business and investment. Milei cut the peso's value by more than half soon after taking office in late 2023 and rolled out strict austerity measures to counteract years of overspending. Argentina is the IMF's largest borrower by far and is still paying back a $44 billion deal from 2022 that replaced a failed 2018 program. Reuters reported on Tuesday that some $8 billion of the funds would shore up the central bank's reserves, with $12 billion going toward principal and interest owed to the organization. Some local media had reported much smaller figures for the fresh funding, Caputo said, adding to market unease. The IMF board should meet in coming weeks to vote on the deal, he added. Argentina is also looking for funding from development banks such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean to further boost foreign reserves. Total gross reserves currently sit around $26.25 billion, but have fallen this year. The government is looking to nearly double that, Caputo said, with the additional funding. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
In Buenos Aires' poor neighborhoods, residents recall beers and chats with Pope Francis
By Lucila Sigal BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - In the impoverished Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa 21-24, 68-year-old painter Heriberto Ayala still remembers how Pope Francis, then Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an archbishop, came to visit regularly on the number 70 bus and break bread with locals. He recalled one time sharing a beer. "We had pitchers of cold water and beer. And I, you see, grabbed it and said, 'here you go, Father.' But instead of passing him water, I passed him the beer. He said, 'oh, how nice,'" Ayala reminisced with a chuckle. Locals have been celebrating the discharge from hospital of Pope Francis. In recent weeks the 88-year-old pope has been battling the most severe health crisis of his 12-year papacy, an absence from public life that shone a spotlight on his frailty and age. "We are all very pleased, very happy the pope is recovering," said Hector Novara at a church service in the capital on Sunday. "I identify with the pope as an Argentine, and for what he does in the world." The Argentine pontiff is known for his informal style, rejection of pomp, and push to make the Roman Catholic Church more liberal and inclusive. Some have linked that back to his time visiting and preaching in poor barrios in his home country, later earning him the nickname of "papa villero", or slum pope. Reuters spoke to half a dozen residents and churchgoers in those neighborhoods who all remembered the former archbishop of Buenos Aires as a simple man, who would arrive by bus with a briefcase and well-worn shoes. He would walk the streets, listening to locals while sometimes serving and sharing meals with them. "He walked all over the neighborhood, sweating with us. I know him very well. He was kind, he would sit and drink mate with us," said 78-year-old Antonia Pesoa, referring to a popular local herbal tea. "He helped us; he loved the humble people very much." In Villa 21-24, part of the larger Barracas area, messy power lines crisscross the sky above colorful buildings and ramshackle homes made of corrugated metal and plastic. Here the pope's illness has led to a wellspring of prayer and support. "For the residents of Villa 21, Pope Francis is part of the family," said Lorenzo "Toto" de Vedia, a priest of the Virgen de los Milagros de Caacupé parish in Barracas, adding that the neighborhood had been "deeply troubled" by his illness. "Of course it's been 11 or 12 years since he left office to become pope, but we always feel him very close." Francis is the first Latin American pope in history, though he has never returned to his native country since being made the head of the Church in 2013. His attempts to modernize the Church and address sensitive issues such as the treatment of immigrants and global conflicts have led to clashes at times with conservatives. He has eschewed many of the trappings of his post, declining to move into the palatial apartments used by his predecessors and driving around Rome in a Ford Focus. Rita Fernández, 70, called Francis "very down-to-earth" and remembered when he would visit her neighborhood over 20 years ago. "We would all sit around the table to eat together, like a family," she said, adding that the locals would often ask Bergoglio why he wanted to be there. "He would then say that he felt better here than in the cathedral." When he was elected pope she was overwhelmed. "It was crazy, my God. An emotion we didn't know. Both the priest and I shed tears," she recalled. Elba Castro, 83, also remembered Bergoglio coming to Villa 21 in his time as archbishop. She lamented that he had not returned to "see his children" since becoming pope, a decision that some have attributed to his desire to avoid getting caught up in Argentina's polarized political climate. "It gives me a kind of pain," said Castro. "He was from here."
