TRUMP TRADE DEAL

At press time, the White House announced it had agreed a trade deal with Argentina, the latest since US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs around the world. Buenos Aires has agreed to open its markets to US products, while Washington has granted tariff relief on some items in return.

MAMMOTH TRIAL

The ‘Cuadernos’ corruption notebooks mega-trial accusing 20 ex-officials (including former two-term president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner), two ministerial chauffeurs and 65 businessmen (many of them now whistleblowers) of forming an illicit association dedicated to the collection of kickbacks between 2003 and 2015 with at least 626 witnesses scheduled to testify, began last Thursday. In the preceding weekend videos surfaced showing ministerial chauffeur Oscar Centeno, the author of the copybooks chronicling the payment and collection of bribes, entering the Olivos presidential residence, thus adding a controversial note to the trial. Since no dock in the country can hold so many defendants (Fernández de Kirchner is currently under house arrest), they will be answering the charges via Zoom. On the eve of the trial, the Supreme Court upheld a four-year prison term for Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido, one of the chief defendants, for fraudulent administration leading to the 2012 Once rail tragedy with 52 fatal victims and almost 800 peo