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TOPIC: argentina

Economy

Low-Cost Carrier Flybondi Creates First-Ever Transferable Airline Tickets

The innovative airline based in Argentina is offering plane tickets that can be given as a gift, or even sold, in what it says is a first anywhere in the world.

BUENOS AIRES — An Argentinian low-cost airline is letting ticket buyers change their details after purchase and has created a "unique" ticket that can be transferred, gifted, and presumably even sold to others. The firm says nobody else has this at the minute.

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Mendoza's "Recycled" Winery — Argentine Eco Architecture With A Splash

Architects in Mendoza, western Argentina, have used hundreds of tons of recycled building material, shipping containers and discarded decorations to create an otherwise high-tech winery.

MENDOZA — Winemaking and wine tourism installations are usually built with a tasteful nod at the landscape around them. In the case of the MAAL winery in western Argentina, its environment-friendly design includes use of 300 tons of discarded construction and decoration materials found in and around the district of Mendoza.

Local architects Mora Hughes wanted to make the project a badge of their "commitment to nature," but with all the "charm of a Mendoza winery." MAAL winery is in Las Compuertas, on the outskirts of the city of Mendoza and at the heart of a celebrated winemaking region.

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An Ode To Gratitude — The First Step To A Better Life

Learning to actively be more grateful to those in our lives, even when it's hard, can change everything.

-Essay-

BUENOS AIRES — A medic and friend of mine recently told me he was trying to help a woman with medical tests. She had cared for him as a child and youngster, and now she needed surgery. I was struck by his sense of gratitude, but also by the fact that a friend of his had advised him against helping. Was it his problem, really? he had asked.

The conversation reminded me of the elderly people who feel their grown-up children don't appreciate the efforts they'd made in the past as much as they should. Despite the inherent difficulties of close relations and some further, "Oedipal" complications, such parents feel a little left behind, and may even see their affection and past service become a source of resentment.

I am not interested so much in the Manichean tale of long-suffering parents "who did everything" for their ungrateful children, as I am in observing how some entire societies can forge ties that include a lifetime of caregiving and support.

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How Argentina Has Become China's Foothold In Latin America

China has become one of Argentina's most important trading partners and is increasing its military bases in the country. As China seeks to challenge the liberal world order, Argentina risks rifts with other key allies.

-Analysis-

BUENOS AIRES — There was a media furore worldwide in February over the sighting and subsequent downing of mysterious Chinese balloons by the U.S. coastline. The unnerving affair naturally raised a question mark in countries beyond the United States.

Here in Argentina, currently run by a leftist administration with leanings toward Russia and China, we might pertinently wonder whether or not the secretive Chinese base set up in the province of Neuquén in the west of the country in 2015-17 had anything to do with the communist superpower's less-than-festive balloons. It is difficult to say, of course, given the scarcity of information on the base, but the incidents are an opportunity to revise China's presence in Argentina.

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In The News
Emma Albright, Laure Gautherin and Anne-Sophie Goninet

Live Execution Of Ukrainian Soldier, 343 Migrants In Mexico Truck, Smiling Sphinx

👋 Akkam!*

Welcome to Tuesday, where Kyiv demands answers about a video that appears to show a captured Ukrainian soldier shot in cold blood, hundreds of migrants are found in an abandoned truck in Mexico and archaeologists unearth an ancient sphinx with an enigmatic smile. Meanwhile, Argentine daily Clarín takes us on a modern van-life Odyssey that’s reached the 20-year mark.

[*Oromo, Ethiopia]

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Society
Penélope Canónico

This Argentine Couple Turned A Road Trip Into A Way Of Life, 20 Years And Counting

After years of exploring the continent in a van, a couple from Buenos Aires asks: Should they ever go back to "normal" life?

BUENOS AIRES — Patricia Fehr and Germán de Córdova, a young Argentine couple, began exploring the American continent by van in 2003. They set out from San Nicolás de los Arroyos, near Buenos Aires, with plans to drive from southern Argentina to northern Alaska in a year.

That year turned into five years, and now, with Patricia, 48, and Germán, 56, they're still at it, currently in Mexico.
This modern Odyssey was driven in part by the couple's love of photography and their fascination with indigenous American cultures. Their trip has become an educational adventure for themselves and their now 14-year-old daughter, who has grown up her entire young life on the road.

The couple describe themselves as digital nomads and freelancers, and specifically amunches, which means traveler in Mapuche, an indigenous language in what is now Chile and Argentina. Their daughter is named Inti, which means sun in the indigenous Quechua language.

More than once, they told Clarín, they have parked their "house on wheels" near settlements where, they say, they "faced the problem of communication and were struck by the marginal status ... of people who were the original settlers and guardians of woods and rivers."

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Economy
Beatriz Nofal*

A Latin American Common Currency? Not So Fast

Brazil and Argentina have raised the idea of a shared currency for the South American trading zone. But few believe this is possible without more economic harmonization in the region.

-Analysis-

BUENOS AIRES — Proposals for a single currency for Mercosur, the South American trading zone, re-emerged during Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visit last month to the Argentine capital. Speaking alongside host President Alberto Fernández, he clarified that this was a long-term project to facilitate regional trade without using U.S. dollars, not a short-term plan to replace national monies with a "Southern" currency.

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Geopolitics
Carlos Ruckauf*

The Trumpian Virus Undermining Democracy Is Now Spreading Through South America

Taking inspiration from events in the United States over the past four years, rejection of election results and established state institutions is on the rise in Latin America.

-Analysis-

BUENOS AIRES — South Africa's Nelson Mandela used to say it was "so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build."

Intolerance toward those who think differently, even inside the same political space, is corroding the bases of representative democracy, which is the only system we know that allows us to live and grow in freedom, in spite of its flaws.

Recent events in South America and elsewhere are precisely alerting us to that danger. The most explosive example was in Brazil, where a crowd of thousands managed to storm key institutional premises like the presidential palace, parliament and the Supreme Court.

In Peru, the country's Marxist (now former) president, Pedro Castillo, sought to use the armed and security forces to shut down parliament and halt the Supreme Court and state prosecutors from investigating corruption allegations against him.

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Society
Ignacio Pereyra

Argentina Forever? I'll Remember Every World Cup Moment, My Son May Forget It All

Reflections from a still celebrating padre ...

“I’m overwhelmed and I’m not even Argentinian — happy to see people happy,” a friend who lives in Greece, where his partner is from, wrote to me. My friend, who is half-German and half-American, was moved by the jubilant images of millions of people celebrating in the streets of Argentina after Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup in Qatar.

His message came to me while I was reading about how the title might or might not affect the country and its people, but, above all, as I was also asking myself something simpler: Why are Argentine fans so happy — even weeks after winning the World Cup?

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In The News

Gracias, Messi! 28 International Front Pages Mark Argentina’s World Cup Win

It’s been hailed as one of the most riveting finals in World Cup history ever. After 120 minutes of improbable reversal of fortunes, Argentina beat France on penalties. Argentine striker Lionel Messi scored twice (plus a penalty in the decisive showdown), securing his status of one of the sport's all-time greats.

This is how newspapers in Argentina, France and the rest of the world featured the historic match on their front pages.

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In The News
Emma Albright, Anne-Sophie Goninet and Bertrand Hauger

Putin Goes To Belarus, Thai Warship Sinks, World Cup Front Page

👋 Dumêlang!*

Welcome to Monday, where Vladimir Putin heads to Belarus amid reports the neighboring country may join Russia’s war against Ukraine, 31 are missing as a Thai warship sinks during a storm, and we see how Argentina’s World Cup victory looks on the front page. Meanwhile, also in Argentina, Agencias Presentes profiles Ana Belén Kim, a rising star in Latin America's electronic music club scene — daughter of conservative Korean immigrants.

[*Northern Sotho, South Africa]

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Society
Alex Zani

From Church Choir To DJ Icon: The Singular Rise Of Anita B Queen

Daughter of conservative Korean immigrants to Argentina, portrait of rising star in Latin America's electronic music club scene who's impossible to categorize.

BUENOS AIRES — In a world that insists on labels, Ana Belén Kim, also known as Anita B Queen, considers herself a "degenerate." That is: someone impossible to classify. The 26-year-old daughter of a Catholic mother and an Evangelical father, both of whom were Korean immigrants who came to Argentina in their early childhood, her musical career began at Cheil, the First Korean Presbyterian Church in the country.

Anita was still a teenager and was surprised to see so many instruments she could use. She taught herself how to play and was soon in charge of the youth band of the church. When she turned 18, her life turned upside down as she questioned her values and her sexuality.

“Imagine, a lifelong Christian girl, growing up in a small, closed, conservative and orthodox Korean community, trying to understand what she was feeling and trying to accept herself.” That year she left the church, withdrew from her peers, separated from her boyfriend, and began dating other women.

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