A) The libertarian Argentinian president Javier Milei decided to devalue the currency by 50%. With this measure, the exchange rate went from 365 pesos per dollar to 800. The plan of Milei is to establish the US dollar as the new Argentinian currency, like in Ecuador. But in order to do that, the country must stop using the international reserves for defending an artificial value of the peso, and use them to be able to pay its debts.
Milei says that the source of the problems in the economy are the long-lasting fiscal deficits, so he also decided to reduce the federal ministries from 18 to 9, and the agencies from 106 to 54, cut the subsidies for transport and energy (specially in the capital Buenos Aires), halt public investment in infrastructure and stop all governmental publicity in the media for 1 year.
The new government has warned the population that in the first year the economic situation will be worse than previously, with more inflation and poverty, but is a necessary step to achieve a sustainable economy. Finally, Milei announced that direct cash transfers for the poorest in society will double in order to face the upcoming challenges.
The victory of Milei is part of the trend seen during the last 8 years in the western world of voters challenging "the establishment" by choosing strong figures that are very controversial in the campaigns and their style of governing, but in practice they turn to be quite moderate and reasonable in their policies.
B) More than 18,400 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, have been killed in a sustained bombing. Israel is loosing the information war in the world as support for Palestine continues to grow amid accusations and evidence that is Israel is not dropping precision bombs in Gaza. Instead, those "dumb bombs" kill many civilians, and this contradicts the statements of Israel that "it does everything to protect non-Hamas warriors". Moreover, new evidence shows that the IDF has been using white phosphorus munitions, which are prohibited in the world and is a war crime.
Support for Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank is increasing. Currently, the latest polls show that 57% of respondents in Gaza and 82% in the West Bank believe Hamas was correct in launching the October attack. Only 10% said they believed Hamas has committed war crimes, with a large majority saying they did not see videos showing the militants committing atrocities.
Also, very importantly, the leader of the Palestinian National Authority (Mahmoud Abbas), that controls Palestinian settlements between Israel and Jordan, and suggested by the US to govern Gaza after the war, has only 10% support among the Palestinians in the West Bank. This certainly complicates even more the peace plan that the Western powers want to establish after the war. Indeed, the Palestinians want Hamas as their leaders, the US wants Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel wants none of them.
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