International
Argentina agrees to three-month price freeze with businesses
AFP
Argentina’s government on Thursday announced it had reached an agreement with the private sector to freeze prices on more than 1,200 goods in a bid to slow soaring inflation.
The country’s statistics institute announced that inflation since January was 37 percent while the figure over the last 12 months was 52.5 percent, one of the highest in the world.
“These 1,247 goods with their prices frozen will provide an anchor to stabilize inflation,” said Roberto Feletti, the secretary for internal commerce.
“The important thing is to slow down the ball and to guarantee a quarter with lots of consumption,” Feletti told El Destape radio.
The agreement relates mainly to food and cleaning products.
Companies have voluntarily agreed to return prices to their levels on October 1 and will remain fixed until January 7, 2022.
“The response from businesses was positive,” said Feletti.
Argentina has suffered two decades of sky-high inflation.
The agreement comes after recent street protests demanding greater food subsidies and help in a country where poverty surpassed 40 percent this year.
A few weeks ago, the government increased the minimum wage by 16 percent to 33,000 pesos ($333) a month and announced a hike in family allowances that should benefit two million people in the country of 45 million.
Already in recession since 2018, the coronavirus pandemic plunged Argentina into an even worse economic crisis.
Center-left President Alberto Fernandez, who has two years to run on his term, is under pressure with partial legislative elections due next month.
Fernandez runs the risk of losing his Frente de Todos coalition’s majority in the senate, which would be a major blow given that he does not have a majority in the lower house chamber of deputies.
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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