Between the surprisingly intense cold of this weekend and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe coming out of a green pipe at the closing ceremony of the Olympics dressed as Mario, it’s really no wonder you didn’t focus on the news this weekend. If you missed it, here’s a taste of the weekend’s biggest international distraction:
PM Abe appears at Rio closing ceremony dressed as Mario. pic.twitter.com/CK7HjKUk0c
— Nippon.com (@nippon_en) August 22, 2016
But where was Donkey Kong? That’s what everyone wanted to know. Anyway, now that we don’t have any more Olympian distractions (since when were you so into dressage, anyway?) let’s get into what happened over the weekend in case your comment on Prime Minister Abe falls flat.
- The Head of Argentine Customs (DGA) Juan José Gómez Centurión was fired last Friday over suspicions of corruption. Centurión had accumulated various charges, one of which came from Security Minister Patricia Bullrich herself. (This is notable because Centurión is a member of President Mauricio Macri’s Republican Proposal Party (PRO)). For now, he will be replaced by Javier Zabaljauregu (in charge of the Metropolitan Customs) and Federal Judge Ariel Lijo will be evaluating the charges pressed against him.
- Two former public officials from the Health Ministry of Buenos Aires Province and pharmaceutical business people were arrested on charges of fraud regarding irregularities in the purchase of medication for addiction centers and public hospitals. The corruption was allegedly committed during former Victory Front (FpV) presidential candidate Daniel Scioli’s time as governor of said province. The political TV show La Cornisa revealed recordings that allegedly show damning conversations between the suspects.
- The political TV show Periodismo Para Todos (PPT) presented an exposé called “Cristileaks” last night regarding thousands of financial transactions adding up to US $492 million allegedly made by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and others involved in the purported money laundering scheme known as the “K Money Trail.” The program showed confidential documents from the seven banks that were handed over to a hedge fund called NML by the US judicial system over Argentina’s payment of defaulted bonds. Read more: Judge Casanello Ordered To Further Investigate Cristina In ‘K Money Trail’
- Clarín’s weekly Political and Economic Optimism Indices allegedly show more confidence in the economy, with the Political Optimism Index at 39.5 (stable from last week) and the Economic Optimism Index at 36.3 from last week’s 35.9.
- Since we mentioned the Olympics, we might as well mention that Argentina’s performance was the best since 1948 with three gold medals (yachting, men’s field hockey and judo) and a silver medal (men’s singles tennis). Read more: Argentina Gives Best Olympics Performance Since 1948
Go forth and show yourselves to be well informed, my loyal Monday readers!
