- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
- Taiwan shuts down for second day as Typhoon Krathon to land
- Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
- Biden official urges talks as US port strike enters second day
- Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
- Rally in oil prices loses steam on mixed day for global stocks
- South America treated to rare 'ring of fire' eclipse
- Biden official says port strike deal not as far as parties think
- Mexico's new president offers apology for 1968 student massacre
- Historic funding round values OpenAI at $157 billion
- Mixed US car sales in Q3 as industry hopes for post-election bounce
- Thunderstorms are a 'boiling pot' of gamma rays, scientists find
- Scientists unlock secret of 'Girl With Pearl Earring'
- Dolphins flash friendly grins when they're ready to play
- Facing backlash, EU moves to delay deforestation rules
- US private sector adds more jobs than expected in September: ADP
- Boys out of critical condition after Zurich stabbings
- Spain logs record summer tourism as inflow draws protests
- Hedi Slimane quits as Celine's artistic director
- Oil prices extend rally on Iran attack
- Spain welcomed record number of tourists this summer
- France says coming tax hikes on the wealthy to be 'temporary'
- Why are Thailand's roads so deadly?
- Oracle to invest $6.5 bn in Malaysian cloud services region
- Parkrun marks 20 years of a free weekly jog, run... or walk
- Oil extends rally after Iran attack, Hong Kong soars again
- Prostitutes, prospectors drive spread in DR Congo mpox capital
- Oil extends rally after Iran attack, Hong Kong resumes surge
- Extreme heat another form of death sentence in Texas jails
- Can music help plants grow? Study suggests sound boosts fungus
- Nike earnings drop, says turnaround will take time
- US dockworkers launch mass strike a month before election
- Iron Dome: Israel's key anti-missile shield
- Cranes stand still as US dockworkers fight for 'future'
- GM reports US sales dip, but says EVs grew
- Sheinbaum takes office as Mexico's first woman president
- Webb telescope detects carbon dioxide on Pluto's largest moon
- Stock markets slump, oil jumps on Middle East concerns
- French PM vows more taxes and spending cuts ahead of budget fight
- Germany inaugurates IBM's first European quantum data centre
- Stock markets diverge as eurozone inflation drops further
- France's richest man takes control of Paris Match magazine
- Anger meets tear gas as Nigeria hardship protests fizzle out
SCS | -2.56% | 12.87 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.04% | 24.78 | $ | |
RIO | -0.48% | 70.82 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.04% | 24.93 | $ | |
NGG | -1.85% | 68.78 | $ | |
RBGPF | 100% | 59.99 | $ | |
BCE | -1.13% | 34.44 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.14% | 6.91 | $ | |
BTI | -1.33% | 35.97 | $ | |
VOD | -2.16% | 9.74 | $ | |
RELX | -0.11% | 47.29 | $ | |
BCC | -1.33% | 139.53 | $ | |
AZN | 1.14% | 79.58 | $ | |
GSK | -2.15% | 39.45 | $ | |
JRI | -1.12% | 13.38 | $ | |
BP | 0.86% | 32.37 | $ |
Huge protests in Argentina over public university cuts
Several thousand Argentines joined major student-led protests in Buenos Aires on Wednesday over President Javier Milei's cuts to free university education.
The second large-scale demonstration in six months in defense of the country's cherished public university system was called over Milei's plans to veto a new law that guarantees universities' funding.
The law angered Milei, a self-professed "anarcho-capitalist" who came to power vowing to take a figurative chainsaw to public spending to tame chronically high inflation and eliminate the budget deficit.
While inflation has fallen, his spending cuts have been blamed for a surge in poverty levels, which affected more than half the population in the first six months of his presidency.
A huge crowd packed a vast square outside Congress in central Buenos Aires, where demonstrators waved placards reading "Without education for the people, no peace for the government" or "How can we have freedom without education?"
Ana Hoqui, a 30-year-old psychology graduate from a village 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Buenos Aires who was among the demonstrators, said she came to show support for a system which helped her study medicine.
"My parents sacrificed a lot so that I could come study at Buenos Aires University. I could never have trained without the free, public university system," she told AFP.
"That's why I came to defend it, because I feel it's in danger."
Protests were also held in several cities nationwide.
In April, hundreds of thousands of Argentines took to the streets in a first pivotal show of anger over Milei's policies after the government froze university funding for 2024 at the same level as 2023, despite persistently high inflation.
The government responded by increasing funding for university hospitals and infrastructure.
- Presidential veto -
At the center of the latest protests is a new law providing for universities to receive regular funding increases and for teachers and staff to receive salary increases to counteract the effects of annual inflation of 236 percent in August.
Milei has vowed to veto the law, as he has done with other laws he opposes, calling the salary increases for teachers "unjustified" and lawmakers "fiscal degenerates."
His veto could however be overruled by a two-thirds majority in Congress where his party is in a minority.
While the protests were ongoing, Milei met on Wednesday with disgraced Wall Street trader Jordan Belfort, whose corrupt, excess-driven lifestyle was depicted in Martin Scorsese's "Wolf of Wall Street."
Belfort posted a picture of the meeting on X, captioned "two passionate advocates for free markets and individual liberty."
D.Philippon--CPN