International

Commissions of the Argentine Senate resume debate on key law for Javier Milei

The Law Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, the star project of the Executive of Javier Milei, faces a decisive week from this Monday in its discussion prior to its processing in the Senate.

A plenary meeting of the Senate General Legislation, Budget and Finance and Constitutional Affairs committees will resume this Monday at 3:00 p.m. local time (18.00 GMT) the debate of the law and the fiscal package that were approved by Deputies on April 30 and that the Executive needs to show governance and sustainability to its economic program.

At the same time, the ruling party’s negotiations continue with the other blocks of Senators and provincial governors to approve a law that the Executive had imposed as a deadline before May 25.

Times run against the ruling party because several opposition leaders question the level of the income tax on wages, the Incentives for Large Investments (RIGI) Regime and money laundering that are contained in the bills.

If the senators modify the bill, they must return to Deputies so that it is finally sanctioned.

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The presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, defended the RIGI on Monday by indicating that “it is not the looting of the country,” “it does not help entrepreneurs to take money abroad,” “much less merge SMEs,” but will attract investments of more than 200 million dollars that “are not made if there is no tax and exchange rate stability” and “will give impetus to the economy, investments and employment,” and will allow “triple the level of exports in a decade.”

The senators of La Libertad Avanza, a far-right party led by Milei, are only seven, another 33 are opposition Peronists and the rest of the 72 legislators of the Upper House are composed of potential allies.

This is the second time that Parliament has debated the bill, since in February it was approved in general by the Chamber of Deputies, but later, in the face of a sure defeat in the vote article by article in the Lower House and a foreseeable subsequent rejection in the Senate, the ruling party chose to return the bill to commissions.

After successive negotiations, the Government submitted a new project with 232 articles (compared to the 664 of the original initiative), the first of which declares the public emergency in administrative, economic, financial and energy matters for a period of one year, giving the Executive delegated powers in those matters, much less than those initially claimed by Milei.

The initiative allows the reform of the State, enables the privatization of a dozen companies, involves controversial changes in labor and retirement legislation and includes incentives for the energy and hydrocarbons sector and for large investments.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

International

Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.

The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.

While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.

Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.

Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.