Argentina approves South America's first COVID-19 vaccine

The National Administration of Drugs, Food and Medical Technology (ANMAT) approved the first COVID-19 vaccine entirely developed in Argentina: the “ARVAC Cecilia Grierson.”

Developed by the National University of San Martín, the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), and the Cassará Lab, the vaccine has proven to be safe and effective as a booster against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in people over 18.

The ARVAC Cecilia Grierson — named after the first Argentine woman to receive a medical degree (1885) from the University of Buenos Aires — is already being produced in the Cassará manufacturing plant in Buenos Aires, and can be adapted to new variants of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the region.

According to a press release by the Health Ministry, the development of the vaccine was the result of a public-private consortium that involved more than 600 scientists and professionals, 25 institutions and over 2,000 volunteers.

“The virus is here to stay, and we will need periodic boosters like the common flu,” said Carla Vizzoti, the country’s Minister of Health.

“It is so important that we have this chance of having a safe, effective, and quality resource, and that we can substitute imports and export the vaccine.”

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/business/tech/argentina-approves-its-first-covid-19-vaccine

Argentine Health Minister Carla Vizzotti (fifth from right) and Science Minister Daniel Filmus (with gray beard, holding flag) join the heads of the country's ARVAC project to celebrate the approval of the country's - and the region's - first Covid-19 vaccine.

Argentina recorded over 130,000 Covid-19 deaths - the second-lowest rate per thousand people in Latin America and about half the regional average, according to the University of Oxford's Our World in Data.

U.K. Defense Secretary laughing during speech about Israel sparks backlash

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden faced backlash for appearing to laugh during Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's remarks about the war between Israel and Hamas.

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes against Gaza.

The Associated Press reported that as of Monday afternoon, at least 1,400 people in Israel and at least 2,778 people in Gaza have been killed since the fighting erupted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is "at war" and cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza. He has vowed to "demolish Hamas," ordering 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to relocate to the south.

At: https://www.newsweek.com/british-defense-secretary-laughs-israel-speech-grant-shapps-1835105

https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1713936288942821846

Dariush Mehrjui: Iranian director and wife found dead

One of Iran's most prominent film directors, Dariush Mehrjui, has been found dead alongside his wife.

The 83-year-old and Vahideh Mohammadifar were found with stab injuries in their home near the capital, Tehran, on Saturday evening, Iranian authorities say.

Mehrjui was considered one of the founders of Iranian new wave cinema.

Four people have been identified in connection to the deaths, according to local media reports.

At: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67118052

Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Vahideh Mohammadifar attend a film directors' meeting in Tehran in 2015.

A founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the 1970s, Mehrjui was best known internationally for his existential films - particularly The Cow (1969) and Hamoun (1989).

U.S. budget deficit rises in FY 2023 amid surging interest rates

U.S. budget deficit totaled nearly $1.7 trillion in fiscal year 2023, which ended on September 30, as interest rates have been surging, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in its Monthly Budget Review on Tuesday.

The federal deficit jumped by 28% between fiscal year 2022 and fiscal year 2023, from $1.375 trillion to $1.69 trillion, according to CBO estimates.

The deficit equaled 6.2% of GDP, up from 5.4% in FY 2022.

That increase, the CBO said, resulted from a combination of lower revenues and higher interest outlays.

Outlays for the largest mandatory spending programs - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid - increased by 11%, to $2.8 trillion between them.

Net outlays for interest on the public debt rose by 33% to $711 billion - mainly because interest rates were significantly higher than they were in fiscal year 2022.

Defense spending rose 7%, to $774 billion. Total federal outlays, however, slipped 1.4% to $6.13 trillion.

Total receipts were in turn down by 9%, to $4.44 billion - due mainly to a 17% fall in income tax revenues, to $2.18 trillion.

At: https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-10/59544.pdf

OMB Director Shalanda Young, and Steve Ricchetti, counselor to President Joe Biden, during debt ceiling talks with congressional Republicans this May.

The federal budget deficit rose 28% in FY 2023 - but was still 46% lower than its high point in FY 2020.

Federal income tax revenues fell 17%, while payroll taxes rose 9% - part of a gradual but longstanding shift from income taxes (49% of the total) to payroll taxes (36%) as leading sources of federal revenues.

2030 World Cup: Tournament to be held across six countries in three continents

Source: BBC Sports

The 2030 World Cup will be held across six countries in three continents, Fifa has confirmed.

Spain, Portugal and Morocco have been named as the co-hosts, with the opening three matches taking place in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

The opening matches in South America are to mark the World Cup's centenary as it will be 100 years since the inaugural tournament in Montevideo.

The decision is set to be ratified at a Fifa congress next year.

"In a divided world, Fifa and football are uniting," said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/67010609

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during a recent meeting in New York.

FIFA today made the unprecedented decision to hold the 2030 World Cup tournament in six countries across three continents: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

The opening three matches will be held in the three South American countries - with subsequent matches and final in Morocco and Europe.

The decision came as a disappointment to Uruguayans, who had hoped to re-enact the first World Cup final in Montevideo on its centennial in 2030.

Spain's king asks Pedro Sanchez to form government

Spanish King Felipe VI on Tuesday ordered caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to attempt to form a government.

Sánchez’s Socialist Party came second in July’s inconclusive national election, in which the center-right Popular Party won the most votes.

Conservative leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo attempted to form a government but last week failed to obtain the majority support of the Spanish parliament needed to become prime minister - garnering 172 votes to 178.

Sánchez, who has governed since 2018, does not control enough seats in the parliament to govern on his own, and is widely expected to attempt to form a minority government with Yolanda Díaz’s far-left Sumar coalition - a successor of the Podemos party with which the Socialists governed during the previous term.

He will likewise seek outside support from regional groups like the Basque Nationalist Party, the Basque separatist party, the Galician Nationalist Bloc, the Catalan separatist Junts group and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC).

At: https://www.politico.eu/article/spain-election-king-felipe-vi-ask-prime-minister-pedro-sanchez-form-government/

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez applauds after a governance vote in parliament defeated the neo-Francoist right-wing coalition by 178 votes to 172.

The pragmatic Sánchez moved quickly to secure the support of Catalan, Basque and other regional and separatist groups - signing a preliminary agreement to grant amnesty to those implicated in the failed 2017 Catalan independence referendum.

Once a secret, the temporary House speaker is Rep. Patrick McHenry

Source: Business Insider

Kevin McCarthy was ousted from power on Tuesday evening, leading to Rep. Patrick McHenry being named the temporary leader of a chamber thrown into chaos.

Under House rules, McCarthy was required to provide the House clerk in January a then-secret list of members that temporarily serve as Speaker of the House if the office became vacant. McHenry, a nine-term North Carolina Republican, was revealed to be the first name on McCarthy's list.

McHenry, who leads the House Financial Services Committee, now has the power of the speakership that is needed to lead the chamber through the days ahead.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/who-leads-the-house-mccarthy-ousted-speaker-pro-tempore-2023-10

Outgoing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (left) speaks to House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC).

The bow-tied McHenry, a hard-right loyalist of the just-ousted McCarthy, was named temporary leader of a chamber thrown into chaos.

Kevin McCarthy removed as House speaker in historic vote

Source: CBS News

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his leadership position in a historic vote on Tuesday after a far-right revolt over his reliance on Democrats to pass funding to avert a government shutdown earlier this month.

It's the first time a House speaker has been removed in a no-confidence vote.

Now someone from a secret backup list McCarthy created in January will likely serve as a temporary speaker overseeing a new election. It's not clear how extensive the power of any temporary speaker would be, but Republicans would likely push for that person to have more power than Democrats would want.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-vote-matt-gaetz-kevin-mccarthy-motion-to-vacate-watch-live-stream-today-2023-10-03/

Outgoing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

McCarthy was ousted just hours after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a resolution to vacate the Speakership - with the House voting to agree to the resolution by 216 to 210.

Nearly all Democrats voted with Gaetz and his allies to do so.

McCarthy, 58, thus becomes the shortest-serving Speaker in 147 years - since Rep. Michael Kerr (D-IN), who died in office after eight months in 1876.

With few surprises, Argentina's presidential candidates go head-to-head in presidential debate

Argentina’s five remaining presidential candidates clashed in an ill-tempered but civilized debate in Santiago del Estero on Sunday night that ticked along without any of the hopefuls delivering a knockout blow.

The encounter, staged at the northern city’s Provincial Forum convention center, saw far-right frontrunner Javier Milei, 52; Sergio Massa, 51 (center-left); Patricia Bullrich, 67 (hard-right); Juan Schiaretti, 74 (centrist); and Myriam Bregman, 51 (left-wing) go head-to-head in a debate that nominally focusing on three themes: economy, education and human rights.

In truth, the candidates trained their ire on their preferred targets, rivals and talking points.

Milei and Bullrich went for Massa’s throat on the economy and inflation while the ruling coalition candidate pitched himself as the experienced pro-dialogue fixer and promised to introduce a unity government if elected head of state.

Seeking to build his national profile, Schiaretti talked up his party’s third-way approach and record in Córdoba (while dealing Bullrich a few softball questions) - and Bregman laced criticism of all four rivals with her traditional leftist talking points, observing that her front is the only one that would stand up for workers and the working class.

"Milei is not a lion," Bregman said of Milei - referring to his nickname. "He is a cuddly kitten of economic powers; he is an employee of big businessmen."

At: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/argentinas-presidential-candidates-go-head-to-head-in-presidential-debate.phtml

Gen. Mark Milley Warns of Fealty to Dictators, in Exit Speech Aimed at Trump

Source: Wall Street Journal

Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Pentagon's top officer, warned in his retirement speech on Friday that military officers must adhere to the Constitution and not bow to political pressures, in what appeared to be thinly-veiled comments about former President Donald Trump.

"We don't take an oath to a country, we don't take an oath to a tribe, we don't take an oath to a religion, we don't take an oath to a king, or a queen, to a tyrant or dictator or wannabe dictator," Gen. Milley bellowed across a military parade field, without mentioning his former boss by name.

"We do not take an oath to an individual, we take an oath to the Constitution, to the idea that is America and we're willing to die to protect it."

Friday's speech was Milley's last official ceremony as the Joint Chiefs chairman after years of positioning himself as a defender of democracy -- and drawing the ire of critics who have accused him of overstepping the authority of the commander in chief and pursuing what they perceive as a progressive agenda.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/gen-mark-milley-warns-of-fealty-to-dictators-in-exit-speech-aimed-at-trump/ar-AA1hsA6h

Trump and others on the political hard right have repeatedly attacked Gen. Mark Milley, pushing up against norms for public behavior for politicians and elected officials in the process.