Unilad: Argentina Loses Its Google Domain After Random Citizen Buys It For Just $5. “Argentina temporarily lost its Google domain after a random member of the public bought it for the equivalent of around $5. Taking to Twitter yesterday, April 22, Nicolas Kuroña said a google search had shown the domain ‘google.com.ar’ was available to buy, so he bought it.”
Hyperallergic: Argentina’s Military Government May Have Stolen from Its Own Museum to Fund Falklands War. “At 1am on December 25, 1980, four burglars entered the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, through a gap in the roof, and took 16 Impressionist works and seven early Chinese sculptures. The heist was peculiar for its seamlessness: ladders presumably left by construction workers made it easier for the thieves to break in. Two night guards keeping watch that night were tortured and arrested by state police, but no one has ever been charged with the crime to this day. And according to anecdotal accounts by witnesses, an army truck was seen parked outside the museum.”
BBC: Covid: Argentina passes tax on wealthy to pay for virus measures. “Argentina has passed a new tax on its wealthiest people to pay for medical supplies and relief measures amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Senators passed the one-off levy – dubbed the ‘millionaire’s tax’ – by 42 votes to 26 on Friday. Those with assets worth more than 200 million pesos ($2.5m; £1.8m) – some 12,000 people – will have to pay.”
MIT Technology Review: Live facial recognition is tracking kids suspected of being criminals. “In a national database in Argentina, tens of thousands of entries detail the names, birthdays, and national IDs of people suspected of crimes. The database, known as the Consulta Nacional de Rebeldías y Capturas (National Register of Fugitives and Arrests), or CONARC, began in 2009 as a part of an effort to improve law enforcement for serious crimes. But there are several things off about CONARC. For one, it’s a plain-text spreadsheet file without password protection, which can be readily found via Google Search and downloaded by anyone.”
BBC: Coronavirus: Argentina’s confirmed cases surpass one million. “Argentina has become the fifth country in the world to record one million confirmed coronavirus cases. In the past 24 hours, there were 12,982 new infections, pushing the overall number to 1,002,662, the country’s health ministry said. It reported 451 new deaths, bringing the nation’s toll to 26,716.”
BBC: Covid-19: Protests as Argentina’s cases pass 900,000. “Thousands have joined anti-government protests in Argentina as confirmed coronavirus infections continue to rise, passing 900,000 on Monday. Many Argentines are angry at the government’s handling of the crisis and the economic effect of lockdowns, as well as issues such as corruption.”
San Diego Union-Tribune: Coronavirus puts poor Argentines’ soccer dreams on hold. “Worried the lost time is costing them shots at professional careers, some young players are giving up and succumbing to the temptations of drugs and alcohol. Others desperate to stay in shape are playing for money in dangerous illegal games that have caused outbreaks of COVID-19 among players, spectators and people who live near soccer fields.”
Gulf Today: Argentina couple hold a virtual wedding service on social media, amidst coronavirus. “When Argentine couple Diego Aspitia and Sofia Cuggino got engaged to be married a year ago, they set a date in March, but like countless others across the globe, their wedding fell victim to the coronavirus lockdown. Argentina went into a nationwide lockdown last week and faced with a choice of whether or not to go through with their wedding plans, the couple decided to hold a virtual service, with minister, friends and family all looking on via Instagram and Facebook.”
Journalism In the Americas: Use of Instagram and WhatsApp for online news consumption grows in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico: Reuters Institute. “In the past year, the use of Instagram and WhatsApp for consuming news online has grown significantly in at least four Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. In Brazil alone, 53 percent of these consumers use WhatsApp for this purpose, the highest among 38 countries.”
National Archives: Declassified Records Shed Light on Argentine History. “The largest government-to-government declassification release in United States history, the latest release represents the final stage of an effort by the U.S. Government to search, identify, review for public access, and provide records that shed light on human-rights abuses in Argentina between 1975 and 1984, committed during the military dictatorship of that nation (1976–1983).”
InSight Crime: Can a New Database Help Tackle Argentina Police Corruption?. “The launch of a new registry detailing thousands of corrupt officers removed from Argentina’s largest police force could signal a fresh effort to clean up the institution, but questions remain as to whether it will be effective, or even sufficient. The registry, which contains the names of 8,500 officers discharged since 1966, was announced this past month by María Eugenia Vidal, governor of the Province of Buenos Aires.” Unusually, this database is open to the public, which is why I include it here. Most of the database page translates from Spanish except the database itself, I think because it’s embedded. Look for the “Accede a los datos completos en” link at the bottom of the embedded data and that’ll open a new page which you can translate.
ScienceBlog: WhatsApp Use By Argentina Ambulances Associated With Faster Heart Attack Treatment. “WhatsApp use by ambulance doctors in Argentina was associated with faster treatment of heart attack and lower mortality in an observational study presented today at the Argentine Congress of Cardiology (SAC 2017). The free messaging application was used to send diagnostic electrocardiograms (ECGs) directly to hospital catheterisation (cath) laboratories, enabling patients to bypass the emergency department.”
BBC: Equifax had ‘admin’ as login and password in Argentina. “The credit report provider Equifax has been accused of a fresh data security breach, this time affecting its Argentine operations. Cyber-crime blogger Brian Krebs said that an online employee tool used in the country could be accessed by typing ‘admin’ as both a login and password. He added that this gave access to records that included thousands of customers’ national identity numbers.”
Alt Gov 2: Newly Released Photos of Nazi Spies and Enclaves in Chile During WWII. “On June 22, 2017, the government of Chile released 1,500+ pages of documents about the Nazi enclaves in the country during World War II. In the remote southern regions of Chile and Argentina (in other words, the southern tip of South America), Nazis had set up shop to engage in paramilitary training, intercept Allied radio communications, and plan acts of sabotage, including blowing up the Panama Canal.”
