Thanks for this photo, David.

I tried to figure out a way to relate all these cool events to one another, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it!  Boxing, planetariums and music videos?  Only in Buenos Aires.  Only this weekend.

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Over 600 artisans from Argentina and the world will gather from December 5- 14th to share their wares, talent and cultures at La Rural Exhibition Center.  Located at Avenida Sarmiento 2704, the event runs from 3pm-10pm and is 12 pesos for adults and kids under 8 are free.  It’s a great opportunity to explore the creative and handcrafted side of South America at lower prices than gift shops. Last year, over 50,000 people came by to gaze at the crafts.

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The Jackson Sun reports that Cory Hill, 34, recently rushed to Buenos Aires for an experimental procedure to remove an aneurysm from his left eye.  An aneurysm is an abnormal swelling or bulge in the wall of an artery.  After several tests in Memphis, his doctors gave him two choices.  Risky surgery in Memphis or a trip to Buenos Aires for a new procedure yet to be perfected in the United States.  Friends of Hill worked together to raise over $90,000 dollars to help pay for the operation, as his insurance company has not determined if it will pay anything.  Shortly there after, Hill and his wife left their home and their three children and arrived in Buenos Aires to meet with Dr. Pedro Lylyk, the world’s leading expert on the procedure.  The surgery utilizes stents to open and drain the aneurysm through arteries and without opening the skull.  The first attempt was not successful, but the second was.  Hill was grateful for the good fortune, and was quoted as saying, “Thanksgiving Day will be full of tears.”

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Passengers who book their flights today through December 10th, 2008 on www.LAN.com for travel between February 1st and June 15th will get a special treat.  The airline is slashing it’s prices.  Flights between Buenos Aires, Miami, New York, Washington D.C., or Los Angeles begin at $688.  With a minimum stay of a few days and a maximum stay of 3 months, you can pick and choose what kind of adventure to have.  There are no flight date changes permitted after departure and tickets are nonrefundable.  Come visit!

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Argentina will host the South American Cup in 2011, which was inaugurated in the country in 1916. Argentina and Uruguay have won the most titles in the tournament’s history — 14 each. Argentina’s last win was in 1993.  Julio Grondona, an Argentine Football Association leader, also wants to re-invite Mexico and Japan, bringing the total number of competing countries to 14.  He was quoted in an AP piece as saying, “Argentina doesn’t have any problems [hosting Japan and Mexico], Now the other South American countries just have to give their OK.”  This would mark the 8th time the tournament has been held in Argentina and would be the 95th rendition of the championship.

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Argentina hasn’t lost on it’s home courts in 10 years, but Spain defeated the favored tennis team in this week’s Davis Cup.  Spain played without it’s star player, Rafael Nadal, due to an injury and the two best Argentine players, David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro were unstoppable the past few months.  The trouble came in the doubles, after Nalbandian lost his concentration over an argument with the chair umpire.  Then, Jose Acasuso lost it in his fourth set at the Mar Del Plata courts.  The scores were as follows:

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President Cristina Kirchner revealed her expansive, and expensive, massive public spending plan to insert more than 21 billion dollars into the Argentine economy.  Aimed at countering both the effects of the global financial crisis and predictions that Argentina’s economic growth will slow from 6.5 to 4 percent in 2009, the plan focuses on infrastructure. Kirchner was quoted as saying in an AFP article, “There are public works that call for (intensive) manual labor. Works that will mean hiring more than the 362,000 workers currently in the building sector, increasing the number to nearly 770,000 jobs.”  Along with a focus on construction, Kirchner also introduced a bill that would entice Argentines to bring back their funds from banks abroad, paying only a tax between one and eight percent.  Businesses that encourage employment will also receive tax incentives and debt relief.

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Buenos Aires Attorney Martin Leguizamon, 48, has taken on the local versions of the Google and Yahoo in the names of many of Argentina’s best-known actors, models, sports personalities and judges.  110 major public figures in all have secured a court order restraining the Argentine versions of the two search engines from serving up search results on their names.  The suit purportedly stems from the abundance of pornographic, defamatory or false websites that are summoned from the search engine.  To comply, Yahoo.com.ar has restricted its local engine, when searching for “Diego Maradona” Argentines will simply find the message “Due to a court order requested by private parties, we find ourselves obliged to temporarily suspend all or some of the results related to this search” and a link to major media outlets’ news stories. Each plantiff is asking for a sum between 100,000 and 400,000 pesos ($30,000-$120,000).  While Leguizamon claims the case is about character assasination, reps for Google believe it is about freedom of information.  A spokesperson for Google Argentina was quoted in Time Magazine as saying, “It would be like suing the newsstand for what appears in the newspapers it sells. Or demanding the newsstand vendor to tear out offending pages from the newspapers. The lawsuits should be against the websites carrying the information, not us.”

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In an op-ed in the New York Times, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s lateness to the Group of 20 Summit photograph was defended.  The original article, titled “As Leaders Wrestle With Economy, Developing Nations Get Ringside Seats,“  accounted for the discussions between developing nations, such as Brazil and Argentina, and more developed, such China, France and the United States.  The goal of the meeting was to quell concerns as to how the global financial crisis would trickle down; or how the “toxic economies” of the first world would spread.  The course of the article was tongue in cheek, with the reporter not only commenting on the lack of reputation of the two female leaders, but also mentioned, “Mrs. Kirchner did little to enhance her reputation for competence when she showed up late for the official photograph on Saturday. She missed the first picture, but the leaders regrouped and took another after she arrived. Mr. Bush, who prides himself on punctuality, just shrugged.”

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Argentina beat Scotland 1-0 in Diego Maradona’s first game as national coach.  The choice of stadium, coincidentally, was the same Glasgow locale that Maradona scored his first international goal back in 1979.  Maxi Rodriguez scored the singular goal in the eighth minute at Hapden Park.  Maradona was hired to bring back the Argentine team to it’s former glory, but there will still be struggles ahead if they intend to make it past their fourth place standing in South America’s World Cup qualifying group.  The soccer legend purportedly spent the game curled on the bench, shielding himself from the Scottish night.  The goal was articulated by a swift punch to the air.

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