ARGENTINA

Woman president takes over in Argentina

Power was transferred from former Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner to his wife Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, 54, last Monday, December 10. Fernandez became the first elected female president of that country.

In her swearing in ceremony, Fernandez vowed to increase her husband’s center-left economic programs, create jobs and reduce high poverty levels. She also demanded faster progress from dozens of slow-moving court investigations of human rights abuses during the country’s 1976-83 dictatorship.

According to AP reports Fernandez who has been often compared to Hilary Clinton, embarks on a four-year term whose main challenge will be to prolong an economic recovery that has seen an annual growth above eight percent in recent years.

Fernandez, a three-term senator, won office on a leftist ticket, capturing 45 percent of the vote against a divided opposition on October 28. The popularity of her husband has been largely contributed for her victory.

IOWA

Large crowds turn out to support Winfrey and Obama

As was widely anticipated large crowds turned out last weekend to Barack Obama campaign stops in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. In Des Moines, Iowa, the mixed-race crowd, consisting primarily of women, began arriving some two hours before the event. Reports are that the mood was very festive and that the lines got longer as it approached the start.

In her well received speech at Des Moines, Winfrey urged Iowan voters to give Obama the momentum to defeat Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. She told the audience that Obama “Is the one. I am not here to tell you what to think,” she continued “I am here to ask you to think seriously – about a man who knows who we are and who we can be.”

In his speech, Obama told the large crowd how much he loved and appreciated Winfrey, saying she would make a great vice-president, except that it would be a demotion for her. Continuing with his campaign speech he motivated the crowd with his intention to end the war in Iraq if elected, provide affordable healthcare for the majority of Americans and make college education affordable.

NATION

Split in Episcopal Church over homosexuality

The clergy and lay members of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, California, voted 173-22 to withdraw from the national Episcopal Church, the U.S. member of the global Anglican Communion. The diocese wants all references to the national church be removed from its constitution. The split with the national denomination is over disagreement about the role of homosexuals in the church.

A row has been brewing in the Episcopal Church, which has for years offered the right to admit homosexuals in the church. The disagreement escalated over the past two years following the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire.

The Californian church is the first full diocese to break away because of the controversy, which now focuses on whether the Bible condemns gay relationships.

The Rev. Van McCalister, a spokesman for the Californian diocese commented that the Episcopal Church’s leadership had radically changed in direction. He said the church has started teaching something very different, new, and that it was impossible for the San Joaquin church to follow such a leadership. The church while splitting with the American church has accepted an invitation to join the conservative South American congregation of the Worldwide Anglican Communion.