On 10th November, Alex Freyre and José María Di Bello were granted a marriage license in Buenos Aires, breaking ground in a country and region where laws ban same sex matrimony. Judge Gabriela Seijas declared such laws to be unconstitutional. However plans for the ceremony were halted when Judge Marta Gomez Alsina filed an injunction to suspend the union until the issue could be further reviewed by Argentina’s supreme court.

Buenos Aires mayor, Mauricio Macri, has been accused of attempting to develop a spy network within the new Metropolitan police, which is scheduled to come into force in December. The scandal broke when ex-policeman Gerado Ciro James was arrested for illegally tapping Sergio Burstein’s phone calls. Burstein was a potential suspect in a murder case, who had clashed with Macri over the creation of a metropolitan police force.

The new media law proposed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has fueled a heated debate amongst Argentines. With the current Argentine media world largely owned by ‘Clarín,’ devoted readers and skeptical Argentines alike are angered by the new law, while others wholeheartedly support it, excited by the possibilities of independent media.

On 30th December 2004 a fire broke out in the nightclub Cromañón killing 194 people. It started when a flare that was lit by a fan set fire to the highly flammable interior. As the club went up in flames people tried to escape through the exits, which they discovered were locked. It later transpired that the club had been filled three times over its capacity, and no fire prevention regulations were in place.

Since “swine flu” was discovered in April 2009, people all over the planet fear the spreading disease. The same month, the World Health Organisation declared the virus, officially named “new H1N1”, a worldwide pandemic and declared it a health emergency. Argentina has almost 5,000 infections and more than 240 cases of mortality, which is the second highest rate in the world.

On Sunday 28th June, Argentines took to the polls to vote in congressional elections that would see the “ruling couple”, Cristina and Néstor Kirchner, lose majorities in both houses and set the stage for a shift of power in the country. In an attempt to build political capital distinct from his wife’s sagging approval ratings, Néstor ran in powerful Buenos Aires Province.

This month Argentines will take to the polls to elect new political officials. After much criticism, and some accusations of corruption and illegal activities some controversial contenders have registered their candidacy. Néstor Kirchner, husband of current president Cristina, Is running, despite the fact that he started his campaign without having deeds to a residence within the city of Buenos Aires, as Argentine constitutional law states you must.

“With democracy we eat, with democracy we educate, with democracy we heal” is one of the many quotes from the recently deceased president Raúl Alfonsín. Thousands filled the streets to witness his burial in Recoleta cemetery on 2nd April, bringing with them flowers, holding banners saying “thank-you” and chanting his name.

The issue of security has taken centre stage recently as the people of Argentina have been confronted with reports and complaints about insecurity within the country. Thousands of people gathered in Plaza de Mayo on 18th March to participate in a march addressing this subject. Speeches were made and pictures of those who had been killed as a result of crime were presented before the Casa Rosada.

At the United Nations meeting on climate change on 24th September 2007, Greenpeace representatives called for a global energy revolution with a ‘massive uptake in energy saving and renewable energy technology worldwide and action by world leaders rather than more talk’. The organisation also asked that the worst contributors to harmful emissions stop using the world’s developing countries as an excuse not to act.