The US Treasury said Monday it stood ready to “do what is needed” to support Argentina’s economy, as President Javier Milei battles to calm jittery financial markets.Self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” Milei, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has been faced with a run on the peso, having to sell off dwindling foreign reserves in the aftermath of a provincial election trouncing for his party.As he seeks a US loan to cover debts reaching maturity, Milei is due to meet Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.Bessent wrote on X Monday that “all options for stabilization are on the table.”These may include “swap lines, direct currency purchases, and purchases of US dollar-denominated government debt from Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund,” he said. Swap lines are transactions in which two central banks agree to swap their currencies at a set exchange rate for a specified period.The Argentine peso has been falling sharply since Milei’s party was beaten by the center-left Peronist movement in a Buenos Aires provincial election on September 7.The vote was seen as a litmus test for national legislative elections scheduled for October 26.Bessent wrote that Argentina “is a systemically important US ally in Latin America” and Washington was confident Milei’s “support for fiscal discipline and pro-growth reforms are necessary to break Argentina’s long history of decline.””Opportunities for private investment remain expansive, and Argentina will be Great Again,” he added.Milei thanked Washington for its “unconditional support for the Argentine people.”The budget-slashing libertarian wrote on X that “those of us who defend the ideas of freedom must work together.”International Monetary Fund head Kristalina Georgieva also welcomed Bessent’s statement and underscored “the crucial role of partners in promoting strong policies for stabilization and growth for the benefit of the people of Argentina.”- ‘Working on it’ -Argentina’s Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein, meanwhile, said “there has been much speculation” on a possible Treasury loan, “with amounts of $30 billion mentioned, which is absolutely incorrect…”He told Radio Mitre it was true that “we are working on it, but for a much smaller amount.”The United States in April backed an agreement Argentina struck with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of $20 billion, as well as $12 billion from the World Bank and another $10 billion from the Inter-American Development Bank.Bessent at the time poured cold water on the idea of a direct credit line from the United States. Argentina, which has a track record of economic crises and hyperinflation, is the IMF’s biggest debtor. It borrowed $44 billion from the IMF in 2018 — the lender’s biggest-ever loan — and has since renegotiated repayment terms.The government in Buenos Aires said Monday it would suspend taxes on grain and meat exports until October 31 as part of efforts to boost the economy.The objective was to “generate a greater supply of dollars,” presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said on X.Reducing taxes should make grain cheaper on the global market, boosting sales.Nicolas Pino, president of the SRA agricultural producers’ association, said the tax should be permanently scrapped for Argentina’s biggest export sector.Financial markets reacted to Monday’s developments with a rise in Argentine bonds and shares on Wall Street and in Buenos Aires, as well as a significant strengthening of the peso.

Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, visiting New York for the UN General Assembly, voiced hope Monday for a security deal that eases tensions with Israel but he played down the prospect of recognition.Sharaa, a former jihadist whose forces toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and later will deliver the first address in decades by a Syrian leader to the General Assembly.Syrian officials have set a goal of reaching military and security agreements by the end of the year with Israel, whose military has repeatedly battered its neighbor and longtime adversary in the chaos since Assad’s fall.”I hope that that will lead us to an agreement that will keep the sovereignty of Syria and also resolve some of the security fears of Israel,” Sharaa told the Concordia summit at a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN summit.But he balked when asked if Syria would join the so-called Abraham Accords, in which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020.”Syria is different as those that are part of the Abraham Accords are not Israel’s neighbors. Syria has been subjected to more than 1,000 Israeli raids, strikes and incursions from the Golan Heights into Syria,” he said.He voiced doubts about trusting Israel, questioning whether it sought to expand in Syria and charging that Israel has violated peace agreements with two other neighbors, Egypt and Jordan.”There is also huge anger over what’s going on in Gaza, not only in Syria but in the entire world, and of course this impacts our position on Israel,” he said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that there was a new window of possibility for peace with both Syria and Lebanon after an Israeli military campaign devastated Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militant movement that was close to Assad.Sharaa met in May in Riyadh with US President Donald Trump, who took the advice of Saudi Arabia and Turkey to lift Assad-era sanctions on Syria, despite Israeli misgivings.Sharaa hailed Trump’s move and called on the US Congress to fully lift sanctions, which “put a burden on people who have already suffered from the former regime’s oppression.”Rubio, in his meeting with Sharaa, discussed Syria’s relations with Israel and called on the country to seize the chance to “build a stable and sovereign nation,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

US President Donald Trump on Monday urged pregnant people not to take Tylenol over an unproven link to autism, and urged major changes to the standard vaccines given to babies.The announcement comes as the White House has vowed to revolutionize health in the United States, as experts across medicine and science voice broad concern over the administration’s initiatives.Medical professionals have long cited acetaminophen as among the safest painkillers to take during pregnancy, especially as fever and pain can also pose dangers to both the mother and the developing fetus.But Trump insisted that “taking Tylenol is not good.””For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That’s for instance, in cases of extremely high fever that you feel you can’t tough it out,” he said.During his news conference Trump then pushed major changes to the routine vaccine schedule given to infants, insisting without evidence that there’s “no reason” to vaccinate newborns against the incurable, highly contagious Hepatitis B.Repeating anti-vaccine movement talking points, Trump said “I would say, wait until the baby is 12 years old and formed.”That statement stands in direct contradiction in the face of broad medical consensus formed over decades that the best way to prevent maternal transmission of the disease that can cause liver damage and cancer is to vaccinate newborns within the first day of life.His statement comes days after an influential advisory panel handpicked by health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped short of advising that a delay of one month of the first dose of Hepatitis B was warranted.They deemed more discussion was necessary — offering temporary relief to many experts in public health who said delaying that shot could have dire results.- New therapy approved -Identifying the cause of autism — a complex condition connected to brain development that many experts believe occurs for predominantly genetic reasons — has been a pet cause of Trump’s controversial health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Earlier this year, Kennedy — well-known for his anti-vaccine views and penchant for conspiracy theories — vowed he would release findings regarding autism’s cause by September 2025.The administration’s recent initiative to uncover autism’s roots has been widely criticized. Kennedy has spent decades pushing discredited claims that link vaccines to autism.He touted the drug leucovorin, a form of vitamin B first used to alleviate chemotherapy side effects, as an “exciting therapy” that could help children with autism.The FDA on Monday said it was approving the drug’s tablet form to help a subset of children who have “cerebral folate deficiency.”The Trump government’s expected focus on acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is likely to meet broad critique.The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are among the major medical groups who have identified Tylenol as among the safest options for pain relief and fever reduction during pregnancy. Doctors already warn against its long-term use.Another common over-the-counter pain reliever, ibuprofen, is generally considered unsafe for pregnant people, especially after the 20th week.- ‘Nuanced and uncertain’ -A literature review published last month concluded there was reason to believe a possible link between Tylenol exposure and autism existed — but other studies have found an opposite result.Researchers behind the August report cautioned that more study is needed and that pregnant people should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors.David Mandell, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP that research suggests the possible risks posed by taking Tylenol while pregnant seem “to be lower than the risk of having an uncontrolled infection during pregnancy.”The professor of psychiatry also emphasized that digging into the interaction of genetic and environmental factors is an area of critical research, but that to take on those studies with rigor demands decades of study and funding — and cast the Trump administration’s efforts as rushed.The Coalition of Autism Scientists earlier called it “highly irresponsible and potentially dangerous to claim links between potential exposures and autism when the science is far more nuanced and uncertain.””Secretary Kennedy’s announcement will cause confusion and fear,” said the group in a statement.

French President Emmanuel Macron recognized a Palestinian state at the United Nations on Monday,  spurring a wave of Western moves to defy Israel in making the landmark — if symbolic — move.Macron, speaking at a summit that Israel and its chief backer the US did not attend, called for an end to the war in Gaza.”The time for peace has come, as we are just moments away from no longer being able to seize it,” Macron said in an address in the General Assembly.”The time has come to free the 48 hostages held by Hamas. The time has come to stop the war, the bombings of Gaza, the massacres and the displacement.”Macron, however, said France would not open an embassy to a Palestinian state until a ceasefire is in place in Gaza and all hostages released.The Palestinian Authority hailed France’s “historic and courageous” decision and its delegation gave him a standing ovation. Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal recognized a Palestinian state, piling pressure on Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow a Palestinian state and far-right members of his cabinet have threatened to annex the West Bank to make statehood impossible.Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said Israel “will take action.””They are not promoting peace. They are supporting terrorism,” he said.US President Donald Trump “believes (recognizing) is a reward to Hamas,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP ahead of the summit: “We should not feel intimidated by the risk of retaliation.”- Palestinian Authority presses Hamas -Other countries recognizing a Palestinian state on Monday included Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco and San Marino, according to Macron.Spain, Ireland and Norway already recognized a Palestinian state in May, and Sweden did so in 2014.The war was unleashed when Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on October 7, 2023, bringing a relentless counterattack by Israel.An independent state would be centered around the Palestinian Authority, which exerts limited control in the West Bank, and is the rival of Gaza-based Hamas.Israel has sought to minimize the distinction between the two, and Washington, in an unusual step, refused to allow Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas to attend.The 89-year-old veteran Palestinian leader, forced to address the summit virtually, called on Hamas to surrender its weapons to his Palestinian Authority.”We also condemn the killing and detention of civilians, including Hamas actions on October 7, 2023,” he said.France co-hosted the summit with Saudi Arabia, which has flirted with normalization with Israel, a top goal for Netanyahu. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, told the summit that all countries should follow suit and recognize a Palestinian state.- Limited practical effect -Germany, Italy and Japan, while all critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, are among major US allies that declined to recognize a Palestinian state.”A negotiated two-state solution is the path that can allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security and dignity,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said.Britain, which backed a Jewish homeland in 1917, said it would back off recognizing a Palestinian state if Israel agreed a Gaza ceasefire. Instead, Israel launched a massive new campaign aimed at seizing Gaza City.But recognition, while historic, is unlikely to change facts on the ground.”Unless backed up by concrete measures, recognizing Palestine as a state risks becoming a distraction from the reality, which is an accelerating erasure of Palestinian life in their homeland,” said the International Crisis Group’s Israel-Palestine project director, Max Rodenbeck.The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to official data.Israeli military operations since then have killed 65,344 Palestinians, mostly civilians, says the Hamas-run health ministry, figures the UN considers reliable.abd-gw-fff-sct/sms