overhaul

BUENOS AIRES, April 22 (UPI) — President Javier Milei said he will send Congress a bill Wednesday to overhaul Argentina’s electoral system, including eliminating primary elections and changing the way political parties are financed.

The proposal revives one of Milei’s campaign promises and places renewed focus on a contentious issue in Argentina: how candidates are selected and how political campaigns are funded.

Milei announced the initiative on X, where he defended the reforms and intensified his criticism of the country’s traditional political establishment.

“We are eliminating the PASO: enough of forcing Argentines to pay for the internal elections of the political caste,” Milei wrote.

PASO, the Spanish acronym for Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries, is a nationwide system used in Argentina to determine candidates ahead of general elections. Under the current model, all political parties participate in a unified primary election to select candidates for national offices.

The government proposal would eliminate the mandatory national primary process and allow each political party to choose its candidates through its own internal mechanisms.

The PASO system has been in place since the 2011 elections and applies to national offices. The primaries are held every two years in August and determine party lists for congressional races, as well as presidential tickets that compete in the October general elections.

If approved, the reform would mark a significant change to Argentina’s electoral structure. Since its implementation, the PASO system has served both as a mechanism to organize internal party disputes and as an early measure of political strength before general elections.

The government also proposes changes to political financing, an issue that has long generated controversy in Argentina amid concerns over campaign funding sources and the use of public resources. A bill seeks to reduce public financing for political parties and strengthen oversight mechanisms.

Another central component of the proposal is the so-called “Clean Record” initiative, which would bar individuals with final corruption convictions from running for elected office.

In his post, Milei sharpened his confrontational rhetoric.

“Impunity is over. The party is over. Long live liberty, damn it,” he wrote.

According to Argentine newspaper La Nación, the bill also includes broader disqualifications for candidates. Those barred from the electoral registry under existing laws would be ineligible to run, as would people charged with serious crimes that include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and human rights violations.

The proposal also would prohibit members of the armed forces and security services, judges, judicial officials and executives or representatives of companies holding public service concessions or linked to gambling operations from seeking elected office.

The measure further provides that people affected by these restrictions could not hold key executive branch positions, diplomatic posts or leadership roles in state-owned companies.

With the proposal, Milei adds another measure to his broader reform agenda and shifts the debate to Congress, where lawmakers are expected to face intense negotiations in a politically divided environment.

THE UK’s ‘Golden Mile’ is getting a major revamp and now it has been named as the home of the country’s best pier.

Great Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier has been named the Pier of the Year.

In the annual National Piers Society’s (NPS) competition, the pier beat 62 other seaside piers around the UK.

According to the BBC, NPS chairman Tim Wardley said: “Huge congratulations to the worthiest of winners who have shown that in challenging economic times, investment is still the way forward to success.”

The pier’s co-owner Joseph Abbott also added: “We feel this is a huge testament to us as new owners for the work, time and investment we have put in since our takeover in December 2022.”

The pier, which recently underwent a £2.2million revamp, was originally built in 1858 as one of the original Victorian timber-framed piers in the UK.

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Over the years, the Britannia Pier on the Norfolk coast has undergone a number of transformations including being destroyed and rebuilt after a fire in 1958.

Thanks to the recent £2.2million revamp the pier has several new features including an upgraded amusement arcade, entrance and the end-of-pier Britannia Pier Theatre – which is one of only five remaining in the UK.

And there are new food stalls and rides too.

Current owners, who bought the pier back in 2022, are keen to make the pier “a must-visit attraction for holidaymakers and the community to enjoy year-round – with a strong line-up of acts, events, shows and family-friendly activities”.

The pier isn’t the only destination in the seaside town to see a change.

Over the coming years, Great Yarmouth will undergo an extensive £40million glow-up.

There will be several projects taking place including opening the 19th century Maritime House and the Iron Duke art deco pub.

The Maritime House, which can be found on the seafront, has been abandoned for five years now.

It was originally a safe house for sailors who became shipwrecked nearby but has seen a number of different uses over the years including being a museum and a tourist information centre.

When it finally reopens, which is expected to be this spring, it will house a cafe and a number of flats.

The Iron Duke pub which closed back in 2007, will also reopen this year following a £2.4million renovation.

The Victorian Winter Gardens will get a major makeover as well, set to cost £18million.

The Grade-II listed landmark is the UK’s last surviving Victorian seaside cast iron and glass winter gardens and will reopen next year as the ‘People’s Palace’ and include indoor gardens, cafes and entertainment venues.

The final project will involve a £20million transformation of the North Quay, which is expected to take a few years.

Eventually the area will include shops, homes and leisure venues, such as a ‘Leisure Box’ which will include a multi-screen cinema and 120-room hotel.

If you are visiting the seaside town, make sure to visit the beach which is often dubbed ‘the Golden Mile’.

One recent visitor said in a review on Google: “First time at Great Yarmouth and we loved it!

“Really clean, lots of places to eat from, lots of attractions for the kids.

“Will definitely be coming again.”

Another visitor said in a review on Google: “Place looks like Miami and is perfect for beach and casinos.”

For somewhere to stay, you could head to Parkdean Resorts Vauxhall Holiday Park that has a number of new attractions and family activities.

And you can stay there with The Sun’s Hols from £9.50, as there’s still breaks available for this year.

In other seaside news, here are Britain’s hidden seaside holiday towns where you can dodge sky-high prices and book stunning breaks from just £49.

Plus, here are seven great UK seaside towns with beachfront theme parks – and you can stay with Hols from £9.50.

The U.S. Navy has abandoned plans to return the Los Angeles class attack submarine USS Boise to active duty. This brings an end to the saga of a still-incomplete major overhaul of the boat, which has lasted more than a decade now. In that time, it has become a poster child for the Navy’s worrisome struggles to tackle huge maintenance backlogs, as well as larger concerns about the availability, or lack thereof, of naval shipyard capacity in the United States.

The Navy announced its decision to inactivate Boise, which was first commissioned into service in 1992, earlier today.

“After a rigorous, data-driven analysis, we’ve made the tough but necessary decision to inactivate the USS Boise,” Navy Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, the service’s top officer, said in a statement. “This strategic move allows us to reallocate America’s highly-skilled workforce to our highest priorities: delivering new Virginia and Columbia class submarines and improving the readiness of the current fleet. We owe it to our Sailors and the nation to make these tough calls to build a more capable and ready Navy.”

“The move is part of the Navy’s broader, data-driven initiative to optimize the fleet’s composition, ensuring that every dollar is invested in capabilities that directly contribute to maintaining a decisive warfighting advantage,” the service also said in a press release. “Funds and personnel associated with the planned overhaul of USS Boise will be redirected to support other Navy priorities, including the timely delivery of America’s submarine capability.”

To date, the Navy has spent approximately $800 million on Boise’s overhaul, which is still only 22 percent complete, the service separately told Semafor. The total estimated cost to complete the overhaul had risen to $3 billion, according to Fox News.

“At some point, you just cut your losses and move on,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan also told Fox News in an interview ahead of today’s announcement. “The Boise represents 65% of the cost of a new Virginia class submarine, yet it only delivers 20% of the remaining service life.”

The Navy had originally planned for Boise to begin its overhaul in 2013, but the timetable was repeatedly delayed, primarily due to a lack of shipyard availability. The submarine has not been to sea since it returned from its last cruise in January 2015. The boat was deemed unable to conduct normal operations by 2016, and it formally lost its dive certification the following year.

The Navy moved Boise from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, to Newport News Shipbuilding’s facilities in 2018. Newport News Shipbuilding is a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).

The submarine returned to Norfolk the following year amid competing funding priorities. It went back to Newport News in 2020, but did not actually enter a dry dock there until 2021, after which limited maintenance work began. The full overhaul was then further set back due to budgetary issues, with a formal contract only signed in 2024.

As of last year, the Navy was still pushing to complete Boise‘s overhaul and return it to the fleet, which was expected to occur in 2029. By that point, the submarine would have spent more than a third of its service life in port.

The overall size of the Navy’s Los Angeles attack submarine force has been steadily declining for years now already, as the service has acquired more modern and capable Virginia class types. The Navy commissioned 62 Los Angeles class boats between 1976 and 1996, and 23 remain in service today.

As noted, the Navy’s struggles with Boise are reflective of larger and more serious issues that have long challenged the service’s ability to meet even its peacetime operational demands. Back in 2018, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report saying that the Navy had more than two decades’ worth of operational time across its submarine fleets due to maintenance shortfalls.

These are concerns that would only be magnified if a large-scale conflict, especially one with China in the Pacific, were to break out. For years now, TWZ has also been sounding the alarm on the interrelated issue of dwindling U.S. naval shipbuilding capacity, in general, where the disparity with Chinese state-run enterprises has become enormous.

The Navy, with support from Congress, has been trying to take steps in recent years to reverse these trends, including moving to increasingly leverage foreign shipyard capacity. The second Trump administration, through Navy Secretary Phelan, has been particularly open about its efforts to shake up how the service acquires and maintains ships, and otherwise does business across the board. This has notably already included the cancellation of the Constellation class frigate program, which had become beset by huge delays and ballooning costs, as you can read more about in detail here. The Navy has been touting efforts to try to avoid similar pitfalls with new shipbuilding programs like the FF(X) frigate and Medium Landing Ship.

“I think, by killing these programs, it’s sending a message that we’re not going to continue to send good money after bad investments, and that we’re going to try to make prudent economic decisions that are in the best interest of the fleet and the force,” Phelan said, speaking generally around today’s anouncement about Boise, according to Semafor.

How the Navy fares in its broader efforts to turn things around when it comes to shipbuilding and maintenance remains to be seen, but the USS Boise‘s increasingly sad story is now coming to an end.

UPDATE: 2:10 PM EDT –

Todd Corillo, an HII spokesperson for the Newport News Shipbuilding division, has now provided TWZ with the following statement:

“We have been notified of the U.S. Navy’s decision to discontinue engineered overhaul (EOH) work on USS Boise (SSN 764). We will work with the Navy to execute this decision in an efficient, cost-effective way. We anticipate there will be no impact to our workforce and will transition shipbuilders currently assigned to USS Boise to other work underway at Newport News Shipbuilding.”

“We understand the importance of a strong submarine force to our national security. While our work on USS Boise will end, our commitment to ensuring our nation maintains our undersea maritime supremacy will not.”

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved two prosecution reform bills that would dismantle the current prosecution service later this year to separate its exclusive power to both initiate criminal probes and indict suspects.

When promulgated, it would mark a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s prosecution system. Under the new laws, the prosecution office will be shut down in October, 78 years after its establishment in 1948, and two new agencies will exercise indictment and investigate roles, respectively.

The bills on establishing the so-called serious crimes investigation agency and the indictment agency, pushed by the ruling Democratic Party (DP), were passed at the National Assembly last week in a plenary session boycotted by the main opposition People Power Party (PPP).

Under the laws, the new indictment agency will handle only indictments, while investigative powers will be transferred to the newly established serious crimes investigation agency.

The new investigative body will be established under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and will be responsible for probing six major crimes, including corruption, economic offenses, defense industry-related crimes and drug offenses.

The government has been seeking to separate the prosecution service’s authority over both indictment and investigation amid longstanding criticism that the prosecution has abused its exclusive powers by carrying out politically motivated investigations.

The DP has argued that the reform is needed to curb potential political abuse of prosecutorial power, while the PPP has warned it could weaken checks on investigators and increase the risk of political influence.

The two new agencies are set to be established after the abolition of the prosecution office.

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March 20 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s arms procurement agency has pledged a sweeping overhaul of its systems and export strategy as it pushes toward the government’s goal of becoming one of the world’s top four defense exporters. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA, is South Korea’s defense procurement agency, and it is now led by Administrator Lee Yong-cheol.

Speaking at a briefing with defense reporters in Seoul on Wednesday, Lee said the agency would press ahead with faster decision-making, stronger export execution and greater technological self-reliance. He said the current moment amounted to a last chance to reform an organization long criticized for inefficiency and delay.

Lee said DAPA’s export drive must go beyond ceremonial overseas trips and focus instead on securing contracts and building practical business outcomes. But he also acknowledged that export growth alone is not enough if the underlying system remains slow and structurally weak.

One of the clearest examples, he said, was the long-delayed KDDX next-generation destroyer program. The project drifted for more than two years as authorities failed to make a policy choice between direct contracting and open bidding, exposing what Lee described as a deeper decision-making problem rather than a regulatory one.

Lee said South Korea also remains behind in drone warfare capabilities. While drones have become central to modern combat, the country’s military systems are still focused largely on reconnaissance, with limited strike and interception capacity and continued dependence on imported core components. He said DAPA plans to rely more heavily on rapid acquisition and early deployment of prototypes to speed fielding.

Defense semiconductors remain another major vulnerability. South Korea depends heavily on foreign technology for key components used in radars, guided weapons and communications systems, a weakness Lee described as an urgent national task. He said the answer lies in building stronger links between the civilian semiconductor sector and military demand while sustaining long-term investment.

Lee also pointed to Canada’s submarine procurement program as a major test of South Korea’s export competitiveness. He said the outlook was not unfavorable but remained uncertain, describing the bid as a national effort involving diplomacy, industry and military capabilities. Yonhap reported Friday that Lee sees the contest as essentially even, with South Korea competing against Germany for a contract covering 12 submarines.

DAPA said it will also seek structural reforms to prevent repeated delays, including penalties for intentional slowdowns and changes to procurement procedures that can trap projects in repeated failed bidding cycles. Lee has instructed staff to move from planning-based administration to execution-based management, with clear deadlines and accountability.

The agency’s challenge now is whether it can turn reform rhetoric into durable institutional change. For South Korea to become a top-tier defense exporter, industry officials say, speed, structure, technology and political resolve will all need to advance together.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260320010006140

Caracas, March 19, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez tapped Gustavo González López as the country’s new defense minister on Wednesday, replacing Vladimir Padrino López after more than a decade in the post.

“We thank General Vladimir Padrino López for his loyalty and for having been the first soldier in the defense of our country for so many years,” Rodríguez wrote on social media. In response, Padrino thanked the acting president and stated that “serving the Homeland” had been his “highest honor.”

Padrino had served as defense minister since October 2014. The four-star general staved off a number of US-backed coup attempts, including the May 2020 “Operation Gideon” failed mercenary invasion. 

In 2025, the Biden administration announced a $15 million bounty for information leading to Padrino’s capture as part of a “narcoterrorism” indictment against several Venezuelan leaders, including President Nicolás Maduro. However, US officials have not presented evidence tying Venezuelan high-ranking officials to narcotics activities. 

Padrino’s removal follows the January 3 US military strikes against Venezuela that saw special forces kidnap Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Despite months of defense exercises in the face of escalating US threats, Venezuelan forces, particularly air defenses, were quickly neutralized by US bombing and electromagnetic warfare on January 3.

The Venezuelan armed forces have yet to offer a complete account of the operation, including a definitive list of casualties that are said to surpass 100. Padrino condemned the US attacks and pointed to Washington’s military superiority, arguing that it would have been “suicidal” for Venezuelan air force jets to take off and engage with the enemy.

The 60-year-old Gustavo González López previously held posts as interior minister and director of intelligence services and has been under US sanctions since 2015. A career military officer, he briefly studied at the School of the Americas in the early 1990s. 

Following the January 3 attacks, González was chosen by Rodríguez to lead the presidential guard. He was pictured alongside the acting president during a visit to Caracas from CIA Director John Ratcliffe on January 16. General Henry Navas will replace González as Commander of the Presidential Guard of Honor.

Rodríguez announced several other cabinet changes on Wednesday. She had previously replaced the industry, oil, tourism, healthcare, communications, and eco-socialism ministers as well.

Jorge Márquez and Rolando Alcalá will take over the housing and electricity portfolios, respectively. Furthermore, Supreme Court magistrate Carlos Alexis Castillo will serve as labor minister amid rising demands for minimum wage increases and labor rights, replacing veteran official Eduardo Piñate.

Former Caracas mayor Jacqueline Faría was likewise appointed as the new transport minister, replacing Aníbal Coronado after two months in the post. Faría’s appointment followed a public transportation strike in Caracas as private bus operators push to increase single-ride fares to 120 bolívars, roughly US $0.25 at the present exchange rate.

Wednesday’s cabinet changes also included Raúl Cazal becoming culture minister, replacing Ernesto Villegas, who had held the post since 2017. Villegas is one of the candidates shortlisted by the Venezuelan National Assembly for the vacant ombudsman post.

Finally, Rodríguez picked academic Ana María Sanjuan as minister of higher education, replacing Ricardo Sánchez. A trained psychologist and professor at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), Sanjuan had participated in political dialogue initiatives as a representative of moderate opposition sectors.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Fusagasugá, Colombia.