President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, embattled by controversy at home, might have been expected to be extra careful on her visit to China where she’s looking to boost investment in her country’s sputtering economy. 
 
 But the Argentine President, who met with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday and joined a meeting of 1,000 Argentine and Chinese businessmen, sparked a flurry of online outrage when she posted a tweet mocking the Chinese accent by replacing r’s with l’s: 
 
 “Are they here only for the lice and petloleum,” she said in Spanish, in a tweet that has been shared more than 1,500 times since she posted it Wednesday: 
 
 Fernández, who has more than 3.5 million followers on Twitter, followed up the initial tweet a minute later with another post that appeared to respond to the commotion over her earlier comment: 
 
 “Sorry, do you know what? The levels of ridiculousness and absurdity are so high they can only be digested with humor,” she said. 
 
 Fernández’s government has been rocked by the death of Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor investigating the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center. Nisman’s body was found the day before he had been expected to testify before Congress that the President had covered up Iran’s alleged involvement in the attack. 
 
 On Thursday, the lead investigator into Nisman’s death said that a warrant for Fernández’s arrest signed by the prosecutor had been found in the garbage in his apartment. ||||| Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner gestures during a ceremony outside the Casa Rosada Presidential Palace in Buenos Aires December 10, 2011. 
 
 BUENOS AIRES | 
 
 BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next month, her government said on Tuesday, adding that the cancerous cells had not spread. 
 
 Fernandez, 58, was easily elected to a second four-year term in October, vowing to deepen her unorthodox policies despite complaints from business leaders who say her heavy-handed management of the economy is stifling investment. 
 
 Fernandez was diagnosed with a papillary carcinoma that has not metastasized, said her spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro. The operation is scheduled to take place on January 4 and she is expected to take a leave of absence until January 24. 
 
 "The thyroid gland will have to be removed," said Buenos Aires-based cancer specialist Julio Moreno. "The prognosis is very good. The chances of being cured are 90 to 98 percent." 
 
 The cancer was detected last week during a routine check. Papillary carcinoma is the most common type of thyroid cancer and normally affects people under the age of 40, especially women. 
 
 A skilled orator fond of glamorous clothes, high heels and make-up, Fernandez still wears black as she mourns her husband and closest advisor, former President Nestor Kirchner, who died late last year. 
 
 When Kirchner died, many thought it spelled the end of the couple's idiosyncratic blend of state intervention, nationalist rhetoric and the championing of human rights in grains exporting powerhouse Argentina, the world's No. 3 soybean supplier. 
 
 But Fernandez pulled off a remarkable comeback on the back of a brisk economic expansion and an outpouring of public sympathy. She was re-elected with 54 percent of the vote, promising to stay true to her policies despite objections from Wall Street and international investors. 
 
 Latin America's No. 3 economy is growing at nearly 9 percent a year. But a worsening global economic outlook combined with entrenched high inflation at home are seen reining in Argentina's growth to about 4 percent next year. 
 
 Fernandez is one of several Latin American leaders to have cancer. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez underwent chemotherapy earlier this year while Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo's lymphatic cancer is in remission. 
 
 And former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is being successfully treated for a cancerous tumor on his Larynx, according to his doctors. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Walter Bianchi; Editing by Helen Popper and Todd Eastham) ||||| LISTEN TO ARTICLE 4:12 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email 
 
 U.S. President Donald Trump said China is sending “very strong signals” following weekend trade discussions in Argentina, as uncertainty remains over what commitments were made between the two nations. 
 
 “Not to sound naive or anything, but I believe President Xi meant every word of what he said at our long and hopefully historic meeting,” Trump said on Twitter Wednesday. “ALL subjects discussed!” 
 
 Very strong signals being sent by China once they returned home from their long trip, including stops, from Argentina. Not to sound naive or anything, but I believe President Xi meant every word of what he said at our long and hopefully historic meeting. ALL subjects discussed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2018 
 
 Beijing will start to quickly implement specific items where there’s consensus with the U.S. and will push forward on trade negotiations within the 90-day "timetable and road map," the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Wednesday morning in China. 
 
 Hours later, Bloomberg News reported that officials have begun preparing to restart imports of U.S. soybeans and liquefied natural gas -- the first sign confirming the claims of Trump and the White House that China had agreed to start buying some U.S. products "immediately." Trump retweeted an edited excerpt of that article Wednesday. 
 
 In China, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said that country hopes to speed up talks and is devoted to finding a solution to settle issues. 
 
 Global markets cheered the weekend accord on Monday, only to reverse course Tuesday as doubts emerged over exactly what the world’s two largest economies had agreed on. While Asian and European equities dropped Wednesday in the wake of the biggest slide in stocks on Wall Street since the mid-October downdraft, U.S. futures advanced after the statement from China echoed Trump’s optimism over bilateral trade talks. 
 
 The Ministry of Commerce statement described the meeting with the U.S. as “very successful” and said China is “confident” of implementing the results agreed upon at the talks, but didn’t provide any further details on the outcome. It was the first official confirmation from China that there’s a 90-day window for the talks. 
 
 China and the U.S. announced a truce in their trade war after the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping on Saturday, but that quickly descended into confusion, with both sides announcing different statements on what was agreed. There’s also been confusion just on the U.S. side, with the White House, Trump and his advisers making conflicting statements as to the details of a deal. 
 
 “One of the very exciting things to come out of my meeting with President Xi of China is his promise to me to criminalize the sale of deadly Fentanyl coming into the United States. It will now be considered a ‘controlled substance,”’ Trump said in another tweet Wednesday, subsequently adding that China would see "incredible" results if it imposed the death penalty on "distributors and pushers." 
 
 The White House statement listed what it claimed China had promised to do. The most detailed explanation of what the Chinese say they agreed to came from Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday in Argentina. He told reporters that China had said it was willing to "expand imports according to the needs of its domestic market and people, including importing marketable products from the US to gradually ease the trade imbalances," adding that both sides had agreed to open their markets to each other. 
 
 Chinese officials have been told to take necessary steps for the soybeans and liquefied natural gas purchases, according to two officials with knowledge of the discussions. It wasn’t clear whether the preparations meant China would cut the retaliatory tariffs it imposed on those products, or when the purchases would happen. 
 
 Chinese purchases of the goods collapsed after Beijing imposed tariffs on them in retaliation for U.S. import taxes. 
 
 Bean and Gone China's imports of U.S. soy in October were the lowest for the month since at least 2004 China Customs General Administration 
 
 China also announced an array of punishments that could restrict companies’ access to borrowing and state-funding support over intellectual-property theft. It set out a total of 38 different punishments to be applied to IP violations, starting this month. The document, dated Nov. 21, was released Tuesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and signed by various government bodies, including the central bank and supreme court. 
 
 Trump, who on Tuesday described himself as "Tariff Man," continues to ratchet up pressure on China, saying there will be a "REAL DEAL with China, or no deal at all." 
 
 We are either going to have a REAL DEAL with China, or no deal at all - at which point we will be charging major Tariffs against Chinese product being shipped into the United States. Ultimately, I believe, we will be making a deal - either now or into the future.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 5, 2018 
 
 — With assistance by Yinan Zhao, Steven Yang, Dandan Li, and Terrence Dopp
– Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is in China today, where she met with President Xi Jinping to sign various agreements and spoke at a conference attended by 1,000 businessmen in an effort to raise Chinese investment in Argentina's struggling economy. And yet, she still thought it would be a good idea to post a tweet mocking the Chinese accent, Bloomberg reports. The tweet, posted in Spanish, translates as: "Did they only come for lice and petloleum?" She was referring to the businessmen; Bloomberg notes that the tweet was in response to criticism that she tends to crowd her supporters into events. She followed the original tweet up with, "Sorry, do you know what? The levels of ridiculousness and absurdity are so high they can only be digested with humor," Time reports. The presidential palace's official Twitter account retweeted that second tweet, but not the first. (Kirchner is really not having a good week.)