San Jose, Feb 21 (IANS/EFE) Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and her Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto, agreed to bolster bilateral relations, emphasizing trade, cooperation and investment, while maintaining a regional focus.

Santa Maria (Brazil), Jan 31 (IANS/EFE) The toll from last weekend's fire at a discotheque in this southern Brazilian city rose to 235 and 143 people remain hospitalized, authorities said Wednesday.

Santa Maria (Brazil), Jan 29 (IANS/EFE) One of the owners of the Kiss nightclub and two musicians have been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 231 people over the weekend in Santa Maria, a city in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state, media reports said Monday.

San Salvador, Jan 25 (IANS/EFE) The Salvadoran quintuplets who were given little chance of survival when they were born in 1995 are now 18 and busy planning for their futures.

San Jose, Jan 23 (IANS/EFE) An investigation was launched Tuesday to determine the cause of death of about 280 sea turtles in the Gulf of Dulce, on the southern Pacific coast, a situation that was denounced by environmentalists, Costa Rican authorities said.

San Jose, Jan 11 (IANS) A Costa Rican four-team football tournament succeeded in raising $550,000 for the Association to Fight Childhood Cancer.

San Jose, Nov 25 (IANS/EFE) Costa Rican authorities have inaugurated the country's first large−scale solar energy plant, built with a $10 million Japanese donation.

San Salvador, Sep 28 (IANS/EFE) El Salvador's telecom regulator has rejected an offer by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's America Movil to acquire the local operation of Irish-owned mobile operator Digicel, calling the deal detrimental to consumers.

San Salvador, Aug 31 (IANS/EFE) A man killed himself with a gunshot to the head when he was cornered by police after he and an accomplice robbed passengers on a bus in this capital, Salvadoran media said Thursday.

San Jose (Costa Rica), July 10 (IANS) The international football governing body FIFA praised Costa Rica's national futsal or indoor football team for its victory against Guatemala in the pre-World Cup.

Mendoza (Argentina), June 30 (IANS) China and South American trading bloc Mercosur pledged here to further promote economic cooperation and lift bilateral trade to $200 billion in 2016.

Buenos Aires, June 14 (IANS) An Argentine football player, Mariano Campodonico, was shot in the leg when two assailants forced him and his two children out of the car and drove away to Buzarco city, 30 kilometers from the capital here.

Buenos Aires, June 12 (IANS/EFE) A fan of Argentina's River Plate soccer team died early Monday at a Buenos Aires hospital after being stabbed at a stadium while the home team took on Boca Unidos, police said.

Buenos Aires, June 11 (IANS/EFE) Argentine rocker Charly Garcia was admitted early Sunday to a hospital in Cordoba, a city in central Argentina, after suffering health problems at a concert he was giving.

Buenos Aires, June 11 (IANS/EFE) The government is working with the private sector to develop wind energy projects in Argentina under a plan that could create 10,000 jobs and produce 1,000 MW of electricity within eight years, the industry ministry said.

Buenos Aires, June 4 (IANS/EFE) Puerto Rican urban band Calle 13 has been honoured by Argentina's National University of La Plata for its contributions to popular communication and culture, the institution said.

Buenos Aires, June 4 (IANS/EFE) Argentina may issue special bills bearing the likeness of Eva Duarte, also known as Evita, to mark the 60th anniversary of the death of three-time President Juan Domingo Peron's wife, a media report said.

Buenos Aires, May 26 (IANS) If you are in Buenos Aires don't forget to visit this trendy night club because you will be in for a huge surprise! Here, you won't come across salsa or reggaton music like most such places do, but soulful Sanskrit melodies that rent the air.

Buenos Aires, May 9 (IANS/EFE) An Argentine court confirmed the 12-year prison sentence meted out to a high school teacher who offered better grades to his students in exchange for sex, media reports said Tuesday.

Buenos Aires, May 19 (IANS) Argentina's economic growth rate slowed down significantly in the first quarter of 2012, compared on a yearly basis, according to a report published by the nation's statistic agency.

Buenos Aires, May 7 (IANS/EFE) Nearly 11,000 firearms surrendered by their owners were destroyed by the government as part of a programme to reduce the number of weapons in Argentina, officials said.

Buenos Aires, May 1 (IANS/EFE) An 18-year-old soccer fan was gunned down over the weekend after a match in Olavarria, a city outside Buenos Aires, Argentine police said Monday.

Buenos Aires, April 30 (IANS) Citroen's French racer Sebastien Loeb won the Rally Argentina for the seventh time, coming in 15.2 seconds ahead of teammate Mikko Hirvonen of Finland in the fifth stop of the 2012 World Rally Championship.

Buenos Aires, April 20 (IANS/EFE) Paleontologists found about 300 well-preserved fossils of pre-historic animals at two quarries outside Buenos Aires, Argentine officials said.

Buenos Aires, April 17 (IANS/EFE) The Brazilian woman who confessed on television to killing her six-year-old son to take revenge on her ex-husband has died in a hospital on the outskirts of Buenos Aires after attempting to hang herself in an Argentine jail, authorities said.

Buenos Aires, April 17 (IANS/EFE) President Cristina Fernandez announced Monday the immediate takeover of YPF, a unit of Spanish oil major Repsol, and said she will ask the Argentine Congress to approve the expropriation of 51 percent of the Latin American country's leading oil and gas producer.

Buenos Aires, April 11 (IANS/EFE) A baby born prematurely woke up in the morgue of a hospital in northern Argentina 12 hours after having been declared dead, authorities in Chaco province said Tuesday.

Buenos Aires, April 9 (IANS) Four-time Davis Cup runners-up Argentina have entered the semifinals of the 2012 edition, beating Croatia 4-1 at home.

Buenos Aires, April 3 (IANS/EFE) Spanish telecom company Movistar said it restored both voice and data service to 16 million cell phone subscribers after a massive outage Monday.

Buenos Aires, April 3 (IANS/EFE) Argentina is looking to reduce its imports of automobiles manufactured in Mexico in light of that country's refusal to revise the 2002 bilateral automotive trade agreement, media reports said.

Buenos Aires, March 28 (IANS) Olimpia, the reigning champions of Paraguayan soccer, will face Brazil's Flamengo in the fourth game of Group 2 in the Libertadores Cup.

Buenos Aires, March 27 (IANS) Thirty-seven-year old Malli Mastan Babu is the only Indian to have scaled the tallest peaks of the Andes in South America. He also holds a Guinness record for having climbed the seven summits of the world in just 172 days.

Buenos Aires, March 24 (IANS) Argentinian tennis star Juan Martin del Potro, currently No.11 in the world ATP ranking, said he dreams of "becoming No.1", though he admitted that the top slot "is very difficult to achieve and few succeed".

Buenos Aires, March 23 (IANS/EFE) The government of the central Argentine province of Santa Fe will manufacture the drug sildenafil, better known under the brandname Viagra, and will distribute it free to males with erectile dysfunction.

Buenos Aires, March 15 (IANS) Argentina will host Formula One races in 2013, 2014 and 2015, President Cristina Fernandez has announced.

Buenos Aires, March 14 (IANS/EFE) Argentine radio personality Angel "Baby" Etchecopar and his son were wounded in an attempted robbery at the family's home in suburban Buenos Aires, the host's employer said Tuesday.

Buenos Aires, March 13 (IANS) The Argentine Chacarita Juniors' football stadium was temporarily shut after scores of people were injured when fans clashed with police following a match Sunday, the authorities said in a statement.

Buenos Aires, Feb 29 (IANS/EFE) The Argentine government announced Tuesday the "temporary and preventive" takeover of commuter rail operator Trenes de Buenos Aires amid harsh criticism by relatives of the victims of the rail accident that left 50 commuters dead here last week.

Buenos Aires, Feb 27 (IANS/EFE) The audiotape of the communications between the commuter train that crashed last week in Argentina, killing 51 and injuring 703, and the control center does not reveal that the train driver gave any warning about a brake failure.

Buenos Aires, Feb 24 (IANS/EFE) The toll in the railway accident in Buenos Aires has risen to 50, Argentine officials said.

Buenos Aires, Feb 23 (IANS/EFE) At least 49 people, including a child, were killed and 600 injured Wednesday in a railway accident in Buenos Aires, Argentine officials said.

Buenos Aires, Feb 22 (IANS) At least 48 people were killed and hundreds wounded Wednesday in a commuter train crash at one of the three busiest stations in Argentine capital Buenos Aires, BBC reported, quoting the police.

Buenos Aires, Feb 16 (IANS/EFE) Argentina's Treasury has prohibited oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol-YPF, from making any imports or exports until it pays an $8 million tax debt, officials said Wednesday.

Buenos Aires, Feb 14 (IANS/EFE) Argentine lawmakers' decision to give themselves a 100 percent raise in the face of spending cuts and the executive branch's pleas for restraint sparked a fierce controversy Monday.

Buenos Aires, Feb 9 (IANS/EFE) Argentine oil company YPF, a unit of Spain's Repsol-YPF, announced Wednesday that its investments in the South American country rose last year by 50 percent to a record 13.3 billion pesos ($3.06 billion).

Buenos Aires, Feb 4 (IANS/RIA Novosti) A namesake of Vladimir Lenin, the late Russian communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by an Ecuadorian legislator.

Buenos Aires, Feb 3 (IANS/EFE) The widow of Gov. Carlos Soria, who was shot in the face after a New Year's eve party, has been indicted on aggravated manslaughter and arms charges, Argentine judicial officials said Thursday.

Buenos Aires, Jan 31 (IANS/EFE) The daughter of former Argentine intelligence officer Raul Martins will arrive in Mexico this week with evidence that her father is running a sex trafficking ring in the Mexican resort city of Cancun, an activist told EFE Monday.

Buenos Aires, Jan 28 (IANS/EFE) Argentina's government has ordered refining firms to sell diesel for use in public transport at the same price they charge drivers at the pump, authorities said.

Buenos Aires, Jan 22 (IANS/EFE) The case of a pregnant 11-year-old girl, whose mother asked a court to give her daughter permission to have her pregnancy interrupted - but later unexpectedly dropped the petition, has renewed the controversy in Argentina about legalizing abortion.