Buenos Aires, April 3 : Argentine President Cristina Fernandez marked Tuesday's 31st anniversary of the start of the Falklands War by again demanding that Britain agree to discuss the question of sovereignty over the South Atlantic archipelago known to Latin Americans as the Malvinas.

"Refusing dialogue is incomprehensible," Fernandez said at a Veterans Day ceremony at Puerto Madryn, 1,300 km south of Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires, March 23 : Lionel Messi set up two goals and scored another as Argentina defeated Venezuela 3-0 to extend their lead at the top of the South American World Cup qualifying standings.

The Barcelona star's sublime one-touch pass set up Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain in the 29th minute before the four-time Ballon d'Or winner converted a penalty on the stroke of half-time after a Gabriel Cichero handball, reports Xinhua.

Higuain made it 3-0 just before the hour when he slotted in Messi's perfect through ball at the Estadio Monumental Friday.

Buenos Aires, March 22 : Argentinean football star Lionel Messi says fans of his country's national team are more enthusiastic than ever before, snapping up all the tickets to the team's Friday match against Venezuela in the capital Buenos Aires.

"I have noticed the change not just towards me, but also towards the entire Argentinean team.  Today, the fans are more fired up than before, it's great.  We have to all be united to attain what we want," Messi was quoted as saying Thursday by Xinhua.

The capital's River Plate Monumental Stadium was sold out, selling tickets worth almost $2.2 million.

Buenos Aires, March 18 : YPF, the oil company controlled by the Argentine state following the expropriation of a 51 percent stake in the corporation from Spain's Repsol, has set the goal of achieving energy independence, an objective that could be met in "five or six years", CEO Miguel Galuccio said.

"It is possible to think about regaining self-sufficiency in five or six years," Galuccio told Radio Nacional.

Buenos Aires, March 17 : At least 16 people were killed and 25 others injured when a passenger bus plunged into a river in Ecuador's coastal province of Guayas.

Ecuadorian daily La-Hora said the accident occurred Saturday on the El Triunfo-Bucay highway.

The bus suddenly crashed into a side-rail of a bridge and then plunged into a river.

Passengers of the bus were mostly manufacturers and traders of jeans clothing from the province of Tungurahua and were en route to a handicrafts fair in the town of Guayaquil.

Authorities launched an investigation into the bus crash.

Buenos Aires, March 4 : San Lorenzo de Almagro snapped River Plate's three game winning streak with a 2-0 victory in the Argentina soccer league.

In a match played Sunday in "Nuevo Gasometro" stadium in southern Buenos Aires, Denis Stracqualursi opened the scoring 42 seconds into the game and Mauro Cetto made it two goals up at the 19th minute, reports Xinhua.

San Lorenzo has gathered six points against River's nine. (IANS)

Buenos Aires, Feb 12  : Former Argentina international playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme says he "feels like a footballer again" after ending his seven-month exile from Boca Juniors.

Boca officials announced Friday that the former Barcelona and Villarreal star had agreed to re-sign with the Buenos Aires club until June 2014, reports Xinhua.

"I am happy, I feel like a footballer again which is something that I haven't felt for a few months," Riquelme told Boca's official website Monday. "I have made an important commitment and I hope to fulfil it in the best way possible."

Buenos Aires, Jan 30 : Paraguayan footballer Juan Manuel Iturbe from Portugal's FC Porto has been loaned to Argentina's River Plate on a six-month deal.

Iturbe, 19, announced the loan on Twitter, while River Plate's Vice President, Diego Turnes, also confirmed the news when interviewed by local radio station "La Red" Tuesday, reports Xinhua.

"We are all very glad because we reached an agreement. After long negotiations with Porto, we finally signed the player," said Turnes.

Buenos Aires, Jan 29 : Argentina sent skin grafts by air to Brazil Monday to treat victims of a nightclub fire over the weekend, the country's health ministry said.

Argentine Health Minister Juan Manzur said 10,000 square cm of skin and 20,000 amniotic membrane were sent for those who were seriously burned in the fire at Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, a college town in southern Brazil, reported Xinhua.

Buenos Aires, Jan 28 : Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said on Sunday that Argentina and Iran have agreed to set up an independent truth commission to investigate the 1994 terrorist attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.

Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi signed an accord on the issue on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Ethiopia on Sunday, Fernandez said in her official Twitter and Facebook messages.

Buenos Aires, Jan 21 : Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi donated nearly 1 million pesos (about $202,000) to a sports facility used by children from low-income families in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina, his foundation said.

The money donated by the FC Barcelona striker will be used to improve the Deliot sports complex in Rosario, located about 300 km from Buenos Aires, allowing children to "have a special place for sports, education, training and culture", the Leo Messi Foundation said.

Buenos Aires, Dec 29 : The Argentine Football Federation has suspended two footballers on suspicion of doping.

The disciplinary tribunal announced the news on its website Friday, saying Newell's Old Boys defender Lucas Bernandi and Arsenal striker Gustavo Canales were banned for positive tests, reports Xinhua.

The second samples of the urine will be tested to decide a potential sanctions upon the players. (IANS)

Internet giant, Google has disclosed that it is facing inquires by authorities in Argentina and South Korea amid a global scrutiny of the company's competitive behavior and collection of private data.

Buenos Aires, Feb 16 - 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. The AFIP tax agency imposed the fine for unpaid debt related to a tax on gas-export rights, agency spokespersons said without providing further details.

The fine was levied amid rumours - which the Argentine government has neither confirmed nor denied - about plans to re-nationalize YPF.

Buenos Aires, Feb 9 - 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).

The country's largest oil and gas producer, which President Cristina Fernandez's government has accused of not investing enough in Argentina, cited the investment figure in a regulatory filing.

After it was found that millions of tons of food grain were lost because of rotting in Indian warehouses for the lack of proper technologies, the government had decided to take some step.

India will be joining hands with Argentina for developing a new technology for warehousing and also to be able to access the existing ones in the South American nation.

According to the reports, amid increased arms shopping, Argentina is turning the heat on shipping to the British-ruled Falkland Islands ahead of further results from recent drilling for underwater crude oil and gas reserves.

The latest Argentine coast guard restrictions on shipping came after President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced plans in February to monitor vessels traveling to and from the South Atlantic archipelago.

According to the official reports, Chile and Argentina will pool resources to form a joint military force for rapid response to humanitarian crises and peacekeeping missions in Latin America.

Officials said that the combined rapid response force, to be called Southern Cross, will be drawn from the armed forces of both countries and will comprise initially about 1,000 troops. The force will be ready for deployment before the end of the year.

India's leading personal care products maker Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. is expected to buy an Argentina-based hair color products firm, Issue Group Co. According to a report published in one of the leading news papers of the country, the deal is on its way and likely to be through soon. Industry is waiting to hear an announcement on the possible buy out from Godrej.

Analysts said on Tuesday that Argentina is angling for a U. S. role in its Falklands oil dispute with Britain that will go beyond Washington sitting on the fence as the elder cousin to both Buenos Aires and London.

Argentina and Britain went to war over the islands in 1982 when the Latin American nation was under the thumb of a military dictatorship and Britain had its first brush with the military resolve of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.