Buenos Aires - Half-an-hour's train ride from Buenos Aires lies the suburb of Jose Leon Suarez, with its dirt streets and homes made of wooden planks and scraps of metal.

The path passes by a river containing more rubbish than water. Here and there, the garbage piles up and the stench of burning plastic pollutes the air.

This path leads to the Vicente Catalano Centre for mothers and families.

Gottfried Stein, a correspondent for Germany's ARD radio based in South America, and his wife, Renate, opened the facility in 2007. They obtained funds from the Stuttgart-based International Network of Centres for Mothers and Families, in whose executive committee Renate sits.

Buenos Aires - The triumph of Democratic can

Buenos Aires - Diego Maradona said Wednesday that he was looking forward to working as head coach of Argentina and refuted criticism from those who consider he lacks experience for the job. 

"They talk about my lack of experience, but I have 20-some years in the Argentine national team. That is why it sounds funny to me that they talk of a lack of experience," Maradona said as he left his home in the Buenos Aires suburb of Ezeiza. 

The appointment was met with cautious surprise by fans in football-crazy Argentina. While Maradona's past talent on the field is unquestioned, many are casting doubts on his qualifications to coach the senior team, based on his scarce experience managing club teams and the poor results he obtained. 

Buenos Aires - Argentina is set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its return to democracy on Thursday - a difficult process that has evolved gradually since the end of the military dictatorship in 1983.

Social democrat Raul Alfonsin, of the Radical Civic Union, won the election on October 30, 1983 to become president. It was clear at the time that he had been entrusted with a huge challenge. But even skeptics could not have guessed just how hard it was going to be to govern the South American country.

Buenos Aires - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Tuesday signed a bill to unify the country's pension system into a public regime, following 14 years in which workers could opt for either a private or a public pension scheme.

The bill that will nationalize private pension funds needs to be approved by Congress. It would allow the government to collect the compulsory pension contributions of close to 3.6 million workers - worth some 4.6 billion dollars per year - who are currently in the private system.

Buenos Aires - Anyone out walking in a Buenos Aires park is bound to notice large packs of dogs numbering 10 or even 20 animals whose leads are held by a lone man or woman - an often stressed-looking "paseaperros."

Owning a dog in Buenos Aires is chic and the bigger the animal, the better. But taking the doggies out for long walks is not quite so popular.

So "paseaperros" or dog-walkers take to the streets with their barking hounds to save wealthy portenos - as the residents of Buenos Aires are known - the bother.

Buenos Aires boasts around 200 registered dog-walkers, and the activity is a popular side-job among young people and students, says Alberto Termine, a representative of the city's Environment Ministry.