TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran said Wednesday it has completed a first round of talks with Argentina on the 1994 bombing of a Jewish aid organisation in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and wounded 300."On Monday and Tuesday, Iranian and Argentine legal experts held their negotiations about AMIA (the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Aid Association) and agreed to continue negotiations in the future," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said."The time and the venue of the next round of negotiations will Read more [...]

By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina lowered its voting age to 16 from 18 on Wednesday, a change that could help politically ailing President Cristina Fernandez court the youth vote ahead of 2013 mid-term elections. Dozens of opposition members of the lower house of Congress Read more [...]

Wallabies stalwart Berrick Barnes believes he might have to battle his way back into the team off the bench on the coming European tour. Utility back Barnes started a personal-best 11 straight Tests before a punctured lung suffered against Argentina in late September put him out of Australia's last two games. Unfortunately for 46-Test veteran Barnes, Australia produced two of their better performances of a patchy season in those matches. They Read more [...]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has placed the ratings of several Argentine corporates on Rating Watch Negative. These actions follow Fitch's decision to place the 'B' foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of the Republic of Argentina (Argentina) on Rating Watch Negative, as a result of increased uncertainty about the government's ability to service its international securities issued under New York Law on a timely basis Read more [...]

BY MIA LAMAR AND NATHALIE TADENA Standard Poor's Ratings Services downgraded its sovereign-credit rating on Argentina one notch further into junk territory, noting the country could face increasing debt-management risks. SP lowered Argentina's rating to B-minus, six levels into junk territory. The outlook is negative. Earlier Tuesday, fellow ratings firm Fitch Ratings placed Argentina's junk-level sovereign-debt rating on review for a downgrade, citing increased Read more [...]

Southern hemisphere problems pressure global wheat Wednesday October 31 2012HEAVY rains that have increased the risk of fungal disease for Argentina's wheat crop and reports of quality issues with Australia's early harvest are adding to concerns over global supplies. The Rosario grains exchange gave its first estimate for Argentina's 2012/13 wheat production this week, projecting output to reach 10m tonnes, 1.5m tonnes lower than the USDA's estimate. ©2011 Informa UK Limited. Read more [...]

QUITO Oct 31 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean plaintiffs plan to file a lawsuit against Chevron in Argentina, their third legal attempt outside the Andean country to enforce a $19 billion ruling against the U.S. oil company for pollution, a source with direct knowledge of the case said. The 2011 judgment against Chevron is one of the biggest rulings for environmental damage and is being tracked closely by the global oil industry. The source told Reuters that the plaintiffs' Read more [...]

The end of the month is typically a time of selling in agricultural commodities, as funds tidy up positions, with month beginnings seen as more of a time of cash injections. But have investors this time got their selling in already? Certainly, crops made a firm start to Wednesday, both in Chicago and New York, joining in some of a risk-off atmosphere on financial markets, which was spurred by better corporate results in Europe and Asia than in the US, and by some positive economic signals too. Production Read more [...]

Financial News in Review: ARM Holdings plc, Intel Corp, Argentine credit rating cut, Next turns more bullish, Barclays faces fresh allegations in the US.  ARM Holdings Plc (LON:ARM) is to maintain its lead over rival Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) in the smartphone market with the launch of processors that will power a new generation of “superphones”. The 64-bit processors will be adopted by some of the largest semiconductor makers next year before being built into smartphones and tablets Read more [...]

Matthew Rees has backed one of Wales' young props to make an impression this autumn as the RBS 6 Nations champions prepare for life without Adam Jones.Jones will miss forthcoming appointments with Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia due to a knee injury. While interim Wales head coach Rob Howley could consider switching Bath loosehead Paul James across the scrum, it is probable that either Aaron Jarvis, Scott Andrews or Samson Lee will start against the Pumas on November 10."We Read more [...]