Alarmed by large-scale spying on their state-owned oil and mining firms and monitoring of personal communication of their top leaders and bureaucrats by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), South America’s two biggest countries are urging all other countries in the region to form a joint cyber shield to deflect such surveillance. The move, led by Brazil and Argentina, is the first such effort by a group of countries since NSA revelations about mass surveillance began to come out in June.

An Argentine human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke out against Colombia’s planned new ambassador to Argentina due to the candidate facing accusations of human rights violations, reported a local newspaper on Thursday. Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel sent a letter late Wednesday to the Argentinian foreign minister asking him to reconsider the assignment of former Colombian military commander, Alejandro Navas Ramos, as Colombia’s new ambassador to Argentina.

Ask a soccer fan to name the fiercest rivalry in Argentina, and it is a near certainty the reply will be Boca Juniors versus River Plate, the battle for Buenos Aires popularly known as el superclásico. Another capital derby, Independiente versus Racing, ignites the industrial suburb of Avellaneda, where those clubs’ stadiums are separated by a single city block.

DanceMotion USA, a State Department program produced by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, sends American companies to perform abroad for cultural diplomacy but also arranges collaborations between American troupes and foreign ones.

When contemplating the logistics of a possible war with Iran, it is helpful to consult maps indicating the multitude of US military bases that already encircle a country under crippling economic sanctions. No similar visual aids are available for Iranian bases in the vicinity of the US, for obvious reasons.However, there are various ways to compensate for the lack of an apparent Iranian threat in the western hemisphere. One is to blame it on "invisibleness".

Expanding the Super Rugby competition to include countries such as Argentina and Japan will be discussed at a series of meetings next month. New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive, Steve Tew, has confirmed the prospect of expansion beyond Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and also new methods of broadcasting will be on the table when South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby (Sanzar) officials negotiate their model beyond 2016.

Sergio Massa marches down a corridor, casting aside his suit jacket and rolling up his shirtsleeves – as if preparing for a schoolyard tussle – before facing the camera: “If they want to fight, we’re going to fight,” he says. That’s the controversial TV spot Mr. Massa, who is running for a congressional seat in Argentina’s upcoming midterm elections, chose for his campaign. But he is not the only politician to adopt an aggressive tone against the Front for Victory, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s ruling alliance.

Argentina will have the opportunity to represent Latin America at the UN Security Council, said Foreign Minister Hector Timerman in reference to the presidency his country will play in that organ this month. Timerman made these statements after two meetings President Cristina Fernandez held last night with Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, and the president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, Telam news agency reported here.