Argentina | featured news

A strange ghost town that spent a quarter century under water is coming up for air again in the Argentine farmlands southwest of Buenos Aires.

Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio was 39 years old when Argentina’s military junta seized power in March 1976. The seven years that followed were a time of infernal darkness in his country. Union leaders, students, journalists and other left-wing activists were rounded up on the mere suspicion of “subversion.” Many were tortured and raped, or tossed alive from military airplanes into the mouth of the Plata River. As many as 30,000 Argentines were murdered or went missing.

Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernized Argentina's conservative Catholic church. Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, the 76-year-old is known as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed. He came close to becoming pope last time, reportedly gaining the second-highest vote total in several rounds of voting before he bowed out of the running in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Bettors gambling on Pope Benedict's replacement were very much wrong. Argentina's Jorge Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, was a consensus 25-1 underdog to be selected at the conclave, gambling expert R.J. Bell of Pregame.com says. At least 15 names were considered ahead of Bergoglio in 12 books accepting wagers on the papal election in Europe and online outside the United States. "Everyone was paying attention to the top dozen or so favorites," Bell says.

Former Argentine finance minister Felisa Miceli is sentenced to four years in jail for corruption after about $52,000 was found in her office bathroom. A court found her guilty of covering up an allegedly illegal financial operation and of obstructing justice.

What began as bizarre bird behavior has turned into something out of a horror film for threatened whales in Argentina, where seagulls have learned that pecking at the whales' backs can get them a regular seafood dinner.

Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford said on Sunday he is engaged to marry his Argentine girlfriend, Maria Belen Chapur.

In a semifinal men’s basketball game, the United States defeated Argentina 109-83 and will play Spain for the gold medal at the London Olympics.

Kevin Durant scored 28 points - 17 during a stunning, long-range shooting display in the third quarter - and the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team blasted into the medal round with a 126-97 win over Argentina on Monday night.

Here are some of the events, teams and athletes to watch on Monday at the London Games, including Gabby Douglas on the uneven bars and the United States men's basketball team against Argentina.