Argentina

The Buenos Aires Zoo is an 45-acre zoo in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Zoo contains 89 species of mammals, 49 species of... reptiles and 175 species of birds, with a total of over 2,500 different animals. The institution's goals are to conserve species, produce research and to educate the public. President Domingo Sarmiento was responsible for the laying out of the Parque Tres de Febrero in land previously owned by Juan Manuel de Rosas. The project was begun in 1874; the park was opened on November 11, 1875, and included a small section dedicated for animals. This area was owned by the Federal Government until 1888 when it was transferred to the City of Buenos Aires. In that year, Mayor Antonio Crespo created the Buenos Aires Zoo, and separated it from the rest of the park. Its first director Eduardo Ladislao Holmberg was appointed in 1888 and stayed in that position for 15 years. He was the major designer of the zoo. Holmberg completed the assignment of the different parks, lakes and avenues, and began the exhibition of the 650 animals that the zoo had at that time.
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The San José Palace is the former personal residence of Justo José de Urquiza, Argentine caudillo, general, politician and President of... the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860. At present, the Palace is formally the setting of the Justo José de Urquiza Museum and National Monument. The Palace is located in the countryside, 23 km from the city of Concepción del Uruguay, in the province of Entre Ríos. It was designed by architect Pedro Fossati and built between 1848 and 1858. The Palace is a model of mid-19th century Italian-Argentine architecture. The main floor has two large courtyards surrounded by 38 rooms, as well as an archive, a library, a playroom, a large dining room, kitchens, a chapel, and two surveillance towers. One can find such luxuries as Italian marbles, French mirrors, and gold-plated roofs. The archives treasure important historical documents, antiques, paintings of Urquiza's battles, and even manifestos of ships that landed on Concepción's port. These features are very well preserved; in many cases visitors are only allowed to watch and take photographs from the outside of the rooms.
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San Martín Palace is located facing Plaza San Martín in the Retiro neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina and serves as the Ceremonial... Headquarters for the Ministry of Foreign Relations. The Beaux Arts style palace was designed for Mercedes Castellanos de Anchorena by the architect Alejandro Christophersen in 1905. Finished in 1909, the building was acquired by the Argentine government in 1936 and became the Headquarters for the Ministry of Foreign Relations. A new headquarters was completed in 1993, and at present the palace serves as the Ceremonial Headquarters for the Ministry. The palace contains many works of art by Argentine and American artists from the 20th century, such as Antonio Berni, Pablo Curatella Manes, Lino Enea Spilimbergo, and Roberto Matta.
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The Obelisk of Buenos Aires is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza de la República, in the intersection... of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio, it was built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of the city. In order to enrich the surroundings of the iconic monument, the government of the city started the project Punto Obelisco. Creating a zone full of LED signs. Since the Obelisk of the city is always associated with the night and entertainment of Buenos Aires, this project creates a zone similar to Times Square in New York and Picadilly Circus in London. Construction began on March 20, 1936 and was inaugurated on May 23 of the same year. It was designed by architect Alberto Prebisch at the request of the mayor Mariano de Vedia y Mitre . For its construction, which cost 200,000 pesos moneda nacional, 680 m³ of concrete and 1360 m² of Olaen white stone from Córdoba were used.
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The Gulf War , Liberation of Kuwait codenamed Operation Desert Storm commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a... U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf War, Gulf War I, or the Iraq War, before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the 2003 Iraq War . The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began 2 August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council. U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order.
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The Falklands War , also known as the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was a 1982 limited war between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The... conflict resulted from the long-standing dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which lie in the South Atlantic east of Argentina. The Falklands War began on Friday 2 April 1982, when Argentine forces invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. The British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force, and retake the islands by amphibious assault. The resulting conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, which returned the islands to British control. 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died during the conflict. It remains the most recent external conflict to be fought by the UK without any allied states and the only external Argentine war since the 1880s. The conflict was the result of a protracted historical confrontation regarding the sovereignty of the islands.
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The Battle of Wireless Ridge was an engagement of the Falklands War which took place on the night of 13 June and 14 June 1982, between British and... Argentine forces during the advance towards the Argentine-occupied capital of the Falklands Stanley. Wireless Ridge was one of seven strategic hills within five miles of Stanley at 51°40′14″S 57°55′55″W / 51.67056°S 57.93194°W / -51.67056; -57.93194 that had to be taken in order for the city to be approached. The attack was successful, and the entire Argentine force on the Islands surrendered later that day. The British force consisted of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, a troop of the Blues & Royals, with two FV101 Scorpion and two FV107 Scimitar light tanks, as well as artillery support from two batteries of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery and naval gunfire support provided by HMS Ambuscade's 4.5-in gun. The Argentine force consisted of the 7th Infantry Regiment and detachments from other units.
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The Battle of Mount Tumbledown was an engagement in the Falklands War, one of a series of battles that took place during the British advance towards... Stanley. On the night of 13 June – 14 June 1982, the British launched an assault on Mount Tumbledown, one of the highest points near the town of Stanley, and succeeded in driving Argentinian forces from the mountain. This close-quarters night battle was later dramatised in the BBC film Tumbledown. The attacking British forces consisted of the 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, mortar detachments from 42 Commando, Royal Marines and the 1/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles, as well as support from a troop of the Blues and Royals equipped with two Scorpion and two Scimitar armored vehicles. The Argentinian forces defending the mountains were Commander Carlos Robacio's 5th Marine Infantry Battalion .
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The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in... Africa. The Group comprises the African Development Bank , the African Development Fund , and the Nigeria Trust Fund . AfDB provides loans and grants to African governments and private companies investing in the regional member countries in Africa. It is owned and funded by member governments, and has a public-interest mandate to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. Following the end of colonial period in Africa, growing desire for more unity within the continent led to the establishment of two draft charters, one for the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity , and for a regional development bank. A draft accord was submitted to top African officials, then to African Ministers, before being cosigned by twenty-three African governments on August 4, 1963, in the form of an agreement establishing the African Development Bank.
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The Zangger Committee, also known as the Nuclear Exporters Committee, sprang from Article III.2 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear... Weapons which entered into force on March 5, 1970. Under the terms of Article III.2 International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards must be applied to nuclear exports. Between 1971 and 1974, a group of 15 nuclear supplier states held a series of informal meetings in Vienna chaired by Professor Claude Zangger of Switzerland. The group's objective was to reach a common understanding on: the definition of "equipment or material especially designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material;" and the conditions and procedures that would govern exports of such equipment or material in order to meet the obligations of Article III.2 on the basis of fair commercial competition. The group, which became known as the Zangger Committee, decided that it would be informal and that its decisions would not be legally binding upon its members.
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The United Nations Stabilisation Mission In Haiti , also known as MINUSTAH, an acronym of the French translation, is a United Nations peacekeeping... mission in Haiti that has been in operation since 2004. The mission's military component is led by the Brazilian Army and the force commander is Brazilian. MINUSTAH's mandate was most recently extended by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1944 past its October 15, 2010 deadline amid fears of instability. The mission's current mandate runs through October 15th, 2011 with the intention of further renewal. The force is composed of 8,940 military personnel and 3,711 police, supported by an international civilian personnel, a local civilian staff and United Nations Volunteers. Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations reported that the headquarters of the mission in Port-au-Prince had collapsed and that the mission's chief, Hédi Annabi of Tunisia, his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa of Brazil, and the acting police commissioner, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Doug Coates of Canada, were confirmed dead.
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The Union of South American Nations - UZAN, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas - UNASUL, Spanish: Unión de Naciones... Suramericanas - UNASUR is an intergovernmental union integrating two existing customs unions: Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations , as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modeled on the European Union. The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union's headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while the headquarters of its bank, the Bank of the South are located in Caracas, Venezuela. The combined population of the 12-member Union as at 1 July 2010 was estimated at 396,391,032. On 4 May 2010, at an extraordinary heads of state summit held in Campana, 75 km north of Buenos Aires, former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner was unanimously elected the first Secretary-General of UNASUR for a two-year term.
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The National University of Córdoba, Spanish: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba , is the oldest university in Argentina, and one of the oldest... in the Americas. It is located in Córdoba, the capital of Córdoba Province. Since the early 20th century it has been the second largest university in the country in terms of the number of students, faculty, and academic programs. As the location of the first university founded in the land that is now Argentina, Córdoba has earned the nickname La Docta . In 1610 the Society of Jesus founded the Collegium Maximum in Córdoba, which was attended by students of the order. An institution of the highest intellectual caliber for the time, this was the precursor of the university. While still under the control of the Jesuits, and during the administration of the Bishop of Tucumán, Juan Fernando de Trejo y Sanabria, advanced studies began to be offered at what was now known as the Colegio Maximo de Córdoba. The school did not yet have authority to confer degrees.
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The National University of La Plata is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La... Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 16 departments and 106 available degrees. UNLP comprises the Rafael Hernández National College, the Victor Mercante Lyceum, the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, the School of Agronomy, the La Plata University Radio, the La Plata University Press and numerous academic centers for research and outreach including La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences, the University Public Library, the Samay Huasi Retreat for Artists and Writers, the Institute of Physical Education, the Astronomical Observatory and the Santa Catalina Rural Association. The institution began operations on April 18, 1897, as the Universidad Provincial de La Plata with Dr. Dardo Rocha as its rector. In 1905, Joaquín V. González, the Minister of Justice and Public Education of the government of Manuel Quintana, decided to nationalize it.
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The National University of Rosario is a research, educational and public university located in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina.... Rosario National University was created in 1968 by Law 17.987. Its foundational structure consisted of numerous academic and administrative entities belonging to the Rosario campus of the National University of the Littoral, established in 1918. The schools incorporated in the original university at the time included: the Colleges of Medicine, Biochemistry Sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Economic Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Law, Psychology, Political Sciences, Odontology, Agricultural Sciences, Veterinarian Sciences. Other institutions under the original university's aegis included hospitals and secondary schools, the Rosario Music Institute, the Fine Arts Institute, and the Center of Foreign and Modern Languages. From its beginnings Rosario National University promoted an active relationship with Rosario society. This relationship allowed it to completed every initiated project and sustain growth in accordance to regional demands.
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Clarisa Fernández is a retired Argentine tennis player who is best known for her semi-final appearance at the 2002 French Open, the first... Argentine since Sabatini in 1992 to reach that stage. Fernández was ranked 87th in the world at the time of her shocking result. She defeated, in order: Lubomira Bacheva, 7–5, 6–1; Jelena Kostanić, 6–3, 6–4; Kim Clijsters, 6–4, 6–0; Elena Dementieva, 3–6, 6–2, 6–3; Paola Suárez, 2–6, 7–6, 6–1; before losing to Venus Williams, 6–1, 6–4. Fernández is a crafty left-handed player. She turned professional in 1998, and did not have much success before her appearance at the French Open. She has six ITF titles to her name, including one in 2006. Since 2003, Fernández has been plagued with injuries. She has suffered from tendinitis in her left shoulder, an injury to her left wrist, and to her right knee. Fernández is now trying to get her career back-on-track with a healthy start. Fernández enjoys playing on hard and grass courts. She was coached by Leonardo Lerda. Her tennis inspirations are Pete Sampras and Martina Navratilova.
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Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller... Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The Portrait of a Lady , G.I. Jane , A Perfect Murder , and A Walk on the Moon . Mortensen made his major breakthrough in 2001 with the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings. In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence. Two years later, another Cronenberg film Eastern Promises earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Other well-received films in recent years have included Appaloosa and the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road. Aside from acting, his other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors. Mortensen is politically active.
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Javier Alejandro Mascherano tʃeˈɾano], Italian: [maskeˈraːno]; born 8 June 1984 is an Argentine footballer who plays as... a defensive midfielder for FC Barcelona. He can also play as a central defender. Mascherano began his career at River Plate. He earned his first senior honours in 2003–04, winning the Primera División Argentina. He also won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina in the Athens Games and finished runner up in the Copa América 2004. He moved to Brazilian side Corinthians in 2005, winning the Brazilian Série A in his first season. Mascherano moved to Europe, signing for Premier League side West Ham United. However, unusual contract terms with Media Sports Investments blighted his brief time at the club and at the beginning of 2007 he joined Liverpool on loan. He was runner up in the UEFA Champions League in his first season on Merseyside and again finished runner up in the Copa América with Argentina. He officially signed for Liverpool in February 2008 for £18.6 million, parting ways with Media Sports Investments.
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Juan Carlos Baglietto is an Argentine musician and composer. He is one of the iconic figures of the musical movement called Trova Rosarina. He was a... member of various small bands until "Irreal" was formed, in 1980, comprising himself, Juan Chianelli , Jorge Llonch , "Piraña" Fegundez , Alberto Corradini and Daniel Wirtz . They attracted a big audience to their concerts, but were always pursued by the censors of the Proceso. Halfway through 1981 Baglietto launched himself as a solo musician. He made his début in Buenos Aires, but he didn't achieve a breakthrough until he became the surprise hit of the Festival de La Falda in 1982. By this time, he had armed himself with a supporting group consisting of Silvina Garré as a backing singer, Fito Páez as keyboardist, Rubén Goldín on guitar, Sergio Sainz on bass and José "Zappo" Aguilera on drums. With this band, he recorded Tiempos difíciles, the first Argentine rock album to achieve a gold disc.
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Paraguay /ˈpɛərəɡwaɪ/, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered... by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de América, or the Heart of America. The Guaraní have been living in Paraguay since prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when Paraguay became part of the Spanish colonial empire. Paraguay gained independence from Spain in 1811. As of 2009 the population was estimated at 6.3 million. The capital and largest city is Asunción. The economic centre of the country is Ciudad del Este. The official languages are Spanish and Guaraní, both being widely spoken in the country, with around 92% of the general population speaking Spanish and 8% speaking Guaraní. Most of the population are mestizos.
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Chile /ˈtʃɪliː/ or ˈtʃɪleɪ, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a... long, narrow strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Along with Ecuador, it is one of two countries in South America that do not border Brazil. The Pacific coastline of Chile is 78,563.2 kilometres. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty. The shape of Chile is a distinctive ribbon of land 4,300 kilometres long and on average 175 kilometres wide. Its climate varies, ranging from the world's driest desert – the Atacama – in the north, through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, to a rainy temperate climate in the south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper.
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Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South... America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest, and Peru to the west. Prior to European colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was a part of the Inca Empire – the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called Upper Peru and was under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included most of Spain's South American colonies. After declaring independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on 6 August 1825. Bolivia has struggled through periods of political instability, dictatorships and economic woes. Bolivia is a democratic republic that is divided into nine departments.
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