Argentina

Exactly two years ago, I arrived in Buenos Aires with a CNN team to cover the millennium celebrations. Millennium fever was in the air. The futuristic-sounding Year 2000 was approaching, and the scariest thing we could picture for the coming age was a computer threat we called Y2K. Once we arrived, we learned that celebrations in Argentina had been canceled. The economy was in trouble, and the new president, Fernando de la Rua, was taking strong action to put things right. That meant strict austerity measures.

The Argentine national soccer team, which plays the United States in a friendly match next Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif., can be forgiven if it is not really concentrating on that game. It has tougher opponents ahead than the United States. Argentina's soccer reputation suffered a terrible beating in last year's World Cup, in which Argentina made few friends with its nearly successful attempt to win the championship via scoreless ties and penalty kicks. Even though it may have been a bad call that gave West Germany the penalty kick that beat Argentina in the title game, most of the soccer world registered dismay at Argentina's bid to capture the title through defensive stalling tactics.

Argentina pulled off a victory that until recently seemed nearly impossible. The South American nation upset the United States, 87-80, last night in the World Championships, the first loss for a U.S. basketball team in 59 games since the Americans began sending NBA players to international events in 1992. The defeat did not knock the United States out of the tournament, but the team will now be seeded lower in the medal round, where the nations could meet again. The United States plays Yugoslavia in a quarterfinal tonight.

Argentina, the defending champion, yesterday tied Romania, 1-1, a result that moved both countries into the second round of the World Cup. Defender Pedro Monzon gave Argentina the lead in the 62d minute when he headed home a Diego Maradona corner. But the Romanians, who earlier had squandered half a dozen good chances, came back six minutes later with a header goal by Gavril Balint. The tie left Romania second in the group behind Cameroon and Argentina third, both with three points.

A federal court yesterday acquitted five men of being accessories to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people, the deadliest terrorist attack on Argentine soil. In a nationally televised verdict, a three-judge panel cleared four former provincial police officers and a former used-car salesman accused of supplying the van used in the attack, which also injured about 300 people. Judge Miguel Pons read the long-awaited verdict, which cleared the suspects of all major charges after a three-year trial - the longest in Argentine history.

Once upon a time (that is to say, in pre-Peron Argentina), a beautiful and intelligent shopkeeper bore a child, equally beautiful and intelligent, but refused to admit that her undersized daughter was a dwarf. In Maria Luisa Bemberg's subversively funny and poignant film, the mother's denial is met with the daughter's equally powerful pride in her difference. The underplayed drama between these two life forces is the backdrop to this delicious and affecting romance involving the daughter and village playboy Marcello Mastroianni who, at first, seems to be courting the mother.

On a freezing July day in this Southern Hemisphere winter, residents of one of this city's burgeoning suburban shantytowns gathered at the house of Susana Sarcena to plan supper at the local soup kitchen. "Meat? What's that?" Sarcena asked with a bitter smile. "We'll have noodle soup or gruel, which you can make with flour and water. It's better than nothing, but it's still malnutrition. " Like all her friends and neighbors, Sarcena is a lifelong Peronist, and she voted in May for the Peronist candidate, Carlos Menem, who was inaugurated as president of Argentina yesterday.

Germany overcame a quick goal by Argentina to claim the Intercontinental Cup field hockey championship with a 2-1 victory at Villanova yesterday. In other action as the 12-day tournament concluded, Canada won the bronze- medal game with a 1-0 victory over Russia, and ninth-place Japan was presented with an award for good sportsmanship. The top-five teams, including fifth-place United States, qualified for the 1994 World Cup in Dublin, Ireland. Argentina jumped out to a 1-0 lead just one minute into the game on a goal by Vanina Onetto.

The 76ers' Andres Nocioni is likely to play for his native Argentina against Germany on Saturday in its opening game of the FIBA World Championships in Turkey. We think. The Sixers' Andre Iguodala, as anticipated, will be part of the USA team that will open Saturday against Croatia. Iguodala has been one of the key men on the USA squad, and is a likely starter. The U.S. has one "friendly" remaining, today against Greece in Athens. Nocioni, a rugged 6-7 forward, did not play in his country's final "friendly," a 93-89 overtime victory over Turkey, earning the Argentines the Efes Pilsen World Cup. Nocioni has been coming back from a left ankle sprain suffered July 31. He played 13 minutes in an 89-82 victory over Lebanon, sitting out after the first 5 minutes of the third quarter.

"Oh my God. I'm so, like, nervous. This is, like, bad. " - Songstress Fiona Apple, age 19, in concert Sunday in New York Fergie, Duchess of York, debuted her new, syndicated column yesterday, and several papers in Europe, Canada and South Africa have arranged to carry it. In the states, she'll appear in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Denver Post and St. Petersburg Times. For her first outing, Fergie (and a ghostwriting assistant) waxed nostalgic about Argentina, where her late stepfather lived.

Center-left leader is tapped in Italy ROME - Italy's president appointed Enrico Letta as prime minister-designate Wednesday, asking him to form a coalition government representing Italy's main parties to end two months of paralysis. Letta, 46, a center-left lawmaker, said he accepted knowing that it's an enormous responsibility and that Italy's political class "has lost all credibility. " President Giorgio Napolitano charged Letta with putting together a coalition government of the Democratic Party and the center-right party of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the two biggest blocs in parliament.

Just after Jorge Mario Bergoglio became Pope Francis, I received a text from my son: "I guess I took the right Confirmation name. " Last year, at age 33, Nick was confirmed in the Catholic faith, and he adopted the name of Francis in honor of Francis of Assisi. I remember asking him why. "The guy was crazy, Dad. " Not an auspicious start, but I listened on. "You know, he was from a pretty well-to-do family. He rejected everything, wouldn't even wear shoes. " "You're not thinking of going shoeless.

THE ELECTION of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church was the biggest victory in Argentina since Diego Maradona helped bring home the World Cup in 1986. Probably the most famous play, oddly enough, was the "Hand of God" goal in which Maradona was not penalized for an obvious handball that ended up a goal against England in the quarterfinals. While Maradona is the most famous Argentinian athlete, there are others. * Angel Cabrera is a two-time golf major champion, including his victory in a three-way playoff over Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry.

Facing former coach Pia Sundhage for the first time, the U.S. women's soccer team came from behind to tie Sweden, 1-1, Monday in the Algarve Cup in Lagos, Portugal. Alex Morgan's 56th-minute goal sent the Americans to the Cup final for the 10th time in 11 years. Midfielder Carli Lloyd of Delran missed the game because of a minor shoulder injury. The Americans, who extended their unbeaten streak to 28 games, will play Germany in Wednesday's title game. Germany finished first in Group A, and the United States led Group B. Sundhage left the U.S. team after the 2012 Olympics, in which the Americans won their second consecutive gold medal, to return to her native Sweden.

Early on a chilly morning, my 25-year-old son and I could detect the odor of burning garbage as we walked down a dirt road in a poverty-stricken section of Santa Fe, Argentina, bordered by ditches full of stagnant water. Ahead of us lay a day of construction work with a group of volunteers and local families, most of whom we had met only a few days earlier. We could not have been happier. Such is the experience you can expect on a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip. I was the team leader for our group of 14 during a week in which we worked hand-in-hand with three "partner" families to repair and expand their homes.

ONE CAN only imagine what the late Joey Vento of Geno's fame would have thought of a cheesesteak joint where it's expected that customers will order in Spanish. But we assume that even Vento, who notoriously asked that his customers order in English, would have no beef with Rocky's Philly Steaks. After all, it's in Buenos Aires, Argentina. So, how on earth did the cheesesteak migrate 5,266 miles south? "I thought the Argentines would like the cheesesteak," explained Matthew J. McCarthy.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's defense chief expressed shame Wednesday after a navy destroyer sank at its moorings, putting on display the declining fortunes of a once-proud fleet. The ARA Trinidad led Argentina's 1982 sea war against Britain, but has long been mothballed and used for spare parts to sustain what's left of Argentina's navy. A navy statement said a pipe burst, flooding the ship below decks. Defense Minister Arturo Puricelli denied that cuts to the fleet's maintenance budget were to blame.

STATE STORE PICK OF THE MONTH Don Miguel Gascón Malbec Mendoza, Argentina $10.99* PLCB Item No. 4827 Red malbec wines from Argentina have taken the American market by storm in recent years, thanks to their exceptional price to quality ratio. At first, they were found mainly in the under $10 category, but now that they've proven their worth and recruited a generation of wine drinkers, more and more premium wines are being imported. Higher-end malbecs, like this one that normally retails for $15 a bottle, deliver an exceptional concentration of dark berry flavor with the grape's signature undercurrents of earthy floral aromatics.

BERLIN - A U.N. court ordered the immediate release Saturday of an Argentine navy training ship held in Ghana at the request of an American hedge fund. The ARA Libertad was held Oct. 2 in the port of Tema as collateral for unpaid bonds dating from Argentina's economic crisis a decade ago. Argentina appealed to the U.N. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for the ship's release, arguing that as a warship the Libertad was immune from being seized. In an expedited ruling, the court ordered that Ghana "forthwith and unconditionally release the frigate ARA Libertad" and ensure the ship and its crew can leave Ghanaian waters.