Buenos Aires  - A ship carrying 74 passengers and a crew of 30 ran aground near an Argentine base in Antarctica Tuesday, although it was expected to move out on its own once the tide came in later in the day.

The captain of the Ocean Nova, sailing under a Bahamas flag, said everyone on board was safe and that the ship had suffered no damage, Argentine Navy spokesman Roberto Ulloa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Buenos Aires  - Venezuelans are set to go to the polls again Sunday, but this time at least one thing is different: precedent shows that President Hugo Chavez can actually lose an election, and accept defeat too.

"If we lose, we lose," Chavez said bluntly in an interview with CNN earlier this month.

Venezuelans are set to vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow the unlimited re-election of the president. The proposal was already part of a broader constitutional reform that was rejected at the polls in December 2007.

Buenos Aires  - Nine people were missing Tuesday after a mudslide in northern Argentina that prompted the evacuation of more than 700 people, officials said.

The disaster occurred Monday in the town of Tartagal.

Argentine Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo did not confirm reports that two people were killed in the mudslide, which occurred in the Argentine province of Salta.

According to Tartagal Mayor Sergio Leavy, "a 75-year-old woman and another woman who may be her daughter, aged 59, have been dragged off by the current" and may be presumed dead.

Buenos Aires/Bogota  - In Colombia's cycle of hostage dramas, good news is the exception, rather than the rule. But this week was different - full of celebrations, and a few tears, as six men were freed and reunited with their families.

Buenos Aires  - The global economic crisis has strongly hit transfers of Argentine players abroad in the most recent window, with a 70 per cent drop in income, media reports said Wednesday.

Argentine clubs went from getting 43 million euros (55 million dollars) in the Northern Hemisphere winter of 2007-2008 to just 12.5 million euros (16 million dollars) during the same period this year, the Argentine daily Critica reported.

Buenos Aires  - A head-on crash between two packed buses in a western suburb of Buenos Aires killed four people dead and left dozens injured, officials said Tuesday.

One of the bus drivers and three passengers died in the accident that took place during rush hour Monday. Of the injured, 28 remained in hospital Tuesday, and three were said to be in serious condition.

Earlier reports had put the number of dead at six.

The vehicles crashed into each other at a crossing in the suburb of Lomas del Mirador, as one bus was overtaking a parked car.