Cristina Fernandez

As Argentina's powerful Vice President Cristina Fernandez stepped from her car outside her apartment building and began shaking hands with a throng of well-wishers, a man pushed forward with a gun, pointed it just inches from her face and pulled the trigger with a distinct click. The loaded weapon evidently jammed.

A federal judge in Argentina indicted former President Cristina Fernandez for treason and asked for her arrest for allegedly covering up Iran's possible role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people, a court ruling said.

Nearly 130,000 people lost their jobs in recession-hit Argentina from January to September this year, the government said on Nov. 17.

Companies reported a total of 127,595 job cuts - a 1.5 percent fall in employment overall - the Federal Public Revenues Administration said.

Just under eight million of the country's 41 million people were formally employed.

Conservative opposition candidate Mauricio Macri stunned Argentina's ruling party with an unexpectedly strong showing in the presidential election on Oct. 25, forcing a run-off vote next month, preliminary results showed.