Suspect arrested after failed assassination attempt

A man has been arrested after a handgun was aimed at point-blank range at Argentina’s vice-president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in what the government described as an apparent assassination attempt.

Fernández de Kirchner survived only because the pistol – which was loaded with five bullets – did not fire, President Alberto Fernández said.

The incident, which Fernández de Kirchner appeared to endure unharmed, took place as she was greeting supporters outside her home in the Recoleta neighbourhood of Buenos Aires at 9pm on Thursday.