
As the date approaches (end of June) for all political groupings in Argentina to have their hopefuls nominated and ready to compete in the August open, mandatory and simultaneous primaries for each party to select their candidates for the presidential election next October, spotlights are following the polarized scenario with Cristina Fernandez and her presidential candidate on the one side, and president Mauricio Macri's reelection strategy on the other.

Argentina recalled on Monday, 10 June, a new anniversary of the creation in 1829 of the Political and Military command headquarters of the Malvinas Islands and adjacencies to Cape Horn in the Atlantic Sea, and which has been incorporated to the official calendar as the Day of Affirmation of Argentine Rights over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and its surrounding maritime spaces.

Brazil will be supplying the Argentine navy with four IKL German manufactured submarines, two at a time, which are in need of repair and refurbishment before they become operational, and also help with the training of personnel for the vessels.

Inconsistencies were found in binational businesses for overpricing and irregular billing for more than 20,000 million dollars between Venezuela and Argentina. According to a report from the General Syndicature of the Nation (Sigen), which was accessed by the newspaper La Nación, between 2012 and 2016 at least 15 Argentine companies would be involved in the escrow between the two countries.

Brazil’s central bank has denied any planning is underway to create a monetary union with Argentina, after a spokesman for the government in Buenos Aires said on Thursday it was the case.

The presidents of Argentina and Brazil said on Thursday that an agreement is imminent on a free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and Argentina's Mauricio Macri expressed confidence that the deal would soon be signed as they met in Buenos Aires for talks.

The Argentine Chess Federation’s attempt to get legal recognition of their secret tournaments, held in the Falklands, have been denied. This was expressed in a statement from FIDE, the World Chess Federation, which also urged all federations to refrain from using chess tournaments for political purposes.

The Argentine Supreme Court ruled against a legal claim by mining companies Barrick Gold Corp and Minera Argentina Gold arguing that Argentina's Glacier Law was unconstitutional. The decision was praised by environmentalists and marked a setback for one of the world's biggest gold miners.

The conservative presidents of Brazil and Argentina reiterated their rejection of Venezuela's socialist government Thursday as the far-right Brazilian politician Jair Bolsonaro made a state visit to Buenos Aires.

The International Monetary Fund, IMF, admitted on Wednesday that it had underestimated the “incredibly complicated situation” of the Argentine economy and also that taming inflation had taken much longer than originally expected.