
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña said on Friday that the differences between his Argentine and Brazilian counterparts, Javier Milei and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have had no consequences for Mercosur, despite the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

With little more than a year to go before Argentina's presidential elections of October 2027, the governing party and the main opposition force began this week to realign their positions. La Libertad Avanza, the party of President Javier Milei, resumed talks with former president Mauricio Macri's PRO, while the various currents of Peronism agreed a truce aimed at blocking the electoral reform the government is promoting.

Authorities in the Argentine province of San Juan will keep access to Pampa del Leoncito restricted until the end of the month, after a vehicle drove across the white clay plain, located at 1,500 meters above sea level at the foot of the Andes, despite a ban on traffic, leaving ruts up to 25 centimeters deep.

Argentina's majority state-owned oil company YPF confirmed on Thursday that it has filed an application for the Argentina LNG project to join the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI). The venture, developed alongside Italy's Eni and the Emirati company XRG, contemplates an estimated outlay of 51 billion dollars over its full life, the largest figure submitted so far under the scheme.

The Cristo Redentor international crossing, which links the Argentine province of Mendoza with Chile's Valparaíso Region through the Andes, has now been closed for close to a month because of a snow and wind storm, surpassing the winter closure record set in 2023. Authorities on both sides estimate it could reopen next week, depending on weather conditions.

Argentine oil company YPF, 51% state-controlled, has accepted Edenor's offer to buy its stake in Metrogas and Metroenergía for 780 million dollars, according to a filing submitted on Monday to the securities regulator. The deal takes the company out of the natural gas distribution business.

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has established July 15 as National Football Teams Day, in tribute to the 2-1 win over England in the 2026 World Cup semi-final, the same match after which several players displayed a banner asserting a sovereignty claim over the Falklands that prompted a FIFA disciplinary case.

The Irish Times has published a very interesting piece from Tomaí Ó Conghaile following on the fallout from the World Cup, who argues that both the English and Spanish versions of the Falkland-Malvinas Islands names have their roots in Celtic languages.

Argentina's Senate approved in the early hours of Friday, by 37 votes to 33, the Inviolability of Private Property bill promoted by Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, after the governing bloc withdrew the two chapters that drew the most resistance. The text now goes to the Chamber of Deputies.

Argentine President Javier Milei is working to convene a summit of right-wing leaders from across the Americas outside existing multilateral organizations, though no date has been set. The initiative comes amid a series of trips that took him this week to Ecuador and Colombia.