Argentina

A poor showing for Argentina's President Mauricio Macri and a surge for his leftist opponent sparked fears of a possible default on the country's IMF loans, sending the peso to its lowest level in nearly two decades and causing a massive sell-off in the country's stock market.

Although Macri, who belongs to the center-right Republican Proposal party, was not expected to do well in Monday's primary, populist Alberto Fernández and his running mate, ex-president Christina Kirchner, scored 15 points higher in their primary for Citizen's Unity.

Updated at 4:15 a.m. ET on Monday:

The lights came back on late Sunday for some 44 million people in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay after the sudden collapse of an interconnected South American power grid.

At about 7 a.m., the Edesur electric utility tweeted that "a massive failure" left Argentina and Uruguay without power. Electricity was not fully restored until late in the day.

An Argentine radio show host who faced criminal prosecution for allegedly sexist remarks has struck a deal. In lieu of a more punitive route, prosecutors have ordered a five-month education in gender issues for Angel Etchecopar, commonly known by his nickname "Baby Etchecopar," and the listeners of his noontime radio program, El Angel de Mediodia.

Argentina has launched itself into a painful bout of soul-searching after attempting to host one of the world's classic soccer games this weekend and failing — twice.

The second leg of the final of the Copa Libertadores was billed as a glorious highlight in the tournament's 58-year history — the first ever meeting of Buenos Aires' age-old rivals, Boca Juniors and River Plate.

When Argentine President Mauricio Macri told the country he had asked the International Monetary Fund to speed its disbursement of a $50 billion loan, he consciously aimed to assuage the fears of uneasy market watchers.

"We have seen new expressions of a lack of confidence in the markets, specifically over our financing capacity in 2019," Macri said in a speech posted to Facebook Wednesday, adding: "This decision aims to eliminate any uncertainty."

It's a sunny day, and a woman walks past a young man on the street. He mutters an obscene catcall. In the video, the woman smiles and says, "Thank you!" But then, the camera pans to her fantasy. What she really wishes she could do: the video goes on to show her in her imagination, pulling out a knife and stabbing him.

A deceptively simple hashtag has climbed to the top of Twitter's trending lists across Argentina: #EsHoy, or "It's Today." The phrase, imbued as it is with fervent expectation, may seem puzzling to outsiders — but inside the country, the meaning is crystal clear.

"Today" is the long-awaited day that Argentine senators gather to debate deeply divisive legislation that would legalize abortion for pregnancies up to 14 weeks.

It took more than 22 hours of debate, stretching overnight into Thursday morning, but finally Argentina's lower house of Congress has decided: By a 129-125 vote, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill legalizing abortion before 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The bill now heads to the country's Senate, where its chances of passage appear less rosy — but if it does get a yes vote in the upper chamber, Argentine President Mauricio Macri has said he will sign it into law, despite his own reservations.