Argentina's foreign minister says Falklands sovereignty is not the islanders' to decide

Argentina's foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, has renewed his country's claim to the Falkland Islands in a lengthy article published in the newspaper La Nación, restating Buenos Aires' long-standing position and calling for talks on the matter.

Quirno rejected the validity of the 2013 referendum, in which islanders voted overwhelmingly to remain under British administration, arguing that sovereignty over the archipelago cannot be determined by its current inhabitants and that self-determination does not apply in this case.

The article's publication, days before Argentina faces England in the World Cup semifinal, did not go unnoticed. According to MercoPress, the piece does not depart from Argentina's official line on the islands, but its timing has drawn fresh public attention to the long-running dispute.