Environment
EnvironmentFears that a drifting Russian cruise vessel, full of rats, could reach UK shores
An abandoned cruise ship allegedly brimming with cannibal rats, which has been drifting in the Atlantic Ocean for around 12 months might end up in the shores of Great Britain. According to experts, the Russian liner Lyubov Orlova that once carried 100 passengers, might drift on the west coast of Cornwall, Scotland, or Ireland.
Uruguay, Ecuador and Malta boast best climates in the world
Uruguay, Ecuador and Malta were named as the best three countries in the world when it comes to climate.
Record hot January for Argentina with thermal factor 47.6 Celsius in Buenos Aires
January 2014 is becoming the hottest month in 53 years for Argentina with the thermal factor reaching an unbearable 47.6 Celsius mid afternoon before rain poured bringing some relief to most of the country an particularly in cement city Buenos Aires.
NASA says 2013 tied with 2009 and 2005 for the seventh warmest year since 1880
NASA scientists say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record have all occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the warmest years on record.
HMS Protector surveying previously unchartered waters off Sandwich Islands
Previously uncharted areas of the Southern Ocean have been surveyed by personnel on board Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Protector. Using its multi-beam echo sounder the ship gathered data off the Sandwich Islands along areas of the Douglas Straits between South Thule and Cook Island for the UK Hydrographic Office to fill in missing data in the Admiralty Charts.
Open pit mining project in Uruguay questioned in Parliament and by environmentalists
A major open pit mining project in Uruguay to extract and export magnetite (a kind of iron ore) and which the government of President Jose Mujica plans to instrument this month has been exposed to a battery of criticism because the administration refuses to show the terms of the contract and farm groups argue there is no final environment impact assessment study.
New EPA rule requires chemical disclosure for offshore fracking
By. Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a rule on January 9, 2014 requiring oil and gas companies using hydraulic fracturing off the coast of California to disclose the chemicals they discharge into the ocean. Oil and gas companies have been fracking offshore California for perhaps as long as two decades, but they largely flew under the radar until recently.
South Georgia grey-headed albatross added to the 'endangered species' list
Encouraging and bad news for albatrosses: while the black-browed has been down-listed from 'near threatened' the grey-headed albatross is in rapid decline and considered “endangered” mainly because of fishing activities, reports the latest edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.
A 25-ton dead sperm whale finally removed from a Montevideo beach
The remains of a sperm whale that washed ashore in one of Montevideo's beaches were finally hauled in a truck for burial in a municipal dump where a huge hole was drilled for the 16 meters long cetacean.
A frustrated Mujica calls for a readjustment of Mercosur legal framework
Uruguayan president José Mujica said that members of Mercosur must readjust the block's legal framework ‘to make it work’ so that differences among its partners can be resolved in an institutional framework. He insisted on a review and amendment of mechanisms with greater flexibility and more adapted to current circumstances.
