Uruguayan authorities Wednesday declared the end of the agricultural emergency adopted in October 2022 to address the water deficit the country was going through, it was reported in Montevideo. The measure was extended several times to support those producers most affected by the climate situation.
At least 30 people have been killed following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the Japanese Prefecture of Ishikawa. Around half the casualties were recorded in the town of Wajima, where a fire destroyed several houses. Japan Railways announced that high-speed trains between Tokyo and Ishikawa were interrupted.
Bolivian authorities have enacted an orange alert after eight rivers were determined to be at imminent risk of overflowing, which would affect eight departments nationwide, the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service (Senamhi) reported. The measure will be in force until Jan. 7.
Argentine President Javier Milei will be traveling to Antarctica this coming Friday, Jan. 5, alongside Ministers Diana Mondino (Foreign Affairs) and Luis Petri (Defense), it was reported in Buenos Aires. The head of state intends to launch a pollution control, according to Casa Rosada sources.
Chile's Government Friday announced it was extending the agricultural emergency stemming from a water deficit due to poor rains, it was reported in Santiago. With this measure, authorities may keep up the aid to producers from Atacama to Magallanes until Sept. 30, 2024.
Scientists, including from British Antarctic Survey, have used octopus DNA to discover that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) likely collapsed during the Last Interglacial period around 120,000 years ago – when the global temperatures were similar to today.
A recent study from the European Union Science Center showed that rivers in the Amazon basin have been severely affected by historic poor rainfalls, Agencia Brasil reported. The region's biodiversity has also been hit by the meteorological conditions, particularly in the headwaters of the Solimões, Purus, Juruá, and Madeira rivers (Brazil's Amazonas state) and also in parts of Peruvian and Bolivian forests.
The lower house of Brazil's Congress passed a bill that allows the paving of highway BR319, which crosses the heart of the Amazon basin and which scientists and environmentalists claim threatens the future of the world's largest tropical rainforest. The bill still has to be approved by the Senate.
On Tuesday 28 November 2023 a black-browed albatross, that was found dead on Steeple Jason, was swabbed for highly pathogenic avian influenza. A positive result was returned.
The Falkland Islands patrol vessel HMS Forth, has paid a visit to the island of South Georgia, where it met some of its permanent residents, penguins and seals, to look after their well being and the environment.