Antarctica

• Thursday, March 13th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile re-opens base and reaffirms rights over Antarctica

  

  Chilean President Michelle Bachelet officially re-opened on Wednesday the Arturo Prat base in Antarctica which was the first to be established by the Chilean Navy in 1947 but was later closed in 2004.

• Thursday, March 13th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  “Russia has no territorial claims over Antarctica”

  

  A Russian first deputy prime minister said this week that Russia has no territorial claims to Antarctica, and will strictly abide by an international convention on the continent, reports Novosti agency.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Magallanes co-sponsors reopening of Antarctic base

  Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile will co-sponsor the reopening of a base in the Antarctic continent which was inaugurated in 1947 but closed down in 2006, allegedly for budget reasons.

• Monday, March 3rd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuelan team of scientists and officers arrive in Antarctica

  

  Venezuelan scientists and military officers traveling on a Uruguayan naval research ship reached the Antarctic peninsula over the weekend following a 15-day, 3.700 kilometers voyage. This is the first time a Venezuelan team officially takes part in Antarctic navigation and research.

• Friday, February 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Bernanke anticipates small bank failures linked to mortgages

  

  Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that small US banks are likely to fail in the months ahead as the housing slump takes its toll. Bernanke also warned that the US is currently facing a more difficult situation than in the aftermath of the dotcom bust in 2001.

• Thursday, February 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Antarctic cruise on ocean/atmosphere gases interaction

  

  More than 30 scientists from all over the world embarked this week from the extreme south of Chile on a research mission to the Southern Ocean. Researchers will battle the elements to study how gases important to climate change move between the atmosphere and the ocean under high winds and seas.

• Thursday, February 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Searching in Africa clues to Antarctica's “deep freeze”

  Welsh academics believe they have found a vital key to the climate switch, explaining why Antarctica went into a “deep freeze” 34 million years ago. The team of scientists from Cardiff University and National Museum Wales has been studying ice sheet formation in the frozen continent, reports ICWales.

• Tuesday, February 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Russia plants flag in sea bed ratifying Antarctica ambition

  

  Six months after having planted the tricolor flan in the geographic North Pole, Russia has done the same in the southern Pole in a clear expression of its renewed ambitions in Antarctica and its natural resources.

• Tuesday, February 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Giant sea spiders and huge worms located in Antarctic waters

  Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said this week they have collected mysterious creatures, including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.

• Tuesday, February 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Sustainability is Antarctica's tourism main challenge

  

  “Antarctica is the ultimate destination for anyone interested in natural history but it also challenges those people who visit to think broadly about our responsibilities to all life on Earth.” That's the view of Dr Robert Lambert, a lecturer on Tourism and the Environment at The University of Nottingham, who has just returned from the Antarctic in his role as an Observer for the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).