Environment

• Friday, January 31st 2020 - 10:23 UTC

  State of emergency in Australia's capital surrounded by bushfire

  

  Australian officials declared a state of emergency for the capital city of Canberra and surrounding regions on Friday, as soaring temperatures and strong winds threatened to propel a large bushfire beyond the control of firefighters.

• Friday, January 31st 2020 - 08:48 UTC

  Heavy rains and flooding forecasted for Asuncion, Paraguay and Porto Alegre, Brazil

  

  Although flooding rain has already hit parts of Brazil so far in 2020, more rain and flooding could strike the southern part of the country in the coming week. In addition to southern Brazil, other parts of South America may also be threatened.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  Argentina/Falklands fisheries talks: what happened and what can be expected

  

  Last week there was intense diplomatic activity regarding the Falkland Islands: the meeting of the Fisheries Subcommittee to be held in Buenos Aires on Monday 20 was suspended; the ambassadors before Great Britain and before the international organizations in Geneva, Renato Sersale di Cerisano and Carlos Foradori, were displaced and the secretary of Matters Related to the Falkland Islands, Daniel Filmus, made his presentation in New York in the Decolonization Committee, urging that a negotiation instance be promoted from the UN.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  UK plans to end automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in British waters

  

  Boris Johnson's government plans to reclaim control over British fisheries with a law allowing the U.K. to decide who can fish in its waters and on what terms. The legislation to be published this week will end current automatic rights for European Union vessels to fish in British waters, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in an emailed statement.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:33 UTC

  Scientists surprised at unusual temperature at the base of huge glacier in Antarctica

  

  Scientists in Antarctica have recorded, for the first time, unusually warm water beneath a glacier the size of Florida that is already melting and contributing to a rise in sea levels. The researchers, working on the Thwaites Glacier, recorded water temperatures at the base of the ice of more than 2 deg C, above the normal freezing point.

• Wednesday, January 29th 2020 - 08:17 UTC

  Major quake in the Caribbean, northwest of Jamaica

  

  A major 7.7 magnitude quake struck on Tuesday in the Caribbean northwest of Jamaica, the US Geological Survey reported, raising the risk of tsunami waves in the region.

• Tuesday, January 28th 2020 - 08:28 UTC

  Brazil floods: 54 dead, 18 missing and over 30.000 people displaced

  

  Over 30,000 people have been displaced by heavy rains in southeast Brazil that also killed 54 people and left 18 missing. The storms in recent days caused floods and landslides, submerging entire neighbourhoods and sending homes tumbling down hillsides in the states of Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

• Monday, January 27th 2020 - 07:58 UTC

  One in two Australians have donated money to support bushfire relief efforts

  

  One in two Australians have donated money to support bushfire relief efforts, a new survey showed over the weekend, with meteorologists warning more hot and dry weather is to return after a heavy rain respite dampened many of the blazes.

• Monday, January 27th 2020 - 07:33 UTC

  Catastrophic rainstorms and floods in central Brazil: at least 50 deaths

  

  At least 50 people have died in Brazil and more than 25,000 have been displaced due to widespread flooding following storms and heavy rains that have swept across the southeast of the country, authorities said on Sunday.

• Saturday, January 25th 2020 - 09:57 UTC

  Falklands' January storm causes massive loss of Rockhopper penguin chicks

  

  84% of Rockhopper chicks on Sea Lion Island have died as a result of a storm that hit the Falkland Islands on January 14/15. Strong easterly winds on the island, which lies southeast of East Falklands, launched sea spray on to the colony for more than 48 hours, to deadly effect, said owner Mickey Reeves.