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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, November 27th 2024 - 07:37 UTC

Environment

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 09:55 UTC

    New Antarctica record for a cruise vessel

    The World is currently undertaking a 22-day expedition of the Ross Sea, including 12 days in Antarctica assisted by EYOS Expeditions led by Rob McCallum.

    The residential ship, The World, has broken the record for the most southerly navigation reaching 78°43•997´S and 163°41•421´W at the Bay of Whales in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. The World recorded this polar record at 10:41hrs ship’s time on Saturday. Commanded by Captain Dag H. Saevik this is the furthest south any vessel has ever sailed.

  • Tuesday, January 24th 2017 - 12:10 UTC

    Ushuaia out off internet: beavers cut the optic fiber to build dens

    Beavers are invasive to Tierra del Fuego and are considered a damaging and harmful species

    Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego in the extreme south of Argentina was left without internet and cellular phone communications most of last Friday because beavers had bitten pieces of the optic fiber for their dens.

  • Monday, January 23rd 2017 - 18:32 UTC

    State of emergency in Chile because of wildfires; smoke cloaked Santiago

    The largest has consumed 24,000 hectares in and around Pumanque, a rural area some 140 kilometers south of the capital Santiago, near some of Chile's vineyards.

    Chile declared a state of emergency on Friday as more than a dozen wildfires that have scorched nearly 50,000 hectares threatened to encroach on towns, factories and vineyards. Firefighters, forestry service personnel and members of the military are battling 18 separate blazes in the center and south of the country that have been fueled by strong winds and a heat wave.

  • Thursday, January 19th 2017 - 20:43 UTC

    BAS will shut down Antarctica's Halley VI in winter because of ice shelf crack

    Halley VI Research Station is currently being relocated to a new site 23 kilometres ms upstream

    British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has decided not to winter at Halley VI Research Station for safety reasons. The station, which is located on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, will shut down between March and November 2017.

  • Saturday, January 14th 2017 - 08:37 UTC

    Malcorra reiterates: Argentina willing to cooperative research in the South Atlantic

    ”We feel there is an opportunity for a cooperative scientific research (in the South Atlantic) which could be a strong step forward in the correct direction”

    Foreign minister Susana Malcorra said fisheries licensing in the South Atlantic is of great concern for Argentina because of the “overall ongoing depredation”, and recalled that there is an item referred to the issue in the September UK-Argentine joint statement, which has yet to be addressed and that most probably it will follow on the identification of unknown soldiers buried in the Falklands and the additional flights issues.

  • Monday, January 9th 2017 - 09:37 UTC

    Below zero temperatures in Europe leaves two dozen people dead

    Ten victims of the cold perished in Poland, where temperatures were as low as minus 14 degrees Celsius. In Italy, the cold has been blamed for seven deaths

    A cold wave stretching across Europe has left at least two dozen people dead in the past two days, including several migrants and homeless people, with the frigid temperatures expected to continue. Four Portuguese tourists were killed and about 20 others were injured Sunday when their bus crashed off an icy highway in central France before dawn on what is locally known as “the road of death.”

  • Thursday, January 5th 2017 - 07:50 UTC

    Beijing's “airpocalypse” red alert for smog and yellow alert for fog

    As of Wednesday, the concentration of PM 2.5 in Beijing was 186 ug/m3, seven times higher than what's considered healthy.

    On Wednesday, Beijing was under a “red alert” for smog, the highest of four levels, and a “yellow alert” for fog. Other areas, particularly in northern China were still under red alert as of Wednesday for both fog and smog. The high pollution has been going on for a number of weeks, causing flight delays, and leading to traffic bans, as part of what is called “smog season” or “airpocalypse.”

  • Wednesday, January 4th 2017 - 11:17 UTC

    Valparaiso hillsides' fire “under control”, but heat and strong winds are still threatening

    “It is practically controlled. We just have to finish off the fire. Once that's done, we'll start clearing the debris and begin rebuilding,” said Mayor Gabriel Aldoney.

    A large fire that burned 150 homes in the historic port city of Valparaiso, Chile, has been “practically” brought under control, an official said Tuesday. Monday's fire forced dozens of residents to take refuge in shelters and devoured green hillsides in the Laguna Verde neighborhood, on the southern outskirts of the colonial city.

  • Wednesday, January 4th 2017 - 09:59 UTC

    Summer storm strikes Montevideo and coast line causing chaos and 19 injured

    Fallen trees, flooded roads, power lines down, in different districts of Montevideo

    At least 19 people injured one of them seriously, was the result of the summer storm with winds of up to 120km that struck the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, and the eastern coast line to almost the border with Brazil, some 350kms away. The report from the national Healthcare system, SAME, said that most patients are from Montevideo and three from the adjoining seaside resorts.

  • Tuesday, January 3rd 2017 - 10:08 UTC

    Wildfire burns home and forces evacuation of hundreds in Valparaiso

    “Emergency protocols have been activated,” the country's President Michelle Bachelet said on Twitter. She expressed “solidarity with the people affected.”

    A wildfire ravaged woods and burned 100 homes in the hilly Chilean port city of Valparaiso, where authorities evacuated hundreds of people. At least 19 people were reported hurt after the fire broke out on the outskirts of the historic port city, the government said.