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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, October 20th 2025 - 08:47 UTC

Environment

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 14:57 UTC

    Oil industry threatens the 1.000 km long coral reef system where the Amazon meets the ocean

    The Amazon Reef is a 9,500 sq km system of corals, sponges and rhodoliths, Greenpeace says. The reef is 1,000km long where the Amazon meets the Atlantic

    The first pictures of a huge coral reef system discovered in the Amazon last year have been released by environmental campaigners. The Amazon Reef is a 9,500 sq km system of corals, sponges and rhodoliths, Greenpeace says. The reef is almost 1,000 km long, and is located where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 11:36 UTC

    Chile arrests 43 people suspected of stoking some of the forest fires

    For nearly two weeks, fires have raged across seven regions in south and central Chile, devastating more than 400,000 hectares, president Bachelet said

    Authorities in Chile have detained 43 people suspected of stoking some of the deadly forest fires that have killed 11 people and destroyed large swaths of land, according to President Michelle Bachelet.

  • 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.