Environment

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 06:50 UTC

  Israel desalination plant will provide 20% of the country’s households water needs

  

  Israel's Finance Ministry has approved funding for the construction of the largest water desalination plant in the world. Under construction in Sorek, central Israel, the plant is scheduled to be completed in 2013 at a cost of 400 million US dollars.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 06:44 UTC

  Brazil plans to invest heavily in wind farms natural gas fired plants

  

  Brazil which gets about 80% of its energy from hydroelectricity is considering a record investment of 4.1 billion Real (2.5 billion USD) for wind farms this year to diversify its power supply.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 22:04 UTC

  New York Times says sacrificing Chilean Patagonia for a power is an irreparable mistake

  

  The New York Times has joined the Aysén region project controversy in Chilean Patagonia which was recently approved but has triggered massive protests from environmentalists and an overwhelming rejection from the majority of the population according to public opinion polls.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 06:30 UTC

  Massive demonstrations in Chile to protest Piñera’s annual speech to Congress

  

  Citizens protested on the streets of 27 Chilean cities on Saturday. The demonstrations were strategically planned to coincide with President Sebastián Piñera’s annual May 21 speech. In many areas, peaceful demonstrations morphed into violent riots.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 06:02 UTC

  Global sea level projected to rise by one metre by 2100, says Australian report

  

  The Australian Climate Commission has warned that acceleration of sea level-rise will be faster than anticipated. Global sea level is projected to rise by one meter by 2100, according to the Commission's first report published on Monday.

• Monday, May 23rd 2011 - 00:09 UTC

  Argentina and Chile organize winter land SAR operation in Antarctica

  

  Argentina and Chile Antarctic organizations are planning this year’s edition of the Search and Rescue training operation which is scheduled to take place sometime between August and September in the Antarctic Peninsula

• Sunday, May 22nd 2011 - 22:59 UTC

  Amazon tribe first contacted in 1986 has no abstract concept of time

  

  Amazonian tribe has no abstract concept of time, say researchers. The Amondawa lacks the linguistic structures that relate time and space - as in our idea of, for example, “working through the night”.

• Sunday, May 22nd 2011 - 22:25 UTC

  The HydroAysén project and why Chile’s old institutional order can’t cope with change

  

  By José Aylwin - The Santiago Times Publisher Steve Anderson’s editorial note: There are many reasons for the ongoing Chilean national anguish about the US$7.5 billion HidroAysén dam in Patagonia and transmission line project.

• Monday, May 16th 2011 - 05:02 UTC

  Beijing promises more trade and investments but Argentina must respect Chinese exports

  

  China Trade Minister Chen Deming promised to further increase bilateral trade with Argentina which last year reached 13.5 billion US dollars but also asked for reciprocity regarding China’s exports.

• Friday, May 13th 2011 - 14:53 UTC

  Police with clubs is not the answer to Chile’s HidroAysén debate

  

  Following Monday’s questionable approval of Chile’s major HidroAysén dam project - a jerry-rigged vote if there ever was one - the administration of President Sebastian Piñera turned police loose on thousands of demonstrators protesting the Patagonia dam project later that evening.