Environment

• Friday, September 3rd 2010 - 14:27 UTC

  Humpback whales in Chilean sanctuaries to be tracked with GPS

  

  Starting December, scientists from Chile’s Biomar Foundation will use GPS (Global Positioning System) to follow the movements of humpback whales in protected marine area Francisco Coloane, in the Magellan Strait. The whales are to be monitored for 12 months.

• Friday, September 3rd 2010 - 03:14 UTC

  New York skyscrapers “lights-out” project to protect migratory

  

  A growing number of New York sky-scrapers are switching off their lights to help reduce the number of birds hitting the high-rise buildings. The “lights out” project - organised by NYC Audubon - runs until 1 November, when migratory birds are expected to have completed their autumn migrations.

• Thursday, September 2nd 2010 - 20:15 UTC

  Gulf of Mexico oil/gas production platform catches fire: “no spill” says operator

  

  A well connected to an oil and gas production platform caught on fire in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, engulfing the vessel in flames about 100 miles off the central coast of Louisiana and forcing 13 people overboard, Gov. Bobby Jindal said.

• Thursday, September 2nd 2010 - 06:44 UTC

  NASA experts: “hopelessness”, the worst enemy of trapped miners

  

  A group of NASA specialists arrived Tuesday in Santiago to help the Chilean rescue team and Health and Mining ministers to assure a successful rescue mission for the 33 miners who have been trapped 700 meters underground since August 5.

• Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 18:54 UTC

  Ascension Island conceals Darwin’s best kept secret: lush “Little England”

  

  The lonely Ascension Island in the middle of the South Atlantic, and closely linked to the Falkland Islands (*) conceals Charles Darwin's best-kept secret. Two hundred years ago, it was a barren volcanic edifice. Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical “cloud forest”.

• Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 06:13 UTC

  World’s oldest drinkable champagne recovered from the Baltic Sea

  

  Divers have salvaged 70 bottles of what may be the world's oldest drinkable champagne from a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea off Finland's Aland archipelago, Swedish media reports said.

• Tuesday, August 31st 2010 - 05:10 UTC

  Uruguay/Argentina implement the end of the pulp mill dispute

  

  Argentina and Uruguay signed Monday in Montevideo the agreement which puts an end to an ongoing years-long litigation over the construction of a pulp mill along a shared river.

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 06:36 UTC

  Timerman expected in Montevideo to coordinate monitoring of River Uruguay

  

  Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Héctor Timerman will meet Monday in Montevideo with his Uruguayan counterpart, Luis Almagro, to advance with the implementation of the scientific committee that will monitor the UPM (ex Botnia) pulp mill and the River Uruguay.

• Monday, August 30th 2010 - 06:31 UTC

  Rare freshwater pink dolphins rescued in several days’ operation

  

  A total of 19 pink freshwater dolphins belonging to an extremely rare species living in the east of landlocked Bolivia have been rescued from a river covered in mud and deforestation residue, reported the Santa Cruz province governors’ office.

• Saturday, August 28th 2010 - 07:01 UTC

  Argentina company opens first algae bio-diesel plant

  

  An Argentine company opened on Friday the country's first factory to make bio-diesel from algae, hoping to use it as a replacement for soy in making bio-diesel as part of a push for renewable energy.