Environment

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 23:37 UTC

  Chagos archipielago MPS, doubles protected area of world’s oceans

  

  British Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced last week the creation of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). The move doubles the total officially protected area of the world's oceans.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 22:34 UTC

  Vatican State Secretary visits Chile in support of quake victims

  

  The secretary of Vatican State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone arrived in Chile this week for an extended visit which includes a meeting with President Sebastian Piñera.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 06:03 UTC

  Olympic Rio do Janeiro collapses under heavy rains leaving at least 100 dead

  

  Landslides and floods set off by the heaviest rains in decades killed at least 100 people in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, making hundreds homeless, flooding roads and paralyzing Brazil's second city, officials said.

• Wednesday, April 7th 2010 - 02:50 UTC

  Heavy fuel ban expected to halve Antarctic cruise-only passengers by 2012

  

  Beginning in August 2011, most large cruise ships will no longer be able to sail in Antarctica. The International Maritime Organization last week adopted a ban on using and carrying heavy fuel oil on ships operating in Antarctic waters.

• Monday, March 29th 2010 - 18:30 UTC

  Solar power project to refine Chilean copper

  

  Codelco, Chile’s nationally-owned copper company and one of the world’s largest, announced last week a plan to outfit some of their mines with solar power over the next few years, a move expected to save millions of dollars in energy costs.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 06:44 UTC

  Falklands join Earth Hour, the 125th country to participate in the global event

  

  The Falkland Islands are to participate Saturday in ‘Earth Hour’, a global awareness campaign on climate change organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature which spans thousands of cities around the world.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 03:22 UTC

  German scientists find evidence of major tsunami in the Atlantic, 2000 years ago

  

  German scientists said Thursday they discovered evidence that a major natural disaster occurred in the Atlantic Ocean around 2,000 years ago - possibly triggering a monster tsunami.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 04:01 UTC

  Chile’s earthquake, fifth largest ever says US Geological Survey

  

  The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported this week that Chile’s devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 27 has been officially ranked as the world’s fifth largest quake ever.

• Thursday, March 25th 2010 - 03:11 UTC

  Die-off of whales along Argentine Patagonia alarm scientific community

  

  The scientific community is alarmed by the die-off of southern right whales along the coasts of Argentine Patagonia. In the last three years some 300 specimens of these marine mammals have been found dead on the beaches of Valdes Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, a number far beyond what would be considered normal, according to scientific experts.

• Wednesday, March 24th 2010 - 22:57 UTC

  UN admits “lopsided” conclusions to meat production-climate change report

  

  United Nations specialists are to look again at the contribution of meat production to climate change, after claims that an earlier report exaggerated the link. A 2006 report concluded meat production was responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions - more than transport.