Argentina – Page 3 – Desdemona Despair

Satellite view with heat map showing temperatures rising to 45C (113F) in Argentina on 11 January 2022. At the start of 2022, Argentina faced a historic heatwave with temperatures soaring above 40°C. On the day this image was acquired, Buenos Aires recorded a temperature of 41.1°C, the second highest in the history of the Argentine capital. Photo: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3A imagery

January 14, 2022

Power grid fails as Argentina hit by record-breaking heatwave – Temperatures hit 45°C (113°F) with extreme heat set to last until the weekend

By Harry Cockburn 12 January 2022 (The Independent) – A historic heatwave with temperatures soaring up to 45°C (113°F) has hit Argentina, causing power grids to fail and leaving at least 700,000 people without electricity in Buenos Aires. Hot dry weather, driven by the Pacific Ocean’s La Niña weather pattern, has made the South American […]

Temperature forecast for South America, 10 January 2022 - 23 January 2022. Temperatures in Argentina were expected to may soar above 40°C (104°F) in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Santiago del Estero. Graphic: WeatherOnline

January 10, 2022

Argentina braces for heatwave, with temperatures set to pass 40°C (104°F) – Buenos Aires could become the hottest place on Earth for a few hours – 4 found dead with piranha bites in Paraguay while swimming to escape heat

7 January 2022 (Buenos Aires Times) – An extreme heatwave is expected to hit Argentina, with experts warning temperatures may soar above 40°C in parts of the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Santiago del Estero. According to a specialist weather company, some of the aforementioned places could become the hottest […]

People walk along a dry arm of the Paraná River near Rosario, Argentina in 2021. Photo: Juan Mabromata / AFP / Getty Images

October 3, 2021

Dying crops, spiking energy bills, showers once a week: in South America, global warming brings new normal of water scarcity – “What we’re seeing today is as if the future has already arrived”

By Diego Laje, Anthony Faiola, and Ana Vanessa Herrero 24 September 2021 BUENOS AIRES (The Washington Post) – Sergio Koci’s sunflower farm in the lowlands of northern Argentina has survived decades of political upheaval, runaway inflation and the coronavirus outbreak. But as a series of historic droughts deadens vast expanses of South America, he fears […]

South African environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase was assassinated by four gunmen in her own home on 22 October 2020. “Mama” Ntshangase was a leading member of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, which is taking legal action against the proposed expansion of an open-cast coal mine operated by Tendele Coal near Somkhele, situated near Hluhluwe–Imfolozi park, the oldest nature reserve in Africa. Photo: Rob Symons / All Rise

September 13, 2021

Record number of environmental activists murdered in 2020 – “Fighting the climate crisis carries an unbearably heavy burden for some, who risk their lives to save the forests, rivers, and biospheres”

By Claire Marshall 13 September 2021 (BBC) – A record number of activists working to protect the environment and land rights were murdered last year, according to a report by a campaign group. 227 people were killed around the world in 2020, the highest number recorded for a second consecutive year, the report from Global […]

Between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. fell eleven points in Freedom House’s annual report on political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World. Considered from a global perspective, the erosion of US democracy is remarkable, especially for a country that has long aspired to serve as a beacon of freedom for the world. A decade ago, the United States received a score of 94 out of 100, which put it in the company of other established democracies, like France and Germany. Today, whereas those former peers remain at 90 or above, the U.S. has fallen to a score of 83, leaving it in a cohort with newer democracies like Romania, Croatia, and Panama. Graphic: Freedom House

March 27, 2021

U.S. sinks to new low in ranking of world’s democracies, slipping 11 points in a decade, below Argentina and Mongolia – “These longer-term challenges aren’t going to be addressed with quick fixes. A change of president is not gonna make them go away”

By Sam Levine 24 March 2021 (The Guardian) – The US has fallen to a new low in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties, a drop fueled by unequal treatment of minority groups, damaging influence of money in politics, and increased polarization, according to a new report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group. The […]

A fitness instructor accidentally caught part of Myanmar's military coup unfolding on camera in the country's capital, Naypyitaw. Aerobics teacher Khing Hnin Wai posted the footage to Facebook on Monday morning (1 February 2021), in the background, a convoy of armoured cars can be seen streaming by, suggesting all is not as it seems. At the time, the Myanmar army was in the process of detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratically elected leaders from her party National League for Democracy. Video: Khing Hnin Wai / BBC News

March 7, 2021

Militaries are getting better at overthrowing elected governments – “Coups over the last decade or so have a far higher success rate than in previous periods”

By Joshua Kurlantzick 25 February 2021 (The Washington Post) – Early this month, Myanmar’s armed forces took control of the country. Moving overnight, they detained most leading politicians and many civil-society activists, barricaded roads, cut off Internet access, arrested people in the darkness, and made an announcement of the coup on state television. In the […]

Video clip showing a cloudburst and flooding, shown in Aon’s “Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report”. Video: Aon

January 30, 2021

2020 was costliest year on record for severe convective storms – U.S. hit by record-breaking 12 named storm landfalls – China saw most widespread Yangtze River floods since 1998

CHICAGO, 25 January 2021 (Aon) – Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement, and health solutions, today launches its global Weather, Climate & Catastrophe Insight: 2020 Annual Report. The report evaluates the impact of global natural disaster events to identify trends, manage volatility and enhance resilience. The report reveals […]

Forcibly displaced people worldwide, 1990-2019. At the end of 2019, nearly 80 million people were displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, or events seriously disturbing public order. Forced displacement is now affecting more than one per cent of humanity – 1 in every 97 people – and with fewer and fewer of those who flee being able to return home. Graphic: UNHCR

June 20, 2020

UN refugee report 2020: 1 percent of humanity now displaced, doubling since 2010 – “Forced displacement now is not only vastly more widespread but is no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon”

18 June 2020 (UNHCR) – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today appealing to countries worldwide to do far more to find homes for millions of refugees and others displaced by conflict, persecution or events seriously disturbing public order. This is as a report released today showed that forced displacement is now affecting more than […]

Number of women murdered in Mexico, 2016-2019. In 2019, 1,006 women were victims of femicide – 580 more than in 2015. Data: Executive Secretariat of the National System of Public Safety (SESNSP). Graphic: The Guardian

March 9, 2020

Thousands of Mexican women strike to protest femicide – “Every day we have more evidence that they are killing us specifically for being women”

By Maya Averbuch 9 March 2020 MEXICO CITY (The Guardian) – As rush-hour began on Monday morning, there were no ticket-sellers in Mexico City subway stations. Nor were there female tellers at many of the banks. Nail salons, massage parlors, and hairdressers closed. And in cities across the country, far fewer women were on the […]

Water towers of the World: the most important mountainous and glacial regions in the Americas, which serve as the “water towers” for billions living downstream. Data: Walter Immerzeel, Utrecht University. Graphic: Brian T. Jacobs / National Geographic

December 28, 2019

World’s supply of fresh water in trouble as mountain ice vanishes – 1.9 billion people at risk from mountain water shortages – “The most important water towers are also among the most vulnerable”

By Alejandra Borunda 9 December 2019 (National Geographic) – High in the Himalaya, near the base of the Gangotri glacier, water burbles along a narrow river. Pebbles, carried in the small river’s flow, pling as they carom downstream. This water will flow thousands of miles, eventually feeding people, farms, and the natural world on the vast, […]