• Argentinian city wins global prize for urban farming project
• On the prowl: Jaguar population rises in Iguazu Falls region
• 'The animals own the place': Argentine sanctuary ruled by llamas and cows

• Maharishi Towers of Invincibility: Construction, planning progressing in Argentina, Bolivia
• Video displays architectural plans for Vastu community in Argentina
• Argentina: Building Maharishi Tower of Invincibility is significant for entire world - Dr Bevan Morris addresses inaugural ceremony

• Inflation in Argentina leaves families struggling to feed themselves
• Climate change-linked heat worsened Argentina drought impact, scientists say
• Patagonia condor repopulation drive faces wind farm threat

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Argentinian city wins global prize for urban farming project
29 June 2021 - An urban farming project in the Argentinian city of Rosario that was designed to improve food security, but evolved to boost resilience to extreme weather events and cut carbon emissions, was on Tuesday [29 June] named the winner of a global prize for cities. Rosario -- in Argentina's northeastern Santa Fe province -- won the World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center Prize for Cities and $250,000 for its two-decade-old initiative. (more)

On the prowl: Jaguar population rises in Iguazu Falls region
11 March 2020 - After almost losing its jaguar population in the early 2000s, the Atlantic Forest area between Brazil and Argentina has seen the number of the big cats more than double to 105. It's the only place in South America that has registered an increase in the jaguar population, thanks to joint law enforcement by Brazil and Argentina to tackle poaching, and planting of camera traps by researchers, which deter would-be poachers. (more)

'The animals own the place': Argentine sanctuary ruled by llamas and cows
30 January 2020 - In the 'Animal Paradise' sanctuary, 75 kilometers (50 miles) outside Argentine capital Buenos Aires, it is clear who's king: the ducks, llamas, pigs, horses, and local capybara who wander the pastures and farm yards at leisure. The center is the labor of love of husband and wife couple Gabriela Bezeric and Armando Scoppa, who have been running the facility for over a quarter of a century, rescuing animals that would otherwise have been killed. (more)

Largest solar power plant in Argentina now up and running
6 August 2019 - Canadian Solar recently announced its 100.1 MWp Cafayate solar power project in Argentina started commercial operation July 19, 2019. It is now the largest operational solar power plant in the country. Located in the Province of Salta, the solar project . . . will generate over 216 GWh of electricity per year. (more)

Argentina: Rio Negro produces the most organic food in country
7 December 2018 - Rio Negro has consolidated itself as the province that generates the most organic products in Argentina, as it accounts for 20 percent of the country's total organic production. There are 240 establishments in the province that are devoted to producing organic products, mainly pears and apples. 28 new organic establishments were certified in Rio Negro in 2017. This means there was a 13 percent annual increase. (more)

Argentina's meatless Mondays
19 October 2017 - The introduction of meatless Mondays to the presidential palace adds Argentina to the list of countries investigating ways to limit meat consumption. Portugal passed a law this year requiring a vegan option at public institutions. Researchers at Oxford University found that pricing food according to its climate impact could prevent more than half a million early deaths every year, largely in Europe, the United States, Australia, and China. And surveys show that measures restricting meat consumption could be accepted by the public if justified in their interest. (more)

Argentina: The caterers with Down's syndrome - video
16 February 2017 - After years of facing social and work-related discrimination, four friends with Down's syndrome started their own pizza company in Buenos Aires in 2016. Los Perejiles now has 24 employees and caters for parties across the Argentine capital, supporting people with Down's syndrome to overcome social stigma. 'I started Los Perejiles so I could work, and to make people happy,' said one of the founders. (more)

Argentine dinosaur may shed light on huge beasts
6 September 2014 - Researchers studying the remains of an enormous dinosaur -- a creature that was bigger than seven bull elephants -- have given it an equally colossal name: Dreadnoughtus, or 'fearing nothing'. Scientists hope its unusually well-preserved bones will help reveal secrets about some of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth. (more)

Coastal wildlife paradise declared biosphere reserve in Argentina
15 July 2014 - Conservationists are celebrating the announcement that UNESCO has dubbed Argentina's Península Valdes a biosphere reserve under the Man and Biosphere Programme (MBA). A hatchet-shaped peninsula that juts out into the Southern Atlantic Ocean, the world's newest biosphere reserve is home to a hugely-diverse collection of both terrestrial and marine wildlife. (more)

Argentina: 'Biggest dinosaur ever' discovered
16 May 2014 - Fossilised bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the Earth have been unearthed in Argentina, palaeontologists say. Based on its huge thigh bones, it was 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall. Weighing in at 77 tonnes, it was as heavy as 14 African elephants, and seven tonnes heavier than the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus. This giant herbivore lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago, based on the age of the rocks in which its bones were found. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Maharishi Towers of Invincibility: Construction, planning progressing in Argentina, Bolivia
1 March 2011 - Construction of a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility is progressing in Argentina and in Bolivia, along with accompanying projects for Maharishi Invincibility Schools, as well as communities built according to Maharishi Vastu (Vedic architecture). (more)

Video displays architectural plans for Vastu community in Argentina
4 January 2010 - A new video displays detailed plans for the soon-to-be-established Vastu community in Florencio Varela, Argentina, near Buenos Aires. The community, designed and to be built according to principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda (Vedic Architecture), will include a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility, two Maharishi Invincibility Schools, and 100 Vastu homes. (more)

Argentina: Building Maharishi Tower of Invincibility is significant for entire world - Dr Bevan Morris addresses inaugural ceremony
30 December 2009 - In an inspiring address to 200 guests at the ceremony inaugurating construction of a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility in Florencio Varela, Argentina, Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minster of the Global Country of World Peace, explained that students in two schools connected with the Tower would create invincibility for their nation. He also praised Dr Julio Pereyra, Mayor of Florencio Varela, as well as others who have greatly supported the project. (more)

Argentina: Maharishi Tower of Invincibility, Peace Colony projects inaugurated in grand ceremony
25 December 2009 - Two hundred leading guests enjoyed the recent grand, official inauguration of the project to build a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility in Florencio Varela, Argentina. (more)

Argentina: Construction of first Maharishi Tower of Invincibility to begin 21 December
20 December 2009 - The first Maharishi Tower of Invincibility featuring a school on either side--one for boys and one for girls--will be built in the centre of a Maharishi Peace Colony, in the city of Florencio Varela, Argentina. Mayor of the city, Dr Julio Pereyra, together with the architects and Dr German Martina, National Director of Argentina for the Global Country of Peace, will launch the Peace Colony and start excavation for the Tower of Invincibility on 21 December, the auspicious day of the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere. (more)

Peace colony, schools will promote progress towards Invincibility in Argentina
7 May 2008 - Dr Jose Luis Alvarez, Raja of Latin America for the Global Country of World Peace, reported recently on the rise of Invincibility for the 30 million people of Argentina, and announced that Dr Julio Pereyra, mayor of Florencio, has given 12 hectares of land in his city to build a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility and 150 homes built according to Vedic Architecture. (more)

Building Maharishi Towers of Invincibility in Latin America
10 March 2008 - Speaking on a recent Global Family Chat broadcast by satellite and the Internet on the Maharishi Channel, Dr Jose Luis Alvarez, Raja (Administrator) of Latin America for the Global Country of World Peace, spoke about the new Towers of Invincibility in Latin America. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Inflation in Argentina leaves families struggling to feed themselves
12 May 2023 - Inflation has been a problem across the world but Argentina is second in a World Bank ranking of countries with the highest food inflation. On Friday [12 May], Argentina's state-run INDEC statistics agency said that the inflation in food prices over the 12 months ending in April was 115 percent. That has been topped only by Lebanon, with a whopping 352 percent. (more)

Climate change-linked heat worsened Argentina drought impact, scientists say
18 February 2023 - Extreme high temperatures in Argentina linked to climate change exacerbated the impact of a historic drought that has hit the South American country's farm regions since last year, scientists said in a report on Thursday [16 February]. ... The drought has hammered soy, corn, and wheat crops in the country, the world's top exporter of soy oil and meal and the No. 3 for corn, leading to sharp cuts in harvest forecasts. Drought has also hit smaller neighbor Uruguay. (more)

Patagonia condor repopulation drive faces wind farm threat
18 October 2022 - It was a sunny morning when about 200 people trudged up a hill in Argentina's southern Patagonia region with a singular mission: free two Andean condors that had been born in captivity. Preliminary plans for a massive wind farm that could be located in the Somuncura Plateau to feed a green hydrogen project is putting at risk a three-decade-long effort to repopulate Patagonia's Atlantic coast with a bird that is classified as vulnerable to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. (more)

Raging fires in Argentina's Cordoba province prompt evacuations, threaten homes
24 August 2020 - Fires are raging in Argentina's Cordoba province, prompting evacuations and threatening to destroy homes, fueled in part by strong winds and a lack of rain, officials said on Monday [24 August]. At least 14,321 hectares (55 square miles)of grasslands and mountainous territory have so far been burned, mainly in the northern areas of Punilla and Ischilín, according to local media, as the province and federal government deploy aircraft to assist firefighters on the ground. (more)

Argentina permits new enetically modified soybean seed as EU debates weed-killer glyphosate
24 November 2017 - Argentina authorized on Friday (24 November) the use of genetically modified soybean seeds resistant to herbicides other than glyphosate, as the European Union (EU) debates whether to extend the license of weed-killers containing the ingredient. The EU debate comes amid concerns the active ingredient in Monsanto Co's popular weed-killer Roundup causes cancer. That has caused concern in the South American country, the No. 1 exporter of soybean meal and soybean oil and No. 3 raw soybean exporter, that its exports to the EU could be in jeopardy. (more)

Drug cartels find Argentina attractive transit way
10 November 2014 - The interception of a drug shipment earlier this year called attention to a worrying trend in Argentina, the increasing use of its roads and ports as a trade route for cocaine and other drugs bound for markets in the US, Europe, and beyond. Bordered by long stretches of sparsely developed land to its north and west, and 3,100 miles (nearly 5,000 kilometers) of Atlantic coastline on the east, Argentina is proving attractive for traffickers exporting cocaine from neighbouring Bolivia and from nearby Peru, which in 2012 surpassed Colombia to become the world's biggest cocaine producer. The rising use of Argentina as a passageway is also leading to greater consumption within the country, fuelling growing violence between gangs battling to control turf and markets. (more)

Are pesticides linked to health problems in Argentina?
14 May 2014 - Could pesticides -- their use and abuse -- increase levels of cancer and birth defects? It is a question asked across the vast belt of Argentina where GM crops are grown. Argentina has become one of the world's largest producers of GM soya, with some 20 million hectares under cultivation. It is the nation's leading export. The biotechnology revolution in agriculture began to transform Argentina in the mid-1990s. And it is the agrochemicals that support the crops that worry people. In local research published in 2012, of those surveyed in Avia Terai, nearly a third said someone in the family had cancer in the last 10 years. In comparison, in one of Chaco's ranching communities, just 3 per cent of those asked said they had a relative with cancer. One of the report's authors was Dr Maria del Carmen Seveso, who noticed something else too -- a rise in the number of pregnant women with eclampsia, a life-threatening condition. Another doctor has charted the increase of children born disabled. 'I'm talking about all kinds of disability -- some had missing limbs, others had aberrations of their sex organs,' he says. (more)

Argentines link health problems to agrochemicals
20 October 2013 - American biotechnology has turned Argentina into the world's third-largest soybean producer, but the chemicals powering the boom aren't confined to soy and cotton and corn fields. Poisonous sprays drift into schools and homes and settle over water sources; farmworkers mix chemicals with no protective gear; villagers store water in pesticide containers. Doctors are warning that uncontrolled pesticide applications could be the cause of growing health problems among the 12 million people who live in the South American nation's vast farm belt. A nation once known for its grass-fed beef has undergone a remarkable transformation since 1996, when the St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. promised that adopting its patented seeds and chemicals would increase crop yields and lower pesticide use. Today, Argentina's entire soy crop, and nearly all its corn and cotton are genetically modified. Agrochemical first declined, then bounced back, increasing ninefold from 9 million gallons (34 million litres) in 1990 to more than 84 million gallons (317 million litres) today, as farmers squeezed in more harvests and pests became resistant to the poisons. Overall, Argentine farmers apply an estimated 4.3 pounds of agrochemical concentrate per acre, more than twice what US farmers use. (more)

Argentine farmers see green light for more GMO corn to China
29 August 2013 - Argentine farmers expect China to soon approve their one remaining variety of genetically modified corn yet to be certified for import by the commodities-hungry Asian country. Corn growers across Argentina's vast Pampas farm belt want to push quickly into the Chinese market while fellow grain exporter Brazil is stuck on the sidelines, waiting for Beijing to approve its genetically modified corn varieties. China, whose corn market has long been dominated by the United States, allowed its first major Argentine shipment of the grain to enter the country earlier this month. Traders in Buenos Aires said the 60,000-tonne cargo included some corn of the MIR-162 strain, which has not yet gotten approval from Beijing. But apparently not enough, if any, MIR-162 was in the cargo to cause problems with Chinese customs. 'It's called asynchronicity,' said Fabiana Malacarne, biotechnology chief at Argentina's ASA seed industry chamber. 'Importing countries permit a low-level presence of non-approved strains.' (more)

Argentina's gmo soy said to be poisoning the land
14 March 2013 - For much of the past decade Argentina has seen a commodities-driven export boom, built largely on genetically-modified soy bean crops and the aggressive use of pesticides. Argentina's leaders say it has turned the country's economy around, but many say the consequences are a dramatic surge in cancer rates, birth defects, and land theft. (more)