April/May News in Review

Well, April was not a very exciting month but May has been pretty eventful!
                           
For a good laugh about Chile's continuing problem with the off again on again Daylight Savings Time program read this article from the Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-time-is-it-in-chile-theres-no-telling-1463063085

This article was quite "tame" as some sites had pictures of the man with his head in the lion's mouth.
I'm not sure why they had to kill the lions instead of tranquilizing them. I guess maybe tranquilizers don't work fast enough?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/22/two-zoo-lions-shot-and-killed-after-mauling-suicidal-naked-man


This is a little closer to home and BIG news.

In April, large red tide algal blooms were poisoning the fish and shellfish of Patagonia. Red tides are common but this was of unprecedented size fueled some say by El nino and warm waters and others by pollution from salmon farming. It hurt many small artisan fisherman. They protested by blocking the ferry ramps to Chiloe which not only hurt them but many others on Chiloe who have nothing to do with the red tide. Like our friends who own a small dairy farm and count on the income from selling their milk to companies whose trucks couldn't make it over to the island. Never fear
"We are the government and we are here to help you" They offer the fisherman 170,000 pesos, about $250.
As it turns out, the salmon farms were dumping a lot of their dead salmon (from a previous infection earlier this year) way out in the ocean but apparently due to the currents they washed ashore causing more problems and maybe exacerbating the red tide.
What a mess!
Here are 3 articles you can read in chronological order

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/03/chile-fishermen-red-tide-algal-bloom-protests

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/11/red-tide-crisis-deepens-in-chile-fishing-waters

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/17/chile-red-tide-salmon-farming-neurotoxin

News in Review March 2016

Mounted Carabineros in Santiago

First Quarter economic news

http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/chile

Doug Tompkins was the owner of the largest tract of privately owned land in Chile. As of his death in December, Parque Pumalin, just south of Puerto Montt, will be handed over to the state opening up the lower third of the country for a new road to connect the far flung reaches of Chile. He has been a controversial figure in Chile. Find out why in this article.

http://www.elmostrador.cl/mercados/2015/12/09/por-que-era-tan-polemico-douglas-tompkins-el-millonario-ecologista-que-murio-en-un-accidente-de-kayak-en-chile/

WalMart in Chile

http://www.elmostrador.cl/mercados/2016/03/29/carrera-por-los-activos-de-walmart-en-chile-entra-en-recta-final-y-no-la-ganara-necesariamente-la-mejor-oferta/

The view of the Milky Way from the southern hemisphere is awesome and here is an article on the most comprehensive picture to date taken from an observatory in the Atacama Desert

http://www.thisischile.cl/the-most-detailed-picture-of-the-milky-way-was-take-from-the-atacama-desert/?lang=en

For hikers, new maps of Chile's senderos now available

http://www.thisischile.cl/alternatives-for-exploring-chiles-nature-trails/?lang=en


Salmon farms suffering losses - the hazards of factory farms

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/10/chiles-salmon-farms-lose-800m-as-algal-bloom-kills-millions-of-fish

The Unbelievable lottery but I wonder where they are getting the money from? I'll let you know if I win!

http://www.biobiochile.cl/2015/12/18/the-unbelievable-lottery-where-absolutely-all-the-chileans-are-going-to-participate.shtml

Marijuana is legal now in Chile but this farm is growing only for medical purposes

http://www.biobiochile.cl/2016/03/23/chile-is-reaping-the-largest-plantation-of-marijuana-in-latin-america.shtml

News in Review - February 13, 2016

Santiago from Cerro San Cristobal

I decided I need to be more aware of the news happening in my own backyard so I thought I would share a weekly or monthly (honestly , I don't know if enough exciting things happen here on a weekly basis :) review of the most interesting news stories in Chile. Though there are several news outlets online in Chile like the Santiago Times the best and latest stories actually come from the UK -the Telegraph and the Guardian.  The Santiago Times english version is outdated.  I love Chile news is a great website written in english but is offline a lot of times and the news is more blogish than news reporting.  Biobiochile.cl is another site with an english version though if you want to get local news you need to use the castellano version and let google translate it for you. And This is Chile website
has some great info about traveling, living, studying, and doing business in Chile plus some news on culture, education, tourism, sports, science, and much more. A really beautiful website.
 Since this is the first time I am posting news stories some will be older than this past week.

Smugglers steal rare albino falcon eggs

Corruption in Bachelet Family

Chilean miners feel cheated

Toilet paper collusion

The largest solar power plant in SA

Giant Waves over turn car in Vina del Mar- video

Chile is one of the best places in the world to do business according to Forbes

First image of a red super giant star from Chilean observatory