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http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=24123

MARGALLO RAISES GIBRALTAR ISSUE WITH HAGUE IN LONDON
Spanish Foreign Minister José García-Margallo will be replying to a British Government letter of three years ago, to reject the political principle that Gibraltarians should have a right to veto in any eventual diplomatic negotiations, according to Spanish press reports.
Sr Margallo has declared he expects the UN general assembly to shortly debate the Gibraltar and Falkland issues and support a process of negotiation.

Speaking at the conclusion of the international conference on Somalia in London yesterday, Sr Margallo said it would be reasonable for the UN to deal with both issues and reiterates that “negotiations have to take place.”

He also held talks with his British counterpart William Hague, informing him of the Spanish Government’s position in favour of a “constructive dialogue” over Gibraltar.

The official Spanish position is not to “back off or recoil” on the issue of the Rock. According to Sr Margallo’s, Mr Hague’s reply was a mere “we’ll talk” about Gibraltar.

The British Government has rejected any negotiations over Gibraltar “unless this is requested by the Gibraltarians,” as conveyed by Prime Minister Cameron to President Rajoy last week.

Sr Margallo reiterated his call for a return to the Brussels Process of 1984 by which Britain and Spain agreed to negotiate over Gibraltar, arguing that the ‘right to veto’ is contrary to Brussels “and to the doctrine of the United Nations.

He also called for the unblocking of “the Forum for Cooperación” to turn it into four way dialogue: Britain, Spain, Gibraltar and the Campo, to deal with “administrative issues, but never to issues of sovereignty or jurisdiction.”

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http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/rare-whales-filmed-for-the-first-time

Rare whales filmed first time ever near Australia
http://davidmcgonigal.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/shepherds_beaked_whale-300×215.jpg

Rarely seen Shepherd’s beaked whale
Researchers spotted a dozen or so rare Shepherd’s beaked whales off the coast of Australia. And they got video!
Big news from blue whale researchers in February 2012. The Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reported yesterday (February 23) that the researchers happened upon a group of Shepherd’s beaked whales aka Tasman beaked whales, which have been spotted only a handful of times in the past. The researchers glimpsed a dozen or so whales traveling in a pod off the coast of southern Australia. Michael Double of the Australian Antarctic Division team told the AFP:

These animals are practically entirely known from stranded dead whales, and there haven’t been many of them.

It surprised researchers to find the Shepherd’s beaked whales traveling in a pod, because they had believed that these whales were solitary creatures.

Shepherd’s beaked whales are so rarely seen that researchers do not have a population estimate.

Double told AFP:

To find them in a pod is very exciting and will change the guide books. Our two whale experts will now carefully study the footage to work out the whale sizes and so on and prepare a scientific paper.

The AFP notes that the Shepherd’s beaked whale was first discovered in 1937 but it has only been seen a handful of times since then.

Bottom line: Shepherd’s beaked whales aka Tasman beaked whales whales are rarely seen because they come up for air only very briefly. But researchers near Australia saw and filmed a dozen or so of the creatures near Australia. This 2012 sighting of the whales was exciting to researchers, who have seen the whales so rarely that they have no estimate of the global population.

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http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/SouthAmerica/Two-dead-after-blast-destroys-Brazil-s-Antarctic-base/Article1-817261.aspx
Two dead after blast destroys Brazil’s Antarctic base
Agence France-Presse
Sao Paulo, February 26, 2012

An explosion destroyed a Brazilian research base in Antarctica on Saturday, killing two navy personnel and injuring a third, authorities said.

Brazilian defense minister Celso Amorim confirmed the deaths of non-commissioned officer Carlos Alberto Vieira Figueiredo and sergeant

Roberto Lopes dos Santos, who had earlier been reported missing.
“In an act of heroism, they were precisely in the area of major risk in a bid to extinguish a fire and they did not succeed,” Amorim said.

Navy sergeant Luciano Gomes Medeiros was also lightly injured in the blast, which occurred after a fire in a room housing energy generators of the Comandante Ferraz research base located in Admiralty Bay, King George Island, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

He was first treated at a nearby Arctowski Polish Antarctic station and later transferred to the Chilean Eduardo Frei military base.

The Chilean defense ministry meanwhile confirmed that a joint Chilean-Brazilian team found the bodies of the two Brazilian personnel who had been reported missing after the fire.

“The bodies were found near the stricken base” and will be transferred to the Eduardo Frei base, it added.

Chilean defense minister Andres Allamand told CNN television that the Brazilian base “was completely destroyed” by the explosion.

The blast also forced dozens of researchers to evacuate.

Earlier, Amorim relayed news of the accident to President Dilma Rousseff after being informed by the Brazilian naval chief, Admiral Julio Soares de Moura Neto.

Amorim was also briefed on measures taken to contain the fire and to assist the personnel at the base, his office said.

Military personnel were trying to bring the fire under control, a Brazilian navy statement said earlier.

About 30 researchers, one alpinist and a Brazilian environment ministry representative who were at the base during the explosion were evacuated by helicopter to the Eduardo Frei base. The Argentine Air Force agreed to fly them to the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas, the Brazilian Navy said.

According to the Chilean Air Force, 42 Brazilians and two Spaniards were evacuated to Punta Arenas.

It added other people affected by the fire had been taken to the Eduardo Frei base, which was providing medical support.

Two Argentine Navy vessels and two others from the Polish Antarctic station were in the area, providing support along with three Chilean helicopters. Brazil’s Polar Research Vessel Almirante Maximiano was en route to the area after sailing from Punta Arenas.

The Brazilian Air Force also sent a C-130 Hercules aircraft to Punta Arenas to repatriate the Brazilian evacuees.

The defense ministry said Amorim telephoned his Chilean counterpart Andres Allamand to thank him for his country’s assistance.

The Comandante Ferraz base, which was established in 1984, conducts biological science research focused on coastal and shelf marine ecosystems.

Around 30 countries, all signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, operate seasonal and year-round research stations on Antarctica.

The treaty, which entered into force in 1961 and currently has 49 signatory nations, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on the continent.

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Thursday, February 23rd 2012 – 06:33 UTC

Argentine group insists with Falklands’ self determination and sharing natural resources
A group of Argentine intellectuals, academics and free-thinkers have criticized President Cristina Fernandez government strategy of confronting the UK on the Malvinas Islands sovereignty dispute and called for dialogue that guarantees the self determination of the Falkland Islanders.
“It is necessary to put an end to the contradictory demand from the Argentine government to open bilateral negotiations that include the sovereignty issue and at the same time it announces that the Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands is non negotiable”, said the paper “Malvinas: an alternative view” elaborated by the group.
“It is essential to offer real dialogue instances with the British and very especially with the Islanders” emphasized the paper.
“The (Argentine soldiers) fallen in Malvinas demand above all that we don’t again fall to the temptation of ‘cheap patriotism’ which took away their lives, nor use them as an element to sacralise positions that in any democratic system are debatable”.
The group which was scheduled to give a press conference on Wednesday to present the “Malvinas: an alternative view” paper, signed by 18 Argentine personalities, suspended the event following the tragic train accident in Buenos Aires and the two-day mourning decided by the government.
However the report described as an ‘invitation to reflection’ ahead of the 2 April 2012 anniversary commemoration of the South Atlantic conflict was released in the internet.
The initiative was criticized from the Argentine government by historian Mario Pacho O’Donell who argued that self determination for the population of the Malvinas was a “false argument”, and by Senator and former cabinet chief Anibal Fernandez who was far coarser in his criticism and said that the Argentine intellectuals are moved by ‘rancour’.
However the members of the group argued that in honour to the human rights treaties incorporated to the 1994 Argentine constitution, the Falkland Islanders must be recognized as people entitled to rights, which means respecting their way of life, and as expressed in the transitory clauses from the amended constitution means abdicating to all intention of imposing on them a sovereignty, a citizenship and a government they do not wish”.
Furthermore “the obsessive repeated statement of the principle “Las Malvinas son argentines” and ignoring or despising the submission that such a statement implies debilitates a fair and peaceful claim for the UK to leave the Islands, with their military base, and makes it impossible to advance towards a management of natural resources shared between the Argentines and the Islanders”.
The group also exposed the existence, in these days of a climate of “nationalistic agitation, again thrust by both governments (Argentina and UK), which seems to have caught hold of our leaders, both from government and the opposition, who proudly exhibit what they describe as a ‘State policy’”.
Argentina needs to abandon the agitation triggered by the Malvinas cause and elaborate an alternative view that helps to overcome the conflict, underlines the paper.
“Our worst tragedies have not been caused by the loss of territories or the lack of natural resources, but rather the absence of respect for life, for human rights, for institutions and essential values of the Republic such as freedom, equality and self determination”, says the report.
“Let us hope that April 2 and the year 2012 don’t lead to the usual escalation of cheap patriotic declamations, but rather help the Argentines, (elected officials, leaders and simple citizens) to jointly reflect and with no prejudice about the relation between our own errors and the failures of our country”.
Those who wish to adhere and sign the document, “Malvinas: an alternative view” can write to alternativamalvinas@gmail.com.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17148157
23 February 2012 Last updated at 21:44 GMT

Argentina intellectuals query Falkland Islands policy

A group of Argentine intellectuals has challenged the government’s ambition to take control of the Falkland Islands from the British.

The 17 writers urged the government to recognise the right of the islanders to decide their own future.

They also say Argentina’s demand for negotiations with the UK contradicts its insistence on sovereignty.

Tension has been rising in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the war the two countries fought over the islands.

The intellectuals issued a joint statement titled An Alternative Vision of the Malvinas (Falklands).

Among the signatories are the journalist Jorge Lanata, historians Luis Alberto Romero and Hilda Sabato, cultural critic Beatriz Sarlo, and constitutional law expert Daniel Sabsay.

‘Nationalist agitation’
They argued that the government’s actions were out of proportion to the importance of the issue, and had little relation to the “major political, social and economic problems” the country faces.

“A climate of nationalist agitation driven once again by both governments seems to be affecting a great number of our leaders from both the government and opposition,” the document said.

It argued that Argentine society had still not faced up to its responsibility for the invasion of the Falklands in 1982, and should recognise that the use of force was “unjustifiable”.

It pointed out that Argentina’s demand for bilateral negotiations with the UK including the issue of sovereignty contradicted the insistence – enshrined in the national constitution – that Argentina’s claim to sovereignty was “non-negotiable”.

The statement urged genuine dialogue with the UK and the Falkland Islanders, and a recognition that the islanders have the right to self-determination.

“Respecting their way of life means giving up the intention to impose on them a sovereignty, citizenship and government they don’t want,” it said.

‘Traitors’
Many Argentine web users have reacted negatively to the statement.

Readers posting comments on the website of the newspaper La Nacion rejected the arguments, with some labelling the authors “traitors” and “sell-outs”.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s government has stepped up its diplomatic campaign to assert sovereignty over the islands in recent months, rallying regional support and accusing the UK of “militarising” the South Atlantic.

Britain, which has controlled the islands since 1833, has said there can be no negotiations on sovereignty as long as the Falkland Islanders wish to remain British.

On 2 April, both nations will mark the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, which began with an Argentine invasion of the islands and ended in victory for a British task force sent to recover them.

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http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2012/02/23/flicker-of-reconciliation-uk-sends-condolences-to-argentina

Flicker of reconciliation? UK sends condolences to Argentina after crash
Thursday, 23 February 2012 11:09 AM

By Ian Dunt

The UK sent condolences to Argentina last night after a train crash killed 49 people in Buenos Aires.

The wreck also injured over 600 others. Passengers claimed the train was travelling too fast.

“I am very sorry to learn of the loss of life following the train crash in Buenos Aires today,” said Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne.

“On behalf of the British government I send my condolences to Argentina. My thoughts are with the families of the victims, and with the emergency services still trying to help those involved.”

The tragedy could provide an opportunity for both countries to pull back from the escalating diplomatic rhetoric over the Falklands Islands in the build-up to the conflict’s anniversary.

Argentina recently pushed for countries in its regional group to ban ships with Falkland’s flags from using its ports and branded the deployment of Prince William on search-and-rescue duty an act of colonialism.

Observers will hope that the message of sympathy from the Foreign Office could subdue tensions around the disputed territory.

The train crash is the third to hit Buenos Aires in six months.

Argentina’s transport secretary, Juan Pablo Schiavi, said one carriage had been flung up to six metres into the next.

Hours after the crash, hundreds were still trapped in the mangled remains of the train, which was carrying over 1,000 passengers.

Police claim the train’s brakes failed as it arrived at the station, but that version of events has been contested by survivors.

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http://london.stepbystep.com/how-to-get-antarctica-tourist-visit-visa-from-london-6778/

Step by Step How to Get Antarctica Tourist Visit Visa From London
By jimstuart
February 21st, 2012

Antarctica is the southern most continent on the planet and has no human inhabitants. The only people that do reside temporarily on the frozen landscape are located in the research stations setup by different countries for scientific reasons. Antarctica is not under the rule of any one country, although some areas are controlled by specific countries. The 1959 Antarctic Treaty has suspended all new claims to the continent and the area is considered neutral. Tourists do make their way to Antarctica during the right seasons. Most are on cruise ships but some intrepid adventurers do head on to land and view the penguins, whales and seals living in the area.

5 STEPS FOR HOW TO GET ANTARCTICA TOURIST VISIT VISA FROM LONDON

1Visa Rules
Since Antarctica has no functioning government, there really are no rules for entry. Travelers will not require any visa to make entry into the harsh landscape of the continent.

2Entry requirements
Their are no specific requirements for entry because the borders of Antarctica are not controlled or manned. However, it is recommended that a passport be brought that is valid for your complete trip. This will be needed in case you stop by in other countries on your trip.

3How to get to Antarctica

Most adventure seekers make there way to Antarctica by sea. Cruise ships, whaling ships and tour operators can arrange for you to go to continent. In most cases you will need to make your way to Argentina and then travel onward by sea. Click here to get more details on how to get a tourist visa for Argentina.

4Tour operators and cruises
The following are some of the tour operators and cruises that can offer you a antarctic vacation from London:
eWaterways Cruises
Location: 27 Victoria Square, London, SW1W 0RB, United Kingdom View Map
Contact: +44 20 7821 1009 ‎
Visit eWaterways Cruises website
Hurtigruten Group
Location: 3 Shortlands, London, W6 8NE, United Kingdom View Map
Contact: +44 20 8846 2666
Visit Hurtigruten Group website
The Cruise People Ltd
Location: 88 York St, London W1H 1QT, United Kingdom View Map
Contact: +44 20 7723 2450
Visit The Cruise People Ltd website

5Things to take on your trip
The antarctic region does not have any shops, so you should bring all your equipment with you. Warm clothes, tents and other items to protect from the cold are all necessities.

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http://en.mercopress.com/2011/12/31/a-malvinas-war-veteran-dies-in-an-attempt-to-cross-to-the-falklands-in-a-kayak
Saturday, December 31st 2011 – 18:43 UTC

A Malvinas war veteran dies in an attempt to cross to the Falklands in a kayak
A Malvinas war veteran drowned in an attempt to reach the Falkland Islands in a kayak from Ushuaia while his companion was rescued by an Argentine Navy patrol and is in hospital in a state of chock, reported the Buenos Aires press in the last day of 2011.

Alejandro Daniel Carranza, 49, who fought in Mount Longdon wanted to challenge the ocean and reach the Falklands in a kayak for which he trained for months, but the rough sea and winds defeated him.
Carranza had planned the crossing to the Falklands for several years together with his friend of adventure, Juan Pablo Dacyszyn, 36, another kayak professional who managed to survive swimming to safety at the Isla de los Estados where he took refuge for a day and a half in a cave before he was rescued.
Alejandro and Juan Pablo were professional kayakers; they had state of the art equipment and given their backgrounds had managed to collect 30.000 dollars from sponsors for the adventure. They had left Ushuaia on 6 December and had so far covered 800 kilometres along the west coast of Tierra del Fuego and were preparing to climb along the east coast.
“First of all we want to make plain clear that this expedition is purely a sports event and has no political intention or implies any sovereignty claim to the Islanders or their authorities” Carranza had written in his blog, Delfindelmundo a Malvinas.
However the first leg of the expedition, from Ushuaia to the Isla de los Estados, at the tip of Tierra del Fuego across from the Strait of Le Maire, ended tragically when a spat of bad weather in one of the most dangerous sea crossings plunged him to the sea. Frankilin Bay is to the west of the emblematic lighthouse at the End of the World.His partner Juan Pablo survived and contacted a rescue centre. The navy patrol ‘Francisco de Gurruchaga’, after three attempts finally reached him in spite of the terrible weather conditions and transported him and the body of Carranza to Ushuaia.
In his blog Carranza wrote that “War was a stupidity, we have to make friends again with the kelpers. The only way to recover the (Malvinas) Islands is by rowing. I’m not going to see it, nor my son, but I have hopes that one of my grand children will. This is the spirit that drives me in the expedition”.
“Physically he’s fine but he remains in a state of shock, he doesn’t quite understand what really happened”, said Hector Daniel Vera, the officer in charge of the Coast Guard station who rescued Juan Pablo.
“He told us they left with good weather and then an unexpected gale started to blow. He survived because he was well equipped”, said the Coast Guard officer.
Juan Pablo took refuge in a cave ten metres above sea level where he had good clothing, food and communications equipment.
Carranza’s autopsy confirmed he drowned but it is believed he suffered a blow and fell to the sea. An official judicial inquiry has been opened.

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http://spectator.org/archives/2012/02/20/sean-penn-and-me
Sean Penn and Me
By H. W. CROCKER, III on 2.20.12 @ 6:07AM

Guess which one doesn’t know much about history.

I know I shouldn’t, but I always feel a sense of personal responsibility when Sean Penn says something stupid. You see, it was my father who taught him history — or at least sort of. For some, Sean Penn’s most famous role — something he might regret — is as the pothead surfer dude Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. His strict, disciplinarian U.S. history teacher in that film, Mr. Hand, was my dad. I don’t mean the actor who portrayed Mr. Hand, Roy Walston. I mean the real U.S. history teacher at Clairemont (Ridgemont) High on whom Mr. Hand was based.
If you haven’t seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, don’t. But whenever I hear Sean Penn spouting off in Hollywood leftist style, I can’t help but think that Mr. Hand should have had some more time with Jeff Spicoli.
Penn’s latest inanity is to have called the Falkland Islands “the Malvinas Islands of Argentina” and to say that “the world today is not going to tolerate any ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology” — this in reference to Britain’s defense of the people of the Falkland Islands, most of whom (about 70 percent) are of British descent (most of the rest are Scandinavian), and who have been ruled by Britain since 1833 (the British originally claimed the islands in 1765) and don’t want to be conquered by the Argentines.
In the British press, Penn has already been urged to take his anti-colonialist ideology to its logical end and give his Malibu estate to the Mexicans who are presumed to work on it. One could go further of course. Perhaps he could call for California’s return to Mexico — it has been part of the United States for a shorter period of time than the Falklands have been British. Or perhaps he should go further still and demand that Argentina be returned to the Indians. Argentina, after all, was made by Spanish colonialism, and more than four-fifths of Argentines are of European stock. Argentina’s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, with whom Penn visited, is herself of Spanish and German heritage. And Sean Penn would not be living in California were it not for an even earlier act of colonialism — that of Britain seeding the United States with colonies in the first place and British traditions that make for a prosperous economy and freedom of speech, the sort of things that allow Sean Penn to be Sean Penn.
Insofar as we see free speech, a free economy, representative government, and an independent judiciary as global standards, norms, or aspirations — and given Penn’s penchant for admiring leftist dictators like Hugo Chavez, he might not — we really have to tip our hat to the British Empire. In fact, we should give three cheers for British colonialism. It is the British who established these rights and institutions at home and spread them abroad from Hong Kong and Australia to Canada and Barbados. In the twentieth century’s darkest hours — when they were most threatened — it was someone with an “archaic commitment to colonialist ideology,” Winston Churchill, who led the British Empire, and the West, into hot war against the National Socialism of Adolf Hitler, a revolutionary who might have succeeded, and cold war against Soviet Communism, which Churchill knew was ultimately doomed to fail of its own contradictions. (Though of course Penn might not appreciate that last fact either.)
Like Jeff Spicoli, I went to Clairemont (Ridgemont) High. I didn’t take my dad’s history course, but I still managed to learn a fair bit. And as I recall the surfer dudes in my class were smarter than the average student. I can’t imagine any of them thinking or talking like Sean Penn. When the Falklands War erupted (while I was in college), the surfers I knew thought Britain’s imperial response — the Royal Marines, the Harrier jump jets, Prince Andrew in his Sea King helicopter — was “totally bitchin’.” I’m with them.

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