The pace of tropical forest destruction slowed in 2025 after record losses the year before but remained at worrying levels equivalent to 11 football fields per minute, researchers said Wednesday.
The world lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of tropical primary rainforest last year, down 36 per cent from 2024, said researchers from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland.
“A drop of this scale in a single year is encouraging – it shows what decisive…
Southeast Asia’s Mekong River being poisoned by rare earth mining
Perched on the bow of his long-tail fishing boat, 75-year-old Sukjai Yana untangled a handful of small fish from his net, disappointed by his catch and fretting over whether he can sell them.
Some days Sukjai earns nothing: demand for fish is falling due to worries over contamination of the Mekong River and its tributaries by toxic run-off from rare earth mines upstream that is threatening millions who rely on those waters for farms and fisheries.
Chiang Saen, a fishing hub in northern Thailand,…
New cyber obligations proposed for British energy businesses
All energy companies licensed to operate in Britain will be subject to “baseline” cybersecurity requirements – with higher standards imposed on the most ‘critical’ operators – under proposals set out by the UK government and energy regulator Ofgem.
Leading by example or showmanship? Singapore politicians’ train rides split opinion
Social media posts of Singapore politicians taking public transport amid the global energy crisis have divided public opinion online, with some users hailing the move as leading by example while others call it showmanship.
Cabinet ministers, members of parliament and even a retired defence minister have followed with their own public transport posts after Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong urged Singaporeans in an April 7 ministerial statement in parliament to take public transport as part of…
Energy security comes first for Indonesia as it defies EU over Russian oil
Jakarta’s move to press on with importing 150 million barrels of Russian oil despite latest EU sanctions against an Indonesian port underscores a growing divide between Western efforts to isolate Moscow and Asia’s push for energy security.
On Thursday, the European Commission announced its 20th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes Indonesia’s Karimun Oil Terminal for its “connections with the shadow fleet and circumvention of the oil price cap”.
The sanction on Karimun, located in…
Why sports teams face AI regulatory risks during recruitment
UK and European sports organisations must be careful or risk falling foul of data protection rules as they adopt AI to help with player recruitment, experts have warned.
India, New Zealand sign ‘once-in-a-generation’ free-trade deal
India and New Zealand on Monday signed a free-trade agreement to deepen economic ties and expand market access, as both countries navigate mounting global trade disruptions.
The deal comes as New Delhi moves to diversify export markets to offset the impact of steep tariffs imposed by the United States and instability in shipping and energy routes due to the Iran war. For New Zealand, the agreement is part of a broader push to reduce reliance on China, its largest trading partner.
The agreement…
Dubai’s VARA establishes formal derivatives regime and clarifies virtual asset issuance rules
Sweeping new rules by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in its updated exchange services rulebook, governing the trading of derivatives linked to virtual assets, marks a significant evolution of Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory regime following the successful rollout of a virtual asset derivatives pilot programme, according to experts.
French teen in Singapore faces jail for licking and returning vending machine straw
A French teenager has been charged with mischief and public nuisance in Singapore for licking a straw and putting it back in an orange juice vending machine, court documents showed on Monday.
Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, allegedly filmed himself “licking a straw and placing it back at the vending machine”, uploaded the video on Instagram knowing that it “would or would probably cause annoyance to the public”, according to the documents.
The teenager is studying in Singapore, according to…
2 US citizens killed in raid on Philippines communist stronghold
Two US citizens were among 19 people killed in a raid on an alleged communist stronghold in the Philippines that has sparked a probe by the country’s rights commission, a government task force said.
More than 300 residents in the Toboso municipality of Negros Island fled their homes on April 19 as gunfire rang out in the remote sugar cane-farming region, the municipal disaster management office told reporters last week.
The number of people killed in the firefight, in which only one soldier was…