Author: viking

On January 17, a quiet revolution will take place across around two-thirds of the world’s oceans. A landmark United Nations agreement known as the High Seas Treaty will formally enter into force, creating the first legally binding global framework to protect marine biodiversity in international waters.
For the first time, activities beyond national jurisdictions – from industrial fishing to deep-sea mining and bio-prospecting – will be subject to environmental impact assessments, marine…

Online retailers have been urged to consider how they might meet their obligations around transparency to consumers if those consumers use agentic AI systems to shop.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters rebuked the country’s new Reserve Bank governor, Anna Breman, for wading into US domestic politics after she signed a statement with other global central bankers backing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
“The RBNZ has no role, nor should it involve itself, in US domestic politics. We remind the governor to stay in her New Zealand lane and stick to domestic monetary policy,” Peters wrote on social meida.
He added that the Ministry of Foreign…

Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city state with high prices and little vacant land.
The to-be agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbours, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is…

Energy companies will need to make sure isolation procedures are robust, up to date and fully implemented ahead of an expected ramp-up of enforcement by the UK’s health and safety regulator, an expert has warned.

When Nestle began pulling its baby milk formula off shelves last month over fears of contamination with a dangerous toxin, Malaysian father Mukhriz Hazim felt his trust in the world’s largest food company begin to falter.
Since news of the contamination scare first emerged primarily in Europe in December before spreading across the world, the 33-year-old father has taken to scouring the ingredients list on every formula box with almost forensic precision.
“If big nutrition companies are selling…

Last month, the United States announced its decision to sell advanced weapons amounting to US$11.1 billion to China’s Taiwan region. The authorisation of the largest ever arms package to Taiwan since China and the US established diplomatic relations has seriously violated the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, severely undermined Chinese sovereignty and security interests, gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs and sent the wrong signals to “Taiwan…

Comments by UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer have provided a significant indication that the UK’s franchising industry could face statutory reform, an expert has said.

For thousands of India’s technology professionals working in the United States, the Christmas break ended not with a smooth return to the office but with a bureaucratic cliffhanger.
Routine H‑1B visa renewals at US consular posts across India were abruptly pushed back as Washington ratcheted up its vetting of applicants’ online activity.
Interviews that many had expected to sail through were suddenly rescheduled for months later, leaving engineers stranded, projects disrupted and employers…

A Philippine army colonel relieved for his anti-Marcos stance has “voluntarily” returned to his unit and will face charges and psychiatric evaluation, according to his superior.
Audie Mongao was on Friday discharged from command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Training Support Group after he publicly withdrew support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr in a social media post, saying “it’s too much, enough already”.
Army spokesperson Lourie Dema-ala said Mongao was “put into…