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Pro and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting.
Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organisation mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions.
But Japan’s package of proposals, entitled “The Way Forward” left…

In a hut on the top of a fog-licked mountain in northern Laos, Vo Pali is getting high.
His poison is opium, a sap extracted from poppies grown illegally by the poor hill tribes in the Communist state’s rugged, inaccessible uplands.
“I smoke three times a day,” the 60-year-old ethnic Hmong villager says in a barely audible rasp of his 30-year habit.
“It has damaged my life. I have no income. But I get sick without it.”
The talk tails off as he loads up his first…

Time was running out on Saturday for survivors of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that rocked Japan’s Hokkaido island, triggering landslides that tore deep brown scars in hillsides. Meanwhile, officials said the death toll from the quake had risen to 30 – most of them in one small community. About 40,000 personnel including members of the Self-Defence Forces, police and firefighters intensified operations as the first 72 hours after a quake are considered crucial for finding survivors…

Thai fishermen and labourers whose livelihoods are threatened by rising sea levels kicked off an international day of protests in Bangkok Saturday, where key UN talks are attempting to breathe life into the Paris Agreement on climate change.
As global warming races ahead of efforts to contain it, the discussions are deadlocked over a number of contentious issues, with activists demanding immediate action to prevent irreparable damage to the planet.
The “Rise for Climate” protest…

New cybersecurity laws have taken effect in Singapore – the first of their kind in the city state.

New rules to better protect EU citizens against non-cash payment fraud, including tougher penalties for fraudsters, have been backed by a committee of the European parliament.

Pentecostal leaders have warned their congregation that “darkness” will spread across Australia and Christians will be persecuted if Scott Morrison does not win the next election.
Others have been told that Morrison’s rise to power was a “miracle of God” that answered three days of prayer and fasting. They have been told that Morrison has made a public stand for Christian freedoms, and has promised to keep doing so, so God intervened to ensure he beat the home…

A veteran Singapore diplomat has called for Singapore’s gay community to challenge a law that bans gay sex in the conservative city state, following India’s scrapping of the same British colonial-era legislation.
Tommy Koh, a prominent diplomat and lawyer, made the comments in response to a Facebook post by a senior Singapore-based academic on India’s landmark ruling on Thursday.
LGBTI in Mongolia fighting for rights and recognition
Simon Chesterman, dean of the National…

Local government pension funds must weigh up the financial risks of investing in energy companies engaged in fracking before deciding whether or not to divest, an expert has said.

The United States and India began talks in New Delhi to deepen political and security ties on Thursday, with officials hoping for an accord on military communications that could lead to increased US arms sales to the South Asian giant.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a two-plus-two setting.
The world’s two largest democracies have drawn closer in recent years,…