Amazon nations launch alliance to fight deforestation at summit. Eight South American countries agreed Tuesday to launch an alliance to fight deforestation in the Amazon, vowing at a summit in Brazil to stop the world’s biggest rainforest from reaching “a point of no return.The closely watched summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) adopted […]

Asian markets struggle after more weak China data. Asian markets wavered Wednesday after data showing the first drop in Chinese consumer prices compounded worries about the world’s number two economy.The mood on trading floors was already glum after another sell-off on Wall Street fuelled by fresh concerns over the banking sector and talk of another […]

Biden says will visit Vietnam ‘shortly’. US President Joe Biden said Tuesday he would travel to Vietnam “shortly” as part of an effort to improve ties with Hanoi, as Washington seeks to counter China’s influence in the region.“I’m going to be going to Vietnam shortly because Vietnam wants to change our relationship and become a […]

El Nino could imperil Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could deteriorate if warming ocean temperatures spark another mass coral bleaching event later this year, the country’s top marine science body said Wednesday.Sections of the reef had been showing promising signs of recovery until a bleaching event in 2022 turned swathes of the […]

The Canadian government has guaranteed billions in new commercial loans to finance the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline project amid growing concerns of huge cost overruns.The government nationalized the project, running from Alberta province to the Pacific coast, in 2018. Canada provides new loan guarantees for disputed pipeline The new loan guarantees — totaling up to […]

Five children and father feared dead in Australia house fire. Five young boys and their father are missing believed dead after a house fire in Australia on Sunday, in what police described as a “truly devastating” tragedy.The fire occurred in the early hours of Sunday on an island near Brisbane, destroying the family’s house and […]