World

03 NOV 2019 A vessel owned by Norwegian shipping firm J.J. Ugland was boarded by pirates while at anchor off the coast of Benin on Saturday, and nine crew members were kidnapped, the company said on Sunday. The remaining crew of the Norwegian-flagged MV Bonita notified local authorities, and the …

02 NOV 2019 The manager of an oil tanker being probed by Brazilian authorities in connection with an oil spill off the country’s coast has found “no proof” of the vessel conducting activities that may have led to leaks on a journey between Venezuela and Malaysia. In a statement sent to Reuters …

30 OCT 2019 The International Federation of Journalists has hosted the premier screening of a new film exposing how global aid budgets are used to reinforce spiraling inequality in the world. The film Disparity was directed by activist Renu Mehta and features nine Nobel Laureates, with narration by Sir Ben Kingsley. It …

27 OCT 2019 To the pig-tailed macaque, there’s nothing better than sweet fruit plucked from a sprawling palm oil plantation. Except maybe fresh rat. That’s good eating too, apparently. Researchers have found that far from being a pest themselves, monkeys could be welcome guests at Malaysian palm oil plantations, more than making up …

26 OCT 2019 China’s demand for crude oil shows no signs of abating. There are currently more supertankers bound for the Asian nation than at any time since the start of 2017 and possibly longer. That could signal that China’s refineries are planning to run hard through the end of …

25 oct 2019 Dutch shipbuilder Damen is working with waste processing company Maris Projects to tackle the issue of invasive sargassum seaweed in the Caribbean region. The partners are working on a bioprocessing solution to gather the seaweed and turn it into energy, delivering both environmental and socioeconomic benefits. A significant …

24 oct 2019 ReCAAP ISC has issued an alert after three incidents involving ships underway in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait. The three incidents occurred in the western sector of Singapore Strait over the last four weeks. ReCAAP ISC advises all ships to exercise enhanced vigilance and recommends …

24 OCT 2019 Scientists in the US have developed a powerful new genome editing system that could offer significantly more precision and efficiency than the current CRISPR standard. While CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary medical technology that lay the modern foundations for editing genetic code – including variants associated with disease – there have long …

22 OCT 2019 By sifting through pig faeces, scientists in Japan have discovered a new type of virus that could challenge the already complicated notions of how we categorise what viruses are, and what they can do. Unlike living organisms that fall within the three ‘domains of life’ – bacteria, archaea, and …

20 oct 2019 Qatar has announced reforms aimed at ending the kafala system and therefore upholding the rights of migrant workers. “Kafala” is an Arabic word which means “sponsorship.” Kafala is unique to the Middle East. The Kafala system allows nationals to employ non-Gulf nationals. The power is entirely in …