Stephen Wright

1 month ago | rfa.org | Stephen Wright

BANGKOK – The Trump administration plan to allow mining of deep sea metals in the Pacific Ocean would unequivocally violate international law, experts said, making any attempt to sell the minerals – used in batteries, weapons and smartphones – open to challenge by other nations.

1 month ago | rfa.org | Stephen Wright

本台英语组2日报道指出，无国界记者组织（Reporters Without Borders，下称RSF）周五发布的新闻自由指数显示，全球新闻自由正处于二十多年来的最低点，经济下行正在动摇新闻业的基础。 RSF强调 ，今年是该机构，自2002年开始编制媒体自由指数以来，首次将全球新闻自由状况归类为“困难”。 RSF在2025年新闻自由指数的发布声明中指出：“没有经济独立，就没有自由的新闻。”声明还写道：“当新闻媒体面临财政困难时，它们往往会陷入争夺受众的竞争，从而牺牲优质报道，并可能沦为寡头和公共权力机构的工具。” RSF表示，在指数涵盖的180个国家中，近三分之一的国家有新闻机构正在关闭；即使是像新西兰和南非这样排名相对较高的国家，其媒体也正面临财政可持续性的挑战。 随着谷歌、Meta 和苹果等科技公司在吸收越来越大比例的广告收入的同时，RSF指出，这新趋势助长了被操控和误导性内容的传播。 该组织指出，特朗普总统的第二个任期对新闻自由造成了进一步打击，因为其政府终止了对美国公共媒体的资助，包括《美国之音》和《自由亚洲电台》。这些媒体曾报道那些在威权政府压制独立声音的国家的情况。...

1 month ago | rfa.org | Tenzin Pema |Stephen Wright

BANGKOK and WASHINGTON – Press freedom is at its lowest ebb globally in more than two decades, Reporters Without Borders said Friday, as economic pressures shake the foundations of journalism. The advocacy group, also known as Reporters sans frontières or RSF, said it classified the global state of press freedom as “difficult” for the first time since it began compiling its media index in 2002.

1 month ago | rfa.org | Stephen Wright

Promoted as “Just Paradise,” Lord Howe Island hundreds of kilometers east of Australia is a unique environment home to plants and fauna found nowhere else in the world. This pristine and remote remnant of an ancient volcano is also the nesting site of a far-ranging species of seabird that has become a signature casualty of the vast amounts of plastic waste entering the oceans. A recent study by Australian researchers has provided alarming new evidence of the plastics burden on wildlife.

1 month ago | rfa.org | Stephen Wright

BANGKOK – U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to speed development of the deep sea mining industry, including in international waters governed by a U.N. treaty that most nations are signatory to. A Trump executive order signed Thursday says the U.S. must “counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources,” – namely the potato sized nodules that carpet vast areas of the seabed and contain rare earths and minerals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese.