How China’s discovery of a major gas field will affect South China Sea

China has found a major gas field in the South China Sea, a discovery that could significantly influence the region’s complex geopolitical landscape.

This new find, described as the world’s first “ultra-shallow gas field in ultra-deep waters”, is estimated to contain more than 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas, according to China’s state media.

The announcement was made by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in June, and the discovery has now been officially reviewed and registered by state authorities.

While the exact location of Lingshui 36-1 has not been disclosed, it is reportedly situated in waters southeast of Hainan, China’s southernmost island province, according to CNOOC. It has an average water depth of around 1,500m.

“The main gas-bearing play is the Ledong Formation of Quaternary, with an average burial depth of 210m,” CNOOC said in June. “The field has been tested to produce over 10mcm/day of open flow natural gas.”

The discovery adds to China’s already substantial reserves of gas in the South China Sea, which, together with other offshore fields, have now surpassed the trillion-cubic-metres mark.

However, the South China Sea, known for its rich deposits of hydrocarbons, has also been a focal point of intense territorial disputes involving several countries.

China’s claim to almost the entirety of the South China Sea, demarcated by the so-called “nine-dash line”, overlaps those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.

Disputes and tensions often rise over each other’s oil and gas exploration and development attempts in the contested waters. The discovery of such a large gas field could potentially exacerbate existing tensions and complicate diplomatic relations among these nations.

The South China Sea is still underexplored because of these territorial disputes. Most discovered oil and gas fields are in uncontested areas, close to the shorelines. Approximately 3.6 billion barrels of petroleum and other liquids and 40.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in proved and probable reserves are in the South China Sea, according to Rystad, an independent research and business intelligence company.

The South China Sea is a crucial maritime region, not only for its economic resources but also for its strategic significance. The area is a major shipping route, with a significant portion of global trade passing through its waters. The new discovery by China could further assert its dominance in the region, potentially heightening friction with neighbouring countries who also have competing claims.

Vietnam and the Philippines, in particular, have been vocal in their opposition to China’s expansive claims and have engaged in their own exploratory activities in the disputed waters.

The presence of such a substantial gas field could lead to increased scrutiny and confrontations over resource exploitation and maritime boundaries.

Aside from the geopolitical ramifications, the discovery of Lingshui 36-1 also raises questions about environmental management and economic impact. The extraction of gas from ultra-deep waters presents significant technical challenges and environmental risks.

While shallow gas is abundant in the seabed, its precarious position makes it highly susceptible to dispersion caused by ocean currents. The formation of a commercially viable oil and gas field under such conditions was previously deemed impossible by experts.

How China plans to manage these challenges while ensuring environmental protection will be closely watched by the international community.

New Zealand PM suggests Australians are stupid in war of words

The removal of basic Māori phrases from an invitation to an Australian official was not a snub of the Indigenous language by New Zealand’s government, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said, instead joking that it actually reflected the “incredibly simple” language required when speaking to Australians.

The prime minister appeared to indulge in a favorite pastime of New Zealanders, who enjoy a friendly rivalry with their closest neighbor: calling Australians stupid.

The jibe from Luxon comes after the removal of the Māori words from an invitation sent to Australia’s arts minister.

It was an attempt to rebuff criticism that his government is anti-Māori, as it seeks to reverse policies favoring Indigenous people and language.“In my dealings with Australians, it always pays to be incredibly simple and clear and use English,” Luxon said, referring to the invitation sent to Tony Burke.

Ripostes between lawmakers across the Tasman have precedent. In the most famous example, a New Zealand leader, Rob Muldoon, quipped in the 1980s that New Zealanders who migrate to Australia “raise the IQ of both countries.”

On Thursday, a smiling Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to Luxon with a favorite Australian joke — that no one can understand the New Zealand accent.

He said that at times interpreters were needed, perhaps diplomatically adding that he had sometimes “missed” things said by Luxon’s predecessors too.

“Look, we’re great friends and we’re great mates,” the Australian leader said. “Sometimes though we do speak a different language and that’s when we both think we’re speaking English.”

The exchange offered a diversion in an otherwise tense session of New Zealand’s Parliament, which has been roiled by accusations of bullying, racism and insults in recent weeks, with lawmakers in tears and the prime minister urging “all political leaders to watch their rhetoric.”

During Question Time, Luxon was asked by opposition leader Chris Hipkins about a series of inflammatory remarks he said lawmakers had recently made.

Among them was the report that New Zealand’s arts, culture and heritage minister, Paul Goldsmith — who signed off on the new year invitation — had directed officials to remove some Māori phrases from the materials, according to documents divulged by 1News.

They included “t*n* koe” — a formal way to say hello, learned by New Zealand children in their first year of elementary school — and “Aotearoa,” a commonplace Māori name for New Zealand.

A spokesperson for Burke, the Australian recipient of the controversial invitation, said on Thursday that he had known the meaning of the word Aotearoa since 1982, when it was referenced in the lyrics of a popular song by the New Zealand band Split Enz.

“I just didn’t think it needed a lot of te reo in it,” Goldsmith told 1News, using a phrase meaning the Māori language, an official one of New Zealand. The language was once close to dying out, but activists provoked a revival over several decades, and common Māori words or phrases are now in everyday use among all New Zealanders.

The same movement prompted a revival of Matariki, the Māori lunar new year, which was established as a nationwide public holiday in 2020.

Since assuming office after the 2023 election, Luxon’s coalition government has prompted fraught public debates about race. One was over a return to English names for government agencies, many of which had assumed Māori titles in recent years.

Another was over ending initiatives that offer priority to Māori, who lag behind other New Zealanders in most health, economic and justice statistics.

Protestors gathered outside Parliament in the capital, Wellington, this week to oppose the government’s plans to repeal a clause requiring recognition of children’s Māori heritage from the law governing the child protection system.

First-class trip on Singapore Airlines sparks debate online

A man’s first-class trip aboard a Singapore Airlines flight has sparked debate online, prompting conversations about luxury travel.

On June 6, TikTok user Pitor, known for his detailed travel vlogs and vacation highlight reels, posted a lengthy video, recapping his experience on Singapore Airlines. The video, which has now garnered more than 45.2 million views on the app, takes curious users along through his flight. From arriving at the aircraft entrance to exiting at his destination, Pitor showcased every amenity in his high-cost trip, and viewers were in awe.

To start, Pitor filmed himself boarding the plane. Immediately, he was greeted by flight attendants who insisted on showing him to his seat (cubicle, really). One woman took him down the carpeted aisle toward the front of the plane, stopping in front of a closed-off nook.

A padded recliner, a small television, a desk, and a vanity all fit inside his booth with more than enough space for leg room. Moments after Pitor settled in, an attendant approached him with a glass of champagne. The travel blogger sat on the edge of his seat, sipping the drink as he looked over the extensive menu of food options that would be offered throughout the flight.

Pitor decided on chicken skewers over a bed of lettuce, all served over a white tablecloth dinner set-up. After he finished eating, the flight attendant revisited his nook – this time to make his bed. On the opposite side of the chair, a padded platform was unfolded and covered with a light comforter and pillow.

The lush passenger changed into his pajamas before climbing onto the bed, turning on the TV, and closing his eyes. In the morning, Pitor visited the bathroom. The spacious compartment was lined with bright lights and divided into sections: the toilet and the seated vanity.

“Experiencing luxury at 30,000 feet! First-class on @SingaporeAir’s A380 is a dream come true,” Pitor’s caption read.

While the opulent travel affair wasn’t anything Pitor wasn’t already used to, his viewers were blown away by the lavish ordeal. Shocked TikTok users flooded his comments section, admitting they’d never seen a flight experience as grand as Pitor’s on Singapore Airlines. Others questioned whether they’d be comfortable with such luxurious treatment.

“Here is your seat; you mean my apartmenttttt,” one viewer joked, while another quipped: “I feel the same way when I get the window seat on the ‘Exit Row’ on SPIRIT.”

An honest individual admitted: “I wouldn’t know what to do. I feel like I would try to help the flight attendants or give over stimulated thank yous every five seconds.”

“To have a bed on a plane would be the dream… literally,” one woman added.

A fourth noted: “I would stay awake all night just to make sure I did fair to all my pennies.”

“Two of these flights and I’d have a house deposit,” one viewer guessed. One woman thought: “Ironically that’s too much space! I’d feel like I was trapped in my hotel room.”

Some viewers confessed they were familiar with the airline, noting how this classy treatment was typical for most flights. “I’ve flown Singapore Airlines many times. Worth every penny,” one traveler argued.

American woman found chained to tree in India forest had tied herself

An American woman who was found chained to a tree in a forest in western India has now admitted that she shackled herself, just days after blaming her “husband” for her ordeal.

Lalita Kayi Kumar, 50, was discovered by a cowherd on 27 July in a dense forest in Sindhudurg, about 450km from India’s financial capital of Mumbai.

She was found tied up and emaciated after the cowherd heard “a woman screaming loudly” and raised an alarm. She was “screaming like an animal”, he reported.

Ms Kayi told the police she had not had any food or water for several days. She was so feeble she could not speak and used a notepad to scribble what she wanted to say.

After being admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Goa, the woman allegedly wrote in a statement to the police that she had been chained in the forest by her husband and left to “die without food or water”.

“Injection for extreme psychosis which causes severe locked jaw and inability to drink any water. Need intravenous food, 40 days without food in forest,” she wrote, according to The Indian Express.

“Husband tied me to a tree in a forest and said I would die there.”

Ms Kayi has now said she was unmarried and that she tied herself up, police and doctors told the BBC.

Sindhudurg police superintendent Saurabh Agarwal claimed the woman was suffering from severe psychosis and hallucinating when she first gave her statement.

Ms Kayi reportedly told investigators she bought the chains and locks and tied herself to the tree because she had no money and was stressed that her visa had run out.

Her condition is improving, Dr Sanghamitra Phule, superintendent of the psychiatric hospital, said. “She eats, walks and also exercises. She’s under treatment and we are also giving her some nutrients that her body was lacking,” she told the BBC.

Dr Phule said Ms Kayi’s family had been traced in the US and she was in touch with them.

After Ms Kayi was rescued, police found a copy of a passport in her bag which showed that she was a US citizen from Massachusetts.

They also found papers linking her to an address in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state as well as a mobile phone, a tablet, and Rs31,000 (£290).

Police do not yet know how long she was tied up in the forest. “The area where she was found had experienced heavy rain,” Mr Agrawal said.

Police official Amol Chavan, who was with the team that rescued her, said it appeared she was there for two days at least.

“When we discovered her, she was seriously dehydrated. It appears that she was stuck there for a minimum of 48 hours. Although she was mute,” he said.

Ms Kayi initially told police she had come to India to learn yoga and meditation. She was married to a man from Tamil Nadu but they had fallen out, she claimed.

Police in Maharashtra then registered a case of attempt to murder case against Ms Kayi’s supposed “husband”.

She is believed to have been living in the country for 10 years, the Hindustan Times reported citing local police.

Indian app faces backlash online over 10-minute food delivery service

An Indian startup that promises to deliver takeout food in 10 minutes has sparked a social media debate about labour rights of gig workers in the country.

In an X post on 4 August, founder Ujjwal Sukheja explained how and why he came up with the idea for Swish.

“When it comes to online food delivery, the wait can be painfully long. We realised that this problem is common to many young people like us. So, for them (and us), we are building Swish,” he said. “What’s Swish? A 10-minute food delivery app. We take care of tech, food, and delivery so we can minimise the delivery time for you.”

The app is currently active only in Hosur Sarjapura Road Layout, an upscale suburb spread out over 1,500 acres in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern state of Karnataka.

While some people responded to the post after trying the app, many raised questions about the food quality as well as the strain the business model would put on delivery workers.

“The innovation: screw over poor workers in kitchens and on bikes worse than ever before,” one user remarked.

“I would personally find it sinister to partake in a society that demands food on the table in ten minutes at the cost of hamsterwheeling an underclass,” posted another.

The Independent has reached out to Swish for comment.

A national survey of over 10,000 gig workers in eight cities, including Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, has revealed that 34 per cent of delivery persons earn under Rs 10,000 (£93) a month.

The survey, conducted by the Indian Federation of App Based Transport Workers with support from the University of Pennsylvania in the US and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung India, showed that 41.5 per cent delivery people faced “some form of violence” at work and 78 per cent said they worked more than 10 hours a day.

In 2022, food delivery giant Zomato faced backlash after announcing that it would try and reduce delivery time to 10 minutes.

Along with criticism on social media, Indian lawmaker Karti P Chidambaram took the matter up in the Indian parliament, demanding a set of guidelines to regulate delivery companies and ensure protection for delivery agents against unrealistic targets.

In the case of Swish, commentators also asked how the quality and hygiene of the food would be maintained.

In April this year, a 10-year-old girl died after eating her birthday cake ordered on Zomato. The cake reportedly wasn’t from the bakery the family had ordered it from but a cloud kitchen.

As online food delivery has picked up in India, cloud kitchens have mushroomed. Most of them operate with minimal infrastructure.

Swish responded on X to some customers who said their order was delivered in 15 minutes, saying it would do better and deliver their food in the promised 10 minutes.

Pakistani national with ties to Iran accused of plot to kill Trump

A Pakistani national with ties to the Iranian government has been accused of seeking to carry out a murder-for-hire plot targeting US government officials, according to the Department of Justice.

Asif Raza Merchant, who is now in federal custody, traveled to the US to hire hit men, who were undercover officers, in order to carry out assassinations in August or September this year, according to an indictment unsealed in New York on Tuesday.

The investigation does not appear to be related to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month. White House and federal law enforcement officials do not believe the 20-year-old gunman who fired at the former president has any connection to the murder-for-hire scheme detailed in the indictment.

FBI officials reportedly believe Trump was among Merchant’s potential targets, according to CNN, which first reported the indictment.

“For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran’s brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Soleimani,” according to a statement from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“The Justice Department will spare no resource to disrupt and hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against American citizens and will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to target American public officials and endanger America’s national security,” he added.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that apparent retalitatory threats from Iran are “a national and homeland security matter of the highest priority.”

In April, after traveling to Iran, Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan and contacted a person he believed could help carry out the attacks, according to the indictment.

That contact was coordinating with law enforcement as a confidential source.

The following month, during a meeting with the source, Merchant made a “finger gun” motion while giving instructions to meet with potential hit men, and detailed a scheme that involved stealing documents or USB drives from a target’s home, planning protests, and then killing a “politician or government official,” according to prosecutors.

Merchant said that the killings would take place while he was out of the country, and that he would use “code words” to communicate instructions, according to the indictment.

The source was told to run a “legitimate clothing business” to serve as a front that could launder money for the operation, with “tee-shirt” meaning “protest”; “flannel shirt” meaning “stealing”; and “fleece jacket” meaning “commit the act of the game,” the indictment alleges.

“Denim jacket” meant “sending money,” and Merchant began arranging plans to send $5,000 to pay hit men — who were, in fact, undercover law enforcement officers, according to prosecutors.

In June, Merchant said he needed the “hit men” to steal documents, stage protests at political rallies, and then kill a “political person,” according to prosecutors.

They were to receive instructions for the assassination within the last week of August or the first week of September, after Merchant fled the country, the indictment says.

Merchant was arrested on July 12 as he was preparing to leave the US. Law enforcement agents found a handwritten note with code words with him, according to the indictment.

FBI director Christopher Wray said the alleged plot is “straight out of the Iranian playbook.”

“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,” he said in a statement.

”The targeting of former and current officials by foreign actors is an affront to our sovereignty and our democratic institutions,” added Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen with the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Human remains found inside 16ft crocodile days after man goes missing

Human remains were found inside a giant crocodile suspected of killing a man fishing on vacation with his family in Australia.

The remains are believed to be of David Hogbin, a 40-year-old man from New South Wales (NSW), who went missing after he fell from a steep bank on Saturday into the Annan River south of Cooktown in Queensland state and never surfaced.

While further testing will be conducted to confirm the identity of the victim, the police have temporarily suspended the search for him, reported 7 News.

Wildlife rangers on Monday killed a 4.9m (16ft) crocodile after locating it in a creek 4km upstream from where the man disappeared. The crocodile that allegedly took the man had distinctive scars on its snout similar to the ones witnesses reported seeing on a reptile in the vicinity of the disappearance, officials said.

“Wildlife officers have humanely euthanised a large crocodile that is believed to be responsible for the fatal attack on the Annan River,” said the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation.

“The animal had markings on its snout that were consistent with it being the target animal.

“Wildlife officers are removing the animal from the creek and will hand it over to the Queensland Police Service.”

The victim was a tourist from NSW, Australia’s most populous state which lies beyond crocodiles’ tropical habitat. He had been on vacation with his family and was fishing at a location known as Crocodile Bend, which is popular among tourists who come to see these large reptiles.

“He was at the top of the bank and has fallen into the water, and it’s quite a large drop there,” acting chief superintendent Shane Holmes told the media on Monday.

“I believe it was an accident when he fell into the water,” he said. It was unclear whether the victim’s family or people nearby saw what happened.

A spokesperson for Sonic Healthcare, a healthcare provider in Australia, condoled the death of Hogbin, reported ABC News. However, the nature of his association with the organisation is unclear. “We are deeply saddened by the news of this tragic event,” she was quoted as saying. “This is a very challenging time for our team.”

His biography at Jewells Medical Centre said Hogbin was a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners after qualifying in 2021 and in spare time enjoyed “four-wheel driving and camping with his wife and three boys”.

The tragedy followed a 12-year-old girl’s death in a crocodile attack on 2 July. She was swimming with her family in a creek in the neighboring Northern Territory when she was snatched. Her remains were found days later and wildlife rangers shot dead a 13ft crocodile.

There have been three fatal crocodile attacks in Australia this year, close to the worst annual death toll on record of four in 2014. A 16-year-old boy was killed while swimming off a Queensland island on 18 April.

The crocodile population has exploded across Australia’s tropical north since they became a protected species in the early 1970s. Hunting for their skins since the 1950s had almost wiped them out.

The Department of Environment is also investigating online videos purportedly showing people feeding crocodiles as senior conservation officer Daniel Guymer described the behavior as “risky and reckless”.

“So any information and evidence in relation to alleged illegal activities, such as the unlawful feeding of a crocodile at that location, will be investigated by our wildlife officers,” he said.

Explaining the repercussions of “stupid” and “dangerous” behaviour, local wildlife carer Beau Peberdy told ABC News that it conditions “an animal to come in to feed from people”.

“People I think really need to start understanding that these animals are dangerous … and doing silly or inappropriate things in and around the water’s edge, it has severe consequences.”

Meta apologises over removal of Malaysia PM’s social media posts

Meta has apologised for removing some of Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim’s posts on its social media platforms that paid tribute to a Hamas leader who was killed last month.

Meta Platforms Inc said in a statement on Tuesday: “We apologise for an operational error where content from the prime minister’s Facebook and Instagram Pages were removed, and the content has since been restored with the correct newsworthy label.”

Mr Ibrahim had condemned the assassination of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in his posts. Malaysia does not recognise Israel as a sovereign state and the two countries have no diplomatic ties.

In May, Mr Ibrahim met with a Hamas delegation led by Haniyeh during a visit to Qatar, demonstrating support for the group designated a terrorist organisation by the US.

On Tuesday, the prime minister’s office (PMO) also expressed regret over the suspension of a Facebook Live broadcast from Malaysian national broadcaster RTM’s news account covering a rally in support of Palestinians on 4 August.

Meta said in a statement that a live-stream of the rally attended by the prime minister was briefly halted due to an intellectual property complaint related to music. Mr Ibrahim addressed a pro-Palestinian rally in Kuala Lumpur that drew thousands.

“The PMO views Meta’s actions as discriminatory, unjust and a blatant suppression of free expression. It is also seen as an affront to the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people in their pursuit of justice and human rights,” the PMO said in the statement.

The PMO criticised Meta’s content moderation as discriminatory and suppressive of free expression and demanded a detailed explanation and a public apology, which the company issued on Tuesday.

On Monday, Meta officials met the PMO. The government said that the suspension was “also seen as an affront to the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people in their pursuit of justice and human rights”.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said a short-range projectile was behind the killing of Haniyeh and accused the US of supporting the attack, which it blamed on Israel. Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

The assassination has sparked fears of pushing the region into a wider conflict and forcing Iran and Israel into a direct confrontation if Iran retaliates.