Ocean

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Seychelles to expand India's defense diplomacy and strengthen maritime security in the Indian Ocean region. • As part of the visit, India handed over the fast patrol vessel *Lespwar* ("hope"), along with ten utility vehicles, five laser-radial boats, and six ambulances. • This initiative enhances Seychelles' ability to respond to regional security challenges and reinforces India's role as a dominant security provider in the area.

• The U.S. military presence in the Indian Ocean and along the maritime Silk Route is described as an "occupation" linked to its ongoing conflict with Iran. • This geopolitical tension has disrupted oil and gas supplies, causing energy costs to soar for emerging economies across South and Southeast Asia. • The situation has led to a decline in local currencies against the U.S. dollar and a significant increase in both public and private debt.

• NASA plans to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming years, intending to let the massive structure crash into the ocean. • A leading ocean conservation organization has raised serious concerns, arguing that the impact could negatively affect ocean health and marine ecosystems. • The controversy highlights a critical gap in international law regarding the environmental impact and regulation of space debris entering Earth's atmosphere.

Attack brings to at least 211 number of people killed as Trump administration targets alleged ‘narcoterrorists’The US military attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing three people, as the Trump administration wages a months-long campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.The latest attack brings the number of people the US military has killed in boat strikes to at least 211 since the Trump administration began targeting people it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September. Continue reading...

Move to dismantle $368m sea observatory initiative faced opposition from experts and lawmakersThe Donald Trump administration has reversed its decision to dismantle a $368m deep-sea observation system following an outcry from lawmakers and ocean experts.On Thursday, the National Science Foundation announced that it would halt plans to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, stating: “effective immediately, [it] will not proceed with further removal or descoping of equipment from the remaining arrays and will continue operations including planned maintenance”. Continue reading...

Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator, joins Democrats in bid to stop dismantling the Ocean Observatories InitiativeUS politics live – latest updatesA group of Democratic senators and one Republican, as well as two Democratic House committees, sent letters on Monday to the National Science Foundation asking it to reverse course on its plan to dismantle a sprawling ocean monitoring network, with House lawmakers going further and accusing the agency of acting illegally.The Ocean Observatories Initiative is a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386m. Over the last decade it has tracked ocean circulation, marine ecosystems, climate change and extreme weather, producing data freely available to the public and informing more than 500 scientific publications. The project was slated to run another 15 to 20 years. Continue reading...

Experts say dismantling the ocean observation system will ‘severely degrade’ the accuracy of weather predictionsThe Trump administration’s plan to dismantle an ocean observation system vital to understanding the climate crisis and marine ecosystems would “severely degrade” the accuracy of weather predictions and El Niño forecasts, with economic consequences for the US, European and American scientists have warned.Decommissioning the US system, which plays a major part in a global ocean observation network, would lead to a massive increase in error in the annual estimates of ocean heating rates, according to research published last month. Continue reading...