NICE, France — The international treaty on the high seas, which focuses on conservation and sustainable use of maritime areas beyond national jurisdictions, has received sufficient support to take effect early in 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.

Speaking at the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, Mr. Macron said 55 countries’ ratifications of the treaty have been completed, around 15 are in progress with a definite date, and another 15 will be completed by the end of the year, meaning that the required 60 ratifications will be achieved.

“This means that this treaty will be able to enter into force on January 1 of next year, which means we would finally have an international framework to regulate and administer the high seas,” Mr. Macron said at close of day one of the conference, which is being held for the first time in Nice.

The High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023, would permit countries to establish marine parks in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely unregulated. Hitherto, only an estimated 1% of international waters, known as the “high seas,” have been protected.

The treaty comes into force once 60 countries ratify it.

Once the 60^th ratification deposited, the treaty will enter into force after 120 days, setting the stage for the first-ever legally binding global framework to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, according to the highseasalliance.org, which tracks the number of signatures.

At the end of May, after the European Union (EU) and six EU member states deposited their ratification at the UN, the number stood at 28.

At the opening of UNOC3 in Nice on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to ratify the treaty.

Mr. Guterres cautioned that illegal fishing, plastic pollution and rising sea temperatures threatened delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them.

“The ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it,” Mr. Guterres said, citing collapsing fish stocks, rising sea levels and ocean acidification.

Oceans also provide a vital buffer against climate change, by absorbing around 30% of planet-heating CO2 emissions. But as the oceans heat up, hotter waters are destroying marine ecosystems and threatening the oceans’ ability to absorb CO2.

The drive for nations to turn years of promises into meaningful protection for the oceans comes as President Donald J. Trump pulls the United States out of climate projects and as some European governments weaken green commitments as they seek to support anemic economies and fend off nationalists.

The United States has not yet ratified the treaty and will not do so during the conference, Rebecca Hubbard, director of The High Seas Alliance, said.

“If they don’t ratify, they are not bound by it,” she said. “The implementation will take years but it is critical we start now and we won’t let the US absence stop that from happening.”

Ocean experts have also seized on the conference as an opportunity to rally investment for the ocean economy, which has long struggled to attract sizeable funding commitments.

At a two-day gathering of bankers and investors in Monaco over the weekend, philanthropists, private investors and public banks committed €8.7 billion over five years to support a regenerative and sustainable blue economy.

Investments in ocean health totaled just $10 billion from 2015-2019 — far below the $175 billion per year needed, the UN has said.

To address this gap, the UN said on Sunday it was starting work to design a new financing facility, to be launched in 2028, which aims to unlock billions of dollars to restore ocean health by mobilizing new and diverse sources of capital. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — Images of federal immigration agents wearing masks and balaclavas as they conduct raids in Los Angeles and other US cities have ignited a politically charged debate over whether they are protecting their identities or engaging in intimidation tactics.

Violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement in Los Angeles during the weekend were triggered by masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers rounding up alleged immigration offenders.

Democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups say masks are an attempt by ICE agents to escape accountability for their actions and are aimed at frightening immigrants as they carry out Republican President Donald J. Trump’s directive to crack down on illegal immigration.

Republicans and ICE officials assert the face coverings are necessary to protect agents and their families from being targeted by “doxxing,” in which their home addresses and personal information are posted online.

“People are out there taking photos of the names, their faces, and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves,” Todd Lyons, the acting ICE chief, said last week.

There are no federal rules or laws forbidding mask-wearing by law enforcement personnel, although historically they have been used to protect the identities of agents during undercover operations, said Jerry Robinette, a former ICE special agent in charge.

Armed masked ICE agents have also been seen arresting people in cities besides Los Angeles, often in plain clothes that sometimes lack clear identifying markings.

One of the most notable arrests by ICE officials came in March when Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk was confronted by several masked, plain-clothed agents on a street in a Boston suburb. Her arrest and terrified reaction were captured in a video that went viral.

Ms. Ozturk, arrested after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza, was released from ICE detention in May after a judge’s order.

Masked ICE agents have been filmed arresting workers at a restaurant in San Diego and a gardener at a house in Massachusetts. ICE officers were prominently seen wearing masks during arrests at courthouses across the US last month.

INCREASED MASK USE IN TRUMP’S SECOND TERM
Scott Shuchart, a top ICE policy official under former Democratic President Joseph R. Biden, said it appeared ICE officers had increased the use of face coverings and tactical gear since Mr. Trump took office.

Mr. Shuchart said an officer concealing their identity goes against typical American law enforcement practices.

“In general, law enforcement personnel need to have name patches, badge numbers, or other indicia that the public can see and use to file complaints and ensure accountability and oversight,” Mr. Shuchart said.

Three former US officials dealing with immigration enforcement, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they did not recall ICE officers routinely using face masks while Mr. Biden was in office from 2021-2025.

Mask-wearing by law enforcement agents is more common in countries such as Mexico and Russia with high levels of organized crime or political unrest, or during counter-terrorism operations in countries including France.

Boston’s Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu was criticized by the Trump administration last week when she compared masked ICE agents to the “secret police” and a neo-Nazi group.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, called Ms. Wu’s rhetoric dangerous.

“Make no mistake, this type of rhetoric is contributing to the surge in assaults of ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

DOXXING
Mr. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, speaking to Reuters in May, defended ICE officers using face coverings.

“They’ve been doxxed repeatedly,” Mr. Homan said. “I should know because I’ve been doxxed a thousand times myself.”

Mr. Homan cited an April protest outside his home in upstate New York after ICE arrested a mother and her three children on a dairy farm.

The debate over ICE masks has also erupted on Capitol Hill.

Last week the Democrats’ House of Representatives leader, Hakeem Jeffries, denounced the practice, saying ICE agents were trying to conceal their identities from the American people.

Mr. Jeffries and others believe unidentifiable law enforcement officials are difficult to hold accountable when misconduct is alleged. He vowed that the masked ICE agents would be identified “no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes.”

His comments were decried by his Republican counterpart, House Speaker Mike Johnson.

“They need to back off of ICE and respect our agents and stop protesting against them,” Mr. Johnson told Fox News. — Reuters

BEIJING/SHANGHAI — Chinese energy sector worker Mandy Li likes to treat herself to a luxury brand handbag once in a while. But since her state-owned employer cut her wage by 10% and the properties her family owns lost half their value, she only buys second-hand ones.

“I’m cutting down on large expenditures,” said 28-year-old Ms. Li, while browsing for items in Beijing’s Super Zhuanzhuan second-hand luxury items store that opened in May.

“The economy is definitely in a downturn,” she said, adding: “My family’s wealth has shrunk by a lot” due to the property crisis China has been grappling with since 2021.

As deflationary pressures mount in the world’s second-largest economy, consumer behavior is changing in ways that could lead to further downward pressure on prices, raising concerns that deflation could become entrenched, posing more headaches for China’s policymakers.

Data showed on Monday that consumer prices fell 0.1% in May from a year earlier, with price wars raging in a number of sectors, from autos to e-commerce to coffee amid concerns about oversupply and sluggish household demand.

“We still think persistent overcapacity will keep China in deflation both this year and next,” Capital Economics said in a research note.

New businesses are seeking success by targeting penny-pinchers, from restaurants selling 3 yuan ($0.40) breakfast menus to supermarkets offering flash sales four times a day. But this trend is worrying economists who see price wars as ultimately unsustainable as losing firms may have to close and people may lose their jobs, fuelling further deflation.

Consumer price sensitivities’ have accelerated growth in the Chinese second-hand luxury market since the pandemic, with annual growth rates surpassing 20% in 2023, according to an industry report by Zhiyan Consulting from last year.

But that growth has also led to a spike in the volume of such items available for sale — which is noticeable in the level of discounts on offer.

Some new stores, including Super Zhuanzhuan, are offering items at discounts of up to 90% of their original price, compared with industry standards of 30-40% in recent years. Discounts of 70% or more are also now common on large second-hand platforms, such as Xianyu, Feiyu, Ponhu and Plum.

“In the current economic environment, we are seeing more existing luxury consumers shifting to the second-hand market,” said Lisa Zhang, an expert with Daxue Consulting, a market research and strategy firm focusing on China.

But sellers “have more discounts and it’s due to more competition.”

At Super Zhuanzhuan, a green, carryall Christie handbag model by Coach, which its first owner bought for 3,260 yuan ($454) can be re-purchased for 219 yuan ($30). A 2,200 yuan Givenchy G Cube necklace can be found for 187 yuan.

“Year-to-year, it’s like 20% growth in the number of sellers, but the buyers’ numbers are pretty much stable,” said the founder of another second-hand luxury business in China, asking for anonymity to speak candidly about the state of the industry.

“The middle class — their salary has really decreased. The economy is the number one reason we’re seeing these trends.”

He said big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have enough buyers to accommodate new market entrants, but elsewhere in China there isn’t any room for more.

“I would expect the majority of the stores which have recently opened up will actually close,” he said.

University professor Riley Chang was browsing through Super Zhuanzhuan not because she wanted to buy anything new — she hasn’t spent money on big brands since the pandemic — but because she wanted to see what the market was if she sold any of her own possessions.

She wasn’t happy with what she saw.

“I’ve been to several major second-hand luxury stores in Beijing and Shanghai and they all try to push your price as low as possible,” said Ms. Chang. — Reuters