Australia

TWENTY-four countries and the EU have reached a historic deal to designate 1.55 million square kilometres of the Ross Sea in the Antarctic region a marine protected area for the next 35 years.

The decision came after Russia dropped its objections to the deal after two weeks of negotiations at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart, Australia.

The Ross Sea is one of the last intact marine ecosystems in the world, home to penguins, seals, toothfish and a unique type of killer whale. It is also home to huge numbers of krill, a staple food for dozens of marine species