The United Nations’ climate loss and damage fund moved to provide US$20 million in aid sought by flood-stricken Nepal – the first time it has set aside money for any country – in a key test of the body’s credibility. In an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, the fund’s board agreed to earmark the modest sum for the Himalayan country, which was hit in August by tsunami-like floods triggered by a climate-induced ice and rock avalanche that killed more than 1,400 people and left over 5,000...

A wind energy partnership between Vietnam and Denmark has fuelled expectations of the Southeast Asian country boosting its competitiveness in renewable electricity to serve overseas and domestic markets. Vietnam is well placed to grow its renewable electricity sector by tapping its large pool of engineering talent and abundant wind resources with help from Denmark, a global leader in wind energy, according to analysts. On Tuesday, the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership...

With one eye on her baby in a stroller, Minae Kamata operates an arcade machine in a Tokyo suburb, manipulating a claw to grab not a stuffed toy but a pack of toilet paper. As inflation weighs on Japanese households, huge arcades on the outskirts of major cities are installing claw machines filled with eggs, rice, laundry detergent and other necessities. The “shop-and-play destinations” merge essential buying with entertainment so that families do not feel a choice between bringing home the...

A joint communique ups the diplomatic rhetoric but offers no solutions.

One expert said the likelihood that a mayor announces closure of work and school because of a typhoon increases 31 percent during an election year.

Governments and businesses around the world scrambled to prevent hackers from exploiting a vulnerability in PHP, a popular programming language.

Typically, South Korea has used loudspeakers to respond to North Korean provocations. Now Pyongyang has vowed to turn them on – and the prospects for de-escalation are dim.

China is building a dense network of relationships across all pillars of influence while the United States continues to weaken the institutions it traditionally used to compete.

Organisations in Singapore have been urged to immediately fix two critical security flaws in a widely used programming language amid reports of widespread attempts by hackers to exploit the vulnerabilities. The flaws in PHP, which powers many websites and online services, could allow attackers to take control of web servers, steal data or disrupt services without needing login credentials, Singapore’s Commissioner of Cybersecurity Gwenda Fong said on Thursday. “The threat is immediate,” Fong,...

Unitree Robotics is developing a “self-evolving” feedback loop designed to allow humanoid robots to write code, run simulations and improve their real-world performance independently, founder Wang Xingxing said, in a move that mirrors a broader push towards “self-improving” artificial intelligence. Speaking on Thursday at a physical AI conference hosted by Unitree in Hangzhou, Wang unveiled the project, dubbed “Unitree Rehearsal”, which he called the company’s most important initiative of the...

Any Sino-American conflict would place enormous pressure on fuel supplies. U.S. fuel dependence turns Manila’s energy fragility into a strategic vulnerability.

Clear ground rules could not only help resolve the North Korean POW standoff but prevent the next case.

From Hong Kong to Bangkok, Paris, Taiwan, and North America, LGBTQ communities are encountering censorship, surveillance, and coercive pressure linked to China.

Deepening “symbiosis” with artificial intelligence model start-up DeepSeek is helping Chinese tech champion Huawei Technologies catch up with Nvidia’s chip hardware and software ecosystem in a scenario that could mean Jensen Huang’s “nightmare is starting to come true”, according to a new report. DeepSeek’s latest software releases, on top of its increased experimentation with Huawei’s powerful Ascend 950PR chips, reveal that the technological gap with the US is closing, as the two firms...

Indonesia’s government has resisted mounting calls to declare widespread forest and land fires a national disaster, insisting it can handle the crisis alone as residents report worsening health impacts and disaster experts warn that a broader, coordinated response is needed. Critics suggest the reluctance may stem from concerns that a national declaration could force Jakarta to redirect funds from other political priorities, while exposing the administration to greater scrutiny over its disaster...

Debris was found in Indonesia on Monday, just days after a farmer across the globe in Minnesota reported a massive metal object thought to be space junk in a cornfield.

India’s planned acquisition of four large amphibious warships would strengthen its ability to support naval logistics and humanitarian missions across the Indian Ocean, with security experts saying their value depends on how the navy could effectively utilise them during a crisis. The Indian Navy has invited bids for four landing platform docks (LPDs), each with a displacement of more than 30,000 tonnes. Indian Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar said at a media briefing on Monday that a...

In the wake of Indonesia’s worst stock-market rout since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has turned to appeals to economic nationalism to shore up confidence, urging citizens to rally behind the country’s battered stock market. The government has promised reforms in response to warnings from global index provider MSCI that Indonesia could be downgraded from emerging-market to stand-alone-market status. But analysts say its patriotic appeals will do...

As wildfires rage across Sumatra and Kalimantan, frustrated Indonesians are turning to performance art to call for greater government action and draw global attention to the destruction of both the country’s rainforests and rich cultural heritage. In South Sumatra, local art collective Jaga Api recently launched a project titled Tarian Kehancuran Budaya (the Dance of Cultural Destruction), using traditional performance to convey the human and environmental toll of the fires, as reported by The...

A man has been charged with threatening an Australian lawmaker’s staff with nunchucks, police said on Thursday, days after another legislator was critically injured when a man repeatedly hit her with a car. The incidents are heightening concerns about female politicians’ safety and raising concerns about security in a country where lawmakers are highly accessible to the public. Police say that a 56-year-old man entered Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley’s electorate...